The online Sunday service yesterday was Candlemas celebrated at St Lawrence Parish Church in York. It was a Candlemas Procession and a traditional anglo-catholic service. I feel so blessed to find these services online. I think part of it is the English accent that reminds me of my grandparents. It is a wonderful service..
We visited a number of Churches in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. The Churches that are strongest in my memory are those closest to where my grandparents went to Church. I was lucky to have had the time with my second cousin Ivan Kent (his mother was a Blake and first cousin to my father). When we went back to England to do some research at the National Archives Ivan was not well and passed away before we arrived. He had hoped to come to London and spend some time showing us the things he really enjoyed which included Wolfe's Statue at Greenwich. We did visit that and took the boat as he had wanted to do. I felt as if I was bringing him with me in my mind.
Before the service I went and did my every few weeks grocery shopping trip. It actually took me seven tries to get the van into the garage as I want it to be precisely in the middle and absolutely straight coming out again. It is the only trip that I make on my own for the most part. I did drive for my dental appointment but from now on that will be just a block away and a nice walk. I am getting ready for the possibility that I will not have my driver's licence after I turn 80 years of age. I do not want to suddenly feel lost if that happens - I need to prepare somewhat. And so I have.
Then a lovely lunch after my 40 minute run. I do like to do that every day except the full day of cleaning. There is just so much a 78 years plus person can do in a day I am discovering. One is much better off to let the muscles of your body tell you how much you can do in a day and not your mind!
I then watched an archaeology movie on Netflix - Unknown: The Lost Pyramid filmed in 2023. Dr. Zahi Hawass was the Director. It was an excellent movie.
I did think about the two books though for Blake and Pencombe. This will be a Blake day of writing and I continue discovering the online material for Andover which surprised me with comments on the Blake family at Eastontown. William Blake left his will dated 27 Jul 1582 and probated 14 Nov 1582.
William died between 27 July 1582 and the 14 November 1582 when his will was probated by his second son William. This was the first long will that I transcribed after I learned to read the early English which appears in this will. It is seven pages in total and with very small handwriting it is 329 lines in total. I think he was a very precise man as he details absolutely everything that could possibly go wrong in the settling of an estate. He is particularly precise in how his wife Elizabeth is to be treated. I wonder is he so precise because she is a second wife? There is confusion about this William Blake of Eastontown. He writes his will, he is mentioned in several Visitations and he appears on the Blake Pedigree chart held by the Swindon and Wiltshire Record Office. I wander between two thoughts with regard to this William Blake. Either he is the same man appearing on all of these documents or there are two William Blake gentlemen living at Eastontowne who died in the same year 1582. What are the odds? I have no idea actually and continue to hunt out references to William Blake to see if I can determine if he was the only William Blake who died at Eastontown and was the father of two successive sets of children (all named in his will but a couple of differences which will need accommodation.
William then names his brother Edmund who must still be living in 1582 although I have yet to find him. He also mentions his sisters Elizabeth Monday and Ann Godwyn. These are the same children that Nicholas Blake names as his children along with William. William is now located in the family that lived at Enham (near Andover prior to 1527 when his grandmother Jone Blake widow left her will naming her sons Robert and Nicholas and her daughter Elizabeth married to Mr. Mylne). This William was also mentioned in the will of William Blake of Speen Berkshire probated 28 Jul 1552. But I must not get ahead of myself. I need to begin as far back as I am able which means I must locate the reference to a John Blake in the 1310s.
Today though is the large cleaning day so not a lot will be done on the Blake book today. Plus I must think about the two newsletters I am committed to: The H11 Newsletter which I will only publish once a year unless there is an interesting story to publish as I only do the breakdown once a year. The Kipp Newsletter which will only deal with yDNA. Edward left the yDNA mostly to me since I was into that type of discussion but he did carry on correspondence with a number of individuals re the yDNA. He was more into autosomal DNA and had asked a number of his third and second cousins to test as he was looking for a couple of links that were missing. Most of them did test for him which was nice but I have not been involved in that part of his study and my brain seems a bit full at the moment to contemplate taking that discussion on from where he left it. It might be something my daughter might do when she retires. It is something that can amazingly sit on the back burner for quite a while.
Other than that the day begins. Cleaning both floors today.
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