Heavy snowfall

 We did finally get a good snowfall yesterday. Definitely we need to reach a standing pile of snow in unworked areas that is 1 metre or more in height by the end of the winter. We are not there but that is not unusual as we generally get our heaviest snows in March. But it was good to see the heavy snowfall yesterday. The Arctic is very important and we need to do all that we can to protect it. I found it interesting that one of the Liberal contenders for the leadership may be a First Nations current member of the federal parliament from Cape Breton. 

Not too much done on the phasing of the grandparents and great grandparents DNA. I will do some work on that today. I also need to sign up for access to British History online as I think that is a good direction to acquire more material for the le Blak and le Blake families in the Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Hampshire area. Trying to prove these are all related in the 1300s may be the best way forward and as always family lore can be interesting. Sometimes it isn't exactly as it ends up being viewed centuries later but there is a core truth to it and perhaps I can unweave that over the next month. My suspicion that an individual (perhaps named John living at Knight Enham) married a daughter of Richard le Blak and took on the Blake surname. The advantage in doing this in the late 1200s/early 1300s was huge for him actually and it does make sense. Proving it though will be another thing. Providing reasonable arguments for it may perhaps be the only source of proof. By the early 1500s we do have a Blake family (Robert Blake of Knights Enham who left his will in 1521 was definitely elderly with  his son Richard leaving his will just one year later, his other sons William and Thomas lived into the 1530s). Their descendants included a number of individuals for whom there are a lot of wills. That cache of information forms the nucleus of the research in the 1500s. It is the 1200s, 1300s and 1400s that I need to pursue over the next month. It is known that Richard le Blak (of Rouen, Normandy) received a market permit as one of the Patent Rolls in 1274 to come to England and set up a market. I postulate that he did indeed come and was first in Hampshire moving north into Berkshire where he is located on the Pipe Rolls in the early 1300s. 

I have been discussing the Pedigree Chart for the Blake family produced by the College of Arms with material from the Daniel Blake family of London in 1690 with additions into the 1700s. The preamble has been discussed and the first row of information. Today I will look at the second row of information. 

Looking at the next generation in the families of interest, Baynard to the left, Blake in the middle and Bellet to the right. 

There is an interesting squiggle on the line coming down from Edmund Baynard and Eleanor Blewet (the Visitation for the Baynard family gives a date of the 1330s for Edmund Baynard and Eleanor Blewet) and it represents a number of generations as  Philip Baynard is thought to be born around 1468 and so is perhaps 53 years old when this will (dated 23 Apr 1521) is written. Just to look at that timeline his father was known to be over 50 28 Oct 1490 when he received his arms following the death of his father who had been High Sheriff of Wiltshire. That gives him a date of birth around 1440 and his will was probated 1 Oct 1501. At that time Philip's age was estimated as over 30 when he inherited the arms of his father giving him a date of birth before 1470. Accurate dating of people is difficult unless there is a specific age attached to them on the visitations or in the manor books. In this case the grandson of Philip was Edward and he died at age 63 21 Dec 1575 which gives him a date of birth of 1512 but interestingly he is not mentioned in his grandfather's will. Robert the father of Edward and son of Philip the testator is named as the executor so is over 21 years of age in 1521 so born by 1500 and already mentioned his grandfather's (Robert as well) will was probated 1 Oct 1501. The birth of Philip the testator around 1570 seems reasonable and his father (Robert) would have been about 30+ when the testator was born.

Philip (the testator) can trace his line back on the Visitations of Somerset to his father Robert (mother Elizabeth Ludlowe), his father Philip  (wife Margaret), to his father Robert (wife Joyce), to his father Philip and his father Edmond (married to Elinor Blewet). The first of the line known to me is Edmond Baynard who was of Essex (bore arms) and he married into the Blewet family of Lackham (the Bluet family being a very ancient family of Somerset). The Bluet family is said to go back to 1066 and the Norman Conquest. The furtherest back the Bluet family has been traced is to Walter b c987. As I worked my way through these charts one is left with a couple of thoughts particularly datewise since the deed of land to the Knights Templar by R Blake was dated in the early 1300s. There are generations missing and I suspect these two lines and the third to a certain extent represent just the well known members of these families (well known to the family lines that followed perhaps). 

The Blake section of this line is a Henry Blague als Blaake son and heir married to Elizabeth daughter and heir of Edward Dorrant. Henry is not an unusual name in the Blake family of Calne. I could not locate this marriage. 

The Bellet section refers to John Bellet of .... gent. A William Bellet appears in the Great Domesday Book at Walditch, Winterborne Monkton, Broadwindsor, Herston, Moulham, Swanage, Nutford, Stourpaine and others,  in Dorset. William Bellet was a Sergeant of King William I, Duke of Normandy. Searching on John Bellet did not reveal anything particularly in the 1300s/1400s. But I will continue working on this section using British History Online. 

At this point I will not move forward from this first image until I have worked with British History Online. 

Today is a cleaning day and tomorrow will be too. I will spread it out this week. 

I am still thinking about the tariffs and the idea of a closer economic union between the United States and Canada. I think it has a lot of attributes that are appealing but I think that the great friendship that has existed between the United States and Canada for the last two hundred plus years is the most important of our relationship. It was unlikely over the two hundred year period that Canada would ever become as large a population as the United States given the proximity of Canada to the North Pole and the much colder weather here through the time period. Hence we are 40 million compared to 340 million in the United States. In that two hundred year period it is likely that millions of Canadians have transplanted and become American. Certainly I have many many second cousins and greater in the United States but then I do in Canada as well. The United States has occupied their land mass pretty much from ocean to ocean whereas Canada is principally within 150 kilometres of our mutual border with the population outside of that range being much smaller and unlikely to grow enormously. I think the asset of a closer economic union is a good one since we are a land rich in natural resources and more than 75% of what we sell to the United States is raw material which they use to produce goods that they sell back to us at perhaps 3x the cost of the actual purchase price from us of those items. It is not practical for us to produce a number of those products but being a significant source of raw material is a benefit particularly as we literally are right next door. I suspect that was in the minds of President Reagan and Prime Minister Mulroney when they created the original economic agreement which came to be known as NAFTA. Having your source of raw materials close at hand is an absolute necessity given the other means of transport that exist and the costs involved in transporting and managing that type of access where there isn't a border. Time will tell how all of this present discussion flows but personally I think trade belongs to the States and Provinces/Territories and having a closer economic relationship like the European Union could increase the great working relationship between them. Managing immigration etc so that both countries are merged with regard to policing on a federal level and entry into either country is only at the airports and seaports would provide greater control over any problems that exist at the moment. That would mean sealing the border between Mexico and the United States and controlled entry only should follow although my knowledge of the border difficulties present is pretty limited other than what I see on the American news channels. 

Being somewhat of a newbie (I am first generation on my father's side although fourth generation on my mother's side), I tend to think that those who have lived here for generations and generations understand the value of the friendship between the United States and Canada much better than the newbies.