A new week - basement cleaning

Interesting service on Racial Justice but I have to say that I think anyone that is different from the norm that is around most people does have a more difficult time in life. Some people dislike you automatically because you are different. It is a pity but perhaps it was a reflex on the part of early humans protecting themselves in a new environment - no idea on that really. The answer is just to accept people around you so long as they accept you and respect you. If not than just go your own way and make a life. But maybe that is too simplified. I, being English Caucasian, do not experience dislike because of the colour of my skin so I listen and learn. The dislike that comes my way tends to be for a different reason (unknown to me mostly as I have always lead a quiet life if I was able).  Anyway an interesting service and a welcoming one as a Church should be. When I was a volunteered secretary at Edward's Church I welcomed everyone new that came to ask queries at the table where I was standing in my capacity as volunteer church secretary. As I had learned from my mother at a young age the colour of your skin is a just a property of humanity like tallness etc. If we all felt that way it would be a better place for sure. At coming on 80 years of age I just live a very quiet life writing my books on my parent's families. 

Conrad Black wrote a very interesting editorial on Canada and I must say I am very much in agreement with what he wrote. As usual he captures the essence of the present happenings in a very readable way. 

Worked away on a few items yesterday but it was the rest day for my eyes and today is basement cleaning so will continue on the Latin documents through the day. This month of looking at the le Blak family of Normandy may provide new information that helps with my premise that the Blake family of Calne was descendant of Richard le Blak who received by patent the right to set up a market in England coming from his native Normandy in 1274. Since he was Norman it is highly likely he would quickly climb into a good position in England. Finding a Richard le Blak in Wargrave (near Windsor), Berkshire was an eye opener on the Pipe Rolls of 1301 and knowing that there was a Blake family at Speen, Berkshire in the 1500s that was familiar with/had land dealings with the Blake family at Andover does give me pause to think that linking stories between the Blake family at Calne and the Blake family at Andover may stem from this combination of incidents in the historical record. The historical records for this family have not necessarily all been examined (certainly not by me at this distance away) but finding the various items produced over time by family members and scholars has proven to be a stepping stone linking all of these incidences together and giving them a date that works better into the narrative. 

Why do I do it? Curiosity I think especially about that will of William Blake at Speen, Berkshire dated 10 Jun 1552/probated 28 Jul 1552 - "Item I give and bequeathe amonge all my chyldren to be equally devided / all my shepe and cattell that ys going upon the com[m]ons of Ando[ve]r Enh[a]m and Benh[a]m / Item I give and bequeathe anie of my said cheldren all the graynes that is unthresened and there ofe in the barnes of my holde in Knights Enh[a]m _cells in anye other of my houses then to be equally devided / Item I give and bequeathe amonge my said children all the profytts of my tenement in Knights Enh[a]m whiche William Blake of Knights Enh[a]m doth tyll for me for the somme of fyve pounds to be equally devyded / Item I give and bequeathe to Anthony Blake my sonne the Sixe houses with the ploughe and all th[e ]appurtenances there belonging now in the custody of William Blake with the leasse of my Tenements in Knights Enh[a]m / Item I will that all my goodes and cattalls whiche was removed from Enh[a]m to Benh[a]m to be Removed back agayne to Enh[a]m into the custodye of Robert Boswell my father in lawe Immediatley after my death." 

In this same will - William names his brothers as John and Richard (son is Anthony). William Blake at Knights Enham was the son of Nicholas Blake of Knights Enham who left his will in 1547. William Blake (of Knights Enham) and later at Eastonton left his will in 1582. Nicholas also mentions Robert Boswell in his will. All of these wills I have blogged earlier. The will of William Blake at Speen is very interesting as he was another William Blake with property in Andover but he is not the William Blake married to Avis Ripley mentioned on the Blake Pedigree Chart either as his wife was Ellyne. So the mystery does continue but the facts continue to come out in various documents helping to piece together this period of time and perhaps it will support the premise that I have made. Time will tell. The other part of the curiosity is that my grandfather (and father) actually mentioned this family lore that the Blake family of Andover was related to the Blake family of Calne although not with quite the same attention as they gave to the discussion on Nicholas of Old Hall, Knights Enham. Nicholas, to them, was real. I also did think that William Blake at Speen might be a son of Robert Blake brother to Nicholas Blake but this also was not true as William Blake can be located at Perwell near Andover with his wife Agnes. 

But it does suggest that at some point there was a relationship between these Blake families at Andover and Speen as this is into the 1500s and so we have a period of two hundred years since Richard le Blak was located at Wargrave with Speen being about halfway between Wargrave and Hungerford (Hungerford being in the north east of Wiltshire just over the county border but definitely on a pathway that could lead to Calne). But this William Blake at Speen does not refer to this Blake family as cousin so the relationship was not 1st or 2nd cousin but rather distant perhaps and that is consistent with the time span. 

I also have not found the parents of Robert Blake who left his will at Enham in 1521 (he was elderly for sure as his son Richard left his will in 1522 with older children of his own mentioned). Richard received property at Enham in the will of his father which is then held by Nicholas Blake. This Richard I believe to be the father of Nicholas and Robert (and their sister Elizabeth married to (unknown) Mylne).  There was a John Blake at Andover in the early 1300s and I do need to find that reference as I saw it a dozen years ago in perhaps the Manor Books. Will have to think about that but it was the first reference that I found in Andover to a Blake.

Breakfast finished and Latin next and will set up the I-robot to vacuum the rug in the basement.

The new tablet is a wonderful addition

 My tablet is working perfectly and fully equipped to suit me. The trip to get the power adapter smooth and efficient. It was lovely and thank you to the store for making it so easy. I asked if I could come and order my desktop next summer before Windows 10 maintenance disappears and no problem. So I was pleased. Thank you to Best Buy much appreciated. 

I actually did my Duolingo Latin on the tablet last evening and quite pleased with that result as well. The setup was easy and I have little to do now except update some of the apps that crossed over from my phone. That was also very efficient. Tablets have come a long way since I last used one in 2018. I always meant to replace the last one but COVID arrived and I just didn't really need one as I was pretty much home 24/7 with the desktop. My desktop though is now six years old and I was replacing it every three years so will be ready for the new one. This one still works very well but Windows 10 will no longer be supported towards the end of this year. It will not upgrade to Windows 11 but I would rather have a new one anyway. 

Read the Blake Book yesterday and it is already 86 pages. Found a few items here and there that I improved for the read of it but did not add much just smoothing out the read. I like it and I am not finding anything as I was a bit concerned after rereading the first Siderfin book. But I think my eyes just got very tired proofreading and I missed a few things. I did see it as many but actually it was not even an entire page of corrections/changes. Perhaps there were 15 items in total but I am a knit-picker. I have had a few thoughts on where I am going with the Blake book and I think that I do need to put in more about the Le Blak family of Rouen Normandy and see if I can actually sort out that line from their arrival along the Hampshire coast; their move inland to Berkshire and then to Wiltshire where they are eventually found in Calne. Proving that will be an interesting proposal and I know one of my co-administrators at the yDNA Blake project would really like that to happen. A lot of people have looked at this family likely because of the Pedigree Chart which the Royal College of Arms produced in concert with members of the family in 1690 with additions into the mid 1700s. There is one obvious error in that chart and the beginning is somewhat vague particularly using an item from the Calendar of Patent Rolls to discuss the progenitor of this family chart Richard le Blake and attributing to him a transfer of property that rightly belongs to Roger le Blake of Herefordshire. But it was a long time ago and the time between the creation of the Pedigree Chart and this event in the Calendar of Patent Rolls is itself a length of over four hundred years so I will proceed carefully and keep it historically accurate. It is always better to be right even if it doesn't paint quite the picture that was desired. The overall flow is pretty accurate although will check each generation carefully with the extant records. Why would I do this? I can sense my grandfather and his indignation that Nicholas Blake would be so badly used by a known fraud genealogist in the 1800s namely Horatio Gates Somerby. Nicholas was just a small holding landowner/farmer at Knights Enham who left his will in 1547. His son William amassed a considerable amount of land and holdings and lived at Eastonton (near Andover). This Blake family, likely descendant of the Robert Blake who left his will in 1521 naming his eldest son Richard and he also had sons William and Thomas, left their wills with great accuracy for five generations clearly noting siblings and children making it easy/straight forward to construct that pedigree chart. But in 1690 when the Pedigree Chart was created likely these wills were not quite so available and the Blake line that created it with the College of Arms support had left the Andover area about 100 years earlier. The Blake family (known to be of Andover) left in that area was not particularly large and no longer held the land they once did as far as I can tell. Continuing to work on that aspect as it helps with my direct line which tended to be younger sons for the most part with my great grandfather Edward Blake being the fifth and last son of John Blake and Ann (Farmer) Blake. 

There are two Pedigree Charts that claim the Andover Blake family was related to the Blake family at Calne but I propose that any linkage was actually with the le Blak family in Berkshire at a much earlier time period and wills of the Blake family in Berkshire (in the 1500s) support this idea but I need to prove it and time will tell if that is possible. I do find it intriguing that the future King of England (William, Prince of Wales) is related to the Blake family at Calne tracing back through his mother's line. I find it intriguing that he may also be descendant of the Blake family at Andover which appears to trace back to the beginnings of settlement/re-settlement of the British Isles after the Ice Age by the Western Hunter-Gatherers. One of the reasons that when I do publish this book it will be with an embargo permitting usage only by family members and academic researchers. I will place a copy in the Library of the Guild of one-name Studies where I am #4600. But I will restrict myself to the four years as I will want to move on to other lines of my family at some point in the future. 

Sunday and Church in Westminster apparently so looking forward to attending just after breakfast (nice that it is filmed five hours earlier than my time zone). It will be great if incoming President Trump does abolish daylight savings. I am looking forward to that. I do like the bright early mornings. 

Drinking my tea and soon my yoga and then breakfast.