I decided to look at the Buller family in the Visitations and extracted all the records that pertain to this family. There were a surprising number of them but only one set that was original to the family with all the remainder being marriages into families that were in the various Visitations. As I was checking Surrey I noticed that I had missed one of the Blake Visitations.
This is an exceedingly important one as it turned out. The Blake family in Surrey are the grandchildren of John Blake last at Eastontown and the eldest son of William (eldest son of Nicholas Blake). This is the ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales - Thomas Blake married to Dorothy Mayowe and the son of Thomas Blake married to Eleanor Hall (daughter of Robert Hall (brother to Sir John Hall). They are using the name Blague alias Blake and their ancestry back to Nicholas is not shown. However matching this up with earlier Visitations clearly shows their relationship to Nicholas Blake.
The most fascinating part of all of this is the family coat of arms that they are using and which has presumably been accepted by the Heraldic Society since it is published and signed by Richard Blake son of Thomas Blake and Dorothy Mayhew. The Arms are quartered with the top left section Blake, the top right is for the Dur[r]ant family, the bottom left for the Bellott (Billet) family and the fourth quarter unfinished except for the Blake chevron. This is the first proof that I have found for the claimed relationship between the Hampshire and the Wiltshire Blake families.
By this point in time this Blake family is probably not in communication with my line at Andover. When Richard (brother of John mentioned) above wrote his will (on his deathbed it would appear) he foreclosed on the mortgage that he held for his eldest brother John on Eastontown. Richard had a large family and was providing for them in his will and probably felt he had to do that. Eastontown had to be sold to pay the mortgage and this Blake family moved to Essington (Hampshire) in that generation. This Visitation clearly notes that Thomas Blake married to Elinor Hall lived at Essington. It is also the first mention that I have seen that William Blake brother of Thomas Blake of Essington had been knighted. He is referred to as Sir William Blake of Kensington Knight. This William was married twice with the first being to Mary Beverley (daughter of Henry Beverley of Yorkshire). No mention is made of his marriages or children.
He does appear on a London Visitation as Blake of Hales House where the lineage is traced back to William Blake of Eastontown but no coat of arms accompanies this Visitation listing. In this earlier Visitation he has not been knighted but rather serves as a County of Middlesex Justice of the Peace.
I am always been ambivalent of the relationship between the Hampshire and the Wiltshire Blake families. The family lore seemed weak although Barrie Blake on his webpages (http://blakeheritage.synthasite.com/iframe1.php) shows the clear marking of the line back. As he traces it back my line descended from Henry Blake married to Elizabeth Durrant (coat of arms includes this family). Then his son William Blake married Elizabeth Power. Their son Henry married Margaret Billett (coat of arms includes this family) and they had two sons Robert Blake and William Blake. This William is then said to have married Mary Cole and their children are listed as Nicholas, Humphrey, Alice, Henry, Robert and Margery Blake. The only problem that I have with this is that the mother of Nicholas Blake left her will in 1527 stating that her children were Nicholas, Robert and Elizabeth (married to Mylne). Of course this Humphrey is said to be the Blake that headed the Somerset Blake family moving there in the early 1500s to Plainsfield. Not mentioning him though does seem odd. The name of the mother of Nicholas was Jone Blake on the will not Mary which is also rather confusing. The other children could have died although there are descendants listed for them. This is the accepted line though for this Blake family in published material. The Nicholas in the online tree and my Nicholas are indeed the same person. I just need to continue collecting data so that I can either support the published literature or contradict it :)
This would mean for my line: myself, Ernest Edward George Blake, Samuel George Blake, Edward Blake, John Blake, Thomas Blake, Joseph Blake, Thomas Blake, Thomas Blake, John Blake, William Blake, William Blake, Richard Blake, William Blake, Nicholas Blake (he is the furtherest back that I can show by records) and then the published material would show William Blake (married to Mary Coles (will contradicts this first name)), William Blake, Henry Blake (married to Margaret Billett), William Blake (married to Elizabeth Power), Henry Blake (married to Elizabeth Durrant), Robert de Blakeland (married to Anne Cole), Robert de Blakeland.
The line down from Nicholas matches the historical material of the time (wills and land records). Nicholas married Margaret [unknown] and their children were William, Edmund, Alice (married to Christopher Godwin 16 Oct 1542), Elizabeth (married to Richard Mondaye) and one that I do not have Ezod (no further information). Ezod is not listed in Nicholas' will of 1547 nor does his mother list him in her will of 18 Dec 1558. However, he could have died much earlier.
I need to transcribe the Blake wills that I have from the 1500s in Wiltshire. Once that is done I may have a clearer picture of this family line in Wiltshire and how it connects into my Andover Hampshire line. At the moment though I am in conflict with all published lines down to my Nicholas Blake. The Visitations have not to this point linked the Wiltshire and the Hampshire Blake families other than the fact that they both used the "Blake" coat of arms attributed to Robert Blake married to Avis Wallop which appears in a sketch of the stained glass window to them at Calne Wiltshire. This coat of arms published with the descendants of John older brother to my Richard is very very interesting. One generation back at a time. I need to find the name of Jone Blake's husband who died before she wrote her will in 1527 and whose children were Robert, Nicholas and Elizabeth (married to Mr. Mylne).
Now the "match" of the yDNA with another Blake member becomes even more important in the scheme of things. I do not have any idea of this person's ancestry. Perhaps in time more will test and an even clearer picture will emerge. But in the meantime this is my first clue that I find to be historically significant that the Hampshire and the Wiltshire Blake families do indeed share common ancestry.
Showing posts with label Yorkshire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yorkshire. Show all posts
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Great Driffield
I spent a short time reviewing from the beginning of the Great Driffield registers. No sign of my surnames there in the mid 1500s but I will not discard yet as I am working in the early 1700s with known ancestry. There could be a number of female lines not yet disclosed. The Gray family wasn't there either though and I need to keep this family in the back of my mind as I look at all of these parishes as I do not know the location of my Gray family before 1708 when they are at Cherry Burton.
My new screen is going to make it much easier to transcribe as I can have two documents side by side. I hadn't really thought about that but my husband mentioned it in the store when we were purchasing and when I experimented with it; it is a really helpful tool. I have almost completed moving everything from the old computer to the new. I just need to load secure FTP and my ftp locations and then I think I have moved everything over. My husband is going to use the old machine to format 3.5 inch discs. My new CPU is about 1/6th the size of the old one and my workspace allows for my scanner to be hooked up all the time now which is a real bonus. The only other equipment I would like to purchase one day is a microfiche scanner. The microfiche reader is the largest thing on my desk now!
We watched the entire 4th season now of All Things Great and Small (borrowed from the Library). One new person in the cast and it took a little while to get into that but really enjoyed the last episodes. Both my husband and I have ancestors from Yorkshire so find it really interesting to see the wonderful scenery and meet all the interesting people who are part of the series. Ed's ancestors came to Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s so quite a piece back for him but my Robert Gray came in 1832 to Canada so not so far back!
We biked 12.6 km today and it was a trifle cool but a very pleasant ride. We hope to ride until on into October this year - we will bike in the afternoon now since the evening is rapidly disappearing as fall approaches. The crickets are singing now when we walk in the early evening. The birds are starting to flock in preparation for migration to the south. I was saying to my husband we can tell the time of the year by the flowers, the sounds and the birds. Winter is a little more difficult although the cold weather comes in late December and into January with the long nights. Gradual warming comes into February as the daylight lengthens. The snow is here for all of it though and can not necessarily help us to predict the month! However the heavy snows come in late February and early March as we warm up a little here.
Tomorrow I want to spend some more time on Great Driffield so as to prepare for my next session at the Family History Library and also work on the Hinxman wills.
My new screen is going to make it much easier to transcribe as I can have two documents side by side. I hadn't really thought about that but my husband mentioned it in the store when we were purchasing and when I experimented with it; it is a really helpful tool. I have almost completed moving everything from the old computer to the new. I just need to load secure FTP and my ftp locations and then I think I have moved everything over. My husband is going to use the old machine to format 3.5 inch discs. My new CPU is about 1/6th the size of the old one and my workspace allows for my scanner to be hooked up all the time now which is a real bonus. The only other equipment I would like to purchase one day is a microfiche scanner. The microfiche reader is the largest thing on my desk now!
We watched the entire 4th season now of All Things Great and Small (borrowed from the Library). One new person in the cast and it took a little while to get into that but really enjoyed the last episodes. Both my husband and I have ancestors from Yorkshire so find it really interesting to see the wonderful scenery and meet all the interesting people who are part of the series. Ed's ancestors came to Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s so quite a piece back for him but my Robert Gray came in 1832 to Canada so not so far back!
We biked 12.6 km today and it was a trifle cool but a very pleasant ride. We hope to ride until on into October this year - we will bike in the afternoon now since the evening is rapidly disappearing as fall approaches. The crickets are singing now when we walk in the early evening. The birds are starting to flock in preparation for migration to the south. I was saying to my husband we can tell the time of the year by the flowers, the sounds and the birds. Winter is a little more difficult although the cold weather comes in late December and into January with the long nights. Gradual warming comes into February as the daylight lengthens. The snow is here for all of it though and can not necessarily help us to predict the month! However the heavy snows come in late February and early March as we warm up a little here.
Tomorrow I want to spend some more time on Great Driffield so as to prepare for my next session at the Family History Library and also work on the Hinxman wills.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Hinxman Wills
My husband had a meeting in Morrisburg today so I drove along with him and took a Hinxman will with me that I am transcribing. It will be a challenge as it is from 1579. I set up my template and captured the phrases that I recognized quickly. I like to transcribe on the computer and this I was doing from a paper copy. It was a good start and I am starting to become familiar with the writing.
I continued looking at Sproxton and heard back from one of the people who has Sproxton at both GeneTree and Ancestry. She mentioned that the furtherest back John Sproxton was married to Ann Simpson so I checked out my images and discovered that John Sproxton junior married Ann Simpson 6 Jan 1659 and the marriage that I found between John Sproxton and Anne Huser was perhaps his father marrying a second time although I need to go back to the register and have another look. This is very near the beginning of the register so may not be able to solve that. But in the meantime I can not quite make out the parish for Ann Simpson so will check that out on Tuesday to see if I can read it on the original.
Tomorrow I will continue listing all the images that I have made thus far and the records that I should be able to find on the Hutton Cranswick film. Then I shall be ready on Tuesday to continue working on the film. I haven't heard yet if Great Driffield is in but perhaps later this week or early next week. I am also going to order St Mary Bourne Hampshire film in as my husband has another one to order in for his German ancestors. He has done very well with his film and found his great grandmother quite readily and has traced her back to her grandparents. A very good research time for his microfilm. I have also found quite a bit so am very pleased. Too bad that the film only goes back to 1653 as it would be interesting to see if I could trace John Sproxton back to Wakefield Yorkshire.
I continued looking at Sproxton and heard back from one of the people who has Sproxton at both GeneTree and Ancestry. She mentioned that the furtherest back John Sproxton was married to Ann Simpson so I checked out my images and discovered that John Sproxton junior married Ann Simpson 6 Jan 1659 and the marriage that I found between John Sproxton and Anne Huser was perhaps his father marrying a second time although I need to go back to the register and have another look. This is very near the beginning of the register so may not be able to solve that. But in the meantime I can not quite make out the parish for Ann Simpson so will check that out on Tuesday to see if I can read it on the original.
Tomorrow I will continue listing all the images that I have made thus far and the records that I should be able to find on the Hutton Cranswick film. Then I shall be ready on Tuesday to continue working on the film. I haven't heard yet if Great Driffield is in but perhaps later this week or early next week. I am also going to order St Mary Bourne Hampshire film in as my husband has another one to order in for his German ancestors. He has done very well with his film and found his great grandmother quite readily and has traced her back to her grandparents. A very good research time for his microfilm. I have also found quite a bit so am very pleased. Too bad that the film only goes back to 1653 as it would be interesting to see if I could trace John Sproxton back to Wakefield Yorkshire.
Canoeing
Yesterday, we decided to take the canoe out and for me this was the first time I have been out canoeing in seven years. A little stiff today but we had a good trip around the bayou at Pelee Island.
My accomplishments yesterday on family tree research were very low although I had a response from my query on the Sproxton family to a member of Genes Reunited and Ancestry (I believe it was the same person). She is descended from the brother of Ann (both children of Richard Sproxton and Ann Harland Sproxton). That would make us sixth cousins. It is the first time that I have tried to locate descendants of that line (especially as the spelling I had for Ann's surname was Sprowston (incorrectly transcribed from the register). Having read the register I can see how the error occurred!
I did not start the wills transcription but will do so either today or tomorrow. I need to read away at them for a couple of days before I start to transcribe if they are a bit faint or blurry. Sometimes I can directly read one as soon as I download it but usually they are very old copy and have areas of lightness and blurriness.
We are still busy watching JAG and All Creatures Great and Small. We are into the 7th season of JAG and the 3rd season of All Creatures Great and Small. We managed to watch for nearly 4 hours yesterday. I guess we were tired of working away on our family trees and my husband has been putting together his two journals.
Today I shall read on the wills and perhaps do some more extracting of Sproxton from the various databases. It is a most interesting family and they are primarily found in Yorkshire well into the 1800s. My branch (Elizabeth Cobb daughter of John Cobb and Ann Sproxton Cobb was the mother of Robert Gray junior) emigrated to Canada in 1832 from Yorkshire where Robert Gray junior had been a farmer but was having problems renting farmland and so decided to try his luck in Canada. He farmed here successfully until his death in 1876 and the farm that he was on still continues to be farmed by Gray descendants here in Middlesex County (London Township) although the City of London is growing outwards creeping forward towards the farm lands of my Gray and Routledge ancestors. It has already absorbed the farmland that my Pincombe family was on although it is still farmland but very much part of the City of London. The Gray family is interesting and three sons emigrated, two sons stayed as did the two daughters. One son became a clergyman and I need to glance at the others once again but they were all quite successful in their vocation. I think perhaps farming was just difficult with enclosure.
My accomplishments yesterday on family tree research were very low although I had a response from my query on the Sproxton family to a member of Genes Reunited and Ancestry (I believe it was the same person). She is descended from the brother of Ann (both children of Richard Sproxton and Ann Harland Sproxton). That would make us sixth cousins. It is the first time that I have tried to locate descendants of that line (especially as the spelling I had for Ann's surname was Sprowston (incorrectly transcribed from the register). Having read the register I can see how the error occurred!
I did not start the wills transcription but will do so either today or tomorrow. I need to read away at them for a couple of days before I start to transcribe if they are a bit faint or blurry. Sometimes I can directly read one as soon as I download it but usually they are very old copy and have areas of lightness and blurriness.
We are still busy watching JAG and All Creatures Great and Small. We are into the 7th season of JAG and the 3rd season of All Creatures Great and Small. We managed to watch for nearly 4 hours yesterday. I guess we were tired of working away on our family trees and my husband has been putting together his two journals.
Today I shall read on the wills and perhaps do some more extracting of Sproxton from the various databases. It is a most interesting family and they are primarily found in Yorkshire well into the 1800s. My branch (Elizabeth Cobb daughter of John Cobb and Ann Sproxton Cobb was the mother of Robert Gray junior) emigrated to Canada in 1832 from Yorkshire where Robert Gray junior had been a farmer but was having problems renting farmland and so decided to try his luck in Canada. He farmed here successfully until his death in 1876 and the farm that he was on still continues to be farmed by Gray descendants here in Middlesex County (London Township) although the City of London is growing outwards creeping forward towards the farm lands of my Gray and Routledge ancestors. It has already absorbed the farmland that my Pincombe family was on although it is still farmland but very much part of the City of London. The Gray family is interesting and three sons emigrated, two sons stayed as did the two daughters. One son became a clergyman and I need to glance at the others once again but they were all quite successful in their vocation. I think perhaps farming was just difficult with enclosure.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Long Island and return
We just arrived back from Long Island having successfully seen all of our daughter's belongings loaded onto a North American Van Lines truck headed for her new teaching post. She doesn't have a lot so will not be too enormous a job to unpack it all when she heads for her new position. We had packed about 80% of her belongings before we left in mid-May. However, it still took a full day of packing to complete the preparation. It was very warm there and working (even with the airconditioning running full blast) was very difficult. We went to Jones Beach in the evening and had a lovely walk along the ocean beach.
The traffic going down to Long Island was really heavy last Sunday and we waited two hours to cross on the George Washington Bridge to Manhattan Island with a much shorter wait to take Throgs Neck Bridge onto Long Island. The four days passed quickly with last minute packing and a trip into New York City to see the Museum of Art - always a really pleasant visit although we were noticing that it was similar to ROM although on a larger scale. Last ride back on the Long Island Railway for a while I expect. I do not think we would have ever spent so much time in New York City or on Long Island if she hadn't been there. It gave my husband the opportunity to really look at all the places where his ancestors lived - he has over 70 early Dutch/French/Belgium ancestors who lived at New Amsterdam (now New York) and about the same number or perhaps slightly greater who lived on Long Island. We have now visited a number of the areas where his ancestors lived in the 1600s (up to the 1800s) including Block Island, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Dutchess County, New York. We will need to have a longer look at New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Once I feel like being in a car for longer than 20 minutes!
No research at all. I completed reading the book :The Tribes of Britain: Who are we? and where do we come from? by David Miles. A really interesting read although very heavy. Length is 500 pages but that wasn't the weight. Rather the detail that he provides necessitates one spending quite a bit of time either remembering the history of the time period or looking up all of his references.
Our films have arrived at the Family History Library - I ordered Hutton Cranswick (Yorkshire), Driffield (Yorkshire) and Bradfield (Berkshire). My husband ordered two Mecklenberg films (Brohm and Staven). We anticipate spending at least two weeks going 4 or 5 times in the week to work our way through the films. I am looking for the Sproxton and Wiles family at Hutton Cranswick and the Harland, Cooper, Sproxton, and Wilkinson families at Great Driffield. At Bradfield I am hoping to learn more about Nathanael Lambden who was baptized there in 1724 - the son of John Lambden and Joan Caruthue. I have not been able to find the marriage of Nathanael Lambden and Sarah around 1851.
My husband is looking at his Schulz, Passow and Naumann families. We already know that the Schulz and Passow families are in the Brohm register but would like to have a longer look at this parish. We recently discovered Staven as a possible place of baptism for his great grandmother Rachel Naumann.
The traffic going down to Long Island was really heavy last Sunday and we waited two hours to cross on the George Washington Bridge to Manhattan Island with a much shorter wait to take Throgs Neck Bridge onto Long Island. The four days passed quickly with last minute packing and a trip into New York City to see the Museum of Art - always a really pleasant visit although we were noticing that it was similar to ROM although on a larger scale. Last ride back on the Long Island Railway for a while I expect. I do not think we would have ever spent so much time in New York City or on Long Island if she hadn't been there. It gave my husband the opportunity to really look at all the places where his ancestors lived - he has over 70 early Dutch/French/Belgium ancestors who lived at New Amsterdam (now New York) and about the same number or perhaps slightly greater who lived on Long Island. We have now visited a number of the areas where his ancestors lived in the 1600s (up to the 1800s) including Block Island, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Dutchess County, New York. We will need to have a longer look at New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Once I feel like being in a car for longer than 20 minutes!
No research at all. I completed reading the book :The Tribes of Britain: Who are we? and where do we come from? by David Miles. A really interesting read although very heavy. Length is 500 pages but that wasn't the weight. Rather the detail that he provides necessitates one spending quite a bit of time either remembering the history of the time period or looking up all of his references.
Our films have arrived at the Family History Library - I ordered Hutton Cranswick (Yorkshire), Driffield (Yorkshire) and Bradfield (Berkshire). My husband ordered two Mecklenberg films (Brohm and Staven). We anticipate spending at least two weeks going 4 or 5 times in the week to work our way through the films. I am looking for the Sproxton and Wiles family at Hutton Cranswick and the Harland, Cooper, Sproxton, and Wilkinson families at Great Driffield. At Bradfield I am hoping to learn more about Nathanael Lambden who was baptized there in 1724 - the son of John Lambden and Joan Caruthue. I have not been able to find the marriage of Nathanael Lambden and Sarah
My husband is looking at his Schulz, Passow and Naumann families. We already know that the Schulz and Passow families are in the Brohm register but would like to have a longer look at this parish. We recently discovered Staven as a possible place of baptism for his great grandmother Rachel Naumann.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Andover Parish Register 2 - 3
Carried on with the Andover Parish Registers again today and completed to the end of 1639 which is 2903 baptisms in total now in my excel file. A couple of new Blake entries and one surprising one which was a daughter (unnamed) to old Mr. William Blake. I shall need to work that one out. Again a couple of new names but still the older names continue in the register. This Register stops at 1642 and I will then do the marriages from 1634 to 1642 and following that the baptisms from 1634 to 1641. Then I can begin Register 3 which runs from 1642 to 1684. This will be a most interesting register and hopefully in better shape than the second register. I do know that ahead of me are pages and pages of neatly written baptismal, marriage and burial records. That will inspire me to keep going!
We went for a 10.5 km bike ride this morning and it was quite fresh. The parkway is closed for the next six weeks so we can partake of that great roadway every day of the week instead of just Sunday mornings when it is closed to traffic. I miss bike riding in the winter. It is very relaxing just to stroll along the Ottawa River on our bikes feeling the wind and enjoying the greenbelt.
I added Hampshire to my groups at Genealogy Wise. I need to update with information on Hampshire. I will advertise the DNA study at FT DNA as well. Acquiring people with a paper trail back to Hampshire is quite difficult actually. I only have six people of the 21 who are in the study. I asked to set up a Midlands and Birmingham mtDNA study and that one is still in the thought process. We will see if they are willing to set up this one. I think it will be very interesting as a study because Birmingham is like a crossroads with people coming there from the counties around Birmingham (Midlands); coming from Wales to Birmingham to work in the cotton factories; coming to Ireland to escape the famine and coming from Scotland to work in the factories. We should find an enormous variety of mtDNA and I will ask for a paper trail back to Birmingham and the Midlands. I have to decide which counties to include although it could be that that terminology is already decided for me.
This evening we went and ordered films from the Family History Centre - I ordered Hutton Cranswick and Driffield Yorkshire and Bradfield Berkshire. My husband ordered Staven, Schonbeck and Brohm Mecklenberg Germany. We are trying to put together his Schultz family for the next reunion in September. We have the details now for his great grandfather Schultz and want to acquire the details for his great grandmother Neumann. It has been quite a chase looking for their details.
Tomorrow I will work on the Andover Parish Registers. I think I will concentrate on them for a few days and then pick up the Timberscombe Transcripts again. I want to complete the Timberscombe by the end of August. The Andover will be a much longer proposition as I have 100 fiche for Andover up to the early 1900s.
We went for a 10.5 km bike ride this morning and it was quite fresh. The parkway is closed for the next six weeks so we can partake of that great roadway every day of the week instead of just Sunday mornings when it is closed to traffic. I miss bike riding in the winter. It is very relaxing just to stroll along the Ottawa River on our bikes feeling the wind and enjoying the greenbelt.
I added Hampshire to my groups at Genealogy Wise. I need to update with information on Hampshire. I will advertise the DNA study at FT DNA as well. Acquiring people with a paper trail back to Hampshire is quite difficult actually. I only have six people of the 21 who are in the study. I asked to set up a Midlands and Birmingham mtDNA study and that one is still in the thought process. We will see if they are willing to set up this one. I think it will be very interesting as a study because Birmingham is like a crossroads with people coming there from the counties around Birmingham (Midlands); coming from Wales to Birmingham to work in the cotton factories; coming to Ireland to escape the famine and coming from Scotland to work in the factories. We should find an enormous variety of mtDNA and I will ask for a paper trail back to Birmingham and the Midlands. I have to decide which counties to include although it could be that that terminology is already decided for me.
This evening we went and ordered films from the Family History Centre - I ordered Hutton Cranswick and Driffield Yorkshire and Bradfield Berkshire. My husband ordered Staven, Schonbeck and Brohm Mecklenberg Germany. We are trying to put together his Schultz family for the next reunion in September. We have the details now for his great grandfather Schultz and want to acquire the details for his great grandmother Neumann. It has been quite a chase looking for their details.
Tomorrow I will work on the Andover Parish Registers. I think I will concentrate on them for a few days and then pick up the Timberscombe Transcripts again. I want to complete the Timberscombe by the end of August. The Andover will be a much longer proposition as I have 100 fiche for Andover up to the early 1900s.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Research Day Six - Salt Lake City
The last day of research and we were at the Library just before 8:00 a.m. ready to do research. This would be a full day from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and we were there right to closing. We were both on the International Floor (B1) and the plan was to look at the German parishes first so that I could see the my husband's families at Brohm. This was a great success story for him as he had been working on them for awhile (he has been doing genealogy for over 45 years compared to my 5 years) and just lately (after a family reunion) had concentrated his efforts working on a likely sibling and taking her information back most successfully. His great grandfather was found in the register and the relationship between the two was proven. He had worked his way further back finding their parents' baptisms and the marriage of the parents of his great great grandparents. A little more pushing today and possible baptisms for these individuals to clarify.
On the excel file we had extracted 15 microfilms for his Huguenot families who had emigrated to the New Amsterdam colony in the mid 1600s. They were Huguenots from Isle de Re (an island just opposite La Rochelle in France) and had been researched by others but we wanted to see the original records which were always quoted in research reports. This was successful for some and not so successful for others. But in total it was an excellent morning of research as it was the first time that I had spent with actual German Parish records films and French Parish record films. We went off to lunch and on returning went our separate ways with me returning to the British Floor (B2).
On my last day there, I wanted to do a little extra research that hadn't been in my excel file. Researching in Yorkshire had revealed a couple of new ancestral locations - Great Driffield being one of them and I wanted to look at the Parish Registers to see if I could move further back with this family. I am getting back quite a way now with this family and was reading the register back into the early 1700s. I had spent a couple of weeks reviewing my early English paleography to be ready for this event and found it fairly straight forward to move backwards through the records. The venture was most successful yielding the marriage of the parents in Great Driffield, the bride's baptism in Great Driffield and most fortunately the priest had noted that the groom was from Hutton Cranswick. I continued reading back into the Great Driffield Register and found the marriage of the bride's parents and her three siblings' baptisms. Two new surnames to add to my growing list of surnames for Yorkshire. I then pulled the parish register for Hutton Cranswick and found the groom's baptism there along with the marriage of his parents and his siblings' baptisms (four). I spent a while looking at these registers searching for the marriages and baptisms and at a later date will review the burial registers.
My purpose this time was to find information on my 4x great grandparents (their parent's names and marriage date) and I was back to the 6x great grandparents with this research effort. It was most interesting though the find all the details and it is a good start for our next research trip to Salt Lake City. When we were reviewing the film on our excel file we made little notes and turned the entry a different colour so that we would know what we had looked at and what we had left out. I have proven back to my 3x great grandparents on all lines (one line is a bit shaky (my mother's mother's mother's line and is based solely on family lore and census plus the registration records that I have from the GRO)). I had hoped that I might be able to clarify this line a little more but it remains somewhat elusive. My mtDNA, which is this line, is relatively uncommon and found primarily in people who trace back to Argyll Scotland and Antrim Ireland. It would appear to be Scot-Irish and certainly many many of the people who moved from Scotland to Ireland in the late 1600s and early 1700s made their way to the Midlands of England (with some coming down directly from Scotland) where I am basically brickwalled. It makes for interesting research though I must admit and I am learning more and more about Birmingham and the counties around Birmingham. Although I have a tentative line back for my great grandmother based solely on family lore, I did not look up any of these individuals yet. The traceback takes me to Shropshire and several smaller villages outside of Birmingham. I had decided before I came that I would not pursue this line without further proof of the parents of my great grandmother than I currently have.
I also spent some time on the Library computers looking at their databases - in particular FindMyPast and the Dockland Ancestors database which had yielded up some of my ancestors at long last hidden to me until I wrote to the London Metropolitan Archives requesting a search of the St Mary Magdalen Parish Registers (Surrey) for information on my family line there. Now the transcribed records were finally on line and I made a few discoveries there.
Surprisingly this had taken me the afternoon and on into the evening because I also pulled out the Poor Law Records and had a look at them. These families were principally farmers (husbandmen and yeoman) so were listed in these records as paying the poor rate. My husband came down around 7:00 p.m. to see how my afternoon had progressed and to let me know of his work. By now the library was becoming fairly deserted (Saturday evening seems to be a fairly quiet time in the library). I had been looking for a couple of books but hadn't found them but my librarian trained husband had found them quite quickly and helped me to photograph them.
One in particular was the West Hampshire Subsidy returns and I had tried to find this book on microfiche or a republication without success for a couple of years. I had heard from others online that it was a handy way to "line" up your families in this area (this proved to be very true once I arrived home and extracted my family lines). I spent the rest of the evening working with this book and a couple of others that were about my villages. A journal that had been published about Bewcastle, Cumberland proved to be most interesting with about twenty articles in total that related to my ancestors there. Another publication was Rugeley Remembered and although it did not go back into the 1700s when my families lived there, the pictures were most interesting and the stories that were related took you back in time to life in this village. Although I strongly suspect that my direct family here ran an Inn they weren't listed but I also know that some of the members were farmers as they were still farming in this area on the census in the 1800s.
We were busy until 8:45 p.m. but finally packed up and on the way back to the hotel we discussed our week at the Library. Absolutely a worthwhile trip but best to be very prepared because the number of records there can quite overwhelm you. I think I was lucky because I knew that I just wanted to be on the British Floor and so wasn't tempted to look at all the other floors. I had planned to spend some time on my husband's records but other than Saturday morning I just didn't make it. When I first arrived on B2 I felt a bit overwhelmed by the rows and rows of microfilm drawers but I had my numbers (not listed separately on this first day) on my computer and this first day I was balancing my computer reading off the films (sorted by country and then by number) that I wanted for Devon. My next time to select films I wrote the numbers down on a slip of paper and that worked very well. Amazingly I never once went to look for a film and found it not there. Since I find very few people researching my names I shouldn't have been surprised but I still was.
That evening we talked about when we would go again to Salt Lake City and we think that next Fall would be the ideal time. It will take us at least all winter to sort through all the records that we picked up. Do we have enough to go back? Yes certainly, I only scratched the surface of some of my family lines.
The next time I would assign a great grandparent line to each day and concentrate on direct family research as this time I concentrated on the county acquiring information on the particular places in which they lived finding the family members as part of this routine. I discovered that I needed to purchase some records as they have not been filmed and I have now started that process for four villages in Devon where I want to trace my ancestors back in the 1600s and the 1500s where the registers go back that far. I did find the Poor Rate Records which are helpful but now want to verify the records found on the IGI for these parishes.
I purposely left out three blocks of research films this time because I would not have been able to complete all my counties if I had decided to concentrate on them. They are already listed for next time and I can add anything new that I find for that interesting pursuit.
Obviously we are now looking at two weeks there as I have eight great grandparents :) . My husband found so much material that he was unable to follow a number of leads that he had simply because the volume of what he found for his searching was sufficient to use up all of his time. He too would find a two week stint to be most useful.
We didn't look around other than our flight in and out so didn't go to Great Salt Lake and we would also like to see the Grand Canyon while we are in that part of the country. We could break up our two weeks of study by taking a couple of days and driving down to the Grand Canyon.
Overall conclusion on our research trip gives it an excellent rating; the Palatines to America group that we went with were very well organized but left us with lots of time to research. This was "German" week at the Library so there were two hour lectures every morning which my hsuband attended. That also used up some of his time but he found them to be helpful with his research. The Orientation Lecture on Monday morning was absolutely excellent and all the people in the library were so very very helpful quickly answering any requests almost before you made them!
On the excel file we had extracted 15 microfilms for his Huguenot families who had emigrated to the New Amsterdam colony in the mid 1600s. They were Huguenots from Isle de Re (an island just opposite La Rochelle in France) and had been researched by others but we wanted to see the original records which were always quoted in research reports. This was successful for some and not so successful for others. But in total it was an excellent morning of research as it was the first time that I had spent with actual German Parish records films and French Parish record films. We went off to lunch and on returning went our separate ways with me returning to the British Floor (B2).
On my last day there, I wanted to do a little extra research that hadn't been in my excel file. Researching in Yorkshire had revealed a couple of new ancestral locations - Great Driffield being one of them and I wanted to look at the Parish Registers to see if I could move further back with this family. I am getting back quite a way now with this family and was reading the register back into the early 1700s. I had spent a couple of weeks reviewing my early English paleography to be ready for this event and found it fairly straight forward to move backwards through the records. The venture was most successful yielding the marriage of the parents in Great Driffield, the bride's baptism in Great Driffield and most fortunately the priest had noted that the groom was from Hutton Cranswick. I continued reading back into the Great Driffield Register and found the marriage of the bride's parents and her three siblings' baptisms. Two new surnames to add to my growing list of surnames for Yorkshire. I then pulled the parish register for Hutton Cranswick and found the groom's baptism there along with the marriage of his parents and his siblings' baptisms (four). I spent a while looking at these registers searching for the marriages and baptisms and at a later date will review the burial registers.
My purpose this time was to find information on my 4x great grandparents (their parent's names and marriage date) and I was back to the 6x great grandparents with this research effort. It was most interesting though the find all the details and it is a good start for our next research trip to Salt Lake City. When we were reviewing the film on our excel file we made little notes and turned the entry a different colour so that we would know what we had looked at and what we had left out. I have proven back to my 3x great grandparents on all lines (one line is a bit shaky (my mother's mother's mother's line and is based solely on family lore and census plus the registration records that I have from the GRO)). I had hoped that I might be able to clarify this line a little more but it remains somewhat elusive. My mtDNA, which is this line, is relatively uncommon and found primarily in people who trace back to Argyll Scotland and Antrim Ireland. It would appear to be Scot-Irish and certainly many many of the people who moved from Scotland to Ireland in the late 1600s and early 1700s made their way to the Midlands of England (with some coming down directly from Scotland) where I am basically brickwalled. It makes for interesting research though I must admit and I am learning more and more about Birmingham and the counties around Birmingham. Although I have a tentative line back for my great grandmother based solely on family lore, I did not look up any of these individuals yet. The traceback takes me to Shropshire and several smaller villages outside of Birmingham. I had decided before I came that I would not pursue this line without further proof of the parents of my great grandmother than I currently have.
I also spent some time on the Library computers looking at their databases - in particular FindMyPast and the Dockland Ancestors database which had yielded up some of my ancestors at long last hidden to me until I wrote to the London Metropolitan Archives requesting a search of the St Mary Magdalen Parish Registers (Surrey) for information on my family line there. Now the transcribed records were finally on line and I made a few discoveries there.
Surprisingly this had taken me the afternoon and on into the evening because I also pulled out the Poor Law Records and had a look at them. These families were principally farmers (husbandmen and yeoman) so were listed in these records as paying the poor rate. My husband came down around 7:00 p.m. to see how my afternoon had progressed and to let me know of his work. By now the library was becoming fairly deserted (Saturday evening seems to be a fairly quiet time in the library). I had been looking for a couple of books but hadn't found them but my librarian trained husband had found them quite quickly and helped me to photograph them.
One in particular was the West Hampshire Subsidy returns and I had tried to find this book on microfiche or a republication without success for a couple of years. I had heard from others online that it was a handy way to "line" up your families in this area (this proved to be very true once I arrived home and extracted my family lines). I spent the rest of the evening working with this book and a couple of others that were about my villages. A journal that had been published about Bewcastle, Cumberland proved to be most interesting with about twenty articles in total that related to my ancestors there. Another publication was Rugeley Remembered and although it did not go back into the 1700s when my families lived there, the pictures were most interesting and the stories that were related took you back in time to life in this village. Although I strongly suspect that my direct family here ran an Inn they weren't listed but I also know that some of the members were farmers as they were still farming in this area on the census in the 1800s.
We were busy until 8:45 p.m. but finally packed up and on the way back to the hotel we discussed our week at the Library. Absolutely a worthwhile trip but best to be very prepared because the number of records there can quite overwhelm you. I think I was lucky because I knew that I just wanted to be on the British Floor and so wasn't tempted to look at all the other floors. I had planned to spend some time on my husband's records but other than Saturday morning I just didn't make it. When I first arrived on B2 I felt a bit overwhelmed by the rows and rows of microfilm drawers but I had my numbers (not listed separately on this first day) on my computer and this first day I was balancing my computer reading off the films (sorted by country and then by number) that I wanted for Devon. My next time to select films I wrote the numbers down on a slip of paper and that worked very well. Amazingly I never once went to look for a film and found it not there. Since I find very few people researching my names I shouldn't have been surprised but I still was.
That evening we talked about when we would go again to Salt Lake City and we think that next Fall would be the ideal time. It will take us at least all winter to sort through all the records that we picked up. Do we have enough to go back? Yes certainly, I only scratched the surface of some of my family lines.
The next time I would assign a great grandparent line to each day and concentrate on direct family research as this time I concentrated on the county acquiring information on the particular places in which they lived finding the family members as part of this routine. I discovered that I needed to purchase some records as they have not been filmed and I have now started that process for four villages in Devon where I want to trace my ancestors back in the 1600s and the 1500s where the registers go back that far. I did find the Poor Rate Records which are helpful but now want to verify the records found on the IGI for these parishes.
I purposely left out three blocks of research films this time because I would not have been able to complete all my counties if I had decided to concentrate on them. They are already listed for next time and I can add anything new that I find for that interesting pursuit.
Obviously we are now looking at two weeks there as I have eight great grandparents :) . My husband found so much material that he was unable to follow a number of leads that he had simply because the volume of what he found for his searching was sufficient to use up all of his time. He too would find a two week stint to be most useful.
We didn't look around other than our flight in and out so didn't go to Great Salt Lake and we would also like to see the Grand Canyon while we are in that part of the country. We could break up our two weeks of study by taking a couple of days and driving down to the Grand Canyon.
Overall conclusion on our research trip gives it an excellent rating; the Palatines to America group that we went with were very well organized but left us with lots of time to research. This was "German" week at the Library so there were two hour lectures every morning which my hsuband attended. That also used up some of his time but he found them to be helpful with his research. The Orientation Lecture on Monday morning was absolutely excellent and all the people in the library were so very very helpful quickly answering any requests almost before you made them!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Research Day Three - Salt Lake City
Again we were up early and had our breakfast but today we decided to use the exercise room at the hotel since we were very early. A twenty minute workout and we were ready for breakfast and another day of research. Today we also planned to take a slightly longer noon break and walk up to Sam Weller's book store about 1.5 kilometres away from the Library area.
Again we were at the Library for 8:00 a.m. and actually a bit earlier and there is a long line of people waiting at the Library to get their preferred microfilm reader. I think that the English Record floor is perhaps not quite as busy as some of the others but I still haven't visited any other floor yet. I must try to do that before the week is done!
I had my lists of Wiltshire films at hand and quickly found them and set myself up for a couple of hours of viewing. I had a goal this morning and that was to find the maiden name of the wife of my 3x great grandfather. This was the only 3x great grandparent that I was missing and the records for Enford did not reveal a marriage for them there. There was a marriage however that was quite interesting at Woodford and I needed to determine if this one was a possibility. I found it right away and the priest had recorded that they were of the parish. Woodford is not too far away from Enford but still I wanted to look at the parish records earlier in Woodford to see if they were actually "of the parish." I worked my way backwards checking for the two pertinent surnames of this couple and found that the wife's family name did appear fairly frequently in the register but no sign of the husband's surname although a couple of other marriages where the surname was listed from nearby parishes. I pulled these films as well to have a look as my family at Enford appear there in 1741 with no idea of where they were before. I continued to look at the parish records for the small villages around Enford and collected lists of the surnames. I also found Poor Law Records which I took pictures of to help me later with evidencing this particular event.
As I looked at the other parishes I also wanted to find the likely marriage of my 4x great grandfather at Tilshead and the priest, wonderful man, had recorded that the groom was from Enford and with his unusual forename my original thought that this was the marriage was clearly proven. I continued to collect information from this parish record as the bride had been born at Tilshead, her parents married at Tilshead and her only brother also born there as I discovered. Her mother's burial record had appeared as the family name is somewhat unusual. However these parents were not born at Tilshead but the priest had referenced the groom of their marriage as being from another parish which I will follow up at our next visit to the Family History Library. I was being somewhat strict with myself not to go beyond the 5x great grandparents in my reviewing as I wanted to look at every one of my ancestor's counties in my week available.
I had one other item to look at in Wiltshire and that was the father of one of my 2x great grandmothers (my grandfather's father's mother). I have little information for him other than his marriage in Andover where he signed the registration with such a very neat signature (I have the fiche) and then his death record where the priest writes that he was just 44 years old but no other details (my 2x great grandmother was just four years old and his last child). I had a baptism at Collingbourne Kingston which was interesting because he fortunately had a very interesting forename. However, the parish records and the Poor Law Records at a quick review were not helpful but I filmed them to look at them again later.
I just finished in time for my husband to arrive and us to go for lunch and our walk to the bookstore. Being at 4300 feet above sea level is invigorating and the air quite fresh in Salt Lake City. The sun seems very very strong there and we had absolutely beautiful weather. The walk was quite lovely and we spent about half of an hour in the bookstore.
We were back in the library by 2:30 p.m. and preparing once again to work until 9:00 p.m. closing time. I now pulled out the films for Cumberland that I wanted to look at. My family there lived at Bewcastle. They sometimes married people from Lanercost but for the most part all of their records are in the Bewcastle Parish Records. I have a copy of that transcription but wanted to see what else I might be able to find for my families there. My 3x great grandparents had the same surname and it was already determined that they were second cousins once removed. I wanted to photograph the Protestation Returns and did that for my parishes although I had already purchased a transcription from the Record Office in Cumberland but wanted to look at the original. I also wanted to look at the Court Records there but again I have a number of records for this area and was able to move on to Yorkshire.
Now here, I am rather lucky. My fourth cousin has written up this family line and did an excellent job. What I wanted to prove was that my 3x great grandfather who had been baptized at Holme-on-the-Wolds was the son of the couple who had married at Cherry Burton. Interestingly this family lived at Etton and the review of the burial registers for Cherry Burton revealed that this family always buried at Cherry Burton including the eldest brother of my 2x great grandfather. As I searched back through the Cherry Burton registers I gathered all the entries for this family and there is only one family there by that surname and so they all appear to be related. I copied the Poor Law Records as well for these parishes. I shall see if the evidence is clear enough to determine that indeed the family at Etton is preceded by the family at Cherry Burton. Along with that I wanted to look at the records for my 2x great grandmother (wife of the individual baptized at Holme-on-the-Wolds). Their marriage had been at Lund and the register recorded the bride as of Lund. This was a lucky review of the records as I found her parents marriage also at Lund where the priest recorded the groom as being born at Kilnwick and the bride at Great Driffield. I permitted myself the luxury of looking at these two sets of records and was rewarded magnificently. I shall pursue these registers further back another time but needless to say my family tree expanded quickly in that short review of the records.
Certainly my Wednesday had been quite successful as I had managed to more or less catch up to my schedule.
Closing time came and we again opted to have dinner at the hotel with just soup and sandwich. We downloaded our images and backed them up on a spare portable drive that we brought with us. Everything prepared for tomorrow as we made our paper lists of films to pull first thing on our arrival. We were at the midway point in our research week. Tomorrow I would look at my biggest puzzle - my mother's mother's family line.
Again we were at the Library for 8:00 a.m. and actually a bit earlier and there is a long line of people waiting at the Library to get their preferred microfilm reader. I think that the English Record floor is perhaps not quite as busy as some of the others but I still haven't visited any other floor yet. I must try to do that before the week is done!
I had my lists of Wiltshire films at hand and quickly found them and set myself up for a couple of hours of viewing. I had a goal this morning and that was to find the maiden name of the wife of my 3x great grandfather. This was the only 3x great grandparent that I was missing and the records for Enford did not reveal a marriage for them there. There was a marriage however that was quite interesting at Woodford and I needed to determine if this one was a possibility. I found it right away and the priest had recorded that they were of the parish. Woodford is not too far away from Enford but still I wanted to look at the parish records earlier in Woodford to see if they were actually "of the parish." I worked my way backwards checking for the two pertinent surnames of this couple and found that the wife's family name did appear fairly frequently in the register but no sign of the husband's surname although a couple of other marriages where the surname was listed from nearby parishes. I pulled these films as well to have a look as my family at Enford appear there in 1741 with no idea of where they were before. I continued to look at the parish records for the small villages around Enford and collected lists of the surnames. I also found Poor Law Records which I took pictures of to help me later with evidencing this particular event.
As I looked at the other parishes I also wanted to find the likely marriage of my 4x great grandfather at Tilshead and the priest, wonderful man, had recorded that the groom was from Enford and with his unusual forename my original thought that this was the marriage was clearly proven. I continued to collect information from this parish record as the bride had been born at Tilshead, her parents married at Tilshead and her only brother also born there as I discovered. Her mother's burial record had appeared as the family name is somewhat unusual. However these parents were not born at Tilshead but the priest had referenced the groom of their marriage as being from another parish which I will follow up at our next visit to the Family History Library. I was being somewhat strict with myself not to go beyond the 5x great grandparents in my reviewing as I wanted to look at every one of my ancestor's counties in my week available.
I had one other item to look at in Wiltshire and that was the father of one of my 2x great grandmothers (my grandfather's father's mother). I have little information for him other than his marriage in Andover where he signed the registration with such a very neat signature (I have the fiche) and then his death record where the priest writes that he was just 44 years old but no other details (my 2x great grandmother was just four years old and his last child). I had a baptism at Collingbourne Kingston which was interesting because he fortunately had a very interesting forename. However, the parish records and the Poor Law Records at a quick review were not helpful but I filmed them to look at them again later.
I just finished in time for my husband to arrive and us to go for lunch and our walk to the bookstore. Being at 4300 feet above sea level is invigorating and the air quite fresh in Salt Lake City. The sun seems very very strong there and we had absolutely beautiful weather. The walk was quite lovely and we spent about half of an hour in the bookstore.
We were back in the library by 2:30 p.m. and preparing once again to work until 9:00 p.m. closing time. I now pulled out the films for Cumberland that I wanted to look at. My family there lived at Bewcastle. They sometimes married people from Lanercost but for the most part all of their records are in the Bewcastle Parish Records. I have a copy of that transcription but wanted to see what else I might be able to find for my families there. My 3x great grandparents had the same surname and it was already determined that they were second cousins once removed. I wanted to photograph the Protestation Returns and did that for my parishes although I had already purchased a transcription from the Record Office in Cumberland but wanted to look at the original. I also wanted to look at the Court Records there but again I have a number of records for this area and was able to move on to Yorkshire.
Now here, I am rather lucky. My fourth cousin has written up this family line and did an excellent job. What I wanted to prove was that my 3x great grandfather who had been baptized at Holme-on-the-Wolds was the son of the couple who had married at Cherry Burton. Interestingly this family lived at Etton and the review of the burial registers for Cherry Burton revealed that this family always buried at Cherry Burton including the eldest brother of my 2x great grandfather. As I searched back through the Cherry Burton registers I gathered all the entries for this family and there is only one family there by that surname and so they all appear to be related. I copied the Poor Law Records as well for these parishes. I shall see if the evidence is clear enough to determine that indeed the family at Etton is preceded by the family at Cherry Burton. Along with that I wanted to look at the records for my 2x great grandmother (wife of the individual baptized at Holme-on-the-Wolds). Their marriage had been at Lund and the register recorded the bride as of Lund. This was a lucky review of the records as I found her parents marriage also at Lund where the priest recorded the groom as being born at Kilnwick and the bride at Great Driffield. I permitted myself the luxury of looking at these two sets of records and was rewarded magnificently. I shall pursue these registers further back another time but needless to say my family tree expanded quickly in that short review of the records.
Certainly my Wednesday had been quite successful as I had managed to more or less catch up to my schedule.
Closing time came and we again opted to have dinner at the hotel with just soup and sandwich. We downloaded our images and backed them up on a spare portable drive that we brought with us. Everything prepared for tomorrow as we made our paper lists of films to pull first thing on our arrival. We were at the midway point in our research week. Tomorrow I would look at my biggest puzzle - my mother's mother's family line.
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