Anniversary

Looking for info on Hastings & St Leonards past times. Post here!
cbe
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Anniversary

Postby cbe » Mon Jan 06, 2020 7:11 pm

On this day, in 1066, Harold Godwinson was crowned King of England following the death of Edward the Confessor

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Richard
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Re: Anniversary

Postby Richard » Wed Jan 08, 2020 5:30 am

Not exactly an anniversary but I often chat with a man in the old town who claims he can show a direct lineage back to people who came over with William the Conqueror.
There may well be others! Makes you think...

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Derek Jempson
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Re: Anniversary

Postby Derek Jempson » Wed Jan 08, 2020 6:34 am

Going off topic a litle, I have often thought that if you could trace your ancestors back far enough, at some point, the number of them would equal the world's population at that time, so you would be descended from all of them. There has to be flaw in that logic though.

cbe
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Re: Anniversary

Postby cbe » Wed Jan 08, 2020 9:37 am

I'm sure that there will be some in Hastings with a direct link to the Norman invaders,
the problem is proving it. I am very interested in genealogy and I know very well how
difficult it gets going back to the 1700s never mind a thousand years ago.
This can be done fairly easily with Royalty with everything being written down and recorded throughout time, but for us lesser mortals a great deal of guesswork gets involved when you get to a certain level. As soon as you start guessing then your 'tree' becomes useless.

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Richard
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Re: Anniversary

Postby Richard » Wed Jan 08, 2020 12:08 pm

If we assume 30 years between generations and Derek for instances traces his lineage backwards from 2 parents who had four parents in total, who had 8 parents, and so on and do this 30 times, we end up with more potential ancestors than the world's population alive today.
This is called the genealogical paradox.

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Richard
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Re: Anniversary

Postby Richard » Wed Jan 08, 2020 12:30 pm

Re- the difficulty in tracing lineage, the Baronial lists found in The Baronial Order of Magna Charta (BOMC) have been used in some cases.
I am not sure how ordinary people can be traced backward beyond a certain point as Parish records only go back to 1538 when Cromwell, at the Court of Henry VIII, ordered that every wedding, baptism and burial should be recorded; many of these records have been destroyed or damaged through time. To search these you would need a map of ancient Parish boundaries and know which Parish your intended ancestor lived within or was recorded at.
The census and official records of birth, marriage and death do not go back further than 1837.

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Derek Jempson
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Re: Anniversary

Postby Derek Jempson » Wed Jan 08, 2020 1:01 pm

One explanation of the genealogical paradox is that if it were possible to trace all ancestors for perhaps a thousand years past, many of them would be duplicated in multiple lines of descent. So, theoretically, you could have millions of ancestors, but the number of actual individuals would be much smaller.

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Richard
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Re: Anniversary

Postby Richard » Wed Jan 08, 2020 1:55 pm

Quite trues Derek, plus the people who had no children, let you do the maths! :)

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ColinL
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Re: Anniversary

Postby ColinL » Wed Jan 08, 2020 8:07 pm

Prior to the Parish Registers, ordinary citizens were very unlikely to be listed anywhere except in legal records of others for example, a freehold document might contain references to the names of leaseholders or servants or perhaps suppliers of services. or covenants. e.g. 'the fences of xxxxx manor were erected by Robert of Salehurst in 1465' and shall be replaced every xxx years. Of course that does not tell us, which Robert of Salehurst! A person might also be listed in a court summons. It is amazing the range & extent of records that ESRO holds

A plug for the Sussex Family History Group who are currently transcribing old Wills and need volunteers to help. Contact: willstore@sfhg.org.uk Whilst some documents are in beautiful script others can be difficult to read but there are various lettering examples on line to help. The spelling of surnames also varies widely. In one family Will I transcribed the surname was spelt four different ways in a document of five pages. No wonder people get confused! I usually like to get two different sources of a person before adding them in the tree otherwise as has been said it is pure guesswork. Even then it is not certain.

As for ancestors linked to the Conquest, a reasonable starting point is a surname that sounds of French or Norman origin, albeit Anglicised over centuries. Eg Leferve was a local name of a lad at school, whose name may have been Le Fevre which is a current name. Of course the emigration may have been later than 1066. Local historic houses often have guide books naming some owners going back many centuries.

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Richard
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Re: Anniversary

Postby Richard » Thu Jan 09, 2020 3:30 pm

My family tree has assorted bits of data back to 1661.
A useful idea is to write out a specification of locations listed in columns on a sheet or two of lined paper (with keys on the actual family tree) to reference numbered rows against:
Parish/Churches (column A), Townships/Churches (column B), Localities (column C).
Also a key for born */baptised ~/married M./died +/buried # showing also where recorded from and ending up at, according to the above.
And c. standing as a key for approximately.

Then, on the family tree an entry of Abraham with a string of data below showing ~26 APR 1702 from B1 at A1 might reference column entries that point to exact locality and parish/church. It could read thus: 'Abraham baptised 26 APR 1850 from (residing at) St. Leonards (baptised at) Christ Church.'

The same Abraham with #20 NOV 1920 from C2 at B4 (below the baptism data) means died from (formerly residing at) Silverhill and buried at St. Luke's Church.
This saves clogging up the 'tree' with too much writing.
Occupation, if know, can be inserted amongst the data somewhere.

Then, all the other information found can be put into a pamphlet, possibly with chapters, with relevant photo's or line drawings, of the churches/chapels, etcetera.

Anyone have other ideas or do it entirely differently?


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