Baldock/Fagg/Small Family History

Last week I paid another visit to Canterbury Cathedral Archives, and had more success. I finally found the baptism (and parentage) of my unusually-named Bean HATTON (at Whitfield, near Dover), found another couple of siblings in my Eastry FAGG line (one of whom, after a quick census check, may have been a proprietor of the Five Bells public House in the village), more DAWKINS, and a whole bunch more BALDOCK line at Westwell (connection as yet unknown).
These finds enable me to take my HATTON line back another generation, further my FAGG connections, and hopefully provide more BALDOCK tools on the road to linking those multiple lines!

Last week I managed to get to the Centre for Kentish Studies archive at Maidstone. I located a couple of (very old) wills, which I duplicated and brought away for deciphering (anyone up for transcribing them for me?). I also continued with some Pluckley, Charing and Lenham Parish Record research.

The CKS has books and resources which are not available at Canterbury Cathedral Archives, namely previously undertaken and bound books of parish record transcriptions. This was invaluable to me, having found an early book of transcriptions of records dating back to the 1500s which may not otherwise have been determinable. Well worth the visit!  Whether I can now better determine relationships of these early ancestors, only time will tell!

In addition I ordered (and very quickly received; just before the postal strike here in the UK!) some certificates, including a marriage certificate for one of my mother’s aunts (to a BALDOCK, no less!) and her birth certificate, which should allow more progress in other areas.

Information Overload !!

Following the discovery of a BALDOCK pedigree back to c1600 on the International Genealogical Index (IGI), I believe I have now confirmed the authenticity of the data. This was achieved on my visit to Canterbury Cathedral Archives last Thursday to inspect copies of parish records and bishop transcripts. It has also filled in the names of some spouses.

This now takes the tree back eleven generations!!

In researching the data, it also brought to light a few surname variations – BOLDOCK, BOLDUCKE, BALDOCKE, BALDUCKE … Entering some of these in ancestry.co.uk has already raised some new avenues for investigation.

The next step will probably be to focus on these parishes to determine children & siblings.

A tree update with data additions determined from this visit will be announced soon …