LAST WORDS
At the beginning of this work it was laid down as a golden rule that
pedigree-hunters should always, where practicable, _verify their
information_.
This is so important that it may be well to reiterate it at the close.
It is often easy to get information second-hand; but to make it his own
the searcher may have to exercise a good deal of patience and research,
and he must sometimes be prepared for disappointment.
Still, the result will more than repay him, for thus only can his work
be sound and satisfactory, and he has a wide field in which to search
for the verification of traditional details.
Most of the probably most helpful MSS. and publications have been
mentioned in this little book; but if the pedigree-hunter is roaming
among the documents in the Record Office or the British Museum, or
among the contents of a great library, let him look through the
various indexes and try to find out something new for himself. There
is a joy in discovery, even if it is only that of an unknown document,
and it is impossible to enumerate every work which might help all
cases, while new ones, of course, are constantly being added.
If the genealogist is not a student of Heraldry, he will find it both
interesting and probably advantageous to form some slight acquaintance
with this fascinating subject. The question of the Arms of a Family are
of more importance than its Crest and Motto, and through the knowledge
of what arms are, and have been, borne by it, the identification of
some of its members may be established.
But Heraldry is a wide subject, and many use arms and crests to which
they are quite unable to prove their right.
On the other hand, many who now occupy a humble station are lineal
descendants in the male line of ancient and historic families.
And, perhaps, our pedigree-hunter may be anxious to prove himself to be
of noble or even royal descent.
Some years ago an advertiser offered, for a certain fee, to prove to
his clients that they were descended from kings of England. Naturally
_Truth_ the argus-eyed, spied this advertisement, and denounced the
seeming imposture. But when matters were explained to him, _Truth’s_
opinion somewhat altered.
The point in question is an interesting one. Every one, we may say, has
had two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, and so on
_ad infinitum_.
If the reader calculates the number of generations required to take
him back to the Norman Conquest, allowing thirty years for each (there
would be approximately twenty-eight), this will give him over a hundred
million ancestors alive in 1066!
This number will in reality be much lessened by the fact of
inter-marriages and relationships (so that the same individuals may
be ancestors on both the paternal and maternal sides), also by other
causes. But the fact remains that there was only a population of a few
millions in Great Britain at the time of the Norman Conquest, and our
ancestors at that date apparently consisted of a much greater number,
so that the probabilities are that almost every Englishman of either
Saxon or Norman ancestry must have been descended from every one living
in England at the time of the Norman Conquest, including the Conqueror
himself.
Of course, this works out also in another way, and makes us all
descended from the serfs as well as from the lords of the soil. Though
the matter may not be capable of demonstration, it is an interesting
point to consider.
A genealogist, however, is not satisfied with a pedigree which cannot
be proved, and if our pedigree-hunter thinks, either from the high
qualities with which he is endowed, or from the knowledge of noble
ancestors having adorned his family tree, that kings must have been
undoubtedly numbered among _his_ forbears--well, of course, he must
make good his claim, perhaps even to royal descent in the male line.
This probably will not be a matter which can be accomplished, but
he may possibly be able to prove that he is descended from English
kings--though not in the direct male line--provided that some of his
ancestors were of high social position.
As a matter of fact, the majority of our greater and lesser nobility
are of royal descent, and if our pedigree-hunter’s ancestors
were allied to such families, the descent in his case should be
comparatively easy to prove.
To help towards this, he might consult Burke’s _Royal Descents_ and
Foster’s _Royal Lineages_; but if his family cannot claim the honour
of royal ancestry, the “kind hearts” which are “more than coronets”
may have been his proud heritage through a long line of forbears. And,
taking into consideration the millions of ancestors which each noble
lord has had, there cannot fail to have been some of low degree from
whom _he_ has been descended in bygone centuries.
Some families rise in the social scale, others descend, and the
genealogist may come across numerous instances of the vicissitudes of
families.
Heirs to the highest of what were regarded as extinct titles have been
found occupying the very lowest positions in the social scale. Who
knows whether some unexpected stroke of fortune may not come across
our genealogical searcher. In fact, there are few limits as to the
possibilities which may arise in pedigree-hunting.
INDEX
Administration Bonds, 20
Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, 40, 41
_Ancestor, The_, 18
_Ancestral Tablets_, 8, 24
_Angliæ Notitia_, 48
_Annual Register_, 17
Antiquaries, Society of, 16
Army, The, 23, 48
Assize Rolls, 20
Attorneys, 22, 23
Baronetage, 6
Baronets, Official Roll of, 6
Barristers, 22
Betham MSS., 36
Bodleian Library, 44
British Archæological Association, 16
---- Museum Library, 31, 56
Burke’s _Commoners_ and _Landed Gentry_, 7, 16
---- _Royal Descents_, 62
Caius College Library, Cambridge, 44
_Calendars of State Papers_, 14
Camden Society, 16
Cause Papers, 33
Census Returns, 21
Chancery Proceedings, 19, 29, 33, 34, 41, 54
Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, 37
Christian Names, 12
Church and Clergy, 48, 51
Clan System, 41
College of Arms, Dublin, 36, 57
College of Arms, London, 29, 35, 57
College of Physicians, Roll of, 22
_Commoners_, Burke’s, 7, 16
County Histories, 51
---- Records, 43
Courts, Canterbury, Prerogative, 9, 30
Courts, Diocesan and Prerogative, 9, 11
Courts, Peculiar, 9
Cromwell’s Decree, 43
Crown Writs, 38
Decipher Old Documents, How to, 55
Deciphering Old Documents, 54, 55
Deeds, 20, 35
Dental Practitioners, 22
Deputy Keeper’s Reports, 14, 37, 41
Derivation of Word Pedigree, 1
Diocesan Registers, 22, 41, 42, 43, 45
Directories, 17
District Registries, 45, 46
Dublin, College of Arms, 36
---- Irish Record Office, 9, 19, 33, 34, 57
---- Registry of Deeds, 35, 57
---- Trinity College, 35
---- ---- Library, 36
Edinburgh, Advocates’ Library, 40
---- Old Register House, 38, 39
Exchequer Records, 19, 29, 33, 34, 39, 54
Family Histories, 6, 7, 13
---- Trees, 24, 25, 26
Feet of Fines, 29
Foster’s _Collectanea_, 15
Freemen, 22
Genealogical Handbooks, 51
_Genealogist, The_, 18
_Genealogist’s Guide_, 14
Genealogy, Usefulness of, 1, 2
---- Golden Rule in, 5, 7
_Gentleman’s Magazine_, 18
_Gentry, Landed_, 7, 16
_Guide to the Record Office_, 29
Guildhall Library, 32
Harleian Society Publications, 16
Hearth Money Rolls, 21
Heraldic Records, 21
Heraldry, 60
Heralds’ College, 29, 57
---- Office Library, 32
---- _Visitation_, 15
_Hibernian Magazine_, 18
Historical Manuscript Commission, 14
---- Register, 17
Huguenot Society, 17
Index Society, 16
Indexes, 6, 10
Information should be Verified, 5, 6
Inquisitions, 34
Institution Books, 22
_International Genealogical Directory_, 51
_Irish Pedigree_, O’Hart’s, 16
---- Society for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead, 37
Lancashire and Cheshire Records, 15, 49
_Landed Gentry_, 7, 16
Libraries--
Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, 40, 41
British Museum, 31
Bodleian, 44
Caius College, Cambridge, 44
Guildhall, 32
Heralds’ Office, 32
Lambeth, 31
National Library, Dublin, 36
Trinity College, 36
University Library, Cambridge, 44
Literary Permits, 57, 58
Local Magazines, 48, 49
---- Societies, 48, 49
_London Gazette_, 48
---- _Magazine_, 18
Lyon’s Office, 40
Magazines, 17, 18
Marriage Licence Bonds, 20, 33
---- Licences, 20, 43
Memorials of the Dead, 37
Middlesex Registry, 31
_Miscellanea Genealogica_, 16
Monastic Registers, 21, 22
Municipal Bodies, 22
---- Documents, 43
Muster Rolls, 23
National Library, Dublin, 36
Navy, The, 23, 50
---- Lists, 23, 50
Newspapers, 17, 36
_Notes and Queries_, 18
Office of Arms, Dublin, 29
---- London, 36
---- Scotland, 39, 57
Officers of Clerks of the Peace, 44
---- of Town Clerks, 44
O’Hart’s _Irish Pedigrees_, 16
Old Register House, Edinburgh, 38, 57
Pale, English, 11
Parish Registers, 4, 5, 37, 41, 42, 57
Parliament, 49
Parliamentary Register, 50
---- Surveys, 29
Peerages, 6, 13, 16
Pipe Roll Publications, 17
Pre’s _Occurrences_, 16
Privy Council Records, 39
Provinces, The, 42
Record Office, 9, 19, 23, 27, 28, 29, 53, 56
---- Office, Irish, 9, 19, 33, 34
---- Society, 16
Records, Lancashire and Cheshire, 15, 49
_Records, Privy Council_, 39
_Records of Sasine_, 39
Register Bills, 42
_Register of the Great Seal_, 38
Registrar-General’s Office, 30
Registry of Deeds, Dublin, 35, 57
Reports, Deputy Keeper, 14, 37, 41
Rolls, Patent and Close, 29
Royal Archæological Institute, 16
---- Descents and Lineages, 62
Royalist Composition Papers, 29
Sasine Records, 39, 40
Schools, 22
Scottish Genealogy, 38, 39, 40, 41
---- Local Records, 40
---- Universities, 40
Sim’s Index to Pedigrees, 15, 23
Somerset House, 9, 10, 30, 46
_State Papers_, 29
Statute 4, Edward IV., 11
Surgeons, Royal College of, 22
Surnames, 4, 5, 11
Tombstones, 4, 37
Trinity College, Dublin, 35
_Truth_, 60, 61
Universities, 23, 40, 58
University College Library, 44
Verify Information, 5, 6, 59
Victoria County Histories, 51
Wales, 41, 42
Walford’s _County Families_, 16
Wills, 8, 30, 31, 33, 42, 45, 47, 57
_Printed by_ MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED, _Edinburgh_
[Illustration: Publisher mark]
Transcriber’s Notes
Page 3: “To do this the more efficiently” changed to “To do this more
efficiently”
Page 12: “on the right tack” changed to “on the right track”
Page 16: “Royal Archælogical Institute” changed to “Royal Archæological
Institute”
Page 31: “in a later chaptor” changed to “in a later chapter”
Page 58: “seachers are often” changed to “searchers are often”
In the Index, “_Anglæ Notitia_” changed to “_Angliæ Notitia_”.