LucyAnn Curling gave us an interesting, illustrated talk entitled, ‘24 Archives later; following the paper trail my ancestors left’. Her talk was about three generations of her Curling ancestors which she is putting into a book. She hoped that her experience with searching archives might give others food for thought.
The early Curlings came from Chilton, a hamlet in St. Laurence-in-Thanet having been in possession of a farm since at least the 1400s. Richard Curlyng’s will of 1463, in Latin, leaving land and property to his three sons ‘in perpetuity’ was pretty accurate as it remained in the family, over 400 years, until 1874!
Generally, when people start to research their family tree, they start from the present and work back. In LucyAnn’s case, all four of her grandparents had died before she was born and by the time she was really interested, both her parents were dead too. Luckily her father had previously given her a leather-bound manuscript volume, which she christened the ‘Mildenhall Document’ and this provided many links to past generations. The book was produced by subscription for LucyAnn’s great great grandfather, Edward Curling, who was a Land Agent, between 1832 and 1848, to Sir Henry Bunbury on his Mildenhall Estate in Suffolk. On one blank page at the back, an ancestor had listed some birthdates. The document had passed from her grandfather’s half-sister Tootie (Lucy Dorothy) to her father, and this was LucyAnn’s route to her past.
Searches on Google led LucyAnn to the National Archives and the will of her 4x great grandfather Thomas Curling; sometimes we take these amazing resources for granted but being able to download records and enlarge them on screen is a modern miracle. LucyAnn offered other advice like ‘read around your subject’, ‘think laterally about your ancestors’ employment’ and, in fact, ‘think laterally about everything’. Resources used included the British Library, Canterbury Cathedral Archives, College of Arms, various County Record offices, the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries amongst many others.
There seem to be two types of family historians – ones who tunnel back in time to find the earliest ancestor they can and others who look laterally and work sideways along one generation. Both are equally valid and can lead to very interesting findings about your close or more distant relatives. LucyAnn’s talk covered such wide-ranging topics, geographical areas and so many generations that it is difficult to do it justice in this review. I’m sure that we will all look forward to the publication of her books!
Report by Lesley J Smith
Next Meeting
Tuesday 10th March 2020
Peter Ewart
‘Parish Registers: problems, pitfalls and perplexities.’