Not perhaps how low, but how far back?
Researching family history is more and more difficult the further back in time you go – within living memory it’s relatively easy – just ask your relatives! Though as I’ve found out, sometimes memories are less accurate than they seem, so documentary evidence is always good even here. Once you get past your grandparents, the census forms give you lots of information, albeit only once every ten years, so if your family moved frequently, there may still be gaps.
But once you hit 1845, the very first census, you have to rely on parish records and any other documents that may (or more likely may not) have been preserved. If your family were well to do or better still related to the nobility there are more likely to be records, but my family seem to be solidly agricultural labourers in East Anglia going way back…..chances are they couldn’t read or write, so not likely they wrote down their family history for me!
But one line of the family seems to have been traced back to the 14th Century. I have borrowed some data from other Ancestry users (who are DNA linked to me so I have a good idea it’s the right family line) but also have looked for parish records where possible and I believe the Aldous line of the family tree to be as well evidenced as it can be.
So where does this line go from and to?
My mother Pamela Warnes; her mother Rose Betts; her mother Eliza Betts and her father Damiel Betts are all within living memory and clearly documented.
Daniel Betts’ father William is there on the census as are William’s parents John Betts and Elizabeth Aldous – hence the Aldous connection. From Elizabeth the paternal line goes back through Robert, Richard, William, Stephen, Stephen, Stephen, William, Robert, William, Peter, Roger and Peter Aldous who was born in 1362 in Fressingfield, Suffolk – about 3 miles from Mendham where my mother was born almost 600 years later….
Peter Aldous is therefore my 16th great grandfather (and the 18th great grandfather of Etta and Ted, my own beautiful grandchildren). But it is his son Roger who fascinated me, and I sought advice from a good friend who is the fount of all knowledge about medieval warfare…
For Roger, who was born in 1400 in Fressingfield, is recorded as Roger de Aldous – yet not one of the other members of the family have a ‘de’ in them – his father was Pater Aldous; his own son is recorded as Peter Aldous. So why the ‘de’? Is there some sort of French connection? I have not traced his mother, but his wife’s name was Elizabeth and their children Peter and Frederick, neither of which sound French….
The clue came from where they lived – for Fressingfield is the next village along from Wingfield which in the 14th Century was the seat of the Earls of Suffolk, the de la Pole family – they themselves have an interesting pedigree including a marriage to Chaucer’s daughter. So in 1400, Peter Aldous would have been living (and probably farming) on land owned by the Earl of Suffolk, who at that time was Michael de la Pole – we know he was continuing the building work at Wingfield started by his father who had married Elizabeth Wingfield.
In 1415, when my ancestor was 15 years old, we also know that Michael de la Pole, along with at least two of his sons, commanding 20 men-at-arms and 60 archers, accompanied King Henry V to France on the military campaign that peaked with the Battle of Agincourt. Michael de la Pole never got that far – he died of dysentery at Harfleur, to be succeeded by his eldest son, also Michael. Seven weeks later Michael, 3rd Earl of Suffolk, was one of only two members of the English nobility to be killed at Agincourt, his body famously being repatriated and interred at Wingfield Church. He was succeeded to the Earldom by his younger brother William, upon whom the title Duke of Suffolk was conferred.
Back to Agincourt….and Roger de Aldous. Could the French connection have been that he was one of the retinue who followed the Earl? He must have been back in England by 1422 when his eldest son was born. My friend informed me that at 15 it was more than likely he would have been co-opted (or offered by his father) to go to war – he would have had no family or work responsibilities so could be spared, and it would have been a good opportunity to learn about cleaning weapons and even practice using them. That could have led to him proudly adding the ‘de’ to his name. He could even have been one of those who brought the Earl’s body back to Suffolk – and it was then that I was brought face to face with the realities of war…..
First, while northern France seems just a hop and skip away, in 1415 the journey back to Suffolk would have taken months, not hours. Second, a dead body decomposes…and smells…. So the best way to transport a corpse back home would have been to burn it until the flesh fell off the bones, then put the bones in an ossuary and take them back for burial. Makes sense.
But, said my friend, not only was it a sensible way to transport the body, it also engendered lots of cooked flesh…meat. And the soldiers would have been very hungry and living on dried rations with very little fresh food of any kind…..
So it’s just possible that….my ancestor was a cannibal?
Sullivan Blyth Family 