(In this blog I have sometimes noted that a person was "our ancestor" for the benefit of my family, who I suspect are more likely to be reading this than members of the public) Samuel Hitchcock’s year of birth was also unknown. It seems likely that he would have been born during the Commonwealth Gap years of 1647 to 1660 when Oliver Cromwell abolished church record keeping, meaning there were breaks in church records of baptisms, marriages and burials. Samuel Hitchcock in the Manor records...

Recently I took a very deep dive into my own paternal family history as one of my portfolio pieces of research for the Diploma qualification with the Institute of Heraldic & Genealogical Studies, and what I found gave me quite a shock. Robert Hitchcock (circa 1611 – 21st April 1665 Robert Hitchcock was my 8x great grandfather, my maiden name was Hitchcock. Robert was baptised in Wherstead, Suffolk on 21st July 1611.[1] He was the only son of Geoffrey and Rose Hitchcock who originated from...

Geoffrey Hitchcock's baptism Geoffrey Hitchcock was baptised in Long Melford on 22nd October 1580 to Thomas Hitchcock and his wife Katherine. Geoffrey appeared to be the eldest of 9 children, his parents, Thomas Hitchcock and Katherine Wade married on the 18th November 1580, about a month after Geoffrey's baptism. Geoffrey's father, Thomas' name appeared on a "muster role" for Long Melford in 1579. Under the reign of Elizabeth I, records of names of able-bodied men and their roles was used...