Jane's Roots

One branch of my Nottingham family tree leads to my ancestor Ann Blatherwick born in 1790.

The Blatherwick Families of Nottinghamshire details Mark Grace's excellent meticulous genealogical research.   We are both descended from Ann Blatherwick's father, so part of Mark's tree is also my own.

There is also a delightful web page for all things Blatherwick, which contains my own modest contribution concerning the Council of Trent.

The largest group of my ancestors came from Nottinghamshire, mostly from the villages around Nottingham, near to the city itself or on the eastern side of the city.  Most of these villages were eaten up by the expansion of Nottingham in the nineteenth century, and only remain as the names of suburbs, such as Radford, Arnold and Carlton.  Others have survived, including Plumtree, in the beautiful Vale of Belvoir. What little evidence survives suggests that, prior to the industrial revolution, my ancestors were agricultural labourers, tenant farmers, and yeomen (that is freehold farmers), and from the eighteenth century  would certainly have included a number of frame-work knitters and lace-makers.

There is evidence that one family, the Hornbuckles, had gentry status during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and owned Radford Hall (which no longer exists).  In the seventeenth century some of the Hornbuckles emigrated to America, where they became slave owners. Their slaves were given their owners' name.  Some of them were sold to wealthy members of the Cherokee tribe.  In a later treaty made with the Cherokee, it was agreed that they would free their slaves, and make them members of the tribe.  Thus there are Cherokee, of African descent, named Hornbuckle.