FOOTNOTES:
[2] Published by Elliot Stock, Paternoster Row, E. C.
CHAPTER XII
HOW TO SAVE EXPENSE IN PEDIGREE-HUNTING
There is no doubt that if any one wishes to expend a small fortune in record-searching he may find opportunity of doing so; if, on the other hand, even shillings are an object to him, he can carry on his work for very little expense.
The English Record Office, with its vast stores of information, is free to all searchers; so are the British Museum Reading and MSS. Rooms; also the other great London libraries.
At Somerset House, where so many of the wills are stored, the fees are one shilling for each document searched. An ardent genealogist might find that this ran away with a good deal of money; but if his object is purely literary, as is so often the case with pedigree-hunters, then a docket can be obtained entitling him to search gratuitously in Somerset House at stated days and hours, as may be arranged.
The Dublin Record Office is not free to the public, the class of documents it contains differing from those in the London Office. Irish wills, as we have seen, are stored there, and the fee for the perusal of any document is one shilling.
Here again, however, “the literary permit” can be obtained; it is usually issued for a month at a time, and is renewable. But whether there or in England, no free search is permitted, unless the required documents are nearly a century old, and in every instance the search must be undertaken with a purely literary object in view. If the pedigree-hunter wishes to make good his claim to property, or has any other legal project in his mind—well, he must pay for his investigations.
For the Heralds’ Office, London, and the College of Arms, Dublin, no literary dockets are issued; neither is the Registry House, Edinburgh, free to all comers. Half a crown a day is charged at the Registry of Deeds, Dublin, but this half-crown can cover a great amount of searching.
Where parochial registries have to be consulted at the parishes themselves, fixed moderate fees are charged. In some cases these charges may be modified, or even abolished altogether, in favour of a literary investigator; but this is a special favour, granted for special reasons by the rector or curate in charge.
Literary free permits are, however, as we have seen, issued in connection with most of the great offices where genealogical information can be gleaned, and by the help of these far the greater part of the pedigree-hunter’s work can be carried on almost free of expense.
In certain other instances, where official fees are charged, literary searchers are often most leniently considered, for in genealogical matters a good deal depends on the pedigree-hunter himself, and a system of red tapeism is not everywhere carried out.
For university and school details and entries the registers can often be consulted absolutely free of cost, so the searcher with the narrow purse has really little to fear financially when embarking on the delightful task of pedigree-hunting.
CHAPTER XIII
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.