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.
INDEX
- Administration Bonds, [20]
- Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, [40], [41]
- Ancestor, The, [18]
- Ancestral Tablets, [8], [24]
- Angliæ Notitia, [48]
- Annual Register, [17]
- Antiquaries, Society of, [16]
- Army, The, [23], [48]
- Assize Rolls, [20]
- Attorneys, [22], [23]
- Baronetage, [6]
- Baronets, Official Roll of, [6]
- Barristers, [22]
- Betham MSS., [36]
- Bodleian Library, [44]
- British Archæological Association, [16]
- —— Museum Library, [31], [56]
- Burke’s Commoners and Landed Gentry, [7], [16]
- —— Royal Descents, [62]
- Caius College Library, Cambridge, [44]
- Calendars of State Papers, [14]
- Camden Society, [16]
- Cause Papers, [33]
- Census Returns, [21]
- Chancery Proceedings, [19], [29], [33], [34], [41], [54]
- Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, [37]
- Christian Names, [12]
- Church and Clergy, [48], [51]
- Clan System, [41]
- College of Arms, Dublin, [36], [57]
- College of Arms, London, [29], [35], [57]
- College of Physicians, Roll of, [22]
- Commoners, Burke’s, [7], [16]
- County Histories, [51]
- —— Records, [43]
- Courts, Canterbury, Prerogative, [9], [30]
- Courts, Diocesan and Prerogative, [9], [11]
- Courts, Peculiar, [9]
- Cromwell’s Decree, [43]
- Crown Writs, [38]
- Decipher Old Documents, How to, [55]
- Deciphering Old Documents, [54], [55]
- Deeds, [20], [35]
- Dental Practitioners, [22]
- Deputy Keeper’s Reports, [14], [37], [41]
- Derivation of Word Pedigree, [1]
- Diocesan Registers, [22], [41], [42], [43], [45]
- Directories, [17]
- District Registries, [45], [46]
- Dublin, College of Arms, [36]
- —— Irish Record Office, [9], [19], [33], [34], [57]
- —— Registry of Deeds, [35], [57]
- —— Trinity College, [35]
- —— —— Library, [36]