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Methods for finding the ancestors

The best method for finding the ancestors is from documents that survive from their lifetimes. The Order of the Garter was founded around 1348 so the early documents will be written in the handwriting and language, Latin or Norman-French, used at that time. Regrettably I do not have the abilities needed to read these. On the other hand, there are scholars who can read, translate and faithfully summarise the details and I have relied on these; some scholars are better than others, of course.

The most favoured published document is Complete Peerage which has, more than any genealogical series, tried to support their accounts with references to surviving documents. But many of the Garters were not granted to Peers or to people mentioned in Peerage studies, nor were their descendants Peers either.

Further between the current generation and the most recent generation of Garter knights there are 21 lines of descent. Each line is referemced by several, mostly very different documents. So the list of all documents has a long tail of documents that only apply to a few of the relationships between the 319 people on this pedigree:

Source document No of people
referenced
"Complete Peerage," G E C et al, St Catharine Press, London, 1910 on. 153
"Visitations." 16th and 17th century heraldic ones, not clerical. 145
"The Order of the Garter, its Knights and Stall Plates," Grace Holmes, Windsor Castle, pub 1984. 70
"Testamenta Vetusta," Ed Nicholas Harris Nicolas, Nichols & Son, 1826. 36
"Parish Registers of BMDs." 26
"Complete Baronetage," G E Cokayne, Pollard, 1900 on, 5 vols. 24
"Lives of the Berkeleys," John Smyth, pub 1883 by Bristol etc Arch Soc. 21
"The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz," Ronny O Bodine & Brother Thomas W Spalding Jr, Bodine & Spalding, 1999. 19
"BMD Certificates for UK." 15
"England BMD Index." 15
"Annual Reports of the Friends of Lydiard Tregoze," The Friends, annually from 1969. 15
"The History of the Barrington Family," William Clayton ed G Alan Lowndes MA, "TEAS, Transactions of Essex Archaeological Society, New Series, 1876 on." 14
"Lyon Register," Of the Court of the Lord Lyon, Edinburgh, (A Lyon Herald). 12
"UK Censuses: Decennial from 1841 to 1911." 11
"The Scots Peerage," Sir James Balfour Paul, Lord Lyon King of Arms, David Douglas, 1907 to 1912. 9
"VCH, Victoria County Histories." 8
Sir John Maclean, J Marion Bryant & Ronny Bodine, reprint 1983, "Memoirs of the Family of Poyntz." 7
"Armorial Families, 7th edition, 1929, in 2 vols," A C Fox-Davies, Hurst & Blackett Ltd. 6
"A History of the Manor of Batailles," Michael L Walker, Surrey Archaeological Collections of 1956. 6
"The Family of Twysden and Twisden," Sir John Ramskill Twisden, John Murray, ed C H Dudley Ward, DSO, MC, 1939, 1st Edn. 5
"Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica," Ed: (Mostly) Joseph Hackson Howard. 5
"Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica," John Bowyer Nichols & Son, 1837. 5
"Baronies of Montacute and Monthermer Peerage Claim," The Committee of Privileges of House of Lords, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1929. 5
"Pedigree of Saunders of Ewell," J R Twisden, Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica 5th series, 1932-34, vol VIII, pp. 109-118. 5
"Pedigree of 1679," Sir John R Twisden, Miscellanie Heraldica & Genealogice VIII, 3, March 1933. 5
"British Isles Vital records (indexes to parish BM)," LDS, 2nd edn, 2001. 4
"Monumental Inscriptions." 4
William John Brabazon, "The Family of Brabazon," J Smith, Paris, pub privately in 1825. 4
"Royal Licences," College of Arms. 3
"The Hamilton Manuscripts," James Hamilton; ed T K Lowry, Archer & Sons, Belfast, pub privately c. 1867. 3
"History of Cheshire," George Ormerod (1st edn) & Thomas Helsby (2nd edn), Routledge & Sons, 1882, 2nd edition. 3
"The Genealogists' Magazine," SoG. 3
"Fitznells Cartulary," C A F Meekings, Surrey Record Society, Vol XXVI, 1968. 3
"The Early History of Mapledurham," A H Cooke, Rev, Oxford Record Society, pub 1925. 3
"London Metrolpolitan Archives." 2
"Transactions of Shropshire Arch Soc." 2
"ODNB: Dictionary of National Biography, 2nd edition," Various, OUP 2004. 2
"Buckland 1000-2000, A Village History," Dr Cuncan C Ferns. 2
"House of Cockburn of that Ilk," Thomas H Cockburn-Hood, Edinburgh, 1888. 2
"Visitation of Oxford 1669-75," Ed Bysshe, ed: G D Squibb, Harleian Society, pub 1993. 2
"Pigot Roll & Pedigree of 1598," Thomas Pigot, In Aylesbury PRO, No AR 18/99. 2
"The Genealogist," Editor: H W Forsyth Harwood, G Bell & Sons, London. 2
"English Baronies," I J Sanders, OUP, 2nd ed, 1963. 2
"Cemetery burial records site, England." 1
"Bayne of Nidderdale," Joseph Lucas, Wm Harrison, Ripon, 1896. 1
"The Coltness Collections," (Unknown), The Maitland Club, 1842. 1
"Knights," Le Neve, Harleian Society 1873. 1
"Northamptonshire Families, Victoria County History," Edited by Oswald Barron FSA, Archibald Constable & Co Ltd, pub 1906. 1
"Surrey Archaeological Collections," Surrey Archaeological Society, Castle Arch, Guildford. 1
Sir William Fraser, "The Elphinstone Family Book," 1897 in Edinburgh. 1
"History of the Family of Borlase," William Copeland Borlase, MP, Pollard, Exeter, 1888. 1
"The Visitation of Surrey, 1623," Samuel Thompson (Windsor) & Augustine Vincent (Rougecroix), privately in 25 copies. 1
"The Manor and Parish Records of Medmenham, Bucks," Arthur H Plaisted (Rev), Longmans, Green & Co, 1925. 1
"Baildon and the Baildons," William Paley Baildon, Privately in c. 1912, printed by St Catherine's Press. 1
"The Family of St John of Lambeth," Harold Evans, Surrey Arch Collections, 1966, Vol 63. 1
"Foundations (journal)," Foundation for Medieval Genealogy <http://fmg.ac>. 1
Rev C Moor, "Knights of Edward I," Harleian Society, pub 1929. 1

To explore the individual referances, use my main searchable genealogy.

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