The Princess, The Conqueror & The Viking

 

It is often a dream to trace a family back to 1066. And, this is what happened during my research for a client as a Christmas present for his wife. On Christmas Day, she was astonished to read about her family links to William the Conqueror, a Saxon Princess and even a Viking leader. My client has permitted me to describe some details of my extraordinary discoveries.

I started, as usual, with an examination of census returns and parish records. Soon I found that this particular Cushion family had an established bloodline in the County of Norfolk down the centuries. The resources, held in local archives, revealed that various academic investigations had taken place into the history of this family, including surviving subsidy rolls and manuscripts. As the days passed, a remarkable paper trail opened up for me. I linked her Cushion/Cussyn line with a Ralf le Cusyn de Limisi, a descendant of Ralph de Limisi, Baron of Oxenburg in Norfolk (c.1040-1093), nephew of William the Conqueror. Baron Ralph of Oxenburg had accompanied William to England during the Norman Invasion and was given lands in ten English counties, including Norfolk. 

So, I established that William the Conqueror, son of Robert I of Normandy and 3x grandson of the Viking chieftain Rollo, was also the son of the 26x great-grandmother of my client’s wife. Amazingly enough, legend states that Baron Ralph of Oxenburg married Princess Cristina, sister of Prince Edgar, an Anglo Saxon Prince. 

Of course, my client's wife cant move into Buckingham Palace yet. A surprisingly high number of people probably have a royal ancestor or two. The main problem lies with finding a gateway ancestor and the survival of records. Do you perhaps have roots with royalty?

A Journey in the Time Machine

Has a movie ever influenced you? One of my favourite films is The Time Machine, made in the 1960s starring Rod Taylor. After watching it on our black and white telly as a child, I was awestruck by the concept of travelling forwards or back through time. I rushed out to my library and read the original book. I have always loved history. Having the ability to visit a period long ago has always been a dream.

MRS. WATCHETT: Mr Filby, do you think he will

   ever return?

FILBY (quietly): One cannot choose but wonder. -

   You see, he has all the time in

   the world.

We haven't the scientific ability that the author H.G. Wells imagined in 1895. But, about 30 years ago, I discovered the next best thing after a long day trudging around a shopping mall in Essex. I espied a small paperback on the shelf of a tiny book shop, explaining how to research family history. It was what you would probably call an epiphany.

Many trips to London followed. I began researching census returns, ancient parish records and buying certificates. (This was before many archives were available online). Weekend visits to relatives now included me carrying a notebook, leading to my daughter Rebecca groaning, "dad's talking about dead people again!"

I became hooked and eventually completed a University course. 

Five years ago I started my very successful genealogy business. Now I invite my clients to climb into my time machine, meet generations of their ancestors, see where they lived, worked and worshipped and learn their individual stories.