They Sought the
Last of Lands

My Father's Forebears

William Skyvington

GAMONE PRODUCTIONS

Epub created by William Skyvington
and validated on June 14, 2010

http://skyvington.blogspot.com

sky.william@orange.fr

Copyright © William Skyvington, 2010
All rights reserved

They call her a young country, but they lie:
She is the last of lands, the emptiest,
A woman beyond her change of life, a breast
Still tender but within the womb is dry.
Without songs, architecture, history:
The emotions and superstitions of younger lands,
Her rivers of water drown among inland sands,
The river of her immense stupidity
Floods her monotonous tribes from Cairns to Perth.
In them at last the ultimate men arrive
Whose boast is not: 'we live' but 'we survive',
A type who will inhabit the dying earth.
      — A D Hope, Australia

7
Pickering ancestry

The following chart mentions John Pickering, his wife Sarah Jane Harris, and their respective parents:

Item 7-1: John Pickering, Sarah Jane Harris and their respective parents.

We shall now work back up along the Pickering line (which ends, for us, with William), and then the Harris line. Finally, the major part of this chapter will then tackle the vast subject of the Lattons and their ancestors.

Birthplace of John Pickering

The UK census of 1851 informed us (see item 6-5) that John Pickering was born in Hartburn (Northumberland), which was the place where his parents were married. Then the census of 1861 (see item 6-38) indicated his birthplace as Deanham (Northumberland). This place seems to be part of the Wallington Demesne, to the west of Morpeth:

Item 7-2: Wallington Demesne, near Morpeth, containing ruins of Deanham.

The following map mentions Northumberland places associated with our Pickerings:

Item 7-3: Places in Northumberland associated with the Pickerings.

As you can see, Hartburn and Wallington Demesne lie side by side. Woodhorn, the birthplace of John's mother Hannah, is located to the east, near Newbiggin-by-the-Sea.

In A History of Northumberland by John Hodgson (1828), part 2, volume 2, pages 294 and 295, there are several references to Deanham, which was an ancient place whose name was once written as Danum, Denome, Denom or Deneham. This document can be downloaded from Google Books.

The marriage of William Pickering and Hannah Latton in 1799 is mentioned in the Mormon database. On page 296 of the Hodgson book (just after the above-mentioned two pages), there is an etching of Hartburn Church, which was probably the place of marriage.

Item 7-4: Hartburn Church.

Since there is a considerable gap between the date of marriage of William and Hannah, and the date of birth of John Pickering, it is possible that there were older siblings.

Pickering origins

For the moment, my knowledge of the Pickering line stops with the birth of William in about 1769, but I am inclined to imagine that further research could yield information.

The NDFHS [Northumberland and Durham Family History Society] has a vast stock of church records. There is also a Society of Genealogists for Northumberland. We might normally expect to be able to find further information concerning our Pickering ancestors in that corner of England.

The Pickering surname seems to have originated in North Yorkshire, where there is a village of that name. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names by E Ekwall indicates that the Domesday Book speaks of Picheringa. Apparently, Piceringas was an ancient tribal name, but there is no clear explanation of its origins. In The Place-Names of the North Riding of Yorkshire by A H Smith (Cambridge, 1928), it is said that the term Pikeringes appeared in 1110. In the Pipe Rolls of 1130, the name was written as Pinchering. In the Close Rolls of 1208, it was written as Pikering.

There have been several famous Pickerings in English history. Queen Elizabeth had a suitor named William Pickering, a diplomat. Paradise Lost by John Milton was published in 1835 by William Pickering, Chancery Lane.

Census of 1841

The UK census of 1841 indicates that a William Pickering, 70, described as a druggist, is residing with his wife, Hannah, of the same age, at Bakewell (Derbyshire).

Item 7-5: Possibly a trace (UK census of 1841) of our earliest known Pickering ancestors.

This couple could well be the parents of our John Pickering (in which case the woman's age is inexact). If that were a fact, I have no idea why they would have moved from Northumberland to Derbyshire.

Harris ancestral line

Let us turn now to the family of Sarah Jane Harris. I include here a chart of her family that we saw already in the previous chapter (item 6-35).

Item 7-6: Family of Francis Coleman Harris and Dorothy Pearson.

When I started to write this chapter, in 2009, I knew little about this family and their origins. Since then I was fortunate to be brought in contact with a young woman in New Zealand, Mary-Jane Howard, who is a descendant of Charles Butler Harris [1816-1904]. So, all the information I present here concerning our Harris ancestors was kindly made available by Mary-Jane.

Before moving back up along the Harris ancestral line, I want to relate an interesting anecdote concerning Mary-Jane's ancestor Charles Butler Harris, whose portrait was included in my previous chapter (item 6-15). He was the victim of a minor act of theft, which probably took place in 1838, or maybe a year earlier, when Charles was aged 22. This theft gave rise to a court case at the Old Bailey in London, described in the following Minutes of Evidence.

Item 7-7: Minutes of Evidence of the Old Bailey, 1838.

Here is the story of this apparent theft:

Item 7-8: Theft of tea from Charles Butler Harris.

Here is a description of Charles Butler Harris in Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1874:

Item 7-9: Biographical summary of Charles Butler Harris.

We learn that Charles Butler Harris obtained his Bachelor of Arts at Queens College, Cambridge, in 1845, at the age of 29. Ordained as a deacon, he was immediately appointed principal (if I understand correctly the abbreviations) at Dunstable College and Commercial School in Bedfordshire. From 1851 to 1860, he was the perpetual curate of Helsington, up in the Lake District. Then he returned to university to obtain his Master of Arts, at the age of 49.

Harris ancestors

The following chart presents the ancestors of Francis Coleman Harris:

Item 7-10: Ancestors of Francis Coleman Harris.

In this chart, there are no less than four men named John Harris. The two whom we shall look at in detail are respectively the father and the grandfather of Francis Coleman Harris: that is, John Harris [1756-1846] and John Harris [1722-1801].

John Harris the London bookman

Throughout his life, John Harris [1756-1846] worked professionally in London's book world, both as a bookshop employee/owner and as a book publisher. Here is a description of him in Fifty Years' Recollections of an Old Bookseller by William West, 1837, pp 51-2:

Item 7-11: Allusion to John Harris written by William West.

The following comment by William West in the same book, p 115, suggests that John Harris was a small man:

Item 7-12: Another allusion to John Harris by William West.

This is John Harris's bookshop in St Paul's Churchyard:

Item 7-13: John Harris's bookshop in St Paul's Churchyard.

The following six pages present a catalog of books published by John Harris.

Item 7-14: Catalog of publications by John Haris (page 1 of 6).

Item 7-15: Catalog of publications by John Haris (page 2 of 6).

Item 7-16: Catalog of publications by John Haris (page 3 of 6).

Item 7-17: Catalog of publications by John Haris (page 4 of 6).

Item 7-18: Catalog of publications by John Haris (page 5 of 6).

Item 7-19: Catalog of publications by John Haris (page 6 of 6).

Specimens of John Harris books

One of his fine publications was Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper (John Harris, London, 1827), which contains beautiful hand-colored woodcuts.

Item 7-20: Woodcuts from Cinderella (part 1 of 2).

Item 7-21: Woodcuts from Cinderella (part 2 of 2).

Many books for children published by John Harris can be found on the web through the Hockliffe Project, whose home page is located at the following address:

http://www.cts.dmu.ac.uk/AnaServer?hockliffe+0+start.anv

John Harris the Bristol alderman

The father of the London bookman was John Harris [1722-1801]. Several documents concerning this man indicate that he was a prominent citizen of Bristol, who can be presented according to three related sets of criteria:

First, he had a distinguished political career as an alderman of the city of Bristol. He served twice as sheriff, in 1776 and 1778. Then, in 1790, he was the mayor of Bristol.

Second, he was a prominent member of the Baptist Church in bristol. He joined the Broadmead congregation in 1745, and served as a deacon from 1760 up until his death in 1801. For many years, he was the chairman of the body of deacons. As indicated in item 7-10, John Harris married Sarah Bull. It is said that her cousin was a certain Hugh Evans, the Baptist pastor at Broadmead. Does this suggest that John Harris might have become a Baptist through his wife? Or did he in fact meet up with his future wife through the Broadmead congregation?

Third, John Harris was a prosperous merchant in Bristol, apparently in the domain of sugar refining in the neighborhood of Lewin's Mead.

Much has been written concerning the role of Bristol in the notorious "triangular" system of trading, whereby British products were used to purchase African slaves, who were then transported to the Americas, where they produced sugar, tobacco and cotton that were then sent to Britain, closing the triangle. Insofar as John Harris was engaged in sugar refining in Bristol, it is quite likely that he was involved in the above-mentioned "triangular" slave-trading. Was he subsequently converted to abolitionist thinking, in the context of the Baptist community of Broadmead in Bristol? I have the impression that research is still being conducted in that domain. So, we might obtain answers, one day, to the questions I have just asked. Meanwhile, an in-depth paper on the Bristol Baptist context was presented in 2000 by Roger Hayden, entitled Caleb Evans and the Anti-Slavery Question. A copy of this article can be downloaded from my website associated with the present monograph, at the following address:

http://nutopia.free.fr/paternal

That appears to be as far back as we can go in the Harris ancestral line. So, I shall now return to the point at which I left the Pickerings, near the start of this chapter.

Parents of Hannah Latton

We saw in item 7-1 that William Pickering married Hannah Latton on 30 May 1799 in Hartburn (Northumberland). The bride was the daughter of a clergyman, Henry Latton.

Item 7-22: Parents of Hannah Latton.

Henry Latton was christened in 1737 in the London church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, at the place known today as Trafalgar Square. This edifice, formerly the site of a chapel used by the monks of Westminster Abbey, has often been called "the royal parish church". The future King Charles II was christened here in 1630.

Henry Latton was the vicar of Woodhorn (located near Morpeth). The 61-year-old vicar died violently on the moors of Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, to the north of Newcastle, not far from Morpeth. Apparently he had been attending horse races, and it has been said that he was murdered... but I have no firm details concerning his death.

Item 7-23: Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, Westminster.

Wife of the vicar of Woodhorn

Hannah Latton's mother Sally was one of the twelve offspring of John Cator and his wife Elizabeth. Records in the Mormon database concerning Henry Latton indicate that the given name of his wife was Sarah... but I shall stick to Sally.

Item 7-24: Siblings and parents of Hannah Latton.

William Latton, ambassador

The father of the future vicar of Woodhorn was an English ambassador to Morocco.

Item 7-25: Parents of the vicar of Woodhorn.

The ambassador William Latton was the hero of an exotic Moroccan affair, which was evoked in an editor's introduction to a 1755 travel narrative by the English novelist Henry Fielding [1707-1754], entitled Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon. In his biographical notes about Fielding, the editor mentions a London vessel, the Inspector, which was wrecked in the Bay of Tangier on the Coast of Barbary, on 4 January 1746, while operating as a private warship, referred to as a privateer. The commander of this privateer was named Richard Veal(e). This was also the name of the captain of the ship that took Fielding to Lisbon, and it appears likely that they were one and the same individual. The editor of Fielding's book indicates that, after the shipwreck of the privateer, some of its crew members were captured and sent to work "as slaves among the Moors". And a footnote mentions the role of Latton in "the redemption of these captives":

Item 7-26: Reference to William Latton in a Fielding book.

Latton's strange ambassadorial mission to Morocco is described on pages 234-235 of this issue of the London Magazine or Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer, of 1751.

Item 7-27: Magazine with an article mentioning the English ambassador William Latton.

Item 7-28: Moroccan mission of the ambassador William Latton.

The ambassador's death on 5 April 1789 is announced in the European Magazine.

Item 7-29: Magazine announcing the death of William Latton.

Item 7-30: Obituary announcement.

Dodley's Annual Register by Edmund Burke indicates the death of William Latton's wife Sarah, mother of the vicar of Woodhorn, on 30 April 1776:

Item 7-31: Death of William Latton's wife Sarah.

Ambassador's parents

We know little of the parents of the ambassador, who had a sister Ann.

Item 7-32: Parents of the ambassador.

Illustrious Latton ancestor

The great-grandfather of the vicar of Woodhorn, John Latton [1643-1727], was a great administrator in the county of Surrey, in direct contact with English monarchs. In my Latton research, his will, dictated (I imagine) a fortnight or so before his death in November 1727, was a particularly useful source document.

Item 7-33: Opening of the will of John Latton [1643-1727].

A copy of this will can be downloaded from my website associated with the present monograph, at the following address:

http://nutopia.free.fr/paternal

In the downloaded PDF file, the actual will starts at the bottom of the opening page (with the line shown above, in item 7-33) and extends to the end of the Probatum section on the final page. I have reproduced this will, in four parts, in items 7-35 to 7-38.

The genealogical chart that I am about to present is centered upon this John Latton of Walton-on-Thames (Surrey). In this chart, I have deliberately repeated information that has already been presented, and I have included ancestors all the way back to the earliest known patriarch: John Latton of Kingston Bagpuize (Berkshire).

John Latton, his ancestors and descendants

This global chart is centered upon John Latton of Walton-on-Thames:

Item 7-34: Earlier Lattons.

John Latton [1643-1727] of Walton-on-Thames, represented in the middle of the above chart, was a most prominent personality. Under Queen Anne—the last of the Stuarts, who reigned from 1702 to 1714—John Latton was deputy lieutenant of Surrey. Around 1710, he purchased Burwood Park, a large estate in Surrey. Then he became a favorite of the first Hanoverian monarch, George I, who reigned from 1714 to 1727.

John Latton's will

The will of John Latton [1643-1727] is presented here in four parts:

Item 7-35: Will of John Latton [1643-1727], part 1 of 4.

Item 7-36: Will of John Latton [1643-1727], part 2 of 4.

Item 7-37: Will of John Latton [1643-1727], part 3 of 4.

Item 7-38: Will of John Latton [1643-1727], part 4 of 4.

Analysis of the will

The will of John Latton, dated "this thirtyeth day of October in the first year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the second by the grace of God of Great Britain at Anno Domini 1727" (item 7-30), mentions family members who are included in my chart of item 7-34:

"my loving wife Frances"

"my grandaughter Ann, the daughter of my late son William Latton"

"my loving brother William Latton of Gray's Inn"

"my grandaughter Frances Johnson, the daughter of Colonel Johnson by my daughter Roberta"

"William, the son of Sarah Latton, the widow of my said late son William".

John Latton's brother William

John's brother William Latton [1653-1732] was admitted to Wadham College, at the University of Oxford, on 24 September 1670. We shall see later on in this chapter that this choice of an Oxford college may have been linked—in one way or another—to the fact that this college was founded by an ancestor, Nicolas Wadham [1532-1609]. In 1685, William was a fellow of Wadham when the eldest illegitimate son of Charles II, the Duke of Monmouth, landed in south-west England in an attempt to dethrone the Catholic monarch James II, who had grown up in Oxford, where he had been taken prisoner at the age of twelve, on the eve of the execution of his father, Charles I. Like all Oxford, William Latton defended the king.

Item 7-39: William Latton volunteers to defend King James II.

The "loving brother William Latton of Gray's Inn" has gone down in literary history through a one-page letter to the dean of Ely, written on 10 January 1728. It was published in John Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century, vol 4, 1822.

Item 7-40: Letter from William Latton to the dean of Ely.

The erudite gentleman named John Nichols who decided to include William Latton's letter as a specimen of 18th-century literature was designated perfunctorily, by the craftsmen who published this portrait, as a "printer". From an anecdotic viewpoint, it is amusing to realize that this prodigious genealogical researcher was the same man who produced the story of the Leicestershire Skeffingtons, mentioned in chapter 5 of this monograph.

Item 7-41: John Nichols [1744-1822].

Probate problem

Let us return to the will of John Latton [1643-1727]. At the end of the presentation of this will, a note in the margin is dated 24 January 1757 (three decades after Latton's death):

Item 7-42: Note added three decades after the death of John Latton of Walton-on-Thames.

The subject of this note is clearly exposed in the following legal commentary (on pages 242 and 243 of a book published in 1832), describing a judgment by Sir George Lee:

Item 7-43: Probate conflict concerning the will of John Latton of Walton-on-Thames.

Sir George Lee's judgment, in favor of Ann Chamberlayne, is summed up as follows: A mere trustee has no right by law to claim administration.

Old book mentioning the Latton family

Information concerning John Latton and his ancestors is contained in a book dated 1719: The Antiquities of Berkshire by Elias Ashmole, made available today by Google.

Item 7-44: Book mentioning John Latton [1643-1727] and his ancestors.

A copy of this old book can be downloaded from my website associated with the present monograph, at the following address:

http://nutopia.free.fr/paternal

In a moment, I shall reproduce all the relevant pages of Ashmole's book. First, let us look at a modern map, to see the location of places named Kingston Bagpuize, Upton, Chilton and Blewbury. Ashmole refers constantly to these places as if they were in Berkshire. Since 1974, they are all located in Oxfordshire, in the vicinity of Abingdon.

Latton territory: Berkshire yesterday, Oxfordshire today

In the following map, all the highlighted places are located today in Oxfordshire:

Item 7-45: Ancient Latton territory, in Berkshire yesterday, in Oxfordshire today.

Abingdon, near the gigantic and mysterious figure of a white horse cut into the chalk of Uffington, is located 13 km south of Oxford. The Latton villages of Chilton, Upton and Blewbury are located a little further to the south, in the vicinity of Didcot and Harwell (known for its atomic energy research). The Berkshire border lies today to the south of Chilton. The ancient Latton homeplace of Kingston Bagpuize lies to the west of Abingdon.

Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire, page 330

Item 7-46: Page 330 of The Antiquities of Berkshire by Elias Ashmole.

Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire, page 331

Item 7-47: Page 331 of The Antiquities of Berkshire by Elias Ashmole.

Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire, page 332

Item 7-48: Page 332 of The Antiquities of Berkshire by Elias Ashmole.

Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire, page 333

Item 7-49: Page 333 of The Antiquities of Berkshire by Elias Ashmole.

Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire, page 334

Item 7-50: Page 334 of The Antiquities of Berkshire by Elias Ashmole.

Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire, page 335

Item 7-51: Page 335 of The Antiquities of Berkshire by Elias Ashmole.

Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire, page 336

Item 7-52: Page 336 of The Antiquities of Berkshire by Elias Ashmole.

Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire, page 337

Item 7-53: Page 337 of The Antiquities of Berkshire by Elias Ashmole.

Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire, page 338

Item 7-54: Page 338 of The Antiquities of Berkshire by Elias Ashmole.

Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire, page 339

Item 7-55: Page 339 of The Antiquities of Berkshire by Elias Ashmole.

Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire, page 340

Item 7-56: Page 340 of The Antiquities of Berkshire by Elias Ashmole.

Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire, page 341

Item 7-57: Page 341 of The Antiquities of Berkshire by Elias Ashmole.

Will of Anne Latton

Later in his book, Ashmole has inserted a 15-page copy of the will of a 16th-century lady, Anne Latton, daughter of a John Latton of Chilton (Berkshire). I do not include the entire will here, but it starts out as follows [Ashmole page 346]:

Item 7-58: Page 346 of The Antiquities of Berkshire by Elias Ashmole.

Comments upon Ashmole's presentation of the Lattons

The earliest Lattons came from a place in Normandy called Estoteville or Stutville [Ashmole page 330]. This village still exists today, some 20 kilometers north-east of Rouen, and its modern name is Estouteville. After the Norman Conquest, according to an author named Cambden, Stutville individuals became barons of Lydesdale Castle (Cumberland) and earls of Yorkshire. John de Stutville donated his property at Monks-Kirby to the monks of Pipwell (Northamptonshire). William de Stutville became a cardinal in 1439.

Since the Stutville surname was used only by the eldest son, younger brothers resorted to the names of their respective possessions. In this way, we find a Stutville descendant in Upton (Berkshire) who called himself Walter de Latton. He could be clearly identified as a member of the Stutville family through his distinctive coat of arms [Ashmole page 331]. Ashmole informs us that these arms were still employed by John Latton of Esher (Surrey).

A Latin indenture of 1305, called a corrody [Ashmole pages 332-3], concerns a couple, John and Isabel de Latton, who intended to spend their retirement in a religious setting. Wilhemme de Latton, living in Upton in 1325, who married into the Percy family of Northumberland, starting a line of seven generations [Ashmole page 333].

John Latton of Chilton (Berkshire) was the High Sheriff of Berkshire in 1589, under Elizabeth I [Ashmole page 334].

The last residence of a Latton in Berkshire was at Kingston Bagpuize, in the Hundred of Oke. This property, purchased by John Latton of Chilton in 1542, was bequeathed to his son William Latton in 1595, as indicated in a Latin Inquisition [Ashmole page 335].

My analysis of Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire is not yet complete.

Earliest Lattons in Berkshire

Ashmole's book provides a list [pages 336-7] of the earliest Lattons in Berkshire:

Item 7-59: Earliest Lattons in Berkshire.

The 12th member of this line, John Latton of Chilton, is no doubt the man who died on 31 May 1547, whose tomb exists in the church at Blewbury [Ashmole page 338]. His daughter Anne made a lengthy will [Ashmole pages 346-360].

In a history of records of the Inner Temple for the period 1505-1603, entitled A calendar of the Inner Temple records, volume 1, published in 1896, it is said that William Latton was admitted on 4 July 1536 by John Latton. They would surely be the 12th and 13th individuals in the above line. In other words, this William would be a brother of the above-mentioned Anne who made a will.

The individuals numbered 16 to 19 in Ashmole's line (named John, Thomas, John and William) are, of course, the four Lattons indicated in item 7-34. That is, the final William in Ashmole's line (number 19) was the grandfather of the vicar of Woodhorn.

Let us now move backwards from Katherine Hamon, wife of John Latton of Kingston Bagpuize (see item 7-34), to the Wadhams.

From our Lattons back to the Wadhams

Before our lengthy excursion into Latton territory, we saw in the chart of item 7-34 that our 17th-century ancestor John Latton of Bagpuize married a Katherine Hamon. Her ancestral line will take us back to the celebrated Wadham family.

Item 7-60: Ancestral line from our Lattons back to the Wadhams.

In the above chart, our central ancestor is Elizabeth Martyn, the daughter of Margaret Wadham, who was the sister of Nicholas Wadham [1532-1609], founder of Wadham College at the University of Oxford.

In this chart, I have included a couple of interesting elements that do not concern us directly from a family-history viewpoint. Elizabeth's first husband was Henry Brune, and this union gave rise to descendants named Floyer. Meanwhile, Elizabeth's sister Anne married into this same Floyer family. It so happens that these Floyers are the ancestors of the present-day Sarah Ferguson, whose ancestral links with royalty were the same as ours.

Elizabeth Martyn's second husband, our ancestor Thomas Hamon, came from Brasted in Kent. By a funny coincidence, this town played a central role in the genealogical research concerning my Australian friend Sheridan Henty. See my websites at

http://nutopia.free.fr/victoria

and

http://nutopia.free.fr/heath

Wadham College at Oxford

Item 7-61: Wadham College at the University of Oxford.

Information on the history of the colleges of Oxford is contained in a book dated 1810 by Alex Chalmers, made available today by Google.

Item 7-62: History of the colleges of Oxford.

Earliest Wadhams

Some of the websites about the earliest Wadhams seem to reproduce pages from old editions of Burke publications. (This observation needs to be verified.)

Item 7-63: Earliest known Wadhams.

Let us return now to the union between our 16th-century ancestor Nicholas Wadham, Captain of the Isle of Wight, and a certain Joan/Joanna Hill... about whom I know little. Her maternal ancestors were named Stourton, and it is through them that we finally attain genealogical realms of English royalty.

Stourton ancestors

The data that follows, concerning the ancestry of Joan (Joanna) Hill, wife of Nicholas Wadham of Merifield, has been extracted essentially from the Mormon database.

Item 7-64: Stourton ancestors.

Ancestral line from Thomas Berkeley to King John

A maternal great-grandfather of Thomas Berkeley was King John, who signed the Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215.

Item 7-65: Ancestral line from Thomas Berkeley to King John.

Ancestral line from King John to William the Conqueror

A famous great-great-grandfather of King John, of course, was William the Conqueror.

Item 7-66: Ancestral line from King John to William the Conqueror.

Having reached this point in our ancestral research that started with the Pickerings, I do not intend to delve any further into the background of the Conqueror, since this subject is presented amply in countless contexts.

My ancestral line back to the Conqueror

I conclude with a résumé of my ancestral line back to the Conqueror:

Item 7-67: Résumé of the author's ancestral line back to the Conqueror.