Summer 2012

Genealogy in Kent has been suffering badly over the last year. The old and wonderful Centre for Kentish Studies in Maidstone has closed and the archives now shares premises with the main library. The closure and move meant that the archives were unavailable for about 6 months and the re opening has not been without teething problems, (least said soonest mended as my granny used to say.) However there are promises that with records from other archives coming to Maidstone, we will eventually be better off.  As the Maidstone Library and History Centre opened, so the Canterbury Cathedral archives closed for maintenance and will have been closed almost a year by the time it reopens in Jan/Feb 2013. I am looking forward to finally being able to get back in amongst the records of both archives in 2013.

One of the major highlights of  my job are the visits from overseas clients for whom I have done research and who then come over to see for themselves the places that their ancestors knew. In 2011 David Fletcher and Kenny Williams let me share their holiday and we visited a number of fascinating places connected to David’s Barham, Filmer and Argles  ancestors. Thank you so much to the present  owners of the various homes we visited, for allowing us such generous access  to your time, knowledge and properties. In 2012, the Williamsons  and I spent a great few days touring their ancestral parishes. They, like David Fletcher were also interested in the Barham family  and I am finding more and more often that my growing number of American clients are related to each other. The Baker family of Biddenden, and Sissinghurst seem to be of particular interest to my American clients.