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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Somerset => Topic started by: Susan41 on Thursday 02 April 09 21:50 BST (UK)
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Hi,
A few days ago I found a google digitized book, Visitation of Somerset, which contains a large number of pedigrees. I am not familiar with these books, are the pedigrees reliable?
I found that my ancestor, Mrs. Maude (Mauncell) Jubbes, d. 1535, is listed in one of these pedigrees. I have been able to trace back to this lady by use of a number of wills, some of which I have transcribed and posted on my personal website, and the records available on A2A.
Could some one give me a brief background on visitation books?
Thank you,
Susan
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From 1529/30 the College of Arms made visitations to various parts of the country to establish if coats-of-arms were being used correctly, and also to investigate new applications. The last visitation was in 1686. The Harleian Society have printed many of the visitation records. http://harleian.co.uk/
Stan
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The visitations were made by the Kings of Arms to examine claims to coats-of-arms, in doing so they took consideration of personal knowledge, family muniments, family traditions and the records of previous visitations, and either disallowed or confirmed the claim. This process gave rise to a large number of written family trees of varying reliability :)
Stan
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Thank you Stan,
This is helpful information.
Susan