One of Ari’s 8x great-grandmothers was Jane Clench. She was born on 26 June 1709 in Bloxworth, Dorset, and baptised at St Andrew’s. Dorset, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812, Ancestry.co.uk Her parents were Charles Clench and Jane Stroud. On 3 Jan 1732, Jane married a farmer, Matthew Abbott, at the same church. Dorset, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812, Ancestry.co.uk They had at least seven children, and

Dorothy was one of Ari’s 7x great-grandmothers, born on 19 April 1744 at Bloxworth (near Wareham) in Dorset, and baptised on 31 May at St Andrew’s church. Dorset, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812, Ancestry.co.uk According to the Bloxworth OPC page, “this is one of the very few churches where the original hour glass and stand, by which, after the Reformation, the length of the sermon was regulated, still exists.” Dorothy was the sixth child

A blog about finding all of the direct ancestors of my grandson Ari, and learning as much about them as I can.  His birth has given me an opportunity to focus on part of the family tree, looking again at all the records I have and searching for new ones. I know at least a little bit about 547 of his direct ancestors. They lived in places as far afield as: Memel (now Klaipeda); Grafton Flyford in Worcestershire; Middleton by Wirksworth in Derbyshire; Corfe Castle in Dorset; Ba