Following on from Marcia Johnson’s whirlwind tour, Randy Gentz, another member of the Grigsby Family History Foundation which is based in America, took the opportunity to spend a few days treading in his ancestors' footsteps.
I largely repeated the tour described by Marcia in the entry below, but as we had 3 days and further research had made new discoveries, I was able to incorporate a visit to a distant English cousin of Randy’s and a visit to Aylesford Priory which was originally a Carmelite priory and existed as such for centuries, until the dissolution of the monasteries by King Henry 8th. At that time, the monasteries were largely destroyed and the land sold. Sir John Banks was the 4th owner of the Priory land after the dissolution and is responsible for much of the building you see today, his occupation being from 1650-1699. It was not until 1949, that the Carmelites were able to repurchase the property and it is functioning once again as a priory, open to all for worship, quiet meditation in its gardens or just to pursue their quiet interest in history. We also visited the Aylesford parish church and admired the astonishing memorial to Sir John. His son and heir Caleb predeceased him, so the family fortune went to his daughter Elizabeth and into the Finch fortune at her marriage to Heneage Finch 1st Lord Aylesford.
We also looked over Sissinghurst Castle, as a rather interesting lead suggests there may be a connection between the Grigsbys and Sir John Baker, who built much of what remains of the castle. More on that in the future, I hope.
The gentleman who opened the doors for us At All Saints Maidstone stunned Randy by producing the original baptism and marriage register and Randy was able to photograph the marriage of Thomas Grigsby to Elizabeth Banks in 1622 and the baptism of his direct ancestor John Grigsby in 1624.
When studying the Grigsbys, no tour is complete without a visit to a wonderful 15th-century pub in Biddenden called The Three chimneys. It never fails to delight and I enjoy watching my American clients reactions as they walk into its low beamed, beautifully conserved interior. The food is really rather special too.
Randy and LaDonna spent an afternoon at Leeds Castle as it is also a place where John Grigsby their earliest known English ancestor worked as a Privy clerk during the reign of King Henry 8th.
コメント