Tuesday 16 July 2019

If you are visiting Cumbria

Be sure to get in touch and I will do my best to help you make the most of your time there, and see the most interesting Dykes family history. 
I am making another trip up the area in July 2021, exploring Keswick, Cockermouth and the coast of the Solway Firth.
I'm still unsure as to why Edward 1st died at Burgh-by-Sands leading an army of invasion into Scotland, unless there was a long forgotten and now disappeared crossing point of the estuary near this location.

Unfortunately, as my family name is plain "Dykes" and not Ballantine-Dykes, my branch of the family that leads to William Dykes born in 1919 either (a) broke off before the marriage in 1728 of Leonard Dykes and Susanna Capstack; or (b) Leonard and Susanna had 10 children and Leonard also had a child with an unknown woman (how someone found this out is anyone's guess).  It is unlikely that one of the male children fathered Wilfred as the eldest would have been born in 1729.  So it's possible that Wilfred is the illegitimate son of Leonard! But it is more likely that Wilfred's father was Leonard's uncle.

Whatever, it would seem the only connection my family has with Dovenby Hall is the Dykes family motto; examples of which should be found within the Hall; as Leonard and Susanna did not live there - Dovenby Hall was inherited by their granddaughter Mary.

My earliest proven relative is Wilfred Dykes born in 1747.  He married Mary Winn and had one child with him, John Dykes born in 1801 (died in 1838).  However, the reason for having only one child with Mary Winn was because he died, as Mary Winn married again in 1805 to Samuel Moss.

The father of Wilfred Dykes is proving tricky to identify, as he was probably born between 1720-29.