You will find a lot of Laslett info if you search 'Laslett Kent' in Google
KUAB
1759 after 1849 Stephen SOLLY Jane LASLETT KENT Ash, St Nicholas 3
TANKERTON ARMS (Whitstable - Kent)PHIL LASLETT - Jazz .
Index to
1881 Census of Stourmouth, Kent LASLETT Clement 87 KEN Woodnesborough
Is
the Grass Always Greener?
By Bill Holbrook biil@bill36.fsnet.co.uk
Why is it
other people's family history always seems interestingly more
entertaining than mine? They discover all sorts of events and ancestors
that grip one's imagination. In all my 10 or 12 or years of researching
my bloodline I have never unearthed any highwaymen, rioters, no Lord or
Lady or Plague victims. None of them have been transported nor were
there any unusual tradesmen. Although there was a possibility of a
"Scavenger" (whatever that may be) but it turned out that I was up
the
wrong tree.
Even so
I have still managed to end up with more than 500 names with a
dozen different spelling variations of the name but they were all
farmers with the odd saddler and ropemaker thrown in and not a sign of
criminals or nobility to be found. Perhaps I have been too restrictive
in my searches because very soon after starting I found I had so many
hundreds of names that I decided to concentrate on my direct male
bloodline of LASLETTS.
I am thankful
for the great help I have had from other researchers when
I have been in contact for details of other LASLETT branches that may
fit into mine. Of course, there were the odd queries not replied to -- I
wonder if they steamed off the stamp or over-labeled the envelope? They
had found priests, ag labs, apothecaries, millers, coachmen, excise men,
mariners and many other trades. There was one who was a city banker and
became MP for Worcester but nobody whom I could fit into my line no
matter how I tried to fiddle it. My LASLETTS were all farmers -- Ho Hum!
Although
I found one who immigrated to Virginia in the 1600s my lot
did not get itchy feet until the 19th century before deciding that,
because of depression in the farming industry, the grass was greener in
another country. So a lot of them left Ash, and I have found them in
Australia (a very normal destination in these times) United States,
Canada and even Alaska [a U.S. state since 1959]. I can't imagine that
they thought Alaska had greener grass or even grass.
There was
the odd one in Riga, Latvia, but here he was concerned with
the timber industry and not grass. My grandfather went to the United
States with two of his brothers, but returned to marry which made it a
lot simpler for both of us.
In tracing
my line I had the researcher's usual "highs" and "lows"
--
sudden finds with months of blocked trails, which entailed much back-
tracking and contacts coming up with answers that enabled me to get back
another generation. In the lulls I filled in my time tracing family
farms sites and photographing them, which was most rewarding. However,
nothing, so far as I'm concerned, gives a greater "high" than having
found an ancestral house one knocks on the door and after explaining
that one is not a "con man" come to check the water meter (generally
by
showing the membership card of my family history society) one is given a
guided tour of the house and even invited in for tea. In one case it
finished up by my receiving the deeds of the house and a list of all the
LASLETTS who had lived and worked there. This was a very important find
because they fitted into my line!
Despite
all the traumas I have managed to get back to 1580 at Harbledown
(Canterbury) but I must admit that I have been lucky because most of my
direct ancestors were farmers and lived and farmed around a small area
of Ash (Kent County) but I would like to have found just one highwayman.
I had been stuck at 1580 for a number of years but recently up comes a
breakthrough for which one always prays. I found an affidavit in
Canterbury Cathedral archives in which my Roger LASLETT (here spelled
LACELET) in 1586 was a witness in a land dispute, and states:
".
. . I have lived in Harbledowne for the space of 40 years of
thereabouts originated in the parish of Namptwich in the County of
Cheshire where I came downe with my family . . . " He made his mark
with the date being 2nd May 1586.
Ho hum, here we go again!
[Editor's
Note: We can hear the groaning around the world and hope
Holbrook is not expecting any sympathy from the millions of genealogists
whose progenitors had itchy feet. I am sure most of us would be happy to
trade him some of our colorful ancestors for a few of his stay-put "un-
entertaining" farmers.]
124 M iii
David COLLARD was born 1822. He died 31 Dec 1839 and was buried in Thomas Denne
vault at Chislet Kent England.
125 F iv Ann COLLARD was born 1824.
Ann married Leonard
LASLETT.