Hunting in Huntingdon

At last I indulged myself yesterday in a trip to the Huntingdonshire Archives to continue my Kisby/ee quest. The town is pleasant (the birthplace of Oliver Cromwell) and the Library is airy and modern with a great little cafe.

Huntingdonshire borders onto the Kisby/ee stomping grounds of the English Fens but, unfortunately, not many of its records seem to have been digitised. Therefore the only way to delve further is to examine the original records. It was fascinating (and quite a privelege) to be handling parish registers which were over 350 years old!

Though I didn't manage to further my own family tree, I did come across a family group of Kisbee's in the parish of Farcet, in the far north of the county. Thomas Kisbee married for a second time in 1767, shortly after his young wife Laetitia had died. He was literate and spelled his surname with the two e's. His son, Martin Kisbee, also brought up his family in the parish. Interestingly, Martin and his wife Mary later appeared in South London, where they ended their days in apparent poverty. My next investigation will be to find out why they came to from Huntingdonshire to Surrey and fell on hard times....