Thank you to all the members who have sent in details of their ancestors – I have attempted in each case to find a connection with one of the branches already on record, and in most cases this has been possible. Obviously, this linking becomes much easier where details are given back to the great-grandfather or beyond, particularly where the family were in Sussex or surrounding areas for which we have reasonably comprehensive records. Members who have received printouts from me recently, will have noticed that the Reference field on their own record shows, as well as their membership number, a code such as J*15. This indicates the branch from which the member is descended and gives the number of ancestor generations recorded (starting with the member’s father or mother). For the 10 members for whom no details have yet been received of the parents, this code is shown as *0. The chart shows the numbers of members recorded for each number of ancestor generations.

28 members are shown as having 15 or more generations of ancestors on record, and these are all on one of the two major branches: firstly, the main Nuthurst branch, as shown on the Stanford Smith tree, and secondly the descendants of Julian Linfield of Bolney, whose tree was first drawn up by Michael Burchell and which includes the Hurstpierpoint branch.

For those members connected with the Stanford Smith tree, the actual number of ancestor generations shown is about 30, but as Malcolm has explained in his article, the details given for the period prior to the mid 16th century are somewhat conjectural.

The purpose of this short article is to give our members an idea of how much data exists on the various branches, and to encourage those who have recently started researching. As we assemble all the St Catherine’s House entries for Lin(d)field births up to 1920, we are reaching a point where anyone can be fairly certain of finding their ancestors at least back to the start of registration in 1837. I am happy to obtain birth certificates on behalf of members; the cost is now 9 including postage within the U.K.