From: lakepch at sun-link.com (Jackie and/or Frank Lake)
Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1999 17:37:00 -0500
Subject: [lake-surname] My Interests: England, Colonial America (and Ireland?)

Here are my interests.

My primary interest is in Lincolnshire, after about 1550 to the present,
and Yorkshire, before 1600. These are both counties in England. Two
critical times are 1700-1750 in Lincolnshire to find the father of
Christopher Lake and about 1500 to make the Lincs/Yorks connection.
The earliest record in Yorkshire that I know about is of a Matilde de Lek
about 1200. She was from what is now known as Leake. However, most
Yorkshire Lake genealogies only go back to John Lake who married Janette
Caley, an heiress of Normanton, about 1350. Note at this time, spelling was
at the whim of the writer. Hence Lake, Laike, Layke, Leak, Leake, Leek and
Lek are used. In 1560 to 1630, it was Lakes, with the 's', in NE
Lincolnshire. The coat of arms of the Normanton Lake family is blazoned
'sable, a bend between six cross-crosslets fitch?e, argent with a mullet
for difference' (a silver diagonal stripe from top left to bottom right
between two sets of three silver crossed crosses, all on a black
background, with a 'mullet' to indicate a junior line).

From the Lincolnshire branch, a shoot went to Boston, MA, probably before
1650. This was the brothers, John and Thomas, and probably Luke. The surviving
son of Thomas returned to England to inherit his Uncle Edward's fortune. He
and his immediate descendants effectively took over and ran Hudson's Bay
Company for almost hundred years. His son and subsequent heirs were and are
the Baronets Lake. There is some debate about whether John Lake of Boston
had children or not. There is also a son and daughter of Luke Lake I want
to research.

I have two similar documents, which describe Loyalist Lakes who returned
to the UK. They appear to have post-1780 connections with Castlejordan,
Ireland then, more recently, (the county of) Cheshire, England. Prior to
1780, SC  and VA are mentioned and a line going back through William Lake,
physician, of London to John Lake of Boston, MA and hence back to Normanton,
Yorkshire. I believe this tree to have been drawn up by Lieutenant-General
Percy Henry Noel Lake about 1900. There are no references or sources so
it may well be a work of fiction especially before 1776. However, there
might be one or two gems there. A Charles Lake who died in Charleston (SC
assumed) left two sons. If this tree were to be believed, Charles would have
been born about 1710. Did the two sons stay in America when their cousins
returned to the UK? Can anyone trace his or her Lake line back to 1750 in SC?

However, I have gained an interest in the seventeenth century and the
Lakes who lived in those times on both sides of the Atlantic. I am also
interested as to whether there were any connections between some of the
Lake families within England. This originates from the commonality of the
coat of arms referred to above. Not all Lake lines that have a coat of arms
have variations on the one described above but those of Kent may have done,
as did the family originating out of Southampton in the sixteenth century.
There are records of others in the seventeenth century. Of course, most
people called Lake did not bear arms but sometimes they can be traced back
to about 1550 when records of baptisms, not births, marriages and burials,
not deaths, were required to be kept.

Hence, I am interested from where John Lake of Gravesend, LI might have
originated. Research of the Lake family of Kent might be the way to go. I
have details of the Lakes of South Benfleet, Essex, England but there was a
second family of yeoman in the same county but closer to London. I would
like to discover the ancestry of Bishop John Lake of Chichester who came
from Yorkshire and was imprisoned in the Tower of London by King James II
along with other bishops. One of my English snail-mail correspondents
claims he has found a reference to a Cheshire/Lancashire connection with
Normanton. If it were true, could this lead to a connection with the Henry
and David Lake of Salem, MA? Was not an Ann Lake burnt as a witch? Maybe I
should not try to make connections.
However, at present I am trying most of all to sort out the Edward Lakes in
the seventeenth century and learn all I can about the village tailor's son
who became a lawyer, minor court official, Advocate General of Ireland, at
forty fought for his King at Edgehill, was made a Baronet and the
Chancellor of the Diocese of Lincoln and presumably a rich man.

I have corresponded with a few Lake researchers in England and might be
able to provide contacts. I am also a member of a few English FHS.

If have not gone into any detail about the English side later than 1700
since most on the list will not have the same interests. However, anyone
who has is welcome to contact me.

Frank Lake in Pennsylvania