The Discovery of the Stutevilles in 2006 by Sheila--a descendant of Sir Martin Stuteville
Channel: semw52
Date: 2023-02-28

Another audio pod folks created in the early days  when I had just really started  far reaching field trips on the trail of the Stuteville ancestors.This was a first visit to the village of Dalham in Suffolk in 2006 where for several hundred years the Stuteville family were Lords of the manor. Dalham Hall is obviously a later creation but  there would have been an older medieval  manor house here in the past.Nevertheless it is still the land of the Stuteville families over time until the early 1700 when it was sold to others like the Afflecks etc...more details can be found on my family tree database.....This first visit in 2006 was such an exciting moment--exhilarating to make  this discovery but also sad because I was soon to return to Somerset after a really great 6 month trip to Suffolk and Cambridgeshire and living  here while I carried out as much research as I could--doing the footwork, visiting the archives at Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds and wandering around numerous graveyards, churchyards and churches...I really wanted to stay longer  so much in the area for me to discover and Somerset a 5/6 hour journey away.....but by 2023 I had returned many times to re-visit and carrying on the research ...Since those early days  family tree research Globally has greatly improved and with the internet and online accesses  this has contributed much in helping me trace  and verify my  ancestors. But I will never forget this first visit--the excitment when I found the memorials---remember discovering the Stutevilles in my tree was only about a week--so it was a great find indeed  and enabled me to  got back hundreds of years---The Stutevilles my great Gatekeepers to the past---Windows and doors opened big time and I love revisiting, walking the grounds, walking within the old church where they once also walked--I felt embraced by them aware that some are buried here and once lived and prayed here---I also felt like I was destined to find them--that they were  in a way calling me to Dalham to find them and tell their story--It has been a great journey of discovery....But it is no where near finished--so much more treasure to find and now with the help of others to find and share....
The Stuteville Sonnet states " The name exists no more and their reknown exists no more "Quote Rev. Stephen Isaacson 1842 in his book 'The Notices of the Stuteville & The Isaacsons" held in the British Library in London BUT Folks !!!! they are not forgotten and their name  exists and the 'Americas' did become their homeland long after Sir Martin Stuteville as a young man sailed the high seas with Sir Francis Drake on voyages to the Americas, Virginia...as stated on a memorial plaque inside Dalham church and  by Rev Stephen Isaacson in his special book........a gift to us and a contribution to our shared tree...