Margaret, who lives in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, explains that she started researching her family tree, known as Pegg or Pegge, in 1968. \u201cMy initial interest was sparked by my father\u2019s pride in his Pegge line based on family stories about how we were once very wealthy and owned lots of land.\u201d She began a career in local studies and archival research the same year, based at Derby Borough Libraries, qualifying at Loughborough University and returning to Derby to head up the Local Studies and Archive service.<\/p>
\u201cDerby Borough Libraries\u2019 Local Studies Collection was willed a very large collection of archival and manuscript materials from Chatsworth House, by the then Duke of Devonshire. It was further enhanced in the 1960s by a very enthusiastic chief librarian, who researched and developed an extensive Derbyshire family names collection. The collection included family papers from the Pegge family. So in my spare time, I was able to research my own tree.\u201d <\/p> The starting point for Margaret\u2019s research was her great grandfather, Joseph Samuel Pegge (1856\u20131939), and his wife Annie, and several great uncles<\/a> and aunts, all of whom lived near Normanton where Margaret\u2019s father\u2019s family lived.<\/p> Fifty-five years later, the Pegge line she has uncovered is very extensive and does indeed include several landed Derbyshire families. In total there are 1,959 Pegge relations on her tree.<\/p> Margaret researched the Pegge family using standard family history records such as birth<\/a>, marriage and death records<\/a>, census records<\/a> and parish registers.<\/p> \u201cMore recently,\u201d she says, \u201cI discovered British History Online<\/a> (BHO), a vast digital archive of more complex and not commonly available records, from the 12th century onwards.\u201d<\/p> Much of the Pegges\u2019 wealth and standing seem to have come from their associations with other high-ranking families in the area.<\/p> Among her ancestors, Margaret discovered Christopher Pegge (1565\u20131627), her 10x great grandfather, born in Shirley, South Derbyshire. He married a Jane Eyre of Hassop Hall, Bakewell, Derbyshire. The Eyres were probably the most influential family in the county at one time. They originally came over from Normandy with William the Conqueror, and settled in Hope in Derbyshire. Robert le Eyre was made hereditary warden of the Royal Forests in the area, and by the medieval period his descendants were lords of various local manors. The family seat was at Highlow Hall in Hathersage, and in Tudor times Sir Robert Eyre built seven more halls for his sons \u2013 one of which, North Lees Hall, is said to have been used by Charlotte Bront\u00eb as the model for Thornfield in Jane Eyre<\/a><\/em> (1847). The author perhaps also used one of the historical Jane\u2019s descendants as the inspiration for her novel. Jane\u2019s father Rowland, whose will Margaret found at TNA, made a fortune from the lead ore on the Hassop estate, and built a new hall in 1610.<\/p> One of Christopher and Jane\u2019s sons Thomas Pegge (1604\u20131680), born in Yeldersley in Derbyshire, married into another of the wealthiest families in the county when he wed Catherine Kniveton in 1630. Her grandfather was Sir William Kniveton, the 1st Baronet of Mercaston. The family seat was the hall of the same name, and the Knivetons had owned the estate since the 14th century. From sources including BHO and The Gentleman\u2019s Magazine, Margaret discovered that Thomas had been a Civil War<\/a> Royalist who fought under Colonel General Henry Hastings, 1st Baron Loughborough. Thomas and his family were captured during the war and exiled to Holland along with Charles II when the king\u2019s forces were defeated.<\/p> This is where perhaps the most exciting chapter of Margaret\u2019s family history begins. It was during their time in the Netherlands<\/a> that Thomas and Catherine\u2019s 21-year-old daughter, who was also named Catherine (1635\u20131678), began a long-standing affair with the king, and she is now remembered as his first official mistress. She bore him two children: Charles and Catherine FitzCharles.<\/p> Catherine junior is thought to have entered a nunnery, while her brother married Bridget Osborne, the third daughter of Thomas Osbourne, 1st Duke of Leeds and lord high treasurer, in 1678. Sadly he died of dysentery aged 23 in Tangier while serving with the Army. An article published in The Gentleman\u2019s Magazine<\/em> in June 1796 tells how his body was repatriated and buried in Westminster Abbey.<\/p> \u201cNeither of Catherine\u2019s children with Charles II had any offspring, so I can\u2019t claim to be related to royalty,\u201d laughs Margaret.<\/p> The earliest Pegge ancestor Margaret has managed to document is John Pegge, her 12x great grandfather, who died in 1533. \u201cHis five sons owned land and property mainly within South Derbyshire, and the records exist from that ownership.\u201d<\/p> Margaret\u2019s research has even taken her ancestry back to ancient times. \u201cVia the high-standing families the Derbyshire Pegges married into, especially the Eyres, I\u2019ve been able to take my tree back a lot further than 1480 and this leads onto ancient DNA<\/a> connections,\u201d says Margaret. She is involved in a DNA research project, and helps to manage its Facebook group.<\/p>![\"Black](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2024\/01\/Charlotte-Bronte.jpg?fit=1024,800\")
![\"Black](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2024\/01\/640px-CharlesFitzCharlesPegge.jpg\")