Bards and Bensteads and their Essex, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk kin
Pam Griffiths
For a long time, I could only find half the story of the ancestors of Susanna Watson Bard, my great-grandmother. The Bards lived for several generations in Great Chesterford in Essex. The families they married into - Andrews, Haseler, Pledger,Bray, Mason and Nottage came either from Great Chesterford, Littlebury or nearby parishes. Their story, and that of the elusive Mary Watson is told in Bards and Bensteads and their Essex, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk kin - part 1.
The other half of the equation was eventually found in Cambridgeshire, with one line tipping over into Suffolk. Here I found Bensteads in Bottisham, Cherry Hinton, Fulbourn, Dullingham and Burrough Green. Their kin included the Beavis family which originated in Kedington in Suffolk before settling in Burrough Green, and the Leggits from Swaffham Prior and Burwell. The account of their lives can be found at Bards and Bensteads and their Essex, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk kin - part 2.
A tree showing all Susannah Watson Bard's known ancestors is at Ancestors of Susannah Watson Bard.
If you do not have a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader, it is available for free download here.