My Sauls came from Byfield

Hi all

I'm Belinda Dettmann from Newport Beach, Australia.

Although I've been researching various family lines for many years I've only recently discovered that one of my 3G grandparents was Mercy Saul.

She was born in 1766 at Byfield, Northamptonshire, of parents Thomas Saull and Hester Boot, and she married John Farmer in Edgecote in 1795. My line runs through her youngest daughter, Mercy Farmer, who was born in Sulgrave on 4 Apr 1804, although her mother sadly died the day she was born. I understand that the Sauls of Byfield have been well researched and I would be interested to get in touch with other descendants from this family.

I am a great believer in the power of cooperation between people to unravel their joint ancestry. I recently joined an online group for the surname 'Ireland', which is very active and well-run and is having great success. Although based in America they have members world-wide and we have unearthed a number of unexpected links. The group now incorporates DNA-testing into their activities and is getting some very interesting results.

I also belong to an informal group of Stewart descendants whose ancestors come from the area round Balquhidder in Scotland. We have worked hard to gather and interpret original source material and we are having some spectacular successes, tracing several lines back to the royal Stewarts and King Robert Bruce.

Consequently I'm only too happy to join the Sole Society Forum, in the belief that it will foster cooperative research and do great things.

Belinda