As I’ve posted before, I am descended from the Conyers of Durham, a mid-level Norman family that settled in Country Durham some time after 1066. While they weren’t a major House on their own, they did a great job of marrying up, and my ancestral lines connect to most of the major Houses of England (Neville, Marshal, Percy, among others) and even to the Royal House of Plantagenet through Edward III.
The other day, Patrick Cracroft-Brennan posted on the site that Catherine Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, was descended from the Conyers of Horden Baronetcy line. I followed up with him, and he pointed me to his page on Cracroft’s Peerage that laid out part of the relationship.
Curious, and always looking for documentary evidence of genealogical lines, I ordered of copy of The Ancestry of Catherine Middleton by William Addams Reitwiesner. It arrived the other day.
Using these two sources, I determined that we have common ancestors in William Hardy and Lady Jane Conyers. Conyers was a daughter of Sir Thomas Conyers, 9th and final Baronet Conyers of Horden.
Here’s the connection between the Duchess and the Conyers Baronetcy:
Catherine Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge
Mother
Carole Elizabeth Goldsmith (married Michael Francis Middleton)
Grandmother
Dorothy Harrison (married Ronald John James Goldsmith)
Great Grandfather
Thomas Harrison (married Elizabeth Mary Temple)
2G Grandfather
John Harrison (married Jane Hill)
3G Grandmother
Jane Liddle (married John Harrison)
4G Grandfather
Anthony Liddle (married Martha Stephenson)
5G Grandmother
Jane Hardy (married James Liddle)
6G Grandmother
Lady Jane Conyers, daughter of Sir Thomas Conyers (married William Hardy)
I descend through the Hardy line. This makes us sixth cousins, once removed. And yet, I still didn’t get invited to the wedding!
My aunt, Marjorie Conyers Wrightson, married to my father’s brother, is also descended from Jane Conyers through William Conyers Hardy. My cousins didn’t get invited to the wedding either.
Rosemary
My great grandfather was Thomas conyers hardy my grandmother Ethel his daughter my mam Nancy both hardyxx
Are we connectedx
My 3x Great Grandfather was Anthony Liddle and my 4x Great Grandmother was Jane Hardy, how are we related?
Our family appears to be incestuous. My name is Brian Middleton Hardy. The “Middleton” is my grandmother’s (on my father’s side) maiden name. I also was disappointed not to be invited to my cousin’s wedding.