ACHIEVEMENTS
CENTRE FOR HEARLDIC AND GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH AND ART WORK
NORTHGATE - CANTERBURY - KENT - ENGLAND - CANTERBURY

Ref: A/3354/CRHS/lcw

William Philip Pipkin, Esq.
1827 Lawrence Avenue
Leavenworth, Kansas  66048
U.S.A.

2nd September 1981

Dear Mr. Pipkin,

Thank you for your note of the 22nd August and the accompanying
pages. We have the largest and most efficient and economical team of
researchers in this field of study and, as non-profit making corporation
supporting an academic chartible trust, we can provide you with the best
possible service.

I would think that the first step is to determine from where in
England your surname may have arisen. We would propose searching the 
state papers colonial in the Public Record Office as a settler with
personal property in 1704 is quite likely to be mentioned in this context.
We would also propose searching testamentary documentation but first
we must localize the name and discover where the centres of it are in
this country.

The diminutive Kin simply means a young one, and Pipkin no doubt
means the young Philip. Therefore as a surname it is likely to be found
all over the country, though it may be of local usage and this is itself
may help us.

We have had a very long and successful experience in tracing 
emmigrant ancestry by a localization process. This is done in several 
stages, the first is from the records of death which are pretty complete.
Then we turn to the local sources and subsequently examine Wills and
administrations, which in turn would lead us to parochial records.

I can assure you that there is no coat of arms associated with the
surname, whatsoever. We are in a position to negotiate for you to be
granted new armorial bearings once we can prove your British origin.
This can be discussed at a later date and we would then be in a position
to petition Her Majesty's Offices of Arms appropriately.

This great card index at the Society of Genealogists is a limited
one and I think one ought to tackle this much more broadly. I am surprised
with what you say about "the surname Archives." While that is a commercail
concern, the head of it is a reliable and experienced researcher but the
source of his report is undoubtedly a printed one and it would be an 
expensive matter to trace the source of that back to the original 
manuscripts in the Public Office or where ever else it may be.

I trust that we may be able to help you. The programme of research
that I have planned for the first stage, which should determine the 
localization of the families of the name, and identify John with one of
them, would be $150. When we have completed this stage we can give you
better advice on what should be done next.

P.T.O.

ACHIEVEMENTS Ltd., Northgate, Canterbury, Kent, England, CTI IBA
The Genealogist

A21/934CRHS/CP

Wm. Philip Pipkin, Esq.,
1827 Lawrence Avenue
Leavenworth, Kansas 66048, USA

20th October 1981

Dear Mr. Pipkin,

We have now completed the agreed investigations within the limits set.

We began by examining the calendars of Prerogative Court Wills up to
1700 which are fortunately in print, and then we turned our attention to
the calendar of State Papers for the period 1670 to 1720. There was no
mention of the surname in conjunction with the christian name and migration.

The name seems to be almost entirely restricted to the Home Counties. In
Surrey we find a family Pipkin at Ewell, near Kingston, in the 1620s and 
'30s. There are some early entries around Luton, Toddington, Stanbridge
and Ridgemont, Holcot, Houghton Regis, Dunstable and Leyton Buzzard in
Bedfordshire (including a number of possibilities for John.)

There are some late 17th and early 18th century settlements of families
of the surname around Mentmore, Wing and Leckhamstead in Buckingham; and
in Hertforeshire around Tring and Gaddesden there is also a settlement.
Inevitably, there are Pipkins to be found in London parish registers where,
of course, we get the evidence in the early entries for the origin of the
surname, meaning "Little Philip." As a patronymic surmane it is bound to 
be found all over the country as a diminutive of the christian name, but
here we appear to have localized it to this comparatively small area
giving us a John, son of John Pipkin born at Toddington in 1678 and 
another at Stanbridge in 1675, both in Bedfordshire.

We have now examined a collection of emigration records and can find no
reference to John Pipkin and we have also worked our way through the 
visitation pedigrees that the Heralds collected in the British Museum
Library and elsewhere and in the calendars of the recorded and assumed
coats of arms. There is no reference to the surname there either.

Nevertheless I think there is no doubt that we now have a general 
localisation for the surname could go further and examine testmentary 
deposition. I have made a listing of these which narrows the field down
even more and a further $240 would cover the cost of abstracting them
all and seeing what reference there might be, hopefully to a relative
across the seas !

If, however, you wish to go directly for a grant of armorial bearings,
I can assure you that the surname is English, that you are descended from
English stock, that there is no reference to a coat of arms associated 
with the name and certainly no relationship with the one found in Rietstap
or Rolland or any other foreign source. You would have to petition through
the Earl Marshall to the Queen for a grant of Honorary Armorial Bearings
for commemoration of your English ancestry. 

The legal negotiations and cost of the letters patent under the seals of
the Kings of Arms and all the necessary art work would probably amount
to around $3,000. Perhaps you would kindly let me have your instructions.

Yours sincerely,

Cecil R. Humphery-Smith

C.R. Humphery-Smith
Director of Research