S Murray Pakes
9 Brunel Drive
Upton Grange
Northampton
NN5 4AF
Member of Guild of One-Name Studies
Reg. Member 2661
Email: murrlyn@usa.net
16 August 2005
Dear Sir/Madam
By way of an introduction, my name is Murray Pakes, I have a first Christian name of Stuart, but I have been known as Murray all my life. I am currently living in Northampton and working just outside of Milton Keynes, in Hanslope. I began researching the surname 'Pakes' in 1995. I am a registered member of the Guild of One-Name Studies, where the names 'Pakes' and 'Southey' are both registered, in my name, as One-Name Studies.
My research slowed during 1999 due to pressure of work and being remote from the UK. However on my return to the UK at the end of 2001 I dusted off my files - and have begun the long and laborious task of collating the data that has accumulated during that time.
Most of my early research into 'Pakes' was carried out in public libraries in the Bedfordshire area. This, together with the family's collective memory, has enabled me to document my own ancestors back 6 (soon to be 7) generations. Also I was able to identify smaller pockets of 'Pakes' family groups, dating back to the 1700s in places like Colyton in Devon and also in the North of England. There are other little groups but mainly in the Bedfordshire/Buckinghamshire areas. These groups are as yet un-linked to my own family line. I am hoping that in the next couple of years I will be able to establish some connection, no matter how tenuous, to some of these groups. During 2004 I was contacted on 2 separate occasions by South African Pakes' - this is a recent development and not all the data has yet been collated, so it is too early to draw too many conclusions.
My website at www.murrlyn.co.uk is pretty basic, but it serves my purpose of trying to reach out to potential contributors. I relaunched it on 1 August 2002, and update it on a regular basis. I have recently added a Genealogy Forum to the site. This I hope will attract and encourage both specific discussion related to my own research and general exchanges on matters Genealogy.
In an attempt to widen my sources of information I took the liberty, in September 2003, to write to as many ‘Pakes’ as I could find, in the hope that a few would contribute to my study with information of their own. I had some limited success which served to fuel my own enthusiasm in this task. However this was an expensive exercise which I cannot afford to do too frequently. However, I very much hope that it will not be too long before I can fill in some more of the gaps in my own research. I hope that anyone reading this will feel it sufficiently important to assist me in this research. Eventually I hope to publish, but not for a few years yet. I can be contacted by post or email, as well via my website. I do very much look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
Best regards
Murray Pakes
Page first published 13 August 2001
First revision 28 January 2002
Second revision 9 September 2003
Third revision 16 August 2005