Marking 400 years since the death of Shakespeare

Today marks 400 years since the death of the world’s most famous playwright. In Family Tree April, Charlotte Soares took us on an amble through William Shakespeare’s life and times; his family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances. Do any of them feature in your tree?

William Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616. For all the mysteries and scarcity of actual records about him, his death 400 years ago is firmly documented for St George’s Day, with a burial entry, a tombstone and a will. He lived to be a grandfather and now I’m a grandmother, having lived long enough to remember the 400th-year celebrations of his birth, I have comfortably spanned the measure of his 52 years. When Shakespeare’s son died, the chances of heirs carrying his surname died with him, but there are other surnames associated with his family. I have not done the research required to prove there are living descendants of any of these names. However, if you have the surnames listed in the April issue in your family tree, and you can find your ancestors that far back, there is the remote possibility that you may be able to connect to Shakespeare’s kith and kin, people connected by friendship or his associates during his life. It is by no means an exhaustive list and I have left out the nobility well documented in the research on Shakespeare, which is vast.

To read the full article get the April 2016 issue of Family Tree at Pocketmags.com or subscribe and save.