The Snawsell family tree is not complete, there are some relationships missing and more research could be done. It is interesting to note the changes in the spelling of ‘Snawsell’. We think the origins of the name came to York from the parish of Snowshill in Gloucestershire with our William Snawsell’s great great uncle Master Richard De Snoweshull. He was a wealthy lawyer and civil servant who came to York in 1318 as ‘registrar and receiver’ to Archbishop Melton. Richard was also a supervisor at the archbishop’s mint and was rewarded with a Minster canonry and the rectorship of Huntington. The family links with the law, the Minster and precious metals were all made at this time and can be traced down through the generations.

Children can easily retrieve information from family trees when they understand how they work.

Younger children find the easiest way to make their family tree is to start with themselves at the centre of three or four concentric circles. The circle can be folded or have lines drawn on it dividing up the circles, the parents’ names go in the two halves of the next circle and the grandparents’ in the quarters of the next and so on.