Trying to trace my earliest ancestor......but struggling!

[djm297]

A quick search online at several sites reveals that John De La Pole and Elizabeth Plantegenet had 11 children-Edmund, Humphrey, Catherine , John, Elizabeth,Geoffrey, Dorothy,Edward, Anne, William and Richard....no Alicia.

John's mother was Alicia(Chaucer) and he had 2 sisters, again neither of them named any children Alicia.

Perhaps  John's father William had siblings who might be the clue to this? https://www.geni.com/people/William-de-la-Pole-1st-Duke-of-Suffolk/6000000001068679621

djm297

[Maiden Stone]

I am also trying to find out more about Alicia de la Pole born in 1480 to John de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk and Jane Okover.

Was this John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, 1442-1492?  Did he marry Jane Okover ?
He married Elizabeth Plantagenet, sister of King Edward IV. According to info on this site that marriage produced 11 children, youngest on list was Richard born 1480. www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/plantagenet_51.html
Are Jane Okover and Alice de la Pole mentioned in any biography of the duke? A properly researched biography will have sources for original documents.

Is there a credible source for John, Duke of Suffolk & Jane Okover as parents for Alicia de la Pole? Were there any other children born from the union? Any evidence for Jane Okover as wife of  Duke of Suffolk or whatever title John de la Pole had at the time?
If they were her parents you should consider possibility they weren't married.
If John, Duke of Suffolk was her father and he recognised her as her daughter, she may have been mentioned in a will or marriage settlement.
Another possibility is that there was more than 1 de la Pole - Okover marriage.
One tactic is to follow each Alicia candidate forward, trying to find out if they survived to marriage & having children. 

[GD40]

Thanks very much - I'll keep digging!

[BushInn1746]

You'll need to prove who you are and where you live to get a Readers Ticket ...

de la Pole search dates 1000 to 1700
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_ep=de%20la%20pole&_dss=range&_sd=1000&_ed=1700&_ro=any&_st=adv

Before you start searching through the almost 700 catalogue entries you need to distinguish the various de la Pole/Pole families so that you know which documents to ignore. A large number of them concern the Suffolk de la Pole family; I noticed some about the Earl of Lincoln, eldest son of the Duke of Suffolk, designated heir to Richard III,  who was killed leading a rebellion against Henry VII. You may need to do some historical background reading.
Some documents in National Archives online catalogue Discovery may be in county archives.

As you go back through the documents at The National Archives (TNA), University Special Collections and County Record Offices and Institutions around the Country, one document should lead you to another and related places and people, connected with the family.

Some information contained within many Manuscripts about a Family is unlikely to be online.

The British Library also have a Dept of MSS and the National Libraries and Archives of Wales and Scotland might sometimes acquire items.

One tip, never pick up from where someone else claimed to have got to, you'll often miss a historical background of a family including where the Family lived. Because many landed families lived in several residences during the year and held lands in many different Counties / Countries, which may suggest where possible surviving documents might be held now.

Modern books are sometimes copied from other book/s, or from older books originally written by people wishing to make a grandiose link to a particular person granted Arms and they may have brushed over Manuscripts hidden away in Archives.

Besides Wills, look for Marriage Settlements (before Couples got together) and Transfers of Estates, even modest properties, etc., etc., too.

Don't forget some were Merchants, trading across the Seas, or involved in Crusades going back in history, or worse, even executed, property seized, or sold to pay Tax, etc., or under Papal Law.

Some family documents before and since Henry VIII might even be in the Vatican Archives, or if purchased by them, especially if of Catholic interest.

When families married into another family, property documents and Settlements (apparently missing with one Family) survive as Mss in the other Family Collection, or some documents were acquired by the Family who subsequently took over a Manor or Estate by purchase (to prove a line of ownership).

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Four thousand (4,000) Manuscripts were put up for sale mid 19th Century at the Family Seat house clearance (many for part of our Historic village), collectors from various places purchased them and as these people died parts then got deposited far and wide to Archives across England and Wales.

One author has linked my town to Aston Hall near Birmingham and stated there are no documents. However, there are thousands of surviving Mss documents! He has the wrong Aston Hall, in the wrong county and in the wrong place!

Mark

[Maiden Stone]

As you go back through the documents at The National Archives (TNA), University Special Collections and County Record Offices and Institutions around the Country, one document should lead you to another and related places and people, connected with the family.

Besides Wills, look for Marriage Settlements (before Couples got together) and Transfers of Estates, even modest properties, etc., etc., too.

Don't forget some were Merchants, trading across the Seas, or involved in Crusades going back in history, or worse, even executed, property seized, or sold to pay Tax, etc., or under Papal Law.

Some family documents before and since Henry VIII might even be in the Vatican Archives, or if purchased by them, especially if of Catholic interest.

Four thousand (4,000) Manuscripts were put up for sale mid 19th Century at the Family Seat house clearance (many for part of our Historic village), collectors from various places purchased them and as these people died parts then got deposited far and wide to Archives across England and Wales.

One author has linked my town to Aston Hall near Birmingham and stated there are no documents.   …. He has the wrong Aston Hall, in the wrong county and in the wrong place!

Clicking on the title of a collection in Discovery catalogue (TNA) will show other items in that particular collection and possibly a history of the collection.
Wills might have been proved at Canterbury or York, (or Chester?) depending on where a person had property. If they held property in more than 1 jurisdiction, the will was proved at Canterbury. All those Pole/de la Pole families travelled a fair bit and had property in more than 1 county.
Wills of a few of my Catholic ancestors who died in 18thC. weren't with the main will collection in county archives but among enrolled wills in George III Rolls collection. One will was duplicated in each collection.
The Pole and de la Pole families who married into the Plantagenet royal family found themselves on the wrong side of history, first on the finally losing side in the dynastic struggle, and later the Reformation. Death in battle or by execution, or exile, confiscation of estates, fines &c. Unmarried females considered a potential threat to the new regime were likely to be married off to loyalists or put in a convent (pre-Reformation).
Re. stray documents. There is a website called "Dusty Docs". There are similar sites listing documents which have come into people's possession.
I've noticed wrong places on several online genealogies for people born pre 1600. Perhaps researchers accepting the only record they found as the correct one. Being born in 1 county and baptised in another raises my credulity antennae.