Domesday Book Entry

When her grandmother asked her why she thought someone would name a baby “Admiral,” the little girl responded that it must have something to do with oceans or ships.
The grandmother agreed saying, “Well, that’s what I’ve always thought.  And that is precisely what you and I are going to find out.  ‘Cause when we find out things like that we learn the real history of our family, but that means we also learn who we really are. What I want you to know is that Haddock is not just an old railroad station between Gray and Milledgeville; it was the plantation home of a great family.”
The documented story of Haddock begins a very long time ago, across the Atlantic Ocean in an area not too far from London.  There were people near the Prittle Brook on the northern bank of the Thames River in England, thousands of years ago. Originally hunter-gathers, they eventually settled down in the area.  There is also much archeological evidence of Roman occupation with a central villa near the brook.  Following the fall of the Roman Empire, Saxons raided, thus making it part of the East Saxon kingdom during the 5th and 6th centuries C.E. (stands for “common era,” previously referred to as A.D.).  Prittleuuella became the Saxon town’s name.  Eventually, the word “Essex” emerged as a shortening of the “East Saxon” kingdom.
In 1086 C.E., the Domesday Books of William of Normandy, also known as William the Conqueror, were completed as the first census since Roman times.  William was descended from earlier Vikings who had reached a peace agreement with France that had allowed them to reside in Normandy.
The Haddock family is listed among the inhabitants of Essex in the district of Legra, later to become Leigh-by-the-Sea in Southend.  Southend refers to the south end of Prittleuuella, or Prittlewell as it was called by then.
“Nay, we have no choice Goodlad, but to comply with the conqueror’s request.” “Tell, me then, Haddock, why does such a man want to survey each and ev’ry one of us? It makes me cold to think what a Viking might do with such knowledge.  He already says that all land is held by him, the King!  No king has been so bold.”
“He has fewer than 10,000 Normans trying to hold onto all Saxon lands. He won‘t make the same error as the Danes by accepting mere taxes.  He will grant lands to as many Normans as he pleases.  I tell ye I don’t think he means harm to us. Folk and family have been here thousands of years, Goodlad.  What can William do to Essex that the Saxons did not already do to the Romans who’d settled here at Prittle Brook?  Alas, e’en the conqueror of the Saxons, the Danish Sweyne, has hastily switched his allegiance to William to secure title as Lord of the Manor here.”
“Yes, but what have we to gain, Haddock?  You can hardly travel a mile without gazing upon one of William’s castles or forts.”
“We gain the right to remain free men fishing and farming and taking care of our families here.  I’ll have an heir to keep the Conqueror and his Normans at bay; and I will record that I’m a free man having 1 horse, 5 cows, 5 calves and 100 sheep.  You follow your own conscience.  King William will do with men like us as he wishes, whether we record or not.”
Therefore, it falls into the Domesday Book exactly as Haddock spoke.