Cheshire historian Frank Renaud M.D. F.S.A. in "The Family of Foxwist, of Foxwist, and of Duncalf, of Foxwist" drew up a pedigree of the Duncalf family in the 19th century. It shows how the Duncalf family fortunes rose when a Thomas, son of Thomas Duncalf married Elizabeth Foxwist, daughter and heir of Vivian de Foxwist who is reported to have been aged 40 in 1386. By this marriage the Duncalf family became Lords of the Manor of Foxwist. The manor house was probably a wooden structure built on a moated mound. The mound still survives with the ditch and causeway and can be found on Sheet 118 of the 1:50 000 series Ordnance Survey map grid reference SJ896798, to the North of Prestbury near Macclesfield.

The pedigree continues down to the 17th century, showing marriages to several notable Cheshire and Lancashire families, ending when, in 1609, a William Duncalf of Mellor, Derbyshire sold most of the Foxwist property to the Legh family of Adlington Hall. Two other Cheshire historians, Ormerod and Earwaker disagree with Renaud's pedigree in several details, and the Heralds' Visitations of Cheshire 1567 & 1580, and the Yorkshire visitation of 1584/5 also give varying accounts of the same pedigree. However, research using wills and parish registers has made the picture a little clearer.

It has not been possible to prove a definite link between any of the families mentioned on the preceding page to the above mentioned pedigrees. However, the connection between the Duncalfs at Prestbury and the Duncalfs at Otteringham and Patrington in Holderness (East Yorkshire) in the late 16th century has been proved.

It was my intention, when I began my family history over twenty years ago, to prove my descent from a certain Thomas Duncalf (1410 to 1480) mentioned in Renaud's pedigree. However, over the years I have become more of a "Family Historian" and less of a "Genealogist"; my interests have changed and my two main aims are to prove relationships and to find out as much as possible about the people who appear in the family trees. This I have done with some success, particularly where criminals, transportees and paupers are concerned.