The 1592 and 1619 visitations of Kent, England surveyed several generations of 16418Alexander's ancestry.1,2 Although heraldic visitations are not necessarily reliable, other considerations and evidence help to augment and support the visitations' claims. The discussion below is divided into several sections:

William ffyssher of Maydston in the Countie of Kent gent maried Elizabethe Daughter and heire of John ffryer of Maydston in the saide Countie gent and by her had issue John his eldiste Sonne, Robert seconde Sonne, William, John minor, Richarde and Henry Died all sans issue.

John ffyssher of Maydston aforsaide gent Sonne and heire to William Maried Thomazin Daughter and one of theires of William Bettenham of Cranbroke in the saide Countie gent and by her had issue William Died sans issue Alexander seconde Sonne, George Died sans issue, Elizabethe maried to Robert Madder, Citizen, Anne maried to Richarde Parke of London Marchant.

Alexander ffyssher of Horelepoole [sic] in Detlinge in the saide Countie gent Sonne and heire of John maried Katherin Daughter to Peter maplesden of Maydestone aforsaide, and by her had issue John his eldist Sonne, George, seconde Sonne, Elizabethe Died yonge, Elizabethe seconde Daughter maried to Leverwoode Clerke, Thomazin maried to John Epes, gent., Margaret maried to Calebb Bankes, Katherin, Anne. and Marye unmaried.1

The 1619 visitation provides this pedigree chart:2

Using information from both visitations, I made this simplified chart to show only 16418Alexander's ancestry:

Although 16418Alexander's pedigree was included in the 1592 visitation, the language of the pedigree itself strongly suggests that it was written some years prior: The writer mentions the untimely death of 16418Alexander's daughter Elizabeth ("Elizabethe Died yonge") yet fails to mention the somewhat similar death of his daughter Anne,1 who was buried on 26 September 1590.3 The writer's apparent ignorance suggests that the pedigree was written before 26 September 1590.

16418Alexander's daughter Anna was buried on 26 September 1590. Full page.3
The writer of 16418Alexander's pedigree seems to be unaware that this had occurred.

16418Alexander himself had been buried just a few weeks prior on 7 September 1590.3 Therefore, the pedigree was almost certainly written during 16418Alexander's lifetime, and as such he could've been his own informant. (Of course, even if he had not contributed information for the pedigree, it's not far-fetched to suppose that his living children named in the pedigree would have known the names of their own grandparents.)

In western Europe in earlier times, it was common to name children in honor of their grandparents. Typically, a couple would name their firstborn son in honor of the father's father, and their second son in honor of the mother's father. Likewise, the eldest daughter would have the same name as the mother's mother, and so on. You can find this naming pattern in various western Europe countries, although it was more popular (and thus more strictly adhered to) in some places than others.

With this naming pattern in mind, let's now consider four Fisher children who were baptized in Detling in the late 1550's to early 1560's:

Elizabeth, baptized 20 March 1558/9. Full page.4

8209Thomazine, baptized 20 December 1561. Full page.4

Katherine, baptized 22 February 1562/3. Full page.4

John, baptized 26 March 1564. Full page.5

These four children certainly seem to be the children of 16418Alexander Fisher and his wife 16419Katherine (née Maplesden): All four are noted as 16418Alexander's children in the 1592 visitation,1 and Elizabeth and John are also in the 1619 visitation.2 Other records conclusively prove 8209Thomazine's parentage (as described in her profile), and John's baptism record explicitly states that he was the son of 16418Alexander.5

Although 16418Alexander and 16419Katherine may not have used the traditional naming pattern for all of their children, they seem to have done so for the two most relevant to 16418Alexander's parentage—i.e., their firstborn son John, and their second-born daughter 8209Thomazine. The choice of these names for these two children is consistent with the heraldic visitations and traditional naming patterns. (Their other two chidren mentioned above, i.e. Elizabeth and Katherine, seem to be named for 16418Alexander's paternal grandmother 65673Elizabeth Friar and 16418Alexander's wife 16419Katherine Maplesden, respectively.)

P. W. Hasler's The History of Parliament describes a record from 1548: "Henry [Fisher], his uncle John[,] and 'cousin' Alexander Fisher were three of those empowered in 1548 to sell the church ornaments belonging to the fraternity of Corpus Christi in Maidstone, and to use the proceeds to set up a free grammar school." 6 I have not been able to determine the original source of this record, but Hasler's biography seems credible.

This "Henry Fisher" along with "his uncle John" and "'cousin' Alexander" are all included in the 1619 visitation.2 Despite the use of scare quotes around the word "cousin," it seems that Henry and 16418Alexander are in fact true cousins.

This record provides additional support to prove the accuracy of 16418Alexander's pedigree in the heraldic visitations.

Around Michaelmas Henry VIII 33 (i.e., around 29 September 1541), 32836John Fisher and his wife 32837Thomazine sold several lands (98 acres in total) to 16418Alexander for £60. These lands were in Frittenden and Biddenden7 and very likely had once belonged to 32837Thomazine's father 65674William Bettenham (since his will shows that he owned land and mentions both Frittenden and Biddenden8 and since 32837Thomazine and her two sisters previously had gone to court about similar such lands, seemingly lands that they had inherited from their father9).

This record directly connects 32836John, 32837Thomazine, and 16418Alexander and seems to involve inherited family land. It's also more contemporaneous than the heraldic visitations described above, yet concords with them. Therefore, it strongly corroborates the visitations' claim that 16418Alexander's parents are 32836John and 32837Thomazine.