The Suffolk Family History Society's transcript shows that James OXBOROW's home parish was Burnham before he married Sarah SHEPPARD at Bredfield in April 1804. So does the marriage licence bond catalogued at
Suffolk Archives for husbandman James OXBOROUGH of Burnham and Sarah SHEPPERD of Bredfield. There is a cluster of villages named Burnham in north Norfolk but the county is not specified in the marriage records, so perhaps somewhere in Suffolk is more likely, such as Barnham or Barsham, although neither of these is close to either Bredfield or Fressingfield.
If James was born in Bredfield, he may have been baptized there in 1768, a son of Stephen and Temperance OXBORROW. Stephen OXBORROW of Dallinghoo had married Temperance BUCKENHAM at Bredfield in 1766. She died in 1784 and widowed shopkeeper Stephen OXBORROW of Bredfield obtained a licence to marry Mary WHITMORE at Melton in 1787 (
Suffolk Archives). Stephen OXBOROUGH was buried at Bredfield in 1813 aged 78 (born c.1735) and Mary OXBOROUGH in 1826 aged 84 (b. c.1742). Stephen's will (Norwich Consistory Court 1813, from folio 326 verso:
FamilySearch.org image 634) was signed in September 1804, when his son James was a shopkeeper of Bredfield.
Stephen's daughter Mary OXBORROW of Dallinghoo married farmer Thomas WHITMORE of Brundish in 1796 (
Suffolk Archives). I imagine he may be a son of Thomas WHITMORE of Wilby (buried at Brundish aged 71 in 1816; b. c.1745) whose brief (nuncupative?) will was proved in 1817 (
Suffolk Archives).
Mary's brother Stephen OXBORROW of Bredfield (c.1765-1847) also made a will. In 1851 this was "exhibited into the [Norwich Consistory Court's] Office to be filed and registered only" (not proved) because he left no personal effects, but it is accessible at
FamilySearch.org (folios 64 & 65: images 75 & 76).
Other wills of potential interest held by the Suffolk Record Office include those of farmer
John SHEPPARD of Fressingfield [father of Mary Ann NORMAN and Sarah OXBURGH? (line 16); buried 1807 at Brome?] and
"Edmund" OXBORROW of Helmingham [Edward? (c.1748-1819)].
Since James OXBORROW was a husbandman at the time of his wedding in 1804, he probably had more in common with the Tannington farming community than with the Woodbridge gun maker of the same name (born c.1786) who was buried at Helmingham in 1840 aged 53 (Suffolk FHS burial index) or 55 (
Suffolk Chronicle 14 Nov. 1840). The gunsmith's widow, Elizabeth [m. Crowfield 1814, née DRABBLE or DARBY?], died at her son's home in Kilburn several years later (
Suffolk Chronicle 9 Jan. 1847).
The will of farmer James OXBORROW of Tannington (c.1765-1847) was proved at Worlingworth before a surrogate of the Norwich Consistory Court on 28 January 1848 (folios 63 to 66:
FamilySearch.org images 72 to 75), power being reserved to grant administration to his widow Sarah, but she appears to have died about three weeks earlier. If you would care to request a free image of their headstone from the
Gravestone Photographic Resource, it could be a good opportunity to mention that the years of death are wrongly transcribed there as 1817 and 1818 instead of 1847 and 1848. This suggests that Sarah's age might have been 64 rather than 61, bringing her birth closer to the baptism of Sarah SHEPHEARD at Fressingfield in 1783, despite being recorded as 57 in the Tannington burial register.
David
