HARFORD family

[HarfordHunter]

Harford, Charles b. 1750 in probably Devonshire (?)  d. 13 Nov 1824 in Rochester, New York, USA.

Charles Harford was one of the first settlers of Rochester, Monroe County, New York. His name
is mentioned in several accounts on the early history of that area. John and Abraham Harford were with him when they arrived Rochester, Monroe County, New York around 1800s. John and Abraham could be Charles' brothers or relatives.

Charles Harford married to Lucy (unknown maiden) b. abt 1750 in England - d. before 1799 in possibly in New York, USA. They had children. Their names and dates:

Benedict Harford  b. 1786 in England– d. 1827 in New York, USA
John Harford b. 1788 in England – d.  1856 in New York, USA
Sarah "Sally"( nee  Harford) Ray  b. 1790 in England – d. 1874 in Michigan, USA
Thomas Harford b. 1792 in England – 1821 in Rochester, New York, USA
Charles Harford b. 1797 in New York, USA – 1870 in Michigan, USA
William Harford b. 1799 – b. before 1860 in Michigan, USA

Seeking for:
Charles Harford's parents' names via Charles' baptism record? *Note: I am not sure if his birthplace was in Devon area.
Lucy's maiden name via Charles and Lucy's marriage record ?
Lucy's parents' names via her baptism record?
Charles and Lucy's children's baptism records?


For any volunteer willing to check some information on my Harford ancestors. I want to take this moment to thank you for time and effort to find and share the information with me. I haven't find new info on it for over 20 years. Thanks. Cheers, Peter

[HarfordHunter]

INFORMATION PROVIDED. Charles HARFORD was born in England c1750 and he married there before leaving the country.
Wife was Lucy/Lucinda, and there may have been more than one marriage

UK children were
•1786 Benedict (Named after Charles’ brother)
•1788 John (Named after Charles’ brother)
•1790 Sally died 4 Jun 1874 aged 84 years 2 months and 8 days. Married name RAY. Grand child named John Rich RAY. Perhaps RICH is a family name
•1792 Thomas

 

RESEARCH FOCUS English birth place and parents’ details

 

RESEARCH AGREED

Trawl of UK parish indexes searching for evidence of the family, and hope to locate them so we can move forward

 

Some of the sites searched were free research sites, and these have been indicated so you can look at them yourself and see the findings.

This means that some items may duplicate what you already have, but are listed below in order to give a complete picture

 

Information was that Charles may have been a Devon man so that was the initial focus with additional searches in adjacent counties of Wiltshire, Dorset and Hampshire

 

UK PARISH LISTINGS BAPTISMS 1538-2005

Devon: Earliest was 1815

Dorset: 2 entries in 1600 and 1 in 1820

Hampshire: NIL

Wiltshire: Numerous entries so restricted search to 1730-1780

Chippenham St Andrew
•26 Oct 1750 Charles son of Betty HARFORD with no father listed
•9 Jun 1754 Charles son of Charles and Ann HARFORD
•25 Feb 1747/8 John son of Charles and Ann HARFORD
•There were other entries in Chippenham but nothing at all for Benedict

 

 

UK PARISH LISTINGS MARRIAGES 1538-2005
•1775 St Thomas Portsmouth Hampshire Charles HARFORD to Mary DUBBIN

 

UK PARISH LISTINGS BURIALS 1538-2005

Burials are a good indicator of location. People may not have married or baptised their children, but everyone had to be buried

Devon: Nothing for Charles, Benedict or John but several for other HARFORD people

Dorset: Nothing for Charles, Benedict or John but several for other HARFORD people

Hampshire: NIL

Wiltshire: Numerous entries. Some in Chippenham Cemetery but nothing that jumped out

 

UK VITAL RECORDS (2nd Edition)

BAPTISMS 1740-1760 Focus on Charles and Benedict

MARRIAGES open Search showed nothing for Benedict and some for Charles, but none of these were to Lucy or anything like that name

 

 

www.familysearch.org (Free Site)

 

BAPTISM AT FRIAR STREET BLACKFRIARS NEW JERUSALEMITE, LONDON

·         Born 14 Feb 1759 and baptised 19 Oct 1788 (aged 29) Benedict HARFORD with no parents’ information

 

HARFORD FAMILIES BAPTISED AT ST THOMAS PORTSMOUTH HAMPSHIRE

Information was that perhaps Charles HARFORD was a Devonshire man.

Counties in geographical order are Devon, then east of Devon is Dorset, then east of Dorset is Hampshire, all on the south coast of England

 

FAMILY 1

CHILDREN OF NATHANIEL & MARGARET HARFORD

·         14 Apr 1691 Mary

·         3 Apr 1692 Margaret

·         21 Mar 1693 Dorothy

·         15 Oct 1697 Elizabeth

·         11 Oct 1699 William

·         1 Jan 1700 Natthaniel

·         11 May 1702 (Father listed as Natt)

·         15 Feb 1704 Anne

·         1 May 1706 Benedict

 

FAMILY 2

MARRIAGE 3 Sep 1685 Walter HARFORD and Mary MOODY

Children
•23 June 1687 Mary
•18 Jan 1689 Elizabeth
•18 Aug 1693 Mary
•3 Jan 1697 William
•22 Jun 1699 Anne (Father listed as Walther)
•9 Apr 1700 Walter

 

 

FAMILY 3

MARRIAGE 1704 Wilkins HARFORD to Amy PEACOCK (Boyd Marriage Index)

CHILDREN OF WILKINS AND AMY HARFORD SAME CHURCH
•13 Feb 1705 Mary

 

FAMILY 4 (Earlier Generation)

CHILDREN OF ROBERT HARFORD SAME CHURCH
•Born 31 Mar 1657 and baptised 15 Apr 1657 Walter son of Robert HARFORD
•2 Nov 1664 Nathaniell son of Robert and Jone HARFORD

SUMMING UP

Nothing has been found of Charles's marriage or his UK born children

Devon and adjacent parishes have been searched.

The name Benedict HARFORD is the most distinctive and this name has been found twice
•1 May 1706 St Thomas Portsmouth as youngest child of Nathaniel and Margaret
•14 Feb 1759 but baptised 29 years later in London with no parents listed

Charles HARFORD has been located twice in Chippenham Wiltshire
•26 Oct 1750 Charles son of Betty HARFORD with no father listed
•9 Jun 1754 Charles son of Charles and Ann HARFORD

John HARFORD has been located once in Chippenham with same parents
•25 Feb 1747/8 John son of Charles and Ann HARFORD

 

HYPOTHESIS
is it possible that these entries can be combined into one family of siblings?

 

I checked all the Chippenham entries and extracted the ones with parents Charles and Ann

The dual dates reflect the era when calendar years began in April and not January
•1747/1748 John
•13 Mar 1749/1750 William
•30 Jan 1752 Ann
•28 Mar 1752 Sarah
•9 Jun 1754 Charles
•17 Feb 1757 Thomas
•14 Feb 1759 Benedict (baptised aged 29)

 

HYPOTHESIS
is it possible that the family moved from Chippenham not long after Benedict’s birth and he was never baptised as a child?

 

NOTED that from the list we have several matching names for the children of 1750 Charles

 

I got this information from someone in the past. Any feedback on this?

[rosie99]

Have you investigated this baptism for Benedict
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F76N-GMF

[HarfordHunter]

rosie99, Hi! Thank you for your reply. Yes, I did investigate and find the detailed information on Benedict from the source: England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1970 for Benedict Harford via ancestry website. No parents listed. I assume it's same person which I hope so! Thanks.

[pjm99]

HarfordHunter,
But there was a good reason his parents weren't listed, he was an adult!
What is recorded is: Benedict Harford born Feb 14 1759, baptised Oct 19 1788 at Friar Street, Blackfriars (Swedenborgian). This a Non-conformist church/chapel.
If there is no evidence that the family were Non-conformists then it is possible he was previously baptised in an 'conformist' church when he was a child.
Peter

[rosie99]

HarfordHunter,
But there was a good reason his parents weren't listed, he was an adult!
What is recorded is: Benedict Harford born Feb 14 1759, baptised Oct 19 1788 at Friar Street, Blackfriars (Swedenborgian).

Thanks Peter - familysearch only indicated baptism date and doesn't show his age at baptism so obviously not the one bn c1786
Rosie

[HarfordHunter]

pjm99 and rosie99, Hi there! Thank you for your reply and explanation about Benedict's baptism record. :-). I wonder if Harford family moved from either Devon or Wiltshire to London for business. Is it possible to find an obituary of Charles Harford 1750-1824 somewhere in Devon, Wiltshire, or London because he was well known business man in Rochester, NY. Even one of his sons, Benedict owned a Harford house hotel and Harford Barn Livery in Bergen, New York. USA. Many years ago, his hotel was no longer and changed to  Devonshire Apartment. Two years ago, I stopped by to see it. However the sign of Devonshire was removed from that apartment. I don't know why. Now you know why I checked to see if Charles was from Devonshire or not. It won't hurt to check and find out about his birthplace.  Do you have any suggestion for me to check further and try to dig new records? Again, thank you for your reply.  Cheers, Peter