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
At this point my time was well up but I hope you will be pleased with these initial findings. If we accept the hypothesis above, then we have found the correct family.
If not then it will be difficult if not impossible to know where to look next
I got this information from someone in the past.
