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Hi Sharon

Thanks for your answers.

I had to ask, because my ancestors William Evans and Sophia were recorded as being from Highworth when they baptised their son Abraham in Chedworth, GLS in 1833, and I'd also heard another mention of Highworth, in a poem, of all places.

As for the name Valentine, I asked because I have an ancestor (Valentine Johnson) down a different line, who does not appear to have come from anywhere near where he eventually settled. (The only baptism I've found that might be him was in London in the early 18th century, but wherever he was from, he ended up on the BKM/OXF border), and neither did his wife Ann(e) Pewtress. Of course, he could have just moved :-)

Thanks

Martin

Hi Sharon

Thanks - I shall investigate further the OXF Alfords. If Hezekiah was from a travelling family, it could easily be the case that his family were not from BDF at all.

Do you know of any websites/publications that might help me out?

Thanks

Martin

Hello

My 3x great-grandfather Abraham EVANS was baptised in Chedworth, GLS on 30th June 1833. He was the son of William EVANS, a travelling basket maker and his wife Sophia. Both were recorded as being from Highworth, WIL.

By the time Abraham married in Shipton-under-Wychwood, OXF on 1st November 1852, he was a chair bottomer, which is what his father had become. His wife was Mary Ann ALLFORD, a hawker, daughter of Ezekiel ALLFORD, a tinker/tinman. Mary Ann's birth county is recorded on later censuses as Buckinghamshire. Abraham eventually became a tinker/tinman himself, and the family moved around a bit (two children being born in Hampshire), before finally settling down in Buckinghamshire, where their descendants have lived ever since.

I can't find any other records of an Ezekiel ALLFORD, but there is a Hezekiah ALFORD on the 1871 census, recorded as a tinman (relation to "head of family" - tramp) and living in Beaconsfield, BKM. There is also a marriage in Noke, OXF on 15th December 1823 of an Ezekias ALLFORD to a Jemima JEFFS.

Do any of these family names (or individuals) ring a bell with anyone? If anyone has even the slightest scrap of new information, I would love to hear from them - it's all good.

Thanks

Martin

Hello

I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the following...

I have found somebody whom I know to be my 1st cousin once removed and would like to contact him, partly because he's family, but also because he is very likely to have much more information about some of my ancestors than I do.

Thing is, while he descends from our common ancestor (my great-grandfather, his grandfather) legitimately, I descend illegitimately. Given the dim view of illegitimacy in the early 20th century, I can imagine that my cousin's family were never told that their grandfather had fathered a child with another woman before he married their grandmother. So any letter I send might be the first he's heard of it and could shatter his image of his grandfather.

Does anyone have any advice on how to go about contacting a relative in these circumstances? Any advice would be very gratefully received.

Thanks

Martin

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