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[mazi]

This is a reply to your first response - Thomas was a teenager when the canal went through Lower Heyford.  Is this speculation on your part or was a canal being dug through Lower Heyford?

Yes there was a canal being dug.

Hope I am not stepping on jaywit's toes, the Oxford canal finally reached Oxford in 1790, where it joined the navigable river Thames.

Pure speculation but I wonder if his parents were already Thames boatmen,  clutching at straws there is a birth at the right time in Kintbury, which is on the navigable Thames tributary the river Kennet,
Mike

[LizzieL]

It seems strange that there are no other Ralph's (or variants) associated with Lower heyford turning up. If he was from an established family, I would expect that there might be siblings or nephews and neices with LH as birthplace and / or as residence in 1841 or 51. It could mean his parents were just passing through when he was born.

other posts on this family
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=704543.0
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=704539.0