Ishams of Greens Norton

[Catling121]

Hi there,

I'm running into some difficulty with a Robert Isham/Isom/Isum of Green's Norton. He is the father of William Isum b. 1651 in Green's Norton. He married Jane Clubber in Green's Norton in 1742. I want to know when and where he was born.

I have seen a whole raft of trees online with this character in giving his date of birth as 1625, and his place of birth as either Green's Norton or Pytchley Hall. But none of them give any source citations, so I'd prefer to ignore them for now.

The problem seems to be that transcribers have had a horrible time transcribing "Isham", given it's various spellings and the propensity for 17th Century I's to look like A's, T's, H's and even F's.

If anyone is able to help, I'd very much appreciate it.

Many thanks,

Chris

[davidft]

Greens Norton is one of the parishes that Ancestry have on their site. You can look at images of the registers there. I did look at 1625 and could not see your man but then again I could not read the writing very well so perhaps worth a look. Note he did not appear on a search of the baptismal index

[Catling121]

Thanks David, sadly I can't see him either. I know that the records in Northamptonshire are a bit patchy, particularly in this particular region of the county, so he might be lost forever in another parish.

It's just very frustrating to see people with quite precise details online i.e. day/month/year of baptism, and not to be able to find any evidence for it all. I wonder if one person just made it up, and then everyone else has foolishly copied...

ho hum...

[davidft]

Interesting that you say you have found

quite precise details online i.e. day/month/year of baptism

as I have not seen such precise details online (maybe my searching is not too hot on this).

My first thought would be have you tried contacting people who have put these precise details online to see where they got them from?

What I also found is that one on of the genealogies on family search claims the Robert Isham who married Jane Clubber was born about 1622 at Maidford. Now Maidford as far as I can see is a separate parish to Greens Norton so you would have to look in separate registers. However i can not see registers that go back before 1711 so that would be a problem. However worth investigating to see if there were earlier registers and if so what happened to them \ where are they

[Catling121]

Hi David,

You're right, I was getting confused between Robert and his son William. I only found William by finding a tree which gave a very precise year, looking at that page, not seeing him, turning the page and finding him there under a completely different date. So many names flying around my head sometimes makes me talk rubbish.

Anyway, what I had found was very definite claims as to his parentage, and indeed 3 very separate claims: Gregory and Meriel, William & Catherine, and a Richard and unknown.

Sadly, you are right, the Maidford parish registers for the period are lost.

What I have read, is a full report on FamilySearch written by someone who has researched the Ishams in the United States. What they have suggested is that since a 'William Isham' married in Tiffield in 1621, and is noted 'of Maidford', that makes a fairly strong case for there being a family there. He's then leapt to say that there is a high possibility that Robert was his son. There is no evidence, other than geographical. However, it seems to be all there is. Shame really.

Regards,

Chris

[davidft]

OK so mentioning Maidford was worthwhile.

Its possible the genealogy I saw on familysearch is related to the report you read and if so would seem to suggest that perhaps the author of it had no further "proof". As you have read the report have you had contact with the author? If not might it be worth contacting familysearch to see if they could put you in touch with them.

Perhaps it would be worth a speculative letter to Northamptonshire archives outlining the problem and asking if they can advise eg might they have some other records that may mention Robert and his parents eg tax records, wills, apprenticeships

Similarly you could put an advert in the Northamptonshire Family History Society magazine or the Genealogists magazine if not of the above yield results

Good luck

[Mvann]

Hi

Is Robert connected in any way to sir giles isham. If so, there have been various articles about the family over the years. I think I spotted some northamptonshire history books at our local library. If he is, I'll have a look when I go in on Monday