Thanks to all Rootschat correspondents who've sent in information regarding John Oxlade of Portsea. With respect, I thought that I'd made it clear in my most recent contributions (my asking for help, mainly) how far investigations had gone...There's also a long back-log of enquiry on Rootschat that should help to answer questions recently posed by correspondents.
Nonetheless, here's a summary of the present situation...
Firstly, I found the Hampshire Chronicle on what was, for me, a new website; and was able to clarify certain details.
Secondly, with regard to John Oxlade's age at marriage in 1813, I knew very well that figures were quite often 'manipulated' so as to conform with the requirement that parties should have attained their majority. So I based enquiry on that possibility. I believe that both JO (John Oxlade) and Mary Ann Terry were older than twenty-one...and census details in 1841 bear this out.
In fact, thirdly, and most importantly, I'm now more than ever convinced that the John Oxlade I'm pursuing is the one born to William Oxlade in London in 1770. Computation taking into accounting census returns seems to confirm this.
This is an advance on previous enquiries and through mulling over and asking advice from correspondents - and getting it anyway. Again - much thanks.
There are still avenues to explore, particularly in respect of my original research into Oxlade as a printer of broadside ballads - my principal interest (as exemplified in a series of articles that can be found on the Musical Traditions Website). Two connective things stand out in this case. The first is that JO issued the ballads in question but that this was on behalf of William Oxlade and not on his own; and, secondly, William Oxlade died in 1803. This is an important factor because several of the ballads refer to events that took place after that date and this suggests that JO had had a hand in their production.
I'm not yet entirely convinced that JO was the printer although the odds are beginning to favour some sort of involvement. It might still look as if he was a bookseller only: the jury is out.
He and his wife, Mary Ann, left Portsea in or around 1820 and are next found in London, back in the area in which William Oxlade had raised his family; and in touch with one or another of the family - the name of Alexander Crawford, brother-in-law and himself a bookseller who had been apprenticed to JO, is certainly one of these. JO apparently took up the trade of shoemaking immediately after his move (there is evidence to show that this could have been a fall-back occupation for more than one person encountered during this enquiry) and then returned to bookbinding - not, it seems, bookselling.
There are, then, anomalies still and further lines to pursue. I hope, though, that the situation with regard to enquiry has been made clearer and, once again, thank correspondents for their patience.
roly
