Bothway

[Murray]

Bothway seems to be a very rare surname with only one family in England in the 1871/1881 censuses. In the 1841/1851 censuses the family was living in Wisbech St Mary, Cambs and they were still there 1871/1881 except for one son (Henry) who had moved to Wreningham.

Does anyone have any information on the Bothways?

Murray

Christchurch
New Zealand

[Pam Downes]

Hi Murray,
I've never heard of the name before, so can't help you other than to say do a google search, but do make sure that you don't put as 's' at the end of the name.
There's 5 or 6 interesting hits, including 2 on page 10. Will leave you to explore the remaining 58 pages. :)
Also have you had a look at the IGI at
www.familysearch.org ?
There are some entries for the 1800s and I also find the IGI useful for suggesting possible alternative spellings.
Another source to look at is family history online.
You have to register to search for a surname, but you don't have to pay until you actually want to view an entry. Lots of entries if you use '+ variants'.
And there's a Bothway on
http://www.genealogy.doun.org/transcriptions/index.php

Pam Downes

[Murray]

Hi Pam
Thanks for the feedback, yes I have tried these sources (and the excellent Cambridgeshire database) and have got a lot of information - but not the critical bits!

I am intrigued by your 'page 10 of Google', were these the Bothways still living in Norfolk? I have tried to contacting them and hopefully will get a response.

This must be the rarest name I have researched, this certainly makes putting the families together a lot easier, but as a result there is little background info on the name or their origins.

Many thanks

Murray

PS I see what you mean re the added 's' ;>) !!!

[Pam Downes]

I am intrigued by your 'page 10 of Google', were these the Bothways still living in Norfolk?

Hi Murray,
Forgot to say that I selected 'UK pages only' on google, so if you did world-wide you may have got a different selection.
These were two entries, both on the same link I've just seen, one headed the BUTERY family and the other headed the BALDOCK/HORNBUCKLE families all of South Nottinghamshire. They relate to events in the 1600s, which of course might be on the IGI. Didn't think of the IGI first time round, so edited my message and added it in.

Pam Downes

[Murray]

Thanks Pam - found it!
Looking at the IGI records again together with the census records, the Bothways seemed to have only just survived since the 1600s - with only a handful of families at any time.

Murray