Elizabeth Willoughby .Kidlington workhouse.

[susyswan]

I am looking for Elizabeth Willoughby who had a child (John Willoughby b 1762) in Kidlington workhouse oxfordshire she could have been born abt 1730-1740 . i can find no trace of her before 1762 or after 1762. what could have happened to her.

[janbooth]

Susy,

Have you found John's birth via actual Workhouse records, or have you taken it from the IGI which is a member submitted record and looks to be somewhat dodgy as John's marriage is shown as to an Elizabeth in 1787 at Kidlington and according to the parish register transcripts no such marriage took place!

There are WILLOUGHBY baptisms starting in 1782 at Kidlington Mary daughter of John followed by John son of John & Mary on 2 October 1785, buried 30 Jan 1787 and then a Henry on 5 October 1788 to John WILLOBY & Elizabeth and other baptisms subsequent to that. However, there is no burial for a Mary WILLOUGHBY at Kidlington between 1785 and 1788 so perhaps they recorded her name incorrectly and she was an Elizabeth all along. There is a burial on 6 September 1783 of a Mary WILLOUGHBY, infant, so perhaps that is where the confusion arose. There is no marriage at all for John at Kidlington either to a Mary or an Elizabeth.

There is a burial for John WILLOUGHBY on 25 February 1831, aged 75 of Water Eaton which would make his date of birth c1756 and a burial on 9 October 1838 of an Elizabeth WILLOUGHBY alias Betty, aged 85-90. None of which helps you in your quest for the mother of John and what happened to her but he could have been born and baptised anywhere unless you have the actual workhouse records. Is John one of your direct ancestors??

Janet

[susyswan]

Hello. John Willoughby is my 4xgreat grand father . i have the fiche for the parish records, i had a look yesterday but could'nt find him or a marriage . when i started my tree in the late 1970's . i had a look at the igi and he was on that i looked at the fiche about the same time he was on that also . it said John Willoughby christend 1762 mother Elizabeth . it also mentioned Robert Rand who was master of the workhouse from 1735 - 1763 (John Willoughby's son married the great grand daughter of Robert Rand in 1826.) . he was also on the early igi. do they leave things of further copys of fiche & igi. best regards .

[Peter Goodey]

I may have misunderstood reply but it seems to me that the solution is to get down to some fundamental research in the original parish records - including the parish chest stuff.

The Mormons have not filmed any Kidlington records - a not unusual situation in Oxfordshire. I assume that means you'll have to visit the Record Office in person or contract out the work.

[Penny Gallo]

workhouses.org.uk - Peter Higginbotham's site about workhouses has some information for Kidlington, but it is subsectioned under "Woodstock" as the few smaller workhouses were later amalgamated. Kidlington's, at the time you are interested in, has a photo of the former schoolhouse which was converted in 1754 and had 9 bedsteads. There was also "equipment for spinning and carding wool or flax" - so I imagine your ancestor wasn't allowed to idle her time away.

[janbooth]

Susy,

There is no baptismal entry for a John WILLOUGHBY in the Kidlington parish register transcripts. Given the burial entry I found yesterday, his date of birth is c1756 and not c1762. The IGI entry is a submitted one, and should therefore be treated with extreme caution as there is no source mentioned and is therefore probably pure fiction. This IGI entry does not give a mother for John's baptism, merely that his spouse was named Elizabeth - did you perhaps misunderstand the entry when you first looked at it? As Peter has said, you need to go back to basics and search through the parish records - not easy when you have no clue as to where John was born/baptised. Kidlington MIs have been transcribed - they might give a further clue. Is he likely to have made a will? If so, that again might give you some clues.

Sorry not to be of more help.

Janet

[janbooth]

Just another thought, Susy. Oxfordshire FHS have produced a Marriage Index on CD which if you cannot get to the Record Office may prove valuable to you. They also do a very good search service which, when I used it several years ago, was relatively cheap, so you could perhaps find John's marriage to Elizabeth via that source.

Janet

[Peter Goodey]

All that IGI entry claims to say is that there was once a John WILLOBY who was married to an Elizabeth. All the other data is enclosed in bird's beak brackets < > which is a convention for "estimated"...or in the context of the IGI, a wild guess.

Susy - When/where/who was their first born?

I have the Oxon marriage index and will have a peep.

[Peter Goodey]

I've looked at the OFHS Oxon marriage index and can't see a John Willoughby marrying at about the right time anywhere in the county.

[susyswan]

John Willoughby married a Mary they had 2 children Mary b 1782 & John 1785 d 1786 Mary (mother) had died by 1787 when he married Elizabeth the mother of my 3x great grand father William. it is very confusing.