John CHURCHILL and Ann NIXON?

[fyremoon]

Hi, new to the forum, from Australia. I thought I'd ask about these two to start.

I have John CHURCHILL b. 1813 Deddington and Ann NIXON b.1817 and christened at Bladon. They married in 1837 at Bladon and came to Australia aboard the 'Templar' in 1844, with their first three children.

I would like to know about their parents. I *think* John's parents were Joseph Churchill and Esther Gilkes/Gilks, but I'm not sure and know nothing about them.

I have Ann's parents as John Nixon and Sarah. That's it. If anyone can help with these families, I'd be most grateful!

Leigh

[janbooth]

From the OFHS Parish Register transcript of Deddington:

27 Aug 1813 bapt John CHURCHILL son Joseph & Esther, carpenter

19 Dec 1805 marr Joseph CHURCHILL & Hester GILKES (she made her mark)
by Banns - Witnesses: Susanna CHURCHILL
Thomas KNIBBS

There are also the following siblings of John baptised in Deddington:

Benjamin (8 Mar 1806), ? (20 Mar 1807 - no name shown), Charlotte Jane (6 Dec 1808 - shown as daughter of John & Esther??), Joseph (9 Jul 1809, bur 21 June 1810), Joseph (21 Jul 1811), Charles (14 Apr 1816), Samuel (20 Feb 1820), William (23 Oct 1822).

From a glance at the baptismal index, there appear to be a lot of CHURCHILLs and GILKES going back in Deddington to the mid 1600's.

The Oxfordshire Family History Society have produced a wealth of parish register transcription cds and these are available to purchase online at their site. Hope this helps.

Janet.

[janbooth]

Have just found Joseph & Esther on the 1851 census of Deddington (HO 107/1730, folio 25, page 43) and it states that Joseph was born in Great Tew & Esther in Deddington.

Janet.

[fyremoon]

That's a great start, and it confirms some information I had about John's possible siblings. Oooh how exciting - isn't it fun when you get a lead! Thank you so much for looking up these records for me. I will have a look at the CDs for sale, although I'm not sure if I'm financial enough for that kind of thing at the moment. If the exchange rate was a little better it'd help lol

May I ask a further question - did the 1851 census returns give approximate ages for John and Esther?

It seems that Hester and Esther were commonly interchangeable spellings of the name, I'll have to remember to take both into account when searching.

Thanks again.

Editing to add two questions - the dates of John's siblings are baptism dates rather than birth dates, right? And are they all listed as children of John and Hester except for Charlotte, (who has John and Esther)? Just to clarify, sorry to be a pest.

Leigh

[janbooth]

Hello again Leigh,

Benjamin, unknown child and first Joseph shown as Joseph & Hester, second Joseph, John, Charles, Samuel and William all Joseph and Esther. All are baptismal dates.

Re census - Joseph shown as aged 65 - a carpenter & joiner, Esther aged 67.

I also had a look on the PR transcripts of Great Tew for the baptism of John's father Joseph. According to the 1851 census, he should have been born abt 1786. There is a family of CHURCHILLs in Great Tew at that time, a Joseph & Elizabeth, but no baptism of a son Joseph, although there are certainly more baptisms of a daughter Sarah than there are burials (3 baptisms and only 1 burial), so perhaps they could have recorded one of the baptisms incorrectly. The marriage of Joseph & Elizabeth is as follows:

25 June 1772 Joseph CHURCHILL, Sandford & Elizabeth BUSBY, sp, by Licence, Witnesses Ann BEST & Sarah BUSBY.

Hope this helps.

Janet.