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 near Norwich.

Does anyone have any information on the Bothways?

Murray

Christchurch
New Zealand

[Wirral]

I have no Bothway connections, but I noticed that in Lincolnshire in the 1841 census there are a number of families with similar names: Bathway, Bethway, Buthway, Botherway. Are they perhaps connected to your Bothways?

[AnnB]

I've just had a quick look at FreeBMD and there are quite a lot of Bothways listed, mostly from Cambridgeshire.

Best wishes
Ann

[Murray]

Since posting the message I have done some more digging and have found that the Bothways were living in two clusters, one in the area of North Peterborough, Crowland, Spalding and the other in an area about halfway between Peterborough and Leicester. The older families seem to be from the Crowland group.

Given the low numbers I wouldn't be surprised that the name variants are connected and that Bothway is a variant of one of these other names.

My Bothways were connected to Turners in Crowland in the 1780s. Many of the family appear to be mariners and the son of this family who was my GGGF lived in the lighthouse on the west bank of the Nene at Sutton Bridge and was probably the first inhabitant.

[Geoffers]

One reference to the name in Norfolk:
http://www.genealogy.doun.org/transcriptions/surnames.php?doc_type=200&surname=BOTHWAY

Geoffers

[Murray]

Thanks again (!!) Geoffers

I have traced one branch of the Bothways in Crowland to the Aylsham district but I hadn't found this one. I am intrigued by them as the Turner family also seem to have some links in this area and so I suspect an ongoing relationship between the families. I have made contact with a member of this family but unfortunately their records don't go back far enough.

Murray

[Geoffers]

In case you don't have the information, the 1881 census transcript records:

RG11/1957 f95 p2
Ashwellthorpe Rd
Wreningham
Henry BOTHWAY, hd, mar, 39, farmer empl 10 men boys, bn Wisbech St Marys, Cambridge
Mary J BOTHWAY, wf, mar, 37, bn Wisbech St.Mary's
William E. BOTHWAY, son, 16, farmer's son, bn Wisbech St Marys
Harry BOTHWAY, son, 15, farmer's son, bn Terrington St John
Elizabeth BOTHWAY, dau, 13, scholar, bn Terrington St John
Kate M. BOTHWAY, dau, 12, scholar, bn Terrington St John
Emma BOTHWAY, dau, 12, scholar, bn Terrington St John
Robert C. BOTHWAY, son, 10, scholar, bn Wreningham
Ann DEARLOVE, MotL, wid, 67, annuitant, bn Murrow, Cambridge
Edith BOTHWAY, niece, 9, scholar, bn Guyhirn, Cambridge
Mary BOTHWAY, niece, 5, scholar, bn Guyhirn, Cambridge
Eliza BUCK, servt, 15, gen.servt, bn Fundenhall, Norfolk, England

continued....

[Geoffers]

.......and.......

RG11/1970 f60 p5
Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk
William WELCHER, hd, mar, 35, farmer 210 acres, empl 4 men 2 boys, 2 women, bn Upwell, Cambridge
Ellen WELCHER, wf, mar, 31, bn Wisbech St Marys
Ellen WELCHER, dau, 9, scholar, bn Ashwellthorpe
Kate WELCHER, dau, 6, scholar,bn Ashwellthorpe
William BOTHWAY, nephew, 13, bn Wisbech St Marys
Rebecca TUDENHAM, visitor, 16, bn Norwich
Hannah BROOKS, servt, unm, 27, dom.servt, bn Tacolnestone

No trace of the name in the 1851 census transcript.
Geoffers

[Murray]

Thanks Geoffers
I'm not sure if I have these families as my database is on another computer. Because the name is relatively rare I have put all the names [including variants: B(o,a)th(e,a)way] that I have come across into Genbox and there are some patterns starting to develop and so these families will help fill in the picture.

I thought the name was Scottish but there are very few early mentions of it outside of the Peterborough area, which implies the name originated there. The earliest reference I can find is in the IGI in the early 1600s in Crowland.

The family seems to be quite 'narrow', even in modern times, and so perhaps they mainly produced females with only just enough males to carry on the name?