Sides family in Oxford, Oxfordshire and/or Northamptonshire

[djsides]

Some years ago my Aunt (now deceased so I can't ask her) researched our family tree and found that we originated in the city of Oxford as decendents of a Thomas Sides. Thomas settled in Oxford as a builder and timber merchant and, according to my Aunt, had four children. I am his ggg-grandson.

I have located information about his death (1845) and three of his decendents (1837 onwards), but have been unable to find any information on the man himself, or his parents and ancesters.

From his age at death, he was born between 03 Mar 1777 and 02 Mar 1778, (which my Aunt) belived was at Kings Sutton in Northamptonshire, near Banbury.

I would particularly grateful for any information on him or his ancestors.

Also can anyone tell me if he was recorded in the 1841 census for Oxford City (probably St Aldates)?

Thanking you in advance,
David Sides

[jeeb]

Hi David,
Thomas Side son of Thomas Side & Elizabeth Pinfold baptised 4 May 1777
King's Sutton, Northants.
Cheers Jeremy

[jeeb]

Thomas Side married Elizabeth Pinfold 1Sept 1773, Newbottle, Northants.
In addition to Thomas they also bap. Sarah 10 Apr 1779 at King's Sutton.
Cheers Jeremy.

[Geoffers]

Thomas settled in Oxford as a builder and timber merchant
I cannot find him mentioned in Pigot's Directory of Berks, Bucks, Glos, Hants and Oxon dated 1830 under Buidlers or Timber Merchants. However, under Carpenters and Joiners (page 273, coulmn 3) there is:

SIDES, Henry. St.Aldate's.

Do you know if he was in business with a brother?

You might try and locate a will for him, these can be goldmines of information.


From his age at death, he was born between 03 Mar 1777 and 02 Mar 1778,
Don't take the age at death so literally. Although some are accurately recorded, many are just guesses and you may need to add or subtract several years.

Geoffers
Charlbury, Oxfordshire

[janbooth]

Folowing on from Geoffers's post, from the National Archives Documents Online site (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline) Will of Thomas SIDES, Gentleman of Oxford, 26 September 1845, PROB 11/2024. The will can be downloaded online for the sum of £3.50.

Hope this will help you.

Janet.

[djsides]

Many thanks to you all for the info provided.

I have the will & testament mentioned, but it is very difficult to decipher being in pure black and white (with no greys). However, after many hours of studying it, I have determined that the main beneficiary was his son Henry; the one mentioned in Pigots.

Should I be concerned that the birth information uses the name "Side" rather than that of “Sides”, as he was definitely known by in latter life? The reason is because the FFHS site does list the deaths of various "Sides" in North Oxfordshire, from the late 1600s onwards, so the name in that form existed, but of course may be unrelated.

What weight should I put to the birth in Kings Sutton? From the way my Aunt “drew-up” the family tree she only gave this birthplace as a possibility (and dated as just 1778). That makes me think she wasn't very sure about it.

Regards, Dave Sides

[jeeb]

Hi again David,
What you are not telling us is when your Aunt actually drew up your family tree, if it was fairly recently then she would have had access to many of the aides we have today and would have taken a wild quess at the King's Sutton baptism like I did. If however, she had a family source of information that had suggested Thomas Sides came from King's Sutton, then the coincidence of a right baptism in the right year should not be ignored. If Thomas, who left the Will in 1845, is the man you are tracing, he is described as a Gentleman and it would be likely that his predecessors also left wills. The lack of the 'S' should be taken into account but not totally ignored. I have come across cases where families deliberately change the name (eg. Treadwell became Tredwell on one line because two brothers fell out and one dropped the 'A' so as not to be connected to his brother.) or sometimes it was how the clerk decided it was spelt.
Jeremy.

[djsides]

My Aunt did her research after the war.
My understanding (as handed down) was that she had examined actual Parish Records in Oxfordshire. However I suspect that the public record office BMDs may have also been looked at. She did of course have family history, as related by her father's generation, but not her grandparents. That would certainly take the tree back to my gg grandfather, and possibly further.

All I have is a hand-written tree (probably from around 1960), with facts such as bmd dates, but no supplementary evidence or sources as to where she got her information.

What is actually written on the tree is
“Thomas Sides b. circa 1778. Probably at King’s Sutton, nr Banbury, cc Oxon. Settled in Oxford as a builder and Timber Merchant. d. Mar 2nd 1845 age 67 years. bd. at St. Aldate’s, Oxford”. married “Ann Harper d. Dec 1839 aged 62 years. bd. at St.Aldate’s Oxford”.

The FFHS web site confirms the deaths/burials of a “Thomas SIDES Date – – 1845 Aged 67 Place Oxford Description St Aldate Denomination Anglican County code OXF”
and “Ann SIDES Date – – 1838 Aged 61 Place Oxford Description St Aldate Denomination Anglican County code OXF”.

From the information on the tree it looks as though my sons and I are now the only remaining "Sides" descendants still carrying the name. My father once related that two of the brothers "fell-out" and emigrated, and there are absences of offspring to some of the males, so I eventually hope to establish what happened to them.

I have only been researching/investigating for a few months, so am still a bit green at this. Apart from “proving” the information passed down to me, I suppose another motive is to push the tree back to find other descendant lines nobody knew about.

Dave Sides

[Geoffers]

Should I be concerned that the birth information uses the name "Side" rather than that of “Sides”
No, you should not be concerned. Owing to the standard of literacy, variations in spelling of surnames continued up to the beginning of the 20th century. It is far better to take these variants into consideration than to ignore them.

Geoffers

[Geoffers]

My Aunt did her research after the war........All I have is a hand-written tree (probably from around 1960), with facts such as bmd dates,
Fair enough, nothing wrong with hand drawn diagrams which contain useful information.


but no supplementary evidence or sources as to where she got her information.
This would concern me. You don't know what she has, or has not checked. You don't know where she found anything, or how/why she arrvied at certain conclusions.

Ultimately it is your research, so you chose what to do - but - I would suggest beginning from the point you can prove to be correct by existing certificates, census returns, directories, wills, etc - and work back from there. You should record the steps you take and sources used so that if someone in 50 or 100 years time wants to, they can duplicate your research, following the sources quoted.

Geoffers

[Geoffers]

I have the will & testament mentioned, but it is very difficult to decipher being in pure black and white (with no greys).
You may find the document easier to read if you scan it with a colour setting, or copy it using a colour photocopier - if you work from a scanned copy, try varying the brightness of the screen and other settings (e.g tone, or add more red or blue). This doesn't always work, but is worth a try with difficult documents. Someone who knows about technical stuff once explained the reasoning to me; but being thick as two short planks, it went in one ear and out t'other, but it hasn't stopped me using it with some success.

Geoffers

[jeeb]

Hi David,
Geoffers as usual is giving you sound advice, it is your tree, so start from the beginning. Start with what you know, probably back to your Grandfather at least. Not knowing your age or circumstances I can't advise more but if your father and grandfather are still alive question them and then set about proving it, remember human nature makes most of us exaggerate the truth and family legends! As your Aunt did her research in 1960ish then she would not have had such a wealth of information at her fingertips like we do today, certainly not all the information now on the IGI. If she has written down King's Sutton there is a strong possibility that will be sound advice, especially as there is a Thomas baptised there at the right time. Your Aunt would not of course have got this birth from BMD as civil registration only started in July 1837. As I and Geoffers and probably all others who have done genealogy seriously will all advise you, never start with some one else's work, use it by all means, but this is a great hobby and there is a wonderful feeling when you actually prove that elusive relative really was there all the time. Successful searching David and have great fun. Good luck, Jeremy