Hello Berkshire Listers, ( this is my 1st. visit ). Looking for any information on :- Henry WILKINS b.1843 Lambourne (?).d. 24 Jan.1927.Wembley. Elizabeth HICKS b. 1837 Lambourne (?).d. 1 June 1909, Nth. Acton, London. They are my great grandparents but I have been unable to find any details to confirm where they were born or of their marriage. I would appreciate any information or suggestions. Cheers, Peter Stevens, Brisbane, Aus.

Peter, Thanks to William in Australia for pointing the direction to look: According to the Shrivenham Parish Register Transcription produced by the Oxfordshire Family History Society:\ Henry WILKINS was christened on 3 April 1842 in Shrivenham, Berkshire, son of Robert and Hannah. The Shrivenham PR also has the marriage of his parents, Robert and Hannah: 9 Aug 1841 WILKINS Robert 24, bach, servant, of Shrivenham, Father: John, lab. MAY Hannah, 26, widow, Shrivenham Father: Thomas ACKERILL, lab. Witnesses: Mary HEWLETT, Joseph X TANNER Hope this helps, LeAnn Walton Seattle, Washington ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Stevens" <ztevenz@bigpond.com> To: "BERKSHIRE" <BERKSHIRE@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 3:14 PM Subject: [BRK] WILKINS / HICKS. > Hello Berkshire Listers, ( this is my 1st. visit ). > > Looking for any information on :- > > Henry WILKINS b.1843 Lambourne (?).d. 24 Jan.1927.Wembley. > > Elizabeth HICKS b. 1837 Lambourne (?).d. 1 June 1909, Nth. Acton, London. > > They are my great grandparents but I have been unable to find any details > to > confirm where they were born or of their marriage. > > I would appreciate any information or suggestions. > > Cheers, Peter Stevens, Brisbane, Aus. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BERKSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Dear Peter > Hello Berkshire Listers, ( this is my 1st. visit ). Welcome. > Looking for any information on :- > > Henry WILKINS b.1843 Lambourne (?).d. 24 Jan.1927.Wembley. > > Elizabeth HICKS b. 1837 Lambourne (?).d. 1 June 1909, Nth. Acton, London. > > They are my great grandparents but I have been unable to find any details to > confirm where they were born or of their marriage. As William wrote, the correct way to proceed is to obtain the marriage certificate for this couple, and combine that with the census returns. William has found Henry and Elizabeth, married, in the 1871 census, and given you the reference which you can use to order the appropriate marriage certificate. All you know from this reference is that the marriage took place in one of the churches in the Faringdon registration district, or in the registry office of the district, in the months of October, November, or December 1862. It is also possible to find Henry in the 1861 census however, before he was married. 19 year old Henry Wilkins was living in Buckland, Berkshire, with his parents Robert and Hannah and 4 younger siblings - the reference is RG 9/729 folio 83. It actually happens that Henry Wilkins and Elizabeth Hicks were married in Buckland, a year and a half after the census. It is pretty lucky to be able to find a marriage like this. The Oxfordshire Family History Society transcript of the parish register shows: 1862 9 Nov WILKINS Henry, age 21, bachelor labourer of Buckland HICKS Elizabeth, age 23, spinster of Buckland married by Banns witnesses: Robert WILKINS, Ann WENMAN X Henry was son of Robert WILKINS, carter Elizabeth was daughter of Charles HICKS, labourer Finding an Elizabeth Hicks daughter of Charles is difficult. You would normally expect to be able to find this family in the 1861, 1851, and 1841 census, especially since they are so well indexed now. But they don't seem to appear. I can't see Elizabeth in the 1861 census. That doesn't mean to say she isn't there somewhere. If we assume that Elizabeth age of 32 in the 1871 census (and age of 23 at marriage) is correct, then the only real candidate in this area of North Berkshire is Elizabeth Hicks, aged 12, an inmate of Faringdon Workhouse, said to be born in Great Faringdon. Enumerated next to her in the workhouse list is William Hicks, aged 10, also born in Great Faringdon - almost certainly her brother. Moving back to 1841, we can find a group of 3 people in Faringdon Workhouse: Eliza, aged "25", Elizabeth aged 3, and William aged 1, all born somewhere in Berkshire. (Because of the way ages were recorded in 1841, Eliza's age could be between 25 and 29.) Taking the suggestion from the 1871 census that Elizabeth was born in Woolstone (note, other censuses give other birthplaces), and noting that Woolstone was part of the parish of Uffington, we can turn to the Oxfordshire FHS register transcript and find among the baptisms, on 21 October 1838: Elizabeth HICKS, daughter of Eliza HICKS, pauper, of Woolstone No Charles there; maybe that was a father of that name, or maybe he was created for the purposes of the marriage record - these things happen. Oxfordshire FHS also publish a transcript of a register of births at Faringdon Workhouse. This includes the record of an illegitimate son born to Eliza Hicks, of the parish of Woolstone, called William, born 13 November 1840 (and baptised 13 December 1840 at Faringdon church.) The transcript of the Faringdon parish register adds that Eliza's occupation was "servant". This begins to bring together the basic facts about the early life - a pretty miserable one, I imagine - of Elizabeth Hicks. You can read more about workhouses here: http://www.workhouses.org.uk/ and more detailed info on Faringdon Workhouse: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/Faringdon/ You can read about Oxfordshire Family History Society, which has transcribed many of the parish records of north Berkshire (now part of Oxfordshire), here: http://www.ofhs.org.uk/ and find out how you can obtain your own copies of the parish register transcripts here: http://www.ofhs.org.uk/CDsales.html To help you navigate your way around the parish records of north Berkshire, you might like to buy a copy of the booklet "Oxfordshire Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts" (by Colin Harris), listed here: http://www.ofhs.org.uk/books.html Depending on where your research takes you, you may want to look at the website of Berkshire FHS: http://berksfhs.org.uk/ There is plenty left to do - for instance, what happened to Eliza Hicks between the 1841 and 1851 censuses? Can you find her baptism? Where was Elizabeth Hicks in the 1861 census? What else can you find out about Uffington and Woolstone in the 1830s? Best wishes Paul -- Paul Betteridge pbetteridge@pobox.com