Hello. I've just joined the list and I'm seeking info. about the USHER family who lived in Bodicote near Banbury and grew rhubarb. Also info. about Francis HALL who married into the family. 1. Peter USHER m. Rebecca WARD in Banbury in 1797 - does anyone know anything about Peter's birth or his parents? 2. Their third son William Rufus USHER ca 1807 Banbury married Elizabeth someone (b.ca 1812 Bugbrook, Northants), probably around 1830. Does anyone have any info. about this marriage? 3. William and Elizabeth's sixth child Lucy Ann b.1842 Banbury married Francis HALL b. ca 1837 Brailes, Warwickshire in 1869. At their daughter's marriage in 1905 Francis was described as 'late of Bodicote Manor' . does anyone know anything about Francis? Any info. about these families would be very welcome. Thanks, Angela

Angela, I don't know if you already have this information, but according to the OFHS PR Transcriptions, Peter USHER, b, dissenting minister married Rebecca WARD, sp, minor, both of the parish, by licence on 10 July 1797. He looks as if he was a Presbyterian Minister as the following baptisms appear in the Banbury Presbyterian records: 21 July 1802 James Francis USHER son Revd Peter & Rebec. of Banbury 14 August 1804 Peter USHER son Revd Peter & Rebec. of Banbury 14 July 1806 William Rufus USHER son Revd Peter & Rebec. of Banbury According to the 1841 census of Bodicote (HO107/875/4, folio 9, page 10), There is a Peter USHER, aged 60, a Rhubarb Merchant, not born in the county, living with a James, aged 30, born Oxfordshire. I can't find Peter in the 1851 census, but it looks as if the James in the 1841 census is in the District Workhouse at Neithrop in the 1851 census (HO107/1734, folio 570, page 10) described as an unmarried Gardener, aged 47. According to all census records, Francis HALL was born circa 1837/9 at Brailes, Warwickshire. In the 1851 census he appears as a Grocer's apprentice in Banbury, in the 1861 of Banbury he is described as an unmarried Grocer's Shopman, in the 1871 census of Souldern he is married to a Louisa Ann (Lucy Ann??) and is described as a Grocer, in the 1881 census back in Banbury with wife Lucy and children Joseph, William, Francis and Albert and in the 1901 census of Ramsgate, Kent as L:etting Apartments living at 17 Royal Crescent with wife Lucy . In the 1841 census of Brailes (HO107/1131/3, folio 27, pages 16/17), there is a Francis HALL living with parents Joseph (a Glazier) and Esther and siblings Sarah, Ann, William and Mary at High Street who could perhaps be your Francis. HTH. Janet