From: "Bill Dalton" <rnbill@centurytel.net> > Mary reportedly married one William Cox, in 1743 in "Eghamhith, > Berkshire, England" This same William Cox was supposedly born in > "Wheatley Parish, County of Southhampton, England" in 1718. Unless I'm misunderstanding you Bill there seems to be two completely different pieces of evidence as to the origin of William Cox? Wheatley, Hampshire (old County name Southampton) was a very small hamlet in north east Hampshire. In the eighteenth century it was not a parish in its own right. Obviously not all baptisms are in the IGI but there is none that fits exactly. There are only two in the area that might be this chap in Hampshire. One in Petersfield 1718 which is a patron submission and so would need checking; the other in Basingstoke with is extracted from the parish register so hopefully fairly reliable. Petersfield is nearer to Wheatley and there were numerous mills in the area. The Petersfield child may have been the son of Edward Cox and Ann Randal who married in Clanfield 1712. The Basingstoke child is son of Thomas and Mary (nee Brown) whose marriage appears to have been in Basingstoke in 1702. To be honest though, a baptism somewhere a little closer to Wheatley, such as Bentley, Binsted or Alton, would be more convincing. BUT as you have a document (below) pointing to the family being from Essex, it seems doubtful they were from a Hampshire hamlet, and the overseas trade with Norway fits much more closely with a base in Essex on the east coast of England. >Another source places the birth at being Oct. 16, 1711, in "Eghamhith, > Berkshire, England." {He certainly seems to have moved about a good bit.} Egham is right on the county boundary with Berkshire so this is understandable even though Egham has always been in Surrey. [ Later on Egham was included in Windsor Berks Registration District but RDs are not county specific.] Egham and Windsor are, of course, both on the Thames but rather a long way upstream from Essex. Neither would be a place for heavy goods trade with the continent. > > I have found that there is a Egham located near Staines. Yes, this is the one. No other in England to the best of my knowledge. I went to > Google and did a search (which I can not now replicate) and found that > there is a St. Mary? Church near some place in the Egham, Surrey area > that is spelled something like Heith. St Mary's Thorpe as suggested by Geoff. > > Another bit of information from what I have found is that the > grandparents of Mary Goldhawk were John and Sarah Allery who lived near > London. > > Apparently this William Cox that Mary married was the son of a rather > successful merchant in London, involved with shipping and trade with > Norway. From the document I have found is "William Cox was the son of > John Cox and his wife, Mary Banes Cox, and was born in Essex, England in > 1717 or 1718. His mother's family name was Banes. John Cox was a man > of considerable wealth, owned several mills, and was engaged in the > shipping business, --sending vessels to Norway for deal boards. His son > William accompanied him on one of his voyages and brought home a > handsome Norwegian pony." > > Can anyone shed some light on this mess? It seems there is documentary evidence of the family being from Essex - so what is persuading you towards the family being from Hamphire. If the William Cox who married in Egham really was born in Wheatley Hants, then everything seems to suggest he is a different person from the one born in Essex - unless I'm missing something? Enquires to both the Rootsweb County Lists for Hampshire and Essex Lists might help confirm or disprove. I hope this helps a little. Ann