Dear Mr Maxwell-Smith, I have some rough notes of the parish for Fifield, Oxon which were done when Geoffrey Giles and his wife transcribed the registers. I do not see from you e-mail that you mention a family for him. There are several children born to a Richard Field from 1775 onwards - Hannah 1775; Joseph 1776; George 1780 and Elizabeth 1782. In 1785 William is given as s of Richard & Mary; the same for Sarah in 1788; 1791 for another William; Richard in 1794 and Rachel(given as 'Fields') in 1799. No occupation was given in any of the entries. William baptised in 1785 died in the same year and Mary Fields wife of Richard was buried in 1820 aged 66. You probably know all this but I thought it worth sending in case you did not. Yours, Joan Howard-Drake, Wychwoods Local History Society -----Original Message----- From: Maxwell Smith <maxwells@grapevine.com.au> To: oxfordshire <oxfordshire@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thu, 18 Aug 2011 8:28 Subject: [OXF] Richard Field (c. 1743-1850), Servant; 'Country Houses' Hi AllSeveral researchers on this List during the past 5-10 years have been looking for the baptism record of this Richard Field ( my ggg-grandfather). The inferred baptism/birth year of 1743 is derived from his age, 87 (OXF-CN03) , at the time of his burial in Fifield, Oxfordshire in November 1830.The first reference to Richard Field is his marriage to Mary Gardner at Chastleton on 3 November 1774 ( by banns). He is reported as a servant from Fifield Parish but there is no record of a baptism/birth at Fifield (OXF-CN03).It is possible that his spouse ( of Chastleton Parish) was also a servant, possible at Chastleton House, as she originates from Salford (OXF-CN01). Her ancestry can be traced back to a John Gardiner (Daylesford, Worcestershire, b.c. 1665).It is highly likely that Richard Field wasn't born in Oxfordshire. There is no record of him having been born in the Oxfordshire Parishes surrounding Fifield. (Chipping Norton District OXF-CNO01-03; Witney District OXF-WIT 1, 3, 4; Woodstock District OXF-WO 2; and Banbury District OXF-BAN 3).Last year, Carol Harmond looked up (for me) several Oxfordshire parishes further afield from Fifield, The most likely suspect found, a Richard Field, baptised 1743 Nuneham Courtenay (parents Edward and Mary) was apparently not the Richard FieldThe type of household in which Richard Field was employed could determine how far his birthplace is from Fifield. If he was in the employment of a local farmer, one would anticipate finding his baptism record in the Oxfordshire parishes surrounding Fifield or the Gloucestershire parishes across the County border from Fifield. If he was employed in a country house or great house (large country house), one might anticipate the location of his baptism record might be much further afield, particularly if the owners had more than one country and/or town house.In the above context, I'm looking for a publication that might describe the country houses (and their owners) that existed in the Chipping Norton district in the second half of the 18 th Century. I understand that as of now the VCH ( Victoria County History) doesn't cover the Chipping Norton area.CheersMaxwell Smith. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"Like" Oxfordshire Family History Society's page on Facebook - www.facebook.com/oxfordshirefhs to be updated with Society news-------------------------------To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to OXFORDSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message