The county is "full" of Wigan (etc) for centuries...and there is a reason for that (Surname goes back to Roman occupation era)...but because they all have the same given names (basically William, John, Edward, Thomas) it's difficult to track them and I am documenting them with land and church records. Vicar William was in Cheshire during his apprenticeship years and then appears in B. I./Offchurch for the last 20 odd years of his life where his issue are all born...and the eldest son of each generation remains. I just can't find the homestead. I was headed for the Warwick record office when I fell in London and regret the lost research more than the injury!! I don't like hiring researchers, but fear I must do so now! Thanks for the web site and I will check to see if it helps. ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Franks ITC" <df10@cam.ac.uk> To: "Joy Robbins" <joy1982@alltel.net> Cc: <WARWICK-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 1:54 PM Subject: Re: [WAR] Bishop's Itchington 17th c > It's a pity you didn't make it to Warwick, because the Record Office's > online catalogue shows several documents relating to the Wigan family. > The link seems to be with Fenny Compton, but that's not far away from > Bishop's Itchington. Anyone who is interested in documents of this kind > should look at the Record Office's online catalogue, Warwickshire's Past > Unlocked, link from the Online Parish Clerk's (OPC's) web page > > http://www.hunimex.com/warwick/opc/opc.html > > Typing in Wigan brings up five interesting documents. It could be > worthwhile typing in variants of that name, like Wygan, etc. > Another wonderful collection also with an online Catalogue (link also from > the OPC page) is the Shakespeare Memorial Trust, which has a great > collection of documents relating to the Stratford area and south > Warwickshire. Typing Wigan in their catalogue brings up 28 hits, although > I haven't looked at them to see if they are particularly relevant. > > Of course, having written that, one has to recognize that these documents > are often not easy to read, mainly because of the handwriting, and for the > very early documents those who don't have a grounding in latin will find > that slows them down even more. It once took me five days at Warwick to > work through one document, even though it was in Englsih, and there were > still some parts of it that I still wasn't entirely sure about. One > problem is that the Warwick Record Office will not, quite rightly, > photocopy these old documents, and it's very difficult to get a > satisfactory digital photograph of them. I expect the SMT have the same > policy. > > David. > > Joy Robbins wrote: >> I have been trying to figure out where the Wigan family lived in Bishop's >> Itchington for some 200 years beginning about 1590. The first was >> William Wigan (Vicar, b.c.1550-d. 1616) and then his son John (then each >> generation switched names back and forth between William and John). They >> seem to have died out by 1800. There must be deeds or lease records to >> show place of residence, but they have eluded me. >> I was in England last month on my way to Warwick when I fell in London >> and badly smashed an arm, so had to return to US for surgery on the 3rd >> day of a 12-day stay. My mission was to find those records and others on >> this branch of the family. Any help or suggestions will be so >> appreciated. Vicar William ended up at Offchurch where he died and is >> buried in the church, but they all resided in B. I. >> Joy Wiggin >> Georgia USA >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> WARWICK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > > > -- > DF Consultancy > 10 Searle Street > Cambridge > CB4 3DB >