Hi Listers, I'm trying to track down a William BARKER who was supposedly born c1833 in NewTown, Oxford, England. He married in Australia in 1851. Cannot locate a NewTown in Oxfordshire although have been advised that there is a Newtown in Hamps and a New Town in Glouc not far from Oxfordshire. Is anyone able to help with New Town or locate possible family in 1841 census ? Thank you Doug (Tasmania)

Doug - > I'm trying to track down a William BARKER who was supposedly born c1833 in NewTown, Oxford, England. He married in Australia in 1851. > > Cannot locate a NewTown in Oxfordshire although have been advised that there is a Newtown in Hamps and a New Town in Glouc not far from Oxfordshire. > > Is anyone able to help with New Town or locate possible family in 1841 census ? I suspect that your New Town could be Newington, a few miles to the South East of Oxford. The OFHS has not yet indexed the 1841 census in that area, I'm afraid. I've looked at both the fully indexed 1851 census, and at the pre-1837 marriage index - we're great indexers in Oxfordshire - and can't find any BARKER events there, though, or in any other similar sounding place. Nearby parishes to Newington do have BARKERs, though. We also have an Oxford City baptism index for the relevant period, but no luck there! In order to be able to solve questions such as yours, the OFHS has started compiling a baptism index for the county, of which I'm coordinator. All our parish records are already transcribed & on microfiche, but the transcriptions were done in the days of carbon paper, not computers! So members of the OFHS, the Oxfordshire list & the Berkshire list are all helping to digitize the baptisms by adopting parishes and entering the events into spreadsheet format. Over a hundred volunteers have joined in the project - but unfortunately for you although Newington's been adopted it hasn't been completed. However, I've asked one of the volunteers to check the transcripts for this entry for you, in hope! If you, or any other member of the WESSEX-PLUS list with Oxfordshire interests, would like to adopt a parish, there are still some left to be digitized - I'll be very pleased to hear from you! Another way to tackle the problem is to try to make contact with others researching the same name as yourself in the county. each county has a surname interest list - see http://www.genuki.org.uk/indexes/SurnamesLists.html OXSIL, the Oxfordshire surname list at http://www.rootsweb.com/~oxsil/surb.htm , shows two entries for BARKER. Worth adding your name too ! I've also looked in the OFHS members' interest list - there is one researcher listed as interested in all BARKERs in Oxford - let me know if you'd like his address - he's in England. -- Wendy Archer wharcher@cvd.co.uk OFHS Committee member Oxfordshire baptism index coordinator Listowner OXFORDSHIRE-L@rootsweb.com