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Hi Max
The original vllage church for Bidford appears to be The Parish Church of St Laurence, which dates back to 1206. This would be the place to look. The church is situated on the North bank of the River Avon, just off High Street in the centre of the old village of Bidford. I found some photos of the church and it looks quite substantial, and had plenty of old headstones in the churchyard.
I also have an email address for the Church Committee, and you can email them to find out if there are church records anywhere saying who was buried in the churchyard in 1832 - they may be able to help verify that Edward is there. The email address is  info@stlaurencebidford.org.uk
Good luck with that

Kind regards
Marie

Hi Zepher
Thanks for the data on Helen Ashwin, which I'm sure refers to Martin Richard's sister Helen who was born in 1822, did indeed travel to NZ with Martin's family, and ran the Girl's School in Christchurch before dying on 5th March 1903.
I may not have made myself very clear (being new at this), but I was after data on Martin & Emma's first daughter, Helen Elizabeth who was born in June-Sep 1856 in Kings Norton & travelled with the family to NZ. After that she does not appear in Nz records. Since my last post I have done the hard yards & checked shipping records & sent for certificates. Helen Elizabeth may well be the "Miss Ashwin" on the shipping records for "Wakatipu" sailing from Wellington to Sydney arriving on 24th Aug 1882. She married Frederick Sanford Robinson in Sydney in 1882, (cert no 1331)and had 5 children, Muriel b 1883 (died that same year) Leslie F, b 1885, Thomas E b 1887 (died same year), Gladys b 1889 & Una M b 1893 (died same year.
Helen & Frederick lived at "Warrawong", Clearview Parade, Hazelbrook, and Helen died in Katoomba on 10th Oct 1937. Her death certificate names Martin Richard Ashwin as her father, so it is definitely the right person. The cert no is 22299/1937.
So all the searching was worthwhile, as finding her has completed my data on all the children of the family. If I can help you with anything about any of them, I am happy to share.

Kind regards
Marie

Hi Kate
Like you, we've had visitors for 2 days - so limited research this week. The William Horace Durham Ashwin many claim as part of Martin & Emma's family is definitely NOT their son. He was born in 1868 to Elizabeth & William Charles Durham Ashwin, reg: 1868/13408. William Charles Durham Ashwin was born in J-S 1/4 1840 in Evesham,Worcestershire so could well be a relative somewhere along the line. Durham seems to have been a popular second name in many branches of the Ashwin family back then.

The child many seem to leave off the tree who IS Martin & Emmas son is James Ernest who was born in 1873 Reg: 1873/17554. He died in 1875 aged 3yrs. Reg: 1875/459.
People seem to have Lily on their tree as Lily Jane, but her birth (V6d p18) & marriage((1886/563)have her registered as Lily Fiddian Ashwin.

I've noticed comments about how few Ashwin names there are in NZ phone books etc. Not surprising when one takes into account that in Martin & Emmas big family, only 7of them  were sons, and 3 of those either died young (2), or had no children ( Leonard Thomas). Of the 4 who did marry, Theodore Craven had 5 sons from 2 marriages, 1 of the 2 boys from his NZ marriage dying young. Then he died at 39yrs in 1893 in South Australia leaving a wife & 3 sons there, one of whom later married in NZ!!  Manley John 's marriage produced 4 sons, 1 dying young, and at least one other ending up in Qld. Charles Avery had 1 son who died when 45yrs old, and Darcy Durham had 1 son, and that's it.  So in one generation, the family was reduced down to six grandsons who could carry on the family name.  Of the 7 sons in Martin & Emmas family Theodore Craven, Martin Edward,Darcy Durham, James Ernest & Cecil Stanley all died young, the oldest being Martin Edward at 43yrs, while the girls seemed to mostly live to a ripe old age!!  Strange what genetics can show up.

There is mention of 3 of Martin & Emmas children dying young - James Ernest, and Clara Chapmen were 2 and Marian Emma died at 18yrs. Did Martin mention in his letters which children the 3 were??

Have had a bit of luck filling in the gap on my tree around Jane Ratcliff's details. She married William Stuart Kearne ( Born in England) and had 2 children, Florence Effie, born 12th Oct 1886, and John Stuart born 28th Sep 1888, both born at Riverside, California. Jane is a widow by the 1900 census. In all later census records, Jane is living with her daughter and her family, though when John Stuart was drafted for military service, he was partially supporting Jane from his earnings as a bookkeeper. Jane died at Riverside California  in 1956.

Have not had time to do much more - oh yes - my knowledge of the Wheeler family apart from Elizabeth & her parents being Richard & Sarah?  is nil.

Is what I am putting on here any use to you?? Please let me know if it is data you already have, as you are an old hand with the Ashwins while I have been covering all 8 families in my late husband's pedigree chart, and am only starting to really focus on one family at a time.

Hope you have a great weekend with your family
Kind regards
Marie

Hi Kate,
I know what you mean about busy days - was flat out at work on Monday & never got to do a thing for my own research, but have started adding data I've downloaded earlier off sites at work to my MBK family tree, and noted that Charles Avery Ashwin had two wives. First was Ella Clifton Dunne, who he wed in 1903. They had 3 children, Joseph Avery 1904, Effie Clarice 1906, and Marjorie Ola 1909, taking us up to the cut off date for searching births. Ella died in 1918, aged 36yrs. Charles Svery remarried in 1920 to Linda Geraldine Wright.
Leonard Thomas Ashwin had married Emma Muir in 1893, and probably had a family by the time he was jailed in 1906, although I cannot see registrations for children for them on my list. One wonders how Emma would have coped, as there were no social security benefits of any description back then.

I would love any info you can give me on the Copsons, Wheelers etc. I do have some, but not a lot, so anything I can add will be most welcome. Do you know if anyone has old photos of any of the family who came to NZ?? Carl had nothing, as his Dad died so young that nothing much was passed down.
You commented on Grannie Eva Tasmania Lindberg's name - yes, it is a strange one isn't it. And yes, it was either Grannie or her Mum who was born in Hobart, hence the Tasmania link, though they went to Fiji & owned the first white man's store (according to Carl) before finally settling in NZ where Grannie married D'arcy Durham Ashwin  in 1905.
Am running out of room here, so will sign off till next time
Kind regards
Marie

Hi Kate
 I did a bit of research while at work on Monday (I work at the WA Genealogical Society Library each Monday helping beginners learn the ropes to researching their families) and found your Gt Grandmother's birth entry from the newspaper published on the Akaroa Peninsula/Lyttleton area. It was quaintly worded as follows & appeared on 30th April 1864. " Ashwin - April 29th at Heathfield Cottage, Ferry Road, the wife of M.R. Ashwin, of a daughter." Yet when I checked the BDMs, & printed off a list of all the Ashwin births since 1863, her birth did not appear!!!! I will do more checking in case it was registered under another name - like Cunningham. Some strange things happened with registrations back then.
Another quaint entry was for Elizabeth Ashwin (nee Wheeler's) death, which appeared on 23rd August 1880 as follows: " Ashwin - At Hagley House, Christchurch, on Sunday 22nd August, Elizabeth, relict of Edwin Ashwin, of Cookhill House, Gloucestershire. Aged 84yrs."
The word "relict" is an archaic word for a widow. I also found the deaths of Marion & Helen if you would like them, plus the detail of why Leonard Ashwin was jailed for manslaughter. If you would like that, I will type it out in another message. I found heaps more, but not enought time to detail it all now. Certainly a fascinating family to research - their story would make a good movie!!!

Will talk again soon
Kind regards
Marie