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Hello everyone!

I have been stuck at a brickwall for a few months now concerning the Wickins branch of my family. The man giving me so much trouble is Thomas Wickins (d. 1730). I have a feeling that Thomas and his wife, Anne, may have moved from Oxfordshire to Northamptonshire. It is my hope that some of you may be able to help me prove it. Searching the IGI I have found some records that look as if they may be plausible, but I thought it a better idea to request lookups in the parish records before getting too excited about anything. Here are the details I know:

The first concrete dates I have for Thomas and Anne Wickins are from when they are listed as the parents of their son William at his 1715/16 christening in Ashton, Northamptonshire. Here they are noted as of Roade (Northamptonshire) parish, so it seems that they had moved around a bit before settling in Ashton – I have searched Roade parish records and have been unable to find anything of Thomas and Anne, so I am assuming they were born and married elsewhere. They baptized six children in Ashton, and each time their surname seemed to change a bit. The variations are as follows: Wickins, Wickens, Wiggins, and Wicken. I have also seen Wickings used a time or two.

Thomas was buried in 1730 and Anne was buried in 1738. Both in Ashton.

I am looking for: 1) the christening date and parents of Thomas (and even Anne’s, if possible!) 2) the date and place of marriage for Thomas and Anne, and 3) other children possibly belonging to Thomas and Anne.

Unfortunately, I do not know Anne’s maiden name. I also have no concrete birth year for Thomas. However, I would venture to guess that Thomas was born anywhere from 1665-1695.

I am not at all familiar with Oxfordshire parishes, but through nosing around I can see that Asthall, Banbury, Bicester, Burford, Enstone, and Witney seem to have a good amount of Wickins (and other spelling variations) during the time period I am looking for records in. I can’t really narrow it down much, however. I apologize for being rather vague.

It may seem far-fetched, but I am hoping some of the records I am looking for will be found in Oxfordshire parish records.

Thank you so much in advance, 

Rachel

CaroleW - Yes, definitely. I plan to order Robert's birth cert tonight! Thank you.

Kerry -  Thank you so much! All of your information helps very, very much. John and Sarah fit perfectly as the parents of James. My Croft men seem to be of a long line of bricklayers! 

mkcmiller - Although that James does not belong to my line, I do appreciate your help! Thank you. 

David,

Oops, I was unaware that most pre 1812 marriages for Bedfordshire were available on familysearch. I have previously checked, and have just double checked but am unable to find them there.

I have also checked Northamptonshire Strays and Thomas and Anne aren't there either. No one can find them in the Northamptonshire Marriage Index either.

Oh well, I won't give up. 

Thank you for you help!

Rachel

Hello All!

Being stuck behind a brickwall for quite a bit now, I have been trying to utilize some different documents that might help push me back farther but I am having some confusion relating to those.

At the moment I am looking for wills from around the time period of 1650-1740. From my understanding, I need to look at a calendar of wills from these times to find the information I am looking for and go from there. However, every time I go searching for a calendar of wills for Northamptonshire, the only time period that pops up is 1510-1652. Does the NRO carry a calendar of wills for dates after 1652?

Also, has anyone had any luck finding settlement certificates for Northamptonshire? I have been looking for them around the Roade area and can’t seem to find any. It would be a shame if none of them survived. 

And lastly, other than wills and settlement certificates does anyone know of any other documents that might help push me back further into the 17th century? I have been trying to conquer the National Archives website but it can be quite confusing at times if you don’t go in knowing exactly what you’re setting out to do. 

Thanks!

Rachel