Is there any other records that I can check that may give his birth/christening date and more importantly his parents names. I have a copy of the assizes report on his court case in 1797 which gives a lot of details, but does not mention his birth date or parents. Was there a newspaper in Abingdon in 1797 and if there was, how can I search it for a reference to John Pike? What other options are there available to me, remembering that I live in Sydney Australia.
There are two newspapers you can check - Jackson's Oxford Journal would be my first port of call as it is indexed for that period. The Centre for Oxfordshire Studies has the indexes and the paper on film. You will need someone to do this for you.
The second paper is The Reading Mercury and Oxford Gazette. Reading Local Studies Library has this on film, COS may have. As you have dates of the trial it shouldn't be difficult to find any reports. Other mentions would be difficult to find.
Neither is that likely to mention his parents.
Australian death certificates are supposed to be wonderful sources of information - does his not tell you anything?
Have you tried the OFHS christening index - incomplete, but a good way of checking a lot of parishes quickly.
Otherwise you can only continue checking PRs for an ever increasing distance from Abingdon.
I think you have other things linking him to Abingdon - if you don't then cast your net a lot wider. The assizes at Abingdon would try cases from all over Berkshire - he could have been from Hungerford, Windsor or anywhere in the county.
