Sawyer of Oxfordshire

[trish1120]

Sorry Colin
I must ave been half asleep when I posted that
I have deleted. I will see what I can find tonight after work.
They are very elusive.

Cheers,
Trish

[Sani]

Thank you both  Colin and Trish for your input.   I have been trying to find something on William for some years but in Australia, you could really only find out anything that happened after they arrived and then not that much on some.  You have to rely on relatives, old or new, to get any info.  I was informed that William was born in Bayworth, by birth cert, now found to be untrue, birth plaace unknown. His middle name was Henry, maybe  ? His father was William Eyre.  Martha was born in Bayworth, true, and also born in Geelong, Australia, untrue, her middle name was Hincy ?
They arrived in Port Phillip on 16 Feb 1844, their son William died on board at 2 mths 7th Dec 1843. William and Martha were both 26 yrs Native place was Oxford and they left on their own devices.  William died 26 Aug 1878, 60yrs old Names and Profession of parents unknown and lists 12 children.   Martha then married James Rix  24th may 1881, she states her age as 43yrs making her born in 1838 and that she had  three children living and 13 dead. She died on 27th Oct 1882 and her death cert states she was 64yrs old, her parents unknown and she had 12 children. I do have the rest of the family from them on down.  I don't know if you can  unravell this mess as it has been a bone of contention in the family for some years      Val

[colinsorigins]

Hi Val

You have a descendent of William Sawyer and of the Honeys of Sunningwell who lives in Victoria.   I know she has done lots of research on the subject and I suggest you contact her.

For security I have sent you her email address in a message on Genes Reunited.

Good luck

Colin

[Ross1961]

Hi

I have just started tracing my family tree from Victoria, Australia through Morris Ross to  Sarah Ann Richards (1st marriage) nee Sawyer - and was just wondering if there was a second marriage involved with William Sawyer's (b. 1818) mother hence the discrepancy with the name Ayres... perhaps there was an adoption after marriage to change his name.  Is there anyway to find this out.

Suzanne

[Sani]

William Sawyer was b 1818 in Oxfordshire and d 26 Aug 1878 in Ballarat.
He married Martha Honey b 1818,  on 17. 11. 1839 in Oxforshire and came to Aust in 1843. There is confusion on how many children they had but 12 have been identified. Their 8th child was Sarah Ann b 1857 at Breakwater, Geelong, and died 22 Sept 1900 at Talbot.
She married Thomas Henry Richards in Geelong 1866 and had 4 children, the first was Elizabeth Ann Richards who married  Norris Archibald Ross, son of William Ross and Margaret Leister. Norrie was the younger brother of Sarah's second husband Thomas Henry Ross. They married in Geelong and had 6 children.
If we can find a way to exchange Email addresses, I could give you the history

                           Val

[Ross1961]

Hi Val

Just registered on Genes Reunited and sent a message through there with my email address.... I had him listed as Morris not Norris?

Thanks

Suzanne

[Orpheus]

I looked at this string because I found the marriage of a Jane SAWYER yesterday in the registers of St Aldate, Oxford.  In 1841 this Jane is said to be aged 35 and not born in Oxfordshire.  She had died before 1851.  Allowing for the rounding down she was probably born between 1800 and 1806 which means that she may have been old enough to have had an illegitimate child in 1818.  There is a Jane SAWYER baptised in 1803 in South Hinksey in FamilySearch who might be a possibility.

I also checked out the address given earlier by Colin for William and Martha SAWYER in 1841 at 6 Church Street, Sandford.  I think there must be a few crossed wires somewhere as the couple living at this address were William and Martha HONEY - not William and Martha SAWYER.

Orpheus

[Sani]

Hi Orpheus     This man is very confusing as there are so many of us looking for him  and we all come up with conficting reports. I have no idea where William and Martha lived but only have info on where they were married and when they came to Aust. The list of children come from  both of their death certs and are very hard to read owing to the smallness of printing. Even having it blown up does not help. William could be William Henry Sawyer and Martha could be Martha Hincey Honey but even that has not been confirmed.        Val

[Orpheus]

I think this could be the news you've been waiting for!

I visited the Oxfordshire Record Office again yesterday and whilst there I checked on the Jane SAWYER mentioned in my earlier post.  She turned out to be something of a red herring and not connected to William SAWYER and Martha HONEY.  I then looked at the marriage of William and Martha:

At St Mary Magdalen, Oxford, by Banns.
17 Nov 1839  Wm SAWYER, of full age, bachelor, blacksmith of this parish, son of Wm EYRES, deceased
                      Martha (X) HONEY, of full age, spinster of this parish, dau of Wm HONEY, deceased
                      Witnessed by: James PAVIER, Sarah PAVIER

I was interested to discover who the witnesses were as sometimes these can provide clues.  From the Oxfordshire Marriage Index I discovered that this couple had married:

At St Peter in the East, Oxford, by Banns.
7 Oct 1812   James PAVIOUR of this parish
                    Sarah SAWYER of this parish
                    Witnessed by: Jno TANDY, Sarah HUGHES

So, as Sarah's maiden surname was SAWYER, was she a relative?  Unfortunately I could not establish a connection so I decided to attack the problem from another angle.

Using the Oxfordshire FHS databases I discovered the baptism of a son, William, to a William and Martha SAWYER on 30 Oct 1842 in the parish of Wheatley, Oxfordshire.  In the same parish I also discovered the baptism, on 18 Oct 1837, of Ellen the daughter of William SAWYER (blacksmith) and Martha HONEY.  This child was privately baptised 'from illness' and may have died (although I could not find a burial) as she does not appear with Martha in the 1841 census in Wheatley (Ref: HO107/876/15).  Martha is living alone in this census and her age is given as 20.  I was unable to find William.

The Wheatley parish registers contained three other SAWYER baptisms which I found of interest because in each case the father was listed as a blacksmith. 

29 Apr 1839  Henry, son of George SAWYER, blacksmith, and Anne
8 Feb 1846  John, son of John SAWYER, blacksmith, and Anne
19 Sep 1847  Sarah, dau of John SAWYER, blacksmith, and Ann

As members of the same family often follow the same trade I looked for the above John and George SAWYER in the 1851 census in order to discover their birthplace.  I was unable to find George, Ann and Henry but I did find John:

HO107/1727/057 - Wheatley, Oxfordshire
John SAWYER, Head, Mar, 61, Smith, born Oxon, Stanton St John
Ann SAWYER, Wife, Mar, 45, born Northants, Kings Sutton
John SAWYER, Son, 5, Scholar, born Oxon, Wheatley
Sarah SAWYER, Dau, 3, Scholar, born Oxon, Wheatley

Next I looked at the parish registers for Stanton St John and this is where I hit the jackpot:

BAPTISMS 1654-1824

8 Feb 1784  Elizabeth, dau of John and Elizabeth SAWYER
2 Oct 1785  Hannah, dau of John and Elizabeth SAWYER
17 Jun 1787  Mary, dau of John and Elizabeth SAWYER
24 Jul 1791  John, son of John and Elizabeth SAWYER
5 Oct 1794  James, son of John and Elizabeth SAWYER
21 Aug 1796  Edward and George, twin sons of John and Elizabeth SAWYER
26 Apr 1807  Edward, base born son of Robert ROBBINS and Hannah SAWYER
13 Jun 1813  John, illegitimate son of Mary SAWYER and John PULMAN
11 Jan 1818  William, son of Hannah SAWYER, labourer's daughter

MARRIAGE

29 Oct 1781  John (X) SAWYER
                     Elizabeth (X) BRYAN
                     Witnessed by: Robert (X) BRYAN, Edward RAWLINS

BURIALS 1654-1840

12 Mar 1797  Edward, twin infant son of John and Elizabeth SAWYER
4 Jul 1819  Hannah SAWYER, aged 33
30 Jan 1825  John SAWYER, aged 66
5 Jun 1825  Elizabeth SAWYER, aged 69
20 Jul 1832  Edward SAWYER, aged 24
9 Feb 1838  Thomas SAWYER, aged 47, died Feb 7
30 Dec 1838  George SAWYER, aged 2, died Dec 27
9 Feb 1840  Thomas SAWYER of Long Crendon, aged 89, died Feb 6

In conclusion, William was baptised at Stanton St John on 11 Jan 1818, the illegitimate son of Hannah SAWYER.  His mother died when he was less than 18 months old so he, and his older half-brother Edward, were probably raised by their grandparents, John and Elizabeth SAWYER, until their deaths in 1825.  Thereafter it is likely that he was raised by his aunts and uncles and may have been apprenticed to his uncle John to learn the trade of a blacksmith.  This would account for his being in Wheatley where he met Martha HONEY who was probably in service there.  Being an apprentice might also be the reason why he and Martha did not marry in 1837 when their illegitimate daughter was born as most apprentices were not permitted to marry whilst still in their indentures.

Finally, even though I found no baptism for her in Stanton St John I suspect that the Sarah SAWYER who married James PAVIOUR in 1812 was a daughter of John and Elizabeth SAWYER and therefore William's aunt.  Sarah was buried at St Mary Magdelen, Oxford in 1841 aged 58, which gives an approximate year of birth for her of 1783.  This would fit in well with the gap between John and Elizabeth's marriage in October 1781 and the baptism of Elizabeth in February 1784.

Orpheus