Abingdon Newspapers 1790s

[pikei]

Does anyone know if there was a local newspaper that would have reports on the Assizes at Abingdon in 1797? If so, is there a way to get access? I have a descendent who was tried at Abingdon in this year. Thanks.

[DebbieG]

I think the likly newspaper for that period would be "Jackson's Oxford Journal".  It is one of the papers in the british library old news papers project  you can play with the searches here

http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs/

If you want to read more of the content you have to subscribe - or belong to a library that does.

DebbieG

[pikei]

Thanks Debbie, I will check out the website.

[KN]

can you give us some details?

KN

[pikei]

My ancestor was John Pike. He was tried at the summer Assizes in Abingdon in July 1797 and sentenced to 7 year transportation to Australia. I have a full transcript of his trial. The rumour that I have heard is that he was married at the time of his arrest and left his wife and family in England when he was sent to Sydney. There is no mention of a wife or family in the trial transcripts, so I was hoping that a newspaper article may have been written about his trial (he was a local of Abingdon at the time), which may mention a wife (a slim hope I know, but I am desperate).

I have had a quick look at the Jackson's Oxford Journal online, but the indexes only start from 1800 (3 years too late for me). Are there indexes to the earlier years, but just no online yet?

[KN]

Hello Pikei

Do you know where John was from?  Perhaps we could find him in the parish records, and then maybe his wife and family too - and then see if they appear in those records after he was transported?

I guess that the Abingdon Assizes covered quite an area?

KN

[newburychap]

There are indexes to late C18th Jackson's in the ORO.

The best paper for coverage of the Berkshire Assizes is probably the Reading Mercury - avaialable at Reading Library or BL Colindale.

[pikei]

Thanks guys for your replies.

I have searched the PRs for Abingdon and other areas in Berkshire/Oxfordshire without success, in an attempt to find a baptism record for John. I think that John mayn have married Sarah Moss at South Hinksey (as John Pick of Abingdon) and had one daughter Ann Pike. He was living in a house in Turnagain Lane in Abingdon when he was arrested. I have a copy of the Assizes records for his trial in 1797, but no mention of a wife or child. Here in Australia, none of John's records mention anything about his English past except that he was a native of Berkshire. John himself, apparently, would not talk about his life in England, so information is scarce and often misleading. That is why I am getting desperate in seeking a newspaper report on his trial. Unfortunately, living in Australia, with most of John's descendants, it is difficult to search unless indexes etc are online.

A lot of people here in Australia have been searching for John's parents for some time now, so I am trying to "think outside the square" a bit. If you have any other suggestions on ways to find out who John's parents were, I would greatly appreciate then.

Ian Pike