WO97 - OVEN

[Lucia147]

I have been searching forever for William Oven born circa 1786-1795, he appears on 1841 Census as age 50 Osnaburgh Street, London. His occupation says Army. I am at a loss as where to look next.

 Does  anyone have access to Nat Arch W097 Royal Hospital Chelsea Soldiers  Service Documents 1760-1913 to check his records to see if this could possibly be my man? I would be extremely grateful.

[rachelralph]

i had a look and i have to be honest to me, none of them seem to fit. either the date is wrong or the place is. i'm not very good at the military thing so i did only look at the chelsea records, and not every military record. hopefully someone else will be able to help you more x

[Lucia147]

Thank you so much for looking, the find my past did say william oven in WO97 Chelsea, I'm not sure if I have ever looked there before it was so long ago....but again thank you.

[groom]

There is William Oven's discharge papers, dated 1903 in York, aged 36 years 3 months.
Discharge rank:   Sergeant
Discharge corps:   Dragoons
Discharge soldier number:   1988
The National Archives reference:   WO97 / 5632 / 7

Jan

[Lucia147]

This is the fist time I have used this forum and am absolutely thrilled at the response, thank you very much for looking and putting that avenue to rest for me. Because the census only says army, it has been impossible to find out where he served, or in fact anything more about him. He could have been on the civilian staff for all I know! Thanks again for your time and effort, maybe I can help someone else sometime.

[rachelralph]

sorry i meant to say i also looked ofr varients as owen and uven still nothing that adds up.

[Redroger]

Lucia, have you got any further back with William Ovens? I ask because I have a Thomas Ovens (Exciseman) who appears in my tree at Heckington Lincs in the late 1730s. Apparently to prevent corruption and bribery excisemen did not work at their home town, but this guy seems to have just landed from Mars without previous connections.

[Lucia147]

How interesting, my william is an Oven not Ovens (I know its splitting hairs) I suspect he is the brother of John Oven who was born in St Martins, London. I have no reason to doubt that this lot are from London, but Wm is said not to be born in the county of Mdx, as is John. I have reason to believe the family came from Lambeth, unfortunately the parish registers for St Marys has not been transcribed onto Ancestry so I haven't found this either, nor have I found Johns. It is quite possible that they came from further afield and like others came to London. Are you researching Ovens?

[Redroger]

The Ovens are in the maternal tree of my paternal grandmother. It interests me because the name is almost unheard of in Lincolnshire, and I wonder where the family originated. The lack or inclusion of a final S in the name is I think irrelevant since standardised spelling was still at least 50 years in the future. I have been quite unable to find any reference to William Ovens on Family Search etc. and have not yet had time to visit Kew due to other committments.