Help needed finding the exact birth place of a William Edwards

[edwards96]

Hello all

I need help finding the exact birth place of a William Edwards whom according to the 1851 and 1861 census was born in 1778 in London. He married an Ann Maizey (or Maisey) in 1806 and lived in the Oxfordshire village of Ducklington ever since. There is a link below this message which takes you to a census record of William on the Ancestry website.

Any help will be greatly appreciated

Regards

Edwards96

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=uki1861&indiv=try&h=16312309

[lizdb]

You will be lucky to get an exact birth date, unless the vicar makes a note of it at his chritwning (if indeed he was christened)
'London' is rather a large place, containiing many parishes, so in order to make any realistic search of parish records for any christening, you may need to try and narrow this down!

[Herts Heart]

Well, it says Middlesex London.
Not Kent, not Surrey, Not Essex.

So  he removed "75%" of the search?

[Annette7]

Even knowing it's in Middlesex is no real help.   There are too many born around 1778 to be able to know which one would be him.   If it wasn't stipulated when he married, and we know not given on the census, then I know of no other way of finding his birth parish.  (Plus in 1841, when ages rounded down, his birth year is ca.1776 so you can't even be precise with a year.

Annette

 

[[Ray]]

1841 Rounding?
The 1861 (the link provided) says he is 83 (born Middlesex London)
The 1851 says he is 73 (born London)

At least you can narrow the search (as HertHeart suggests) and have a shorter list of possibles.

[andycand]

Hi

If the William Edwards in Ducklington in the 1841 census with what appears to be a wife Ann (which fits with the original post) is the right family then it has his age as 65, given ages were rounded down then in 1841 he was aged between 65 and 69, this would mean in 1861 he would be between 85 and 89. Also the 1841 census has him born in Oxfordshire.

Andy

[Valda]

Hi

The areas of Kent and Surrey which joined the eventually termed county of London did so in 1889 and more in 1965. The areas of Essex and the small area of Hertfordshire which joined the county of London did so in 1965. A very small area of Southwark previous to this was governed by the City of London. So in the C18th we are just talking Middlesex and the now referred to as 'the square mile of the City of London' and the small area of Southwark. Urban sprawl from the City in the C19th began to encroach more and more on surrounding areas and counties. However this would be by far the most populous area in the whole country so  though it might cut the area size by 75% as far as population size is concerned it is probably close to the reverse.
A birth place of London in the C18th should mean the City and the closeby areas of Middlesex. With a name like William Edwards that gives quite a few candidates with no means of narrowing down the possibilities without further information. Census birthplaces can be a bit general when someone is living some way away from where they were born, naming the largest place to where they were born not specifically their actual birthplace. The answer yes on the 1841 census to born in county can often be inaccurate as illustrated by later censuses.

On his marriage presumably in Ducklington in 1808 did he marry as a bachelor or a widower? If he was following traditional naming patterns for the names of his children then the first son should be named for his paternal grandfather.

Traditional naming patterns

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~genepool/naming.htm


Regards

Valda