Letter to cousin Pat Potter

PO Box 497, Spring Hill, Q4004
Phone and facsimile 07 33691340 Mobile 0412048708
email John.T@uq.net.au
March 17, 2009

Dear Pat

I am enclosing laser copies of the photos we took while I was in UK – sorry I can not find the negatives.

I have reorganised my family history files and written some more. It is still very intriguing. I am sure that our William was a nephew of William Lord of the Manor – he married there and subsequently went to farm at Cassington – possibly on land on the Marlborough estate. (Remember that the Duke lent William LOM 9900 pounds toward the cost of Shipton.)
William LOM definitely came from Broadwell (Ox) – recorded as ‘landed proprietor’ in the 1851 census which was conducted for the Shipton area by his son Edgar – who styled himself as ‘late farmer now unemployed’ and his brothers as farmers. I believe that William LOM was probably a prosperous farmer who moved from Broadwell to Shipton. I think he styled himself as a farmer and perhaps it was the later generation that took on more ‘status’.
When our William married at Shipton in 1817 the witnesses were John, Mary and Frances Turner. Wm (LOM) had a wife Mary and a daughter Mary 11 years old and a daughter Frances 5 years old. It seems unlikely that a girl of that age would be a witness. – what do you know of the customs. If possible could you check the original record of the marriage and see if it was Francis or Frances. There was a family at Burford who had a William, John and Francis - but the age is probably wrong for our William – see my date list. It would also be interesting to see if there is some other clue on the original that was not transcribed. The original will probably be in one of the Oxford libraries.
It is interesting that the Mormon (Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints) have a 1881 census record version where it is possible to look up the people born in a particular County – this has to be done County by County – so far I have not been able to locate the Turners born at Cassington. If you have time and inclination – this could give us more clues on the whereabouts and marriages of the brothers of my William and your Catherine.I hope you enjoy the material I am sending and have some great inspirations as to the next step.

Are there records of land holdings n Oxfordshire in the period we are considering? Are there school records for Burford and Broadwell?

It was good to hear the news from Liz. Congratulations to Amber for the success in 11+ - A good school certainly helps in future activities. I am still waiting for the job to start in Indonesia – it will happen but -------. I am booking over to Bali at the end of November to spend some time with Yanto – he has just finished his final thesis and has one more set of national exams to complete his law degree. He has worked part time for it over the last 8 years.

I look forward to receipt of the letter from Ilott so I can follow that line of research.

Regards to all John Turner