Sherriff Family History
The main family
names that interest us are:
| Barrett | |||
| Caiger/Gaiger | Ellis | ||
| Feehan | French | Fursland/Furzeland | |
| Hayward | Hobbs | Holloway | Kiely |
| Lipscomb/Lipscombe | Mudge | Rogers | Ryder |
| Shepherd/Shepheard | Sheriff/Sherriff | Toms | Winkworth |
The spellings listed are not specific. Sherriff or Sheriffe, Fursland or Furzeland, Chivers or Chyvors, it doesn’t matter, as the spelling of most names varied right up until the end of the 19th Century. Although our main interests lie in the surnames above, in the course of our research we have, of necessity, investigated dozens of other surnames of people marrying into the family, and added their details to our lists.
Our 'Family Tree' file can be viewed on this site. We use GED4WEB© software to produce the listings which now contains around 29,250 individuals, over 8,000 families, and includes over 3,930 surnames.
The data
now includes many people who are not directly related to either of us, but we
have added their details to our file to help other researchers. This data has
been produced for our own use and satisfaction. It may include errors, although
we make every effort to cross-check data. Any of our data can be copied for
personal use, but under no circumstances should our data be made available
through a commercial website or similar vehicle where charges are made to access
the data. To browse this data, click here. To protect the innocent, details on
any living member of the family, other than their name and place in the tree,
are automatically withheld.
We have recently begun to add old photographs to this site. The Family Gallery contains a number of pictures of the Holloway and Sherriff families at present.
The
Barrett Family
William Barrett c.1650 - ?
The Barrett family lived mainly in the village of Aldbourne in Wiltshire, although the earliest member found so far, William Barrett who was born c. 1650, lived in Ashbury, Berkshire. The villages of Ramsbury, Aldbourne and Chilton Foliat are all very close to each other, and many of Paul's ancestors appear to have originated in these three villages. Research into the Barrett family is still continuing.
The
Baverstock Family
John Baverstock c.1732 - ?
Our Baverstock family appear to have lived in North Hampshire in the villages of Newtown, Highclere, and East Woodhay which are all just 3 or 4 miles south of Newbury. Research on the Baverstock's has been quite difficult. It had taken about 18 months to get back to the earliest proven connection, that of Samuel Baverstock who was born around 1800. We only know of his name from the Marriage Certificate of his son John George Baverstock who married Jane Greenaway at Highclere, Nr Newbury, on 25th December 1848. The Baverstock and Blackford families were very closely related as Jane Greenaway's elder sister, Sarah, had married William Blackford (Senior) in 1844. Their respective children, Jane Baverstock and William Blackford (Junior) married on Christmas Day 1878.
Although we do not know for sure who Samuel's parents were, we believe they were John Baverstock and Sarah Lambden who married at St. Mary Bourne, Hampshire, on 17th December 1778. The later moved to Newtown, near Newbury, where we believe Samuel was born. At the moment this assumption is included in our files, and allows us to trace back to John Baverstock who was born at Newton Toney, Wiltshire, England, c. 1695. Much of our Baverstock research has been provided by Matthew Donovan.
The
Bawden Family
Thomas Bawden c.1780 - ?
We know very little about the Bawden family. Our records start with Thomas Bawden who married Mary Ann Short at Helland, Cornwall, on 17th January 1804. Their daughter, Grace, married William Ellis Furzland, at Modbury, Devon, sometime around 1845. We have found out very little about the family as yet. The names Bawden and Bowden appear regularly in the Modbury Parish Registers, and it is possible that Thomas originated from Modbury but we have not been able to prove that yet. To be totally honest, the Bawden family is our 'enigma' at the present time, but hopefully that will be resolved in the near future!
The
Blackford Family
John Blackford c.1785 - ?
The Blackford family also appear to have originated in Hampshire, moving to Newbury around 1875. The earliest member of this family that we have located is John Blackford, who was born about 1785, who married Hannah Randall at Burghclere, Hampshire, on 26th March 1812. We found his name on the Marriage Certificate of his son William to Jane Greenaway in 1844. Research is continuing slowly and with great difficulty into the Blackford family.
The
Caiger Family
James Caiger c.1790 - ?
The Caiger family are a recent addition to our lists, and at the moment are rather illusive. We have very little data about them at present. We hope that adding this paragraph on the website it will attract other researchers of the Caiger family who have data to share.
The
Chivers Family
John Chivers
c.1650 - ?
To date, we have
had great success researching the Chivers name. We have currently connected back
to John Chivers who married Mary Gardner at St. Michael's Church, Aldbourne,
Wiltshire, on 25th March 1675. Many of Paul's Chivers ancestors lived in
Ashbury, Berkshire. Ashbury is in the Vale of the White Horse area of pre-1974
Berkshire that is now in Oxfordshire. Our tree now contains several hundred
descendants of John & Mary Chivers right down to the current day. The research
into the Chivers family has
mainly been carried out using micro-fiche transcripts of Parish Registers
obtained from the Oxfordshire
Family History Society and the Berkshire Family History Society, although the
transcripts were all produced by the OFHS.
The Oxfordshire Family History Society has managed to transcribe most of their existing Parish Registers, making them available for researchers. These have been invaluable in our research, as it is often the peripheral details, that do not always show up on other methods, that allow you to make the break-through. Of course, you need a micro-fiche viewer to read them, but these can be quite cheap if obtained second-hand or reconditioned. Similar research in Berkshire has not been possible owing to the very restricted views of the Berkshire Record Office who refuse to sell copies of their microfiche, and thereby very much restrict research efforts. Thankfully they are one of the few Record Offices that adopt such an obstructive policy towards research.
The
Coxhead Family
Tristram
Coxhead c.1540 - ?
The Coxhead family is now one of the largest in our tree. We knew that George Chivers married Rachel Coxhead at Ashbury, Berkshire, on 15th October 1818, but knew nothing about her family until a breakthrough occurred when we discovered that George and Rachel were sent from Ashbury to Hungerford, Berkshire, by order of the magistrates at Ashbury, under the provisions of the Poor Laws. Since we knew George was born in Ashbury, this had to mean that Rachel had been born in Hungerford.
After quite a lot of digging, we believe Rachel to have been born in Hungerford, possibly at the home of her grandparents, John Coxhead and Mary Cannons, but then baptised at the nearby village of Aldbourne, Wiltshire, at the church where her parents, John Coxhead and Miriam Barrett were married. Since making this breakthrough we have managed to add quite a lot of data to the Coxhead family, much of it from the work of other Coxhead researchers. We are particularly indebted to the many researchers in New Zealand who worked to produce The Coxhead Family, which was published in 1999.
The
Ellis Family
Edward Ellis c. 1650 - ?
The Ellis family lived in and around Modbury, Devon. We know very little about them, except what we have gleaned from the IGI and Modbury Parish Registers. Our particular line starts with Edward Ellis who was born around 1630, but we have not found any 'Ellis' descendants after about 1800 who have carried on the name. By this time the name seems to have vanished in our family at least.
The
Furzeland Family
William Fursland c. 1430 - ? 'Of Bovey Tracey'
The Furzeland family also lived in and around Modbury, Devon. Until August 2003, the earliest Furzeland that we had traced was Philip Furzland who married Agnes Toms on 8th July 1750 at Modbury. For some time we had suspected the Philip Furzland may have been descended from either John Fursland or Walter Fursland who lived in Widecombe-in-the-Moor, and we recently found a baptism for Philip in 1722 at West Alvington, Devon, the son of Walter Fursland and Mary Cawse. We are currently digging into this family, but in the meantime have included our tentative data in our files which can be viewed by following the link above. The early Fursland's lived in either Widecombe-in-the-Moor or in Bickington. Although we are not able to prove this is the right family, there are strong connections between Bickington and Modbury as both were major centres of Serge-weaving right up to the 19th-century.
Much of our data on the living relatives of this family has been supplied by Carol Minor and Muriel Walters, both of whom are descendants of Philip Furzland.
In recent months we have begun to add data for the Fursland families of Bridgwater, Somerset. Although we do not have unequivocable proof of their connection to the Devon-based family, we believe the connection to be correct. We are greatly indebted to Cled Fursland for making this data available.
The
Greenaway Family
William Greenaway c. 1685 - ?
The Greenaway family were added to our tree in April 2002 after we obtained the marriage certificates of John George Baverstock and William Blackford (Junior), and found that they married sisters with the name of Greenaway. We are currently seeking data on their ancestors and descendants. They are another family that appear to have lived in the part of north Hampshire around Highclere or East Woodhay although they originally came from Aldbourne, in Wiltshire, where William Greenaway married Anne Tucker on 14th July 1710.
The
Hobbs Family
William Hobbs c. 1570 - ?
The Hobbs family appears to have started out in Hungerford, Berkshire, before moving to the area around Ramsbury and Chilton Foliat, Wiltshire. There are a number of closely related branches, and this is taking quite a lot of sorting out. They were very closely related to the Alexander and Mudge families. They were also another 'prolific' family, with name 'overlaps' which add to the complexity. A recent set of data supplied by Beryl Metherell, of Houston, Texas, has meant that the Hobbs family have been 'downgraded' to distant relatives, rather than direct ancestors of Paul. However, we have left this date on our website to assist other researchers.
The
Holloway Family
William Holloway c. 1790 - ?
The Holloway family have always been part of our research but have proven to be an immense brick wall until just the last few months. We now know they lived in Winchester in the early 19th Century. Our line begins with William Holloway who married Ann Frooks at Winchester in 1816. Their son William, born 1820, then married Loiusa Caiger (or Gaiger) in Winchester in 1842 . Louisa was the daughter of James Caiger (or Gaiger) who is recorded on her Marriage Certificate as being a Miller. We currently know almost nothing about the Frooks and Caiger lines, but hopefully we will be adding more data about them over coming months as research continues.
The
Lipscombe Family
Josiah Lipscomb c. 1730 - ?
The Lipscombe family came to Newbury from Buckinghamshire, via Marlborough, Wiltshire in the early 19th century. They were a family of chair-makers right up until the early 20th Century. The earliest ancestor found so far is Josiah Lipscomb who lived in Wooburn, Bucks, around 1730. We have been in contact with other members of the Lipscomb/Lipscombe family and this tree is now very large, with many living descendants, thanks to the efforts of Roy and Sue Lipscomb.
The
Mudge Family
John Mudge c. 1664 - ?
The Mudge family is yet another family from Aldbourne, Wiltshire, and is closely linked with the Barrett and Coxhead families.
The
Rogers Family
Humphrey Rogers c. 1590 - ?
The Rogers family also lived in and around Modbury, Devon. We are indebted to Graham Rogers and his site about the Rogers family of Modbury for much of the early data about Humphrey Rogers and his descendants.
The
Shepherd Family
Henry Shepherd c. 1615 - ?
The Shepherd family lived in Aldbourne, Wiltshire, and is currently being researched.
The
Shepheard Family
Thomas Shepheard c. 1525 - ?
The Shepherd family lived in Modbury, Devon, and is not connected with the Shepherd family of Aldbourne as far as we can see. Thomas Shepheard, who would appear to have lived in Kingston, near Ivybridge, Devon, around 1525 is the earliest member of this family.
The
Sherriff Family
Richard Sheriff c.1780 - ?
Paul's grandparents, Charles and Ellen Sherriff moved to
Newbury in
the 1930’s, from Cheriton in Hampshire, having previously lived in Reading.
However, Charles was born in Modbury, in Devonshire, which is also the main
area of research for the Furzeland and Ellis
surnames at present. From the mid-18th century onwards, members of
these three families lived in and around the town of
Modbury,
which lies about 10 miles east of Plymouth.
The
Toms Family
Joseph Thomes c. 1635 - ?
The Toms family also lived in and around Modbury, Devon. They are also the subject of a lot of research effort at the present time, but it is a very complex family with a lot of Christian name repetition, and is proving very difficult to follow.
The
Winkworth Family
Thomas Winkworth c. 1750 - ?
The Winkworth family are another recent addition to our research. They lived in Owslebury, a village near Winchester in Hampshire.
The Feehan, French, Hayward, Kiely, Ryder and other families
To date, we have made very few attempts to investigate these families, but will be adding data to these pages in the near future. To see our work so far please click on the following links
Feehan French Hayward Kiely Ryder
We will also be adding new families to our main interests. These will include CRANCH, WOOLFORD, and DOWLING, plus several others that are beginning to represent significant parts of our family files. Some data on these families is already available on our lists.
Ongoing Research
Our success with the
OFHS transcripts has not been mirrored as yet in our research in Devon, where
the Devon County Record
Office has many micro-form copies of original registers in their archives,
and will supply copies for personal research. These copies are of original
registers, not transcripts, and can be very difficult to read. We have so far
managed to transcribe a number of the Modbury Parish Registers for our own
researches, and will be happy to undertake searches for interested parties. For
further details please follow the link to our Modbury Parish Register
pages. Sometime in the future we will be adding the Parish Registers of
Yealmpton and Ivybridge and will be able to undertake searches for these
parishes also. If you would like to be informed when these are available,
please send us an email.
Sherriff Family History,
the Parish Registers of Modbury & Yealmpton, Devon and other items of Interest
© 2002-6 Paul and Christine Sherriff – Last Updated 18 Nov 2006 10:41
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