Four of the Oxborough men were christened with the name Barrington. I wonder if Samuel’s great-grandfather married a woman with the surname of Barrington?  I could find no Barrington’s living near the parish of Eye, Suffolk County, England.

Samuel Barrington Oxborough

Born: 1821 in Beccles, Suffolk County, England

Father: John Oxborough (1787 to 1868)
Mother: Elizabeth Browne (1789 to 1865)

Spouse: Hephzibah Riches (1824 to 1883)

Married: 5 DEC 1848 in Thurton, Norfolk County, England

Children:

Louisa Ellen Oxborough (1849 to 1850)
Frederick Oxborough (1854 to 1854)
Frederick Oxborough (1856 to 1908)
William Oxborough (1857 to 1857)
Arthur William Oxborough (1860 to 1861)
William Oxborough (1865 to 1932)

Died: 1903 in Leicester, Leicestershire County, England

Timeline:

1828 Death of twin brothers, Henry and Obadiah
1841 Norwich, Norfolk County, England
1843 Death of brother, James
1848 Death of brother, Robert
1848 Marriage to Hephzibah
1849 Birth of daughter, Louisa
1850 Death of daughter, Louisa
1851 Thurton, Norfolk County, England
1854 Birth of son, Frederic
1854 Death of son, Frederic
1856 Birth of son, Frederick
1857 Thurton, Norfolk County, England
1857 Birth of son, William
1857 Death of son, William
1860 Birth of son, Arthur
1861 North Walsham, Norfolk County, England
1861 Death of son, Arthur
1865 Death of mother, Elizabeth
1865 Birth of son, William
1868 Death of father, John
1871 Ely Holy Trinity, Cambridgeshire County, England
1881 Holbeach, Lincolnshire County, England
1883 Death of sister, Susanna
1891 Holbeach, Lincolnshire County, England
1892 Death of brother, John
1901 Leicester, Leicestershire County, England
1901 Death of brother, Charles
1903 Death and Burial

Occupation: shoemaker

Records:

1841 to 1901 England Census Records
England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index: 1837-1915
Norfolk, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1940
Norfolk, England, Register of Electors, 1813-1952
England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index: 1837-1915

Variations of Surname: none

Spouse:

Hephzibah Riches:

Hephzibah was born in 1824 in Thurton, Norfolk County, England. She died in 1883 in Holbeach, Lincolnshire County, England.

Hephzibah went by the nickname of Happy.

Hephzibah’s father was William Riches. He was born in 1777 in Ashby St Mary, Norfolk County, England. He died in 1858 in Thurton, Norfolk County, England.

Hephzibah’s mother was Sarah Gooch. She was born in 1783 in Thurton, Norfolk County, England. She died in 1828 in Thurton, Norfolk County, England.

Hephzibah had eight known brothers and sisters:

Amelia Riches (1805)
James Riches (1807)
Samuel Riches (1808)
William Riches (1810)
Eliza Riches (1813)
Charlotte Riches (1815)
Jeremiah Riches (1817)
Sarah Riches (1819)

After Sarah died, William married Lydia Beck on 10 NOV 1841 in Thurton, Norfolk County, England. No known children were born to this marriage.

Lydia Beck was born in 1798 in Thurton, Norfolk County, England. I do not know if Lydia remarried or when she died.

Did You Notice?

Samuel and Hephzibah had six known children. Of the six children, only two survived into adulthood:

Frederick was 52 years old when he died.
William was 67 years old when he died.

The other four children died within weeks or months of being born:

Louisa was about four months old when she died.
Frederic was about three months old when he died.
William was about one month old when he died.
Arthur was one to three months old when he died.

The recycling of given names was an old English custom. It may have been a means for the parents to honor the memory of their deceased child.

The Surname of Barrington:

Four men carry the name of Barrington in my Oxborough family tree:

Samuel Barrington Oxborough (1821 to 1903), subject of this post
George Barrington Oxborough (1857 to 1890), nephew of Samuel
Edward Barrington Oxborough (1890 to 1964), son of George
Edward Barrington Oxborough (1915 to 1986), son of Edward

Samuel’s grandfather, Matthew Oxborough, was born in 1748 in Eye, Suffolk County, England. I do not know who his parents were. I wonder if Matthew’s father married a woman with the surname of Barrington.

I did search the 1841 England census to see if there were any Barrington’s living near Eye, Suffolk County, England. The census pages were handwritten and hard to decipher the exact spelling of the surnames. A search of the 1851 England census produced no positive results, either.

If any Barrington family historians know how these families are connected, please contact me. My email is dlwakenight@yahoo.com. You can also leave a message in the Comments Section of this post.

Notes:

The surname, Oxborough, originated in Norfolk County, England. It appears in church registers as early as the mid-16th century. As the world population grew, these Oxborough ancestors moved to other counties in England. By the late 19th century, some had immigrated to Canada and Australia.

Creating Your Family Tree

Interested in building a great family tree? Remember these important steps:

Look in your photo albums. You may have old pictures that your parents or grandparents gave you. Or, ask them for copies of photos that they have in their possession. Many people will write names and dates on the backs of photographs. Letters, diaries, and family bibles are also excellent sources for births, marriages, and deaths.

Talk to your older relatives to find out about your ancestry. They may relate stories about an ancestor that you can add to your family tree. Family history is usually not found in newspapers. It is more of a verbal memory that is passed down from generation to generation.

Find the right family tree builder that suits your needs. You can choose one that has a paid subscription like Ancestry.com. There are also free sites like FamilySearch.org.

When you start building your family tree, add documentation to your ancestor’s profile. The records can include birth, marriage, death, census, military, city, and county directory listings. Any information that you can find will help create a life story about your ancestor.

If you have a unique surname, like Wakenight, you may find databases on the internet that are useful in your search. I use SurnameDB.com for my English surnames. There are many others on the internet for other countries like Ireland, Italy, and Germany.

Genealogy is the study of a person’s “line of descent.” As you create your family tree, you would typically start with one individual and go “back into time.” You would add their parents, grandparents, and so on.  There are also family trees that go “forward into time.”  Many of these family trees start with a famous person, such as a president or royalty, and move forward into the present time.  The purpose of this type of pedigree is to establish a person’s bloodline with that famous person.

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