Speculations Rife!

Granthams in , , Kings Sutton and

November 2008

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Contents

Page

Thomas Grantham of Barton Hartshorn 3 Thomas Grantham of Kings Sutton 6 Francis Grantham yeoman of Ardley 10 Thomas Grantham and the Willaston branch 15 Francis Grantham son of Francis 19 John Grantham – the Fringford branch 20 Richard Grantham – Ardley and further afield 21 The Line 27

Acknowledgements and Disclaimers

Much of this research was done 3 years ago, mainly at the Oxfordshire Record Office, but also at Northamptonshire Record Office and The National Archives. At the other side of the world, Danny Neilsen was also researching Grantham records, and as well as finding much which set me off on the trail also did much to discourage me from my wilder flights of fancy, so I am indebted to him on both counts. I am also aware that, with such a time lapse, it is quite possible that I have misread or misinterpreted some of my notes. I acknowledge that any errors which may have crept in are mine, and admit that some of the references might not be as full as they should be, and that, on occasion, the dates are a little woolly. However, the account is speculative, and really put into the public domain in the hope of finding someone who can prove or refute what I have written.

All unreferenced information comes from Bishops’ Transcripts, parish registers or their transcripts.

2 This account is a speculative attempt to find antecedents for Thomas Grantham of Barton Hartshorn (d. 1753), father to William Grantham of (d. 1789). Although Thomas was clearly living at Barton Hartshorn at the time of his marriage to Ann George, and when his children were born, there is no sign of his baptism. To be fair, the extant BTs have gaps, but he still appears to have been the first Grantham to settle in this tiny border parish (only 20 families in 1712). Just over the county line it is a different story, with a number of related Grantham families clustered in villages in the north-eastern part of Oxfordshire. Thomas’s family is outlined in my family history: ‘Five Hundred Years of Grainges’, with the first section repeated here with a few clarifications. The rest of this account details the family who may – or may not – have been Thomas Grantham of Barton Hartshorn’s forbears and kin.

Thomas Grantham of Barton Hartshorn Male names in this line: Thomas, John, William, Edmund, Richard

As I have said, no baptism has been found for William Grantham, although I believe him to have originated in Barton Hartshorn, the son of Thomas Grantham and Ann George. The record of their marriage, at St. Mary on 19th August 1719, says simply:

‘Thomas Grantham daryman of Barton Hartshorn and Ann George of Barton Hartshorn.’

St. James Barton Hartshorn

The Bishops’ Transcripts record the baptisms of two sons named John, one in 1720 (with mother’s name recorded as Elizabeth; a late baptism, or clerical error, perhaps?) and one in 1721. A daughter Mary was recorded in 1724. Over the next ten years or so, though, there are many missing years in the transcripts. The BTs are hard to read, and disordered, but the next reference I have found is to the burial of Thomas Grantham on 18th March 1753. (This burial is also recorded in the original register which began in 1752.) His wife Ann is not recorded as being buried at Barton Hartshorn. However, there is an Ann Grantham, ‘widow from Barton’, buried at

3 on 19th November 1775, where an Elizabeth Grantham married one John Bigg and raised a family. My guess is that the widowed Ann went to live with her married daughter.

Shortly after the death of Thomas of Barton, a marriage took place there (in 1755) between Edmund Grantham of Barton and Elizabeth Jones of , over the border in Oxfordshire. This couple baptised four children, Thomas, Ann, Elizabeth and William. They may have been poor, as, in 1770, Thomas Smith1 of Barton Hartshorn left Edmund a weekly dole of bread, and half a year’s schooling to his son William. The second half of the bequest, at such a time, suggests perhaps that William was bright enough to warrant nurturing. Barton Hartshorn was such a tiny community that it seems highly likely that Edmund was another child of Thomas and Ann. His significance in this story lies mainly in his unusual name.

William Grantham of Quainton’s connection to this family is proven by the will of Elizabeth Cooke née George2 in 1772, which names his mother Ann Grantham as a sister, and him as a nephew. . It would seem then, that Thomas of Barton and Ann had not three children, as recorded in the BTs, but six: John, John, Mary, Elizabeth, William and Edmund. Thomas of Barton seems to have fathered another two children – Thomas and Elizabeth, born in 1713 and 15 – by a first wife, also Elizabeth. I believe that this earlier marriage took place at Bicester on 15.11.1710, between first cousins. Elizabeth Grantham née Grantham was buried at Chetwode in 1716. If my surmise is right, she and her siblings were baptised at Wendlebury, in Oxfordshire, but her father Joseph Grantham was living at Chetwode, neighbouring parish and part of the same manor as Barton Hartshorn, when he wrote his will3 in 1725. In it, he leaves one shilling to his ‘son-in-law’ Thomas Grantham, but although he names numerous grandchildren, no mention is made of Thomas and Elizabeth, which leads me to suspect that they died in infancy. Joseph’s family prospered: his son Thomas was overseer of the poor at Chetwode; and his descendants established themselves in Chetwode, Akeley and .

Our Thomas of Barton may have fared less well, and certainly left little trace. Barton Hartshorn was hardly more than a hamlet at this time and few records survive. According to Browne Willis4 there were only twenty families there in 1712, and the church shared its curate with nearby Chetwode. The only further reference I have found to Thomas of Barton in adult life is his burial, at Barton, on 18th March 1753.

There are two entries on two separate slips in the BTs for his burial. He appears on the 1752 list which ends on March 25th and the next year’s, which begins in January. Both say Thomas Grantham was buried March 18th 1753; the first has a squiggle following; the second says ‘poor’. It almost looks as if someone read ‘poor’ into an illegible squiggle. Certainly the entry in the original burial register makes no such comment, so it is impossible to tell for sure if the ‘daryman’ had fallen on hard times.

1 CBS DA/WE 96/139 Will of Thomas Smith, dairyman of Barton Hartshorn, 1770 2 CBS DA/WE 97/84 Will of Elizabeth Cooke of , 1772 3 TNA Prob 11/640 Will of Joseph Grantham yeoman of Chetwode, 1730 4 The History and Antiquities of the Town, Hundred and Deanery of , Browne Willis, London, 1775

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So where did Thomas of Barton come from? Extensive searching in parishes has provided no candidates. Just across the border in Oxfordshire there is a cluster of parishes with Grantham families, but only one of them provided a possible Thomas, born in Bicester in 1674. This would have made him 36 at the time of his first marriage, and a mature 45 before he really established a family. A little long in the tooth, I felt. It’s true that this Thomas’ family disappears from Bicester by the 1680s, but I can find no positive proof to suggest a connection, and peripheral information which might suggest he died young. (See The Bicester Line, p.22)

Thomas Grantham of Kings Sutton (Astrope) Male names in this line: Thomas, Edmund

St. Peter and St. Paul Kings Sutton

Over yet another county border, in Northamptonshire, lies the parish of Kings Sutton. About ten miles from Barton Hartshorn, it is a peculiar of Banbury, so administratively it straddles Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire. I was drawn to this parish by a will5 written in 1698. In it, Thomas Grantham, yeoman of Astrope, a hamlet in the parish of Kings Sutton, left his estate to his family; his wife Ann, eldest son Thomas, daughters Mary and Frances, and a son Edmund. This name leapt out as appearing in two subsequent generations of our family. It was a relatively uncommon name at the time, and I have theorised that this nuclear family is our elusive Granthams. However, there is no proof, so it remains a speculation.

5 ORO 40/1/11 Will of Thomas Grantham of Kings Sutton, 1698

6 Thomas’ will is quite detailed. Sons Thomas and Edmund are left a yardland in South Newington, a few miles back into Oxfordshire, and daughters Mary and Frances are left £150 apiece to be held until they are adult. Ann is put in charge of:

‘the education of both my sons Thomas and Edmund during the term of their minority…’ as well as:

‘all rents, fees and profits’ from the land until the boys reach the age of twenty-four. Fortunately for this history, Thomas of Astrope leaves a number of other bequests. In doing so he names: brothers Joseph (later possibly to be father-in-law to Thomas of Barton) and Richard, both with a son Thomas; kinsman Thomas Grantham of Ardley in Oxfordshire, also with a son Thomas; and kin Thomas Easeman, Mary Stephens and John Stephens – who is named overseer of the will. At the end of the document, Thomas of Astrope makes his mark.

An inventory taken by William Goffe and Thomas Joy on 16th May 1698 records a comfortable estate worth £236 10/6. The usual yeoman artefacts appear. As well as wearing apparel and ready money, there are bedsteads in the garrets over the hall and red chamber, bedding, a coffer, a press and two carpets. The most valuable items are malt worth £60 and cows and sheep worth £42. There are both ‘sperate’ and desparate debts worth £20 apiece.

A few years later in 1708, Ann Grantham died, and her son Thomas – by then an adult, but not yet twenty-four – was granted administration6 of her goods. His signature on this document is clear, which makes it a double shame that there is no documentary evidence with a signature of Thomas Grantham in Barton Hartshorn. In the preamble, he is referred to as ‘Agr’ -which means farmer or husbandman – of ‘Sutton Regis’. Although most occupations were agricultural at this time, ‘dairyman’ seems to come under the umbrella of ‘agricola’. If this is indeed our Thomas, then presumably he left Northamptonshire after the death of his mother. Maybe he was taken under the wing of his uncle Joseph, newly settled in Buckinghamshire, and thus went on to marry his cousin in 1710, shortly after he reached the age to inherit.

Information at Kings Sutton is both scanty and rich. There is no record of a marriage for the first Thomas and Ann, but the baptisms of all four children are recorded. Mary, the eldest, was christened on 13th May 1683; Thomas followed on 23rd January 1684, and Edmund and Frances were baptised together on 6th March 1686. Unfortunately, the burial records don’t exist for the years when Thomas of Astrope and Ann died.

However, the Oxfordshire Record Society has published the Churchwardens’ Presentments7 for several peculiars, including Kings Sutton, and these give quite a full picture of Thomas of Astrope in his community. Entry no. 245 dated 12th June1685 reads:

6 ORO 40/1/22 Bond of Administration of Ann Grantham of Kings Sutton, 1708 7 ORO Oxfordshire Record Society volume 10, ed. Sydney A Peyton, 1928

7 ‘We present the spire to be out of repaire. We also present Our Chancel Windows for being out of repaire and not well glazed. John Bett Thomas Grantham’

Family of Thomas Grantham of Astrope.

Thomas Ann Grantham Died: 1708 Died: May in Kings 1698 Sutton, in Kings Northants Sutton, Northants

Mary John ?Elizabeth Thomas ?Ann Edmund Francis Grantham Norton Grantham Grantham George Grantham Grantham Baptism: 13 Married: 29 Baptism: Baptism: 21 Married: Baptism: 6 Baptism: 6 May 1683 September 1685 January 1684 1719 March 1686 March 1686 Kings Sutton, 1709 Wendlebury Kings Sutton, in Aylesbury Kings Sutton, Kings Sutton, Northants in St. Benet's Married: 15 Northants Northants Northants Wharf, November Died: Bef. London 1710 1715 in Bicester, in Kings Oxon Sutton, Burial: 1716 Northants Chetwode

There is no proof that the Elizabeth Grantham who married at Bicester was born at Wendlebury or that her spouse was the son of Thomas of Kings Sutton, but is seems feasible.

The following entry, nine days later, is couched more strongly:

‘Impr. We present Thomas Margetts ffirmar of the Impropr[iation] of King Sutton for not preparing the Chancel Windows being very much broken and out of repaire. W present the Spyre to be out of repaire and desire that time may be given for the repairing thereof. We also present the Parish Church for being out of repaire especially the Porch of the said Church. Thos Grantham churchwarden.’

The entry continues with some spirit:

‘For as much as there hath been Church Lands and houses belonging to your church to the value of £10 per Ann. Which hath been diverted and turned to the ease of the parishioners for these five yeas past by which means the sd Church is at this time grown to be ruinous that it cannot be repaired under the sum of £200 at least in Common Estimacon Whereof the Judge Doth order that the present Church Wardens do cause a tax to be levied … illeg of £100 and expend the same in the re[paration of the s]aid Church & in such parts as shall be .... to Certify thereof the next visit[acon…] at peculiar ……’

The final reference (entry 256) to Thomas of Astrope in this volume also mentions his wife:

‘We present Ann Grantham wid for the like summe (5s) for burying her

8 husband.’

The Banbury History Society has published the Kings Sutton Churchwardens’ Accounts88 for 1630 – 1700. These too suggest that Thomas of Astrope arrived in this community in the early 1680s. Certainly there are no earlier references to Granthams. In 1684, he and John Bett were nominated churchwardens, and list their ‘receivings’ from various parishioners. He ‘allows’ the accounts in 1688 and nominates churchwardens in 1688 and 1691. A whole series of levies shows that the pleas to collect money for church restoration had not fallen on deaf ears, and all the following show Thomas Grantham of Astrope amongst those contributing:

‘Feb 11th 1689 a single levy for the Reparation of the parish Church of Kingsutton: Astrop levy Thomas grantham 1 0’

‘Two double leveyes made the 15th day of March 1691 for the repares of the Church of Kingsutton By us Edward Wyatt and Richard Mattewes Church Wardens Astrop Levey Thomas Grantham 4 0’

‘a doubell Levey made 25th day of May 1692 …Thomas Grantham 2 0’

‘A dubel levey made 25th day of February 1692 ….Thomas Grantham 2 0’

A single levey… 11th day of May 1694 for…. Kingsutton by us whose names are subscribed. Astrop Thomas Grantham 1 0’

‘One doble levey made (23.10 1696)… John Heynes Chas Wheeler CWs Itm Thomas Grantham 2 0’

‘3 double leavys made (13. 2. 1696/7)…Thomas Grantham 6 0’

‘3 double levies (26.11.1697) Thomas Grantham 6 0’

‘2 double levies (25.4.1698) Thomas Grantham 4 0’

At no time were there more than twenty subscribers (but usually at least fifteen) and the church as it appears today is quite imposing, so I would imagine that the financial burden on the community was a heavy one. Another contribution was made on 11th April 1699:

‘1 double levy Widdow Grantham 2 0.’

Later in the year, the account book records:

‘Received since Easter of Thos Carpenter Richard Hadddon Mr Taylor and the Widdow Grantham 1 0 0’

There are two further entries of interest, referring to Thomas junior and his brother Edmund being paid to help clear ‘vermin’ from the parish. In 1692, the churchwarden records:

8 ORO Kings Sutton Churchwardens’ Accounts 1636 – 1700, transcribed and edited by Paul Hayter, The Banbury Historical Society, volume 27, 2001

9 ‘To Thomas Grantham for one urtching (hegehog) 0 4’ And a few years later:

‘Edman grantom [Grantham] 5 dosn and halfe sparos 0 11’

There is no way of telling whether they needed to do this to generate income, or whether it was behaviour expected of boys in the community or whether they saw it as sport.

Whatever the situation, there is no further record of Thomas junior at Kings Sutton after the death of his mother. It is possible that he migrated to Barton Hartshorn via marriage at Bicester. Edmund stayed, but in 1711 he made his will9, which was proved in 1715. There is no mention of his brother but the will is very brief and leaves everything to his sister’s husband, John Norton, baker of Middlesex. I have found no further record of the family in Northamptonshire.

Step over the border into Oxfordshire, however, and Granthams abound, with a number of families based in Bicester, Mixbury, Newton Purcell, Fringford and Ardley. All these parishes cluster in the north-east corner of Oxfordshire, butting onto the Buckinghamshire boundary at Barton Hartshorn and Chetwode. Thomas Grantham of Astrope in Kings Sutton came from a branch based at Ardley. Rather than try and track all the various lines back at this point, it will be easier to work forward from the earliest discovered member of one branch of this clan, and show how the various branches spread throughout the area, and led, ultimately to the family in Kings Sutton. It is of course possible that one of the other descendants of this man, Francis Grantham of Ardley, may have crossed the border into Buckinghamshire without appearing in surviving records, and have given rise to our Grantham family in Barton Hartshorn.

Francis Grantham – yeoman of Ardley

The earliest reference to Francis Grantham, yeoman of Ardley seems to come from a marriage in nearby Bicester in 1593 to Elizabeth Walkett. A Dorothy Grantham baptised at Bicester in 1594 would seem a likely result of this union, but annoyingly neither parent was named. A Mary Grante [sic] daughter of Francis was baptised at Fringford in 1599. Thomas and Francis Grantham were also baptised at Fringford without parental names given – in 1603 and 1606 respectively. William, who was baptised and buried at Fringford in quick succession was recorded as the son of Francis.

There is another family of Granthams in Bicester - possibly connected through a Francis Grantham buried there in 1618 and a potential father to Francis of Ardley, Thomas of Launton (d. 1641) and Richard of Bicester (d. 1646). This makes it hard to be sure that the family outlined above do all belong to Francis and a wife named Elizabeth. I will outline what I know of the Bicester branch later. However, Francis

9 TNA Prob 11/545 Will of Edmund Grantham, yeoman of Astrope, 1711

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11 of Ardley’s will10 shows bequests to the poor in both Ardley and Fringford, demonstrating connections to both parishes and also names his surviving children, Dorothy, Mary, Thomas and Francis, as well as Richard and John whose baptisms have not been found. Maybe they were christened at Mixbury, where the registers begin in 1645, or Ardley, where the registers only survive from the following century.

Francis Grantham senior does seem to have had a foot in three adjacent parishes. There is a certificate of residence11 dated 1597 showing him to have been taxed at Mixbury, part of which split parish buts onto the northern edge of Fringford.

‘…that Francis Grantham of the parish of Mixbury within the hundred of Ploughley yeoman is there assessed and taxed at four pounds in goods as being resident and dwelling with his household and family at the time of the said taxation and for the period of one whole year before at Mixbury aforesaid and therefore not elsewhere to be taxed.’

He paid tax12 there again in 1601, when his goods were valued at £4 10/8 but a year later, the certificate of residence13 places him at Fringford. Five years later, on 28th June 1606, he was recorded there in a volume of Oxford Church Court Depositions, entry no. 87, Tithes and Offerings, (ff506, 506v)14:

Francis Grantome gave details of his animals: cows, heifers, calves and lambs. The milk the cows produced was worth 8d a week, the calves one with another five shillings, and the lambs 12d each. The custom of the parish of Fringford was that every married man should pay 1d for himself and 1d for his wife as an offering at Easter. He knew no reason why Scotte had sued him as he had offered him no wrong.’

This skirmish, between Francis and his wife and Master Scotte, rector of Fringford, seems to be the first in a battle between the Granthams and local clergy which rumbled on through a hundred years.

Two further surviving certificates15 records him being taxed at Fringford in 1624 and 1628. However, he appears on a court roll16 for Ardley and Fewcott in 1622, where his name heads the list of the homage or jury. This is only a single surviving sheet, and lists no admittances or surrenders. However, the following statement shows something of the working of the court:

‘That everyone of the homage shall meet together at the farmhouse at Fewcott on the second day of November next coming by eight of the clock in the morning. And from there shall go into the fields and view what land Thomas Skillman hath ?… up from the farm land and layed to his own freehold land and make presentments thereof at the next

10 ORO 26/2/15 Will of Francis Grantham, yeoman of Ardley, 1638 11 TNA E115/167/15 Certificates of Residence 12 TNA E115/167/84 Certificates of Residence 13 TNA E115/162/143 Certificates of Residence 14 ORO Oxford Church Court Depositions1603 – 1606, Jack Howard Drake, Oxford County Council, Oxford 1999 15 TNA E115/175/44 & E115/165/24 Certificates of Residence 16 ORO St. 1/1/3 Ardley and Fewcott Court Roll, 1622

12 court upon pain that anyone being absent shall forfeit 12d. And that also the same day they shall view what land belongs to Ardley Farm.’

When he made his will17, on 3rd June 1638, he described himself as a yeoman of Ardley, so maybe he held land in both places. At any rate, all these parishes are small and close together (with Barton Hartshorn even closer to Fringford than is Ardley).

17 ORO 26/2/15 Will of Francis Grantham, yeoman of Ardley, 1638

13 Dorothy, the supposed eldest daughter, is referred to in the will as the wife of Hugh Treddle. (Their marriage is recorded at Kings Sutton on 1.7.1618, which maybe suggests why Thomas of Astrop settled there later in the century.) Dorothy’s children are also mentioned in the will.

‘I give unto Hugh Treddle and Dorothy my daughter five pounds to be divided equally between their children…’

These unnamed beneficiaries would have been first cousins to Thomas of Astrope. Dorothy is the first-named daughter in the will, which perhaps suggests seniority. A second daughter, Mary, (married to an unnamed Hall) is bequeathed 12 pence. I suspect she was married twice, as this bequest is followed by one of £10 to William Howood:

‘my daughter’s son.’

It is possible that this refers to the offspring of a third daughter, but it seems odd if so that she is not named.

St. Mary Ardley

Thomas was presumably the oldest son, as he received:

‘all the rest of my goods moveable and immovable…’ and was chosen as his father’s executor. Three other sons received money under the terms of the will. Richard and Francis were given £30 each, while another brother, John, was bequeathed 12 pence. Presumably, like Mary, he had already been given his due. Along with his brother Francis junior, John witnessed the will. Francis senior was presumably in extremis, as he seems to have made an attempt at a signature and failed, leaving the clerk to record his attempt as his ‘mark’. Three further bequests were recorded in the will: 4/- to the poor of Ardley, 10/- to the poor of Fringford, and 6/8 to Ardley church. If his wishes were followed, and the vicar

14 appreciated the bequest, Francis was buried in St. Mary’s church, Ardley. The will was proved by Thomas on 31st October 1638 and the estate was valued at £183.

Nothing further is known of Francis’ two daughters, Dorothy and Mary.

Thomas Grantham, son of Francis, and the Willaston branch Male names in this line: Thomas, Francis, Henry, Nicholas, Matthew, ?John

Francis Grantham’s eldest son, Thomas1, was baptised at Fringford in 1603. He was executor of his father’s will in 1638, and, as eldest son, received:

‘all the rest of my goods moveable and immoveable.’

A Thomas Grantham seems to have paid 4/7 in taxes at Ardley in 1641, 2/6 in Fritwell and 3/- Stratton Audley18. Charles I was desperate to raise cash at this point, but there is no way of telling from the records if these sums were all paid by one Thomas, or there were others unrecorded in the parish registers. Thomas1 was named executor in his brother John’s will which was proved in 1663, so it seems probable that he was alive then, although a death a couple of years earlier would explain his omission from the Hearth Tax records in 1662.

There are no baptisms extant for Thomas1’s children, but several clues which link this line to a place called Willaston, Willason or Wollaston. This name refers to an ancient hamlet, already depopulated by the end of the Middle Ages, which lay in the detached portion of Mixbury parish. There was no church, which may be why the Granthams seem to turn up variously in the parishes of Mixbury, Fringford and Ardley. The Victoria County History19 describes Willaston as follows:

‘Willaston, a flourishing hamlet in the Middle Ages, was depopulated by inclosure and consisted of one farm-house by the 18th century. In 1955 the house was inhabited by Mr. Dewar-Harrison, owner of the ancient manor or 'lordship of Willaston' and of other neighbouring property.’

Further entries link the Granthams definitively to this hamlet:

‘Willaston, a much larger estate than Fulwell, was being leased from Rewley Abbey in the early 16th century by John Arden, for £10 a year…. (fn. 135) It is likely that he almost depopulated the village at a stroke by his inclosure in 1502 of 200 field acres of arable. They were converted to pasture; 7 ploughs were put down and 42 people evicted…... Nevertheless, there were still a few inhabitants in Willaston in the 17th century. (fn. 137) ….. By 1658 the Grantham family were lessees of the manor: they held 280, 62, and 12 acres respectively and paid a total rent of £235.’

18 ORO Oxford and Berkshire Protestation Returns& Tax Assessment 1641-42, Ed. Jeremy Gibson, The Oxford Record Society, volume 59, 1994 19 http://www.british-history.ac.uk, A History of the County of Oxford volume 6 (1959) pp 251-262

15

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16 Given that Thomas1 was alive in 1658, it seems likely that he was the Grantham holding 280 acres, and that his sons, described below, leased the smaller holdings.

Another extract from The Victoria County History20 reiterates the fact that a branch of the Grantham family was at Willaston:

‘It is probable that Willaston's land was all inclosed by the time the Granthams were tenants. Field names show that besides the Cow Common and a number of closes there were an Upper Mill Field, a Nether Mill Field, and three or four other 'fields'. Certainly by the early 18th century Willaston was almost all one large farm, which was rented for £200 a year. In 1698 the fine for a 21-year lease was £150 and in 1728 £630 for a 40-year lease……In 1699 the hamlet or 'inship' as it was called had been rated at 55 yardlands out of the 195¼ at which the whole parish was rated.’

It is frustrating that the VCH doesn’t name all the family members, so the speculative tree for this branch has been put together from a variety of sources. In 1658, Thomas1 and Francis Grantham (presumably his brother, but possibly his son) were involved, as their father had been fifty years earlier, in an argument with local clergy. This time, it was with Timothy Hart, vicar of Mixbury, over non-payment of tithes. The depositions21 taken dealt with whether the:

‘Manor village, hamlet or township of Willaston and the lands and tenements thereunto belonging’ were part of Mixbury parish. All those local inhabitants giving evidence on the day said they were. The argument rumbled on into 1659, with depositions being offered on both sides.

The tithe issue was clearly not settled in 1662, when presentments22 appear at the front of the Mixbury register as follows:

‘We have heard and do believe that the inhabitants of Willaston … have paid tythes both great and small, wool, lamb, milk, etc and several considerabe sums of money for them to the several incumbents of Mixbury successively. But the present tenants there, by name Thomas Grantham, Francis Grantham …… have refused or do refuse to pay the sd tythes . nor have pd….’

Seven other parishioners also refused to pay.

Maybe getting away with avoiding payment of tithes went to Thomas1’s head, as there is no record of him paying Hearth Tax23 at Mixbury in 1662 either, although ‘Mr Hart’ (the vicar) and also a Hugh Tredwell, who may have been Thomas1’s brother-in-law, are listed. However, as so often with this elusive family, it is hard to untangle the generations.

20 http://www.british-history.ac.uk A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 6 (1959), pp. 251-262. 21 TNA E134/1658/East/16; E134/1658-59/Hil/20 22 ORO Par 175/5/F1 23 http://www.whipple.org/oxford/ploughley_100_hearth_tax_1662.html

17 From the scant evidence available, I believe that Thomas1 had a number of children. I suspect that Thomas2 may have been the eldest, possibly born around 1630, which would put him in his mid to late twenties when he married. I have not found a record of his marriage or the baptisms of his children, so I have ordered most of Thomas 2’s siblings according to their year of marriage. On this basis, the next eldest was Elizabeth, who married John Haddon at Newton Purcell in 1663. Francis, who may have been the signatory on the Willaston Hearth Tax24 in 1662 (see below), married Elizabeth Hitchcock in 1673 at Fringford, but was apparently named on a terrier for Ardley in 1685:

‘Item: 5 acres shooting into Middleton Field Francis Grantham shooting upon it in the south…’

He seemed to be of Newton Purcell when he gave a testimonial to the character and behaviour of one William Warner at the Quarter Sessions25 in 1691. He did this with a John Grantham of Newton Purcell, who may have been a brother to fill the gap between Elizabeth and Francis.

There were two further daughters, both of whom were recorded as ‘of ’ at the time of their marriages, which leads me to believe that the Thomas who paid Hearth Tax26 at Shelswell in 1662 and 1665 was Thomas2. A presentment27 recorded at the start of the Mixbury register dated 1666 refers to Thomas Grantham of Shelswell holding the lease of the manor of Willaston. Mary Grantham of Shellswell married Henry Trafford of Wendlebury at Fringford in 1670. Ten years later, Henry Trafford’s will28 named his ‘brother-in-law’ Thomas Grantham of Willason. The final daughter, named ‘Philip’ and also of Shelswell, married John Whitmell of Stoke Lyne at Fringford in 1673.

It is possible that much of what I have attributed to Thomas 1 actually refers to the son, Thomas2, rather than the father. However, a reference to the Quarter Sessions of 1700 must refer to the son, as the father was long-buried. Again, the VCH29 explains the context:

‘In 1700 a Quarter Sessions case shows that Thomas Grantham of Willaston complained that he had been overtaxed in comparison with the inhabitants of Mixbury, who were rated at £2 a yardland instead of at £4, the true value of their estates.’ (fn. 146)

This Thomas2 seems to have spread the web of parishes used by the family a little wider, as I assume, despite the intrusion of new names, that the Nicholas and Henry baptised to Thomas and Elizabeth Grantham at Newton Purcell in 1659 and 1664 respectively belong to the Willaston branch. After all, the Shelswell records seem to be in the Newton Purcell registers.

24 TNA E179/255/4, Hearth Tax Oxfordshire, 1662 25 ORO QS RI 1691 26 http://www.whipple.org/oxford/ploughley_100_hearth_tax_1662.html & Hearth Tax Returns 1665, Oxfordshire Record Society, ed. Maurice M B Weinstock, Oxford, 1940 27 ORO Par 175/5/F1, Mixbury 28 ORO 66/4/37 Will of Henry Trafford 29 http://www.british-history.ac.uk A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 6 (1959), pp. 251-262.

18 There were two other sons of Thomas2 whose baptisms have not come to light. I assume the eldest to have been Thomas3 Grantham of Willason, who took out a bond30 to marry Susanna Wilson of Woodstock Park in 1694. I am not sure the wedding ever took place, though, or maybe Susanna died young, as in 1715 there is a burial of Mary, wife of Thomas Grantham at Fringford. It is this Thomas3, I believe, who appears as ‘Thomas Grantham of Willaston’ on a conveyance31 for a house in Bicester around 1700. The deed records the previous ownership of a messuage consisting of two houses on the west side of Shepe Street, and this Thomas paid £220 for a 999 year lease Thomas3’s will32, proved in 1735, shows him to have owned a malt-house in Bicester (which he left to an unfortunately unnamed wife, either a second or a third spouse?) and enough capital to leave £50 to his brother Henry, £10 to each of his sons, Thomas and Henry, and then bequests of £5 and £10 to a swarm of other children he has connections to. However, despite success in Bicester, he requested that his executors bury his body next to his father’s in Fringford.

The other son was named Matthew. This Matthew was defined as ‘of Willesdon’ when he married Joan Derby of Fringford at Newton Purcell in 1695, but he seems to have used Fringford church. Two sons, Thomas and Henry, were baptised there, in 1697 and 1701, and Matthew was buried there in 1721. A bond33 was taken out by widow Joan and Thomas Tugwod to administer his estate, and the inventory taken by Thomas Tugwood and Matthew’s cousin Samuel Grantham totalled his goods at £17. The only things outside the house were a little stump of hay and 5 sheep. Joan lived another 20 years before being buried at Fringford in 1742.

There is one stray who would seem to belong to this line, but whom I have been unable to place. Mary Grantham of Willesden married William Griffin at Caversfield in 1658. Maybe she was a Grantham widow remarrying, as I can’t find an obvious family group for her. Or maybe Thomas1 gave two of his daughters the same name.

With so many surmises and missing baptisms, and given the proximity of the Buckinghamshire border, there is a possibility that our William Grantham, born in Barton Hartshorn, descends somehow from someone on this line who has slipped through the records.

Francis Grantham – son of Francis Male names in this line: Francis

The next surviving son of Francis Grantham, yeoman of Ardley, also named Francis, may also have settled at Willaston. A signature: ‘Francis Grantham Inhabitant’ appears on the Hearth Tax34 return for the hamlet in 1662 and could belong to him or his nephew. The name heads the list, with 3 chimneys out of the 7 listed. (There are only four other inhabitants.)

30 http://www.whipple.org/oxford/marriagebonds.html 31 ORO Misc Bea III/I Conveyance 32 TNA Prob 11/673, Will of Thomas Grantham of Bicester, 1735 33 ORO 80/3/41, Bond and Inventory of Matthew Grantham of Fringford, 1722 34 TNA E179/255/4, Hearth Tax, Oxfordshire, 1662

19

There are references to a Francis Grantham marrying Mary Beard at Sarsden in 1633, and a baptism of Elizabeth daughter of Francis Grantham at Deddington in 1635. A Francis also turns up in Nether Worton as a witness35; however, the clues are too sparse to make any conclusions about whether this is our man or someone more distantly related to Francis Grantham of Ardley.

John Grantham – son of Francis: the Fringford branch Male names in this line: John, Samuel, Francis, Richard

John1’s family line is a little easier to construct as his children’s baptisms are recorded at Fringford, and he left a will naming several family members. The name John Grantham first appears on a tax assessment36 for Ploughley hundred in 1641, with a payment of 4/- at Fringford. There is a run of baptisms to John1 and a wife Mary at Fringford. Mary appears first, in 1649, followed by John2 in 1651, Samuel in

35 ORO Oxfordshire Record Society volume 45, Persons in Oxford Deeds, W O Hassall, Oxford, 1996 36 TNA E179/164/496 Ploughley Hundred Poll Tax, 1641

20 1656 and Ruth in 1659. Three years later, John1 appears on the Hearth Tax return37 for Fringford, with an impressive six hearths. However, by the following year, 1663, he had made his will38. In it, he mentioned his wife Mary, sons John2 and Samuel, and daughters Mary and Ruth. He named his brother Thomas1 as executor.

The Victoria County History39 describes Fringford in the 18th century as follows:

‘The 17th-century village was of a medium size for Ploughley hundred, as it had been in the Middle Ages. (fn. 10) It had 35 and 24 houses listed for the hearth taxes of 1662 and 1665. (fn. 11) There was no large manor-house, but a good Rectory, (fn. 12) two more than usually large farm-houses with six and five hearths apiece.’

The ‘unusually large farmhouse’ with six hearths presumably belonged to John Grantham.

Of his children: Mary married Daniel Rand at Fringford in 1675; John2 seems to have married a Mary Grantham at in 1674, and Samuel’s wife was named Elizabeth, though the marriage has not been found. John2’s family were all baptised at Fringford: Mary – 1674, John3 – 1678, Ruth – 1680, Ann – 1683, Richard -1687 (buried the same year), Susanna – 1688, Elizabeth – 1694 and another John4 – 1695. Samuel also baptised children at Fringford: Elizabeth – 1686, Samuel 1687, Francis – 1688 and Sarah – 1699. The middle two children both died in infancy. The brothers John2 and Samuel both appear in a terrier40 for Fringford, which I think is dated 1685.

Samuel’s children were all baptised at Fringford: Elizabeth in 1676, Samuel and Francis, who both died young, in 1687 and 1688 respectively. A last daughter, Sarah, baptised in 1699 seems to be described as of Stratton Audley on a marriage bond38 in 1722.

John4’s family of Elizabeth, Jane, Samuel and Mary, were all baptised at Stratton Audley in the 1720s, and Samuel – with a wife Ann – continued the Grantham line another generation with a son John5 born in 1750.

Richard Grantham – son of Francis: Ardley and further afield. Male names in this line: Thomas, John, Joseph, Richard, Edmund, Robert

I am dealing with Richard last, as, if my ancestor William descends from Francis Grantham of Ardley, it is through Richard. There is no way of telling where he came in the family as there is no record of his baptism. Little is known of him as he wrote no will and doesn’t appear in many contemporary documents. We do know that he and John Grantham were tenants of Ralph Marshall as they are identified as such on the 1662 Hearth tax41 for Ardley, where they are listed directly after the

37 E179/255/4 Oxfordshire Hearth Tax, 1662 38 ORO 26/4/25 Will of John Grantham of Fringford, 1663 39 www.british-history.ac.uk A History of the County of Oxford, Volume 6 (1959), pp. 125-134 40 ORO Oxon volume 40, fol 12. Terrier for Frinkford 41 E179/255/4 Oxfordshire Hearth Tax, 1662

21

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22 rector, Lionel Piggott. The two entries are bracketed together with a total of three hearths. What is not entirely clear, as so often with this family, is which John this is. His name comes first, which might suggest an older brother, especially as another John appears on the return, with two hearths. Presumably Richard’s children were baptised at Ardley, with the exception of Joseph, who was baptised at Lower Heyford on 21st November 1653 as the son of Richard Grantham of Ardley.

We know that Richard was dead by 1681, when his widow Margery made her will42, dated 2nd April 1681, at Wendlebury. This left bequests to several children: Elizabeth, Dorothy, Mary, Ann, Johni, Thomasi, Joseph and Richard (the last two were named as executors). Thomasi received:

‘one red coverlet and a pair of sheets, one pillow and a pair of andirons’

The other children got a mix of money, comestibles and furnishings. Margery also named four of her grandchildren:

‘Thomas Dent, Thomas Grantham, John Stephens and John Grantham of Frinkford’

Two of her sons, Joseph and Richard, were cited as executors to the will.

The Wendlebury register states that:

‘Margery Grantham was buried in woollen 9.4 and thereof oath was made before me James Blackwell vicar of Bicester 8.11.1681.’

My guess is that the widowed Margery had moved to live with her son Joseph at Wendlebury after Richard’s death. It is also possible that Wendlebury was her own home parish.

No marriage record has been found for Richard and Margery. Perhaps it was recorded in the lost Ardley register. Of their children, nothing is known of Elizabeth, Mary or Anne, although one of them presumably married a Dent and was the mother of Thomas. Dorothy was the mother of two kin mentioned in Thomas of Astrope’s will, Mary and John Stephens (see also above). In 1691, when Dorothy died at Wendlebury, her administration43 was dealt with by John Stephens, farmer of Astrop and Joseph Grantham, farmer of Bletchington..

Johni, possibly the eldest son from his position in Margery’s will, stayed in Ardley. He married Elizabeth Roberts, and fathered at least three sons: Thomasi, Johnii, and Richard were all mentioned in their father’s will44 in 1682, with Richard identified as a minor. His Roberts brothers-in-law, Richard and Thomas, are also named. The will is partially illegible, and there may be other children mentioned whose names can no longer been read. Johni’s estate is valued at £198.

42 ORO 27/3/28 Will of Margery Grantham of Wendlebury, 1681 43 ORO 174/2/27 Admon of Dorothy Stephens of Wendlebury, 1691 44 ORO 27/4/4 Will of John Grantham of Ardley, 1682

23 I assume that the first-mentioned son, Thomasi was the one named by Thomas of Astrope in his will45 in1698:

‘I give and bequeath unto my kinsman Thomas, son of my kinsman Thomas Grantham of Ardley in the co. of Oxon afs the sum of ten shillings lawful English money.’

The Ardley register begins two years later, and records the baptism of Mary Grantham, daughter of Thomas Grantham, on 11th November 1700. Presumably she is the sister of Thomasii.

There are no further Grantham baptisms at Ardley, but there is a burial recorded on 14th July 1735 of Joyce Grantham. She may well have been the wife of Thomasi and mother of Thomasii and Mary. She appears in the Quarter Session46 records for 1735 with an application for a licence to keep an ale house, something of a drop in status maybe in comparison to others in the family. She left a will in the same year, and had evidently been widowed, how long before is not clear, but might be the reason for her needing to run an ale house. The will47 makes bequests to her ‘remaining son’ Richard, daughters Anne Bachelor, Mary Irons and Jane Grantham. The reference to a ‘remaining son’ may imply that Thomasii was dead.

Johnii may have married Dorothy Timms fairly late in life in 1722 at Broughton. I have found no further trace of Richard, the youngest son of Johni.

I have already outlined what is known of Thomas of Astrope, in Kings Sutton. Naming his siblings in his will clearly places him as a son of Richard of Ardley, despite all information known about him coming from an Oxfordshire peculiar in Northamptonshire. By the early 1700s, there is no record of his son Thomas in Northamptonshire, and I have speculated that the orphaned Thomas maintained close links with his uncle Joseph, and followed him on his move into Buckinghamshire, and that they settled in adjacent and closely linked villages.

Joseph is the missing link back to Richard son of Francis. Fortuitously, his father decided to have him baptised at Lower Heyford, and the minister recorded him as Joseph son of Richard Grantham of Ardley. Like all this itchy-footed family, he turns up in a number of places A marriage bond48 dated 7th February 1682 shows Joseph Grantham of Wendlebury intending to marry Ann Tarrell of Chesterton at Oxford St. John. Three children from this union were baptised at Wendlebury: Ann – 1683, Elizabeth – 6th September 1685 and Sarah – 24th April 1689. A son, inevitably named Thomas, was baptised at Bletchingdon in 1691. There is a reference to Joseph at Bletchingdon in the same year in the Quarter Session records49. By 1698, when Thomas of Astrope died, Joseph had already proved his mother’s will and helped his nephew John Stephens deal with his mother Dorothy’s estate. Maybe he supported his sister-in-law Ann in her executry and became a surrogate father to his deceased brother’s sons. Or maybe not!

45 ORO 4/1/11 Will of Thomas Grantham of Kings Sutton, 1695 46 ORO QS RI 1735 47 ORO 130/2/30 Will of Joyce Grantham, widow of Ardley, 1735 48 ORO Oxford Marriage Bonds and Affidavits 460 49 ORO QS RI 1691

24

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25 At some time probably between 1710 and 1715 this entire branch of the family, with the possible exception of Sarah, decamped into Buckinghamshire. I believe that Joseph’s daughter Elizabeth married Thomas Grantham (presumably her cousin, but not proven) at Bicester in 1710, and then settled in Barton Hartshorn, but Ann and Thomas both married in Buckinghamshire in 1715: Ann wed William Corbett at Buckingham, and Thomas wed Ann Richardson at , about a mile away from Barton Hartshorn. Sarah married John Pain, and her two children, Thomas and Sarah, were born in Stratton Audley in 1712 and 1713. By the time of her father’s death, though, she had remarried, as she is referred to as Sarah Staper in Joseph’s will50.

Joseph’s daughter Ann, married to William Corbett, raised a family which was baptised at Chetwode between 1716 and 23. Of Ann, Sarah, William, Joseph and Joanna, only Joseph didn’t live long enough to be mentioned in his grandfather’s will. Thomas and Ann’s family was more spaced out, but also baptised at Chetwode, starting with Thomas in 1717, then Joseph, John, Ann, Mary and finally Robert in 1737.

Both Ann and Sarah’s children were mentioned by name in Joseph’s will, written in 1725 and proved five years later. The Corbett children got £30 apiece, while the Paynes receive £10 each. Son Thomas’s children weren’t mentioned, and their father only received a shilling, which suggests that either he had already been given his share, or, as heir at law, he would receive the bulk of the estate anyway. I suspect the former to be the case, as it is unusual for an only son to be mentioned in this way, and Sarah Staper was similarly dealt with, suggesting she had received her portion already.

There is no mention of Elizabeth Grantham or her presumed children, Thomas and Ann, baptised at Barton Hartshorn in 1713 and 1715 respectively. I imagine they had died, like their mother, who was buried in neighbouring Chetwode in 1716. Of course, it is possible that the Thomas and Elizabeth Grantham who baptised Thomas and Ann at Barton Hartshorn were entirely unconnected to Joseph’s family at Chetwode, but given that there seem to have been no Granthams in north-west Buckinghamshire in the 1600s for there to suddenly be two unrelated couples of the same name in neighbouring parishes seems to be stretching coincidence somewhat.

Son-in-law Thomas, however, was given a bequest of one shilling, whether because Joseph had already given him an inheritance, or to stop him challenging the will for some reason will never be known. It does seem feasible, though, that the Thomas Grantham, dairyman of Barton Hartshorn, who married Ann George at Aylesbury in 1719, and who seems to be the father of my ancestor William, was also the son-in-law of Joseph Grantham, yeoman farmer. The $64,000,000 question is whether he was also the son of Thomas Grantham of Astrope.

The last-named son in Margery Grantham’s will51, Richard, was also mentioned as a brother in Thomas of Astrope’s will52, along with his son Thomas. Nothing further is known about this line, though a Thomas Grantham married Mary

50 TNA Prob 11/640 Will of Joseph Grantham of Chetwode 51 ORO 27/3/28 Will of Margery Grantham of Wendlebury, 1681 52 ORO 4/1/11 Will of Thomas Grantham of Kings Sutton, 1695

26 Hutchins at Enstone in 1715, and raised a family as follows: Ann (1717), Elizabeth, John, Thomas, Richard, Mary and Joseph (1727). It may be that this Enstone group descends from Richard son of Richard of Ardley.

The Bicester Line Male names in this line: Richard, Thomas, John , Francis, Edward, William, Joseph

The person at the top of the Bicester branch of the tree is Richard Grantham. I have speculated that he was the brother of Francis Grantham of Ardley (d. 1638), and possibly of the stray Thomas Grantham of Launton (d. 1641) and that both were sons of another Francis Grantham who was buried at Bicester in 1618. The date of Richard’s birth is not known, but he married Ann Adams at Fringford in 1602, again suggesting a close tie between the two branches. He paid Poll Tax53 at Bicester in 1641 and was buried in that town in 1648, two years after his wife Ann. They had seven children, all baptised at Bicester. Thomas was baptised on 19.4.1607, Ann on 15.10.1609, Richard – 4.11.1611, John – 28.8.1614; Elizabeth was baptised and buried in 1617 (22.6 and 29.7), Francis was baptised 14.1.1620 and Edward was born in 1625 but only lived for two years (26.5.1625 – 28.6.1627).

Richard’s eldest son Thomas, and his wife Mary, also baptised - and in some cases buried - his family at Bicester. His firstborn, inevitably named Thomas, was possibly baptised in 1634 (the register isn’t clear) but died two years later. Ann followed, baptised on 1st February, i.e. at the end of 1634, and survived to marry a man named Hawkes. (Their children, Thomas, Mary and Edward were mentioned in the will of their uncle, Sir Thomas Grantham54.) Richard, baptised on 4.12.1636, is presumably the one buried on 4.4.1646 as ‘son of Mary Grantham, widow’. Three other girls all died young: Mary, baptised 31.3 and buried 22.9.1638, Mercy, buried 5.1.1640 and Sarah, buried 24.11.1644. A second Thomas, baptised on 1.12.1641, survived to make his fortune in Virginia - more of him later.

Thomas (1607-43) paid Poll Tax55 at Bicester in 1641. He appears to have been a miller, as a chancery pleading in 1658 on behalf of his son deals with a dispute over a mill and meadow held previously by the deceased Thomas. The Victoria County History56 suggests that this Thomas was killed fighting for the king at the Siege of Oxford in 1645. However, The Dictionary of National Biography57 gives 1643 and 45 as alternatives, and makes no reference to the Civil War, although it does place Thomas junior as the eldest of three children! Whatever the case, his will was not proved until 166458. In it, he mentions his father Richard, his mother, son Thomas and daughter Anne – minors at the time of writing, Richard Grantham the son of his brother Richard, his wife Mary, and ‘all’ his sibling’s children. There is also a bequest to the poor of Bicester. Curiously, there is no mention of a son Richard, or an

53 TNA E179/164/496 Ploughley Hundred Poll Tax, 1641 54 TNA Prob 11/574 Will of Sir Thomas Grantham of Sunbury, 1720 55 TNA E179/164/496 Ploughley Hundred Poll Tax, 1641 56 ORO The Victoria History of the Counties of : A History of the Counties of Oxford, ed. Mary D. Lobel, volume 11. Ploughley Hundred, OUP, 1959 57 www.oxforddnb.com 58 ORO 26/4/29 Will of Thomas Grantham of Bicester, 1664

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28 expected child, so maybe the entry in the baptismal register Richard, son of Mary Grantham widow’ should be taken more literally, to suggest an illegitimate, rather than a posthumous child. Or maybe Thomas was not aware that his wife was pregnant when he wrote his will. This would be quite feasible if he was away at war.

Thomas (1641-1717) appears on the Hearth Tax59 in 1665, but seems to have been discharged because of poverty. Maybe he lost his Chancery pleading. Maybe also, this is what led him to seek his fortune elsewhere, as he appears a number of times in The Complete Book of Emigrants60: in 1664 as a passenger or crewman; in 1673 as making the journey from London to Virginia; in 1676 as bound for Virginia; in 1677 and 9, bound for Virginia. He evidently did well in the tobacco trade, and was knighted at some point, as well as being commissioned as a captain.

He had married originally around the early 1660s, and two children were baptised in Bicester – Ann, born and buried in 1662, and Thomas, baptised in 1663. This son is not mentioned in Thomas’ will, so presumably died young. Another daughter, Judith, was baptised in 1671 at St. Martin in the Fields in London. It is not clear whether she shared a mother with her elder siblings. However, she later married Jonathon Andrews and had five children by him: Grantham, Judith, Diana, Charlotte and Theodore. All these are named in their grandfather’s will61, which states him to be of Sunbury at the time of writing. His ‘kinsman’ – cousin – Edward Grantham of ‘Norbroake’ also receives a bequest. Fortunately for certainty, he asks his executors to bury him in Bicester Church, alongside his parents, and this - as well as his age given as 35 in a deposition dated 1677 - ties him into this branch of the family. Given that only daughters managed to reproduce successfully at this time, the Grantham name dies out at this point in this line.

Richard Grantham’s second son, another Richard (b. 1611), paid Poll Tax62 in Bicester in 1641, but apart from that and his support of his nephew Thomas over the disputed mill63 in 1658, little is known of him. He presumably owned a tenement on Bicester Bridge, as an indenture dated 1662 shows Richard Grantham of Bicester and John Gibbs paying £125 in a bargain and sale64 for a:

‘cottage or tenement late in the occupation of Edward King.’

His son, a third Richard, appears in a deed65 referring to this property dated 1670 in which reference is made to it having been owned by Richard Grantham deceased. This puts the second Richard’s date of death between 1662 and 1670.

Richard Grantham the third married Elizabeth Locke in Bicester in 1660, and her burial seems to be recorded there in 1676, although this could be that of a daughter. This couple baptised an extensive family at Bicester, though few of them

59 ORO Hearth Tax Returns 1665, Oxfordshire Record Society, ed. Maureen M Swanstock, Oxford 1940 60 http://graham.main.nc.us/~rjohnson/genealogy/index.html Captain Thomas Grantham of the Concord 61 TNA Prob 11/575 Will of Sir Thomas Grantham of Sunbury, 1720 62 TNA E179/164/496 Ploughley Hundred Poll Tax, 1641 63 TNA C5/414/37 64 ORO SL1/02D/01 Indenture, 1662 65 ORO SL1/02D/02 Indenture, 1670

29 survived infancy. They may also have had links with Upper Hayford, the adjacent parish to Ardley. A Rebecca was baptised there in 1632 to Richard and Elner Grantham, and could be Richard III’s sister. Richard’s eldest son, Richard the fourth, baptised 1661 at Bicester, could be the man who married Sybil, fathered yet another Richard, (who was buried there in 1683) and was buried at Upper Hayford in 1706. The next three of Richard and Elizabeth’s children all died young. Elizabeth and John died in 1663 and 1664 respectively, with their baptisms and burials recorded at Bicester in the same years. John, born 1664, lived until 1667.

The next son, Edward, was baptised in 1667 at Bicester. However, he seems to have settled at Northbrook in Kirtlington, equidistant between Bicester and Upper Hayford. In 1687, he appeared at the Quarter Sessions66 at nearby Tackley, and baptised three children at Kirtlington – Elizabeth in 1691, William in 1692 (possibly died young) and Mary in 1696. Edward of Northbrook was buried at Kirtlington in 1728, which would mean he was alive to be a beneficiary in the will67 of his ‘kinsman’, Sir Thomas Grantham. Mary, the next-born, also had a short life. Born in 1679, she died the following year. William was baptised in 1671 at Bicester, but unless he is the William buried at Kirtlington in the early 1690s (date not clear), there is no further trace of him. Two further children, Elizabeth, baptised 1672 and Thomas – 1674 – also disappear without trace. The final child, Joseph, was baptised in 1676 and buried in 1678, both at Bicester.

It is just possible that Thomas (b. 1674) is our mystery ancestor. However, given Sir Thomas Grantham’s evident wealth, it seems unlikely that he would not have left something to this cousin had he been alive. It is possible to argue that he was favouring Edward as the eldest surviving in this branch, but he left bequests to all three of his sister’s children, and well as to a Burrows nephew (presumably on his wife’s side of the family) and a whole raft of Gill kin, so why not all his cousin’s surviving children? It seems much more likely that this Thomas was dead by the time the will was written in 1704.

So where did Thomas Grantham of Barton Hartshorn originate? There are so many gaps in the records, so many chances for people’s lives to go unrecorded, and so many Granthams named Thomas, that it is impossible to be sure. My money, however, is still on the King’s Sutton family. If anyone can prove me wrong – or right - or add or change any of the above, please get in touch.

66 ORO QS M 1687 67 TNA Prob 11/575 Will of Sir Thomas Grantham of Sunbury, 1720

30