William and Ann Budd – Resting place confirmed

Many thanks to the diligent and resourceful Tim Wilkinson for pointing out that the Wiltshire Archives have posted some local burial records online.

Wonderful to see that William and Ann Budd’s burials, both in Bremhill Church nearby to Studley in Wiltshire are there.

Copies below.

This confirms the line of enquiry that placed William and Ann in Studley (living in Rumsey Cottage in the grounds of Rumsey House where their eldest daughter lived with her husband Benedict Angell) from 1810 until their respective deaths in 1821 and 1825.

The Budds of Quainton – close but no cigar!

Well, I really thought I’d solved it – see earlier post “William Budd – lineage solved?”

Tying up William, Thomas and Samuel, all players in the trail that will eventually lead us to William’s lineage, seemed very convincing.

So I got the underlying transcripts this week from the wonderful Buckinghamshire Family History Society (so fast, accurate and helpful, thank you!) and have spent a quiet Sunday morning ticking and bashing through them.

It didn’t take long for my theory to unravel.

The Thomas Budd of Quainton who I suggested was the signatory to WH Budd’s marriage in 1798 actually died an infant of probably 3 months in Quainton in Feb 1744.

The William Budd of Quainton who I suggested was our William, also died a one month old infant there in Feb 1745 (bless them, the William and Eleanor of Quainton had a series of infant deaths).

The Samuel Budd of St Olave’s Southwark whom I suggested was a relative of our William, and still could be, whilst having parents whose names were John and Mary, I can find no link to a similarly named couple of Quainton (which I needed to in order to get a link between this Samuel and our William).

For the record, in case in the future someone else is working on this hypothesis, and to complete the public dismantling of my theory, I attach the facts:

This will perhaps teach me not to get excited too soon and put these things out there, but I suppose it does chart the ups and downs of this wonderful project.

We keep going…

William Budd – lineage solved?

I first started my Budd Family history in 2007.  That’s approaching 9 years of research.  All along, where William Budd came from has been a total mystery.

I think I’ve solved it.

As always, the small but focused community of researchers have helped enormously.  I was particularly intrigued by a theory put forward by the authoritative Margaret Rose, who posited that the witness to William Hayward Budd’s marriage (William H was William snr’s eldest son), Thomas Budd, was not WH’s brother (Thomas Hayward), but possibly William Snr’s brother.  Margaret’s rationale was that the signature of the witness did not match that of TH Budd.  That takes some spotting, given the flowery signatures that were so common at that time (1798), and to me, frankly, all look to be by the same hand.

That got me thinking.

My own contribution to the puzzle (see earlier post on William Budd’s lineage 15 Aug 2015) was that when William married Ann Hayward, they were first to be found in the London borough of Southwark.  Their first child, predictably called William, sadly died an infant and was buried there aged 5 months in July 1776.  My theory was that it was no coincidence that there was a Samuel Budd (married to Anne Dredge) in the same parish at that time.  Seemed too good to be coincidental – so here was another relative, perhaps a brother or a cousin?

To cut a long story short, it would appear that both theories are correct.  Through building a number of ‘what might be’ family trees, eventually the connections can be made.  What makes it hard, and therefore explains why it’s been so elusive until now, is that the common connection between Thomas (signatory to William Hayward’s wedding), Samuel (in Southwark at the time of the birth of William and Ann’s first child) and William himself can only be determined by tracing back 2 earlier generations – to their commonly shared Grandparents.

Here’s how it looks:

And here’s that all-important signature of ‘Uncle Thomas’.

I have to admit I’m just a little excited so I’m dashing this off perhaps sooner than I should.  For those who will be keen to fact-check (and I hope you will!), the common thread is Quainton, Buckinghamshire.  That’s where the Budd’s came from – about 35 miles North West of Uxbridge.

By reference to the chart above, you can see Samuel, living in Southwark when the sick infant William Hayward was born, is William’s cousin, and that Thomas, as Margaret Rose suspected, is William’s brother and witnesses (the second-born William Hayward) William Hayward’s marriage, as WH’s uncle.

It works.  Perfectly.

I need to get the records, but I think we have it.

Readers, let me know what you think.