52 Ancestors:# 2 ~ Mary King nee Budd (1744 - 1817)

No Story Too Small

This post is for week 2 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge (2015) by Amy Crow from No Story Too Small.

You can read the list of my posts HERE

Mary King nee Budd was the sister to my several times Great Grandfather, Richard Budd. Mary was born in Puttenham Surrey in 1744 the youngest of 8 children born to Henry Budd and his wife Martha Otway.

Mary married John King in Puttenham in 1767 and together John and Mary raised a family 10 children (9 girls and 1 boy). Each of their offspring spent time in India and have over the years given me a huge amount of insight into the lives of women at this period of time.

John King died in 1803 and Mary died in 1817. From what I can establish at the moment, John did not leave a will.

Courtesy of Ancestry - Parish Records Puttenham Surrey Burials 1817

Recently Ancestry has published the Probate records and a quick search revealed that Mary left a will when she died.

Courtesy of Ancestry - Probate Record 1817

Courtesy of Ancestry - Probate Record 1817

Actions

1. Transcribe the will of Mary
2. Search for will of John King (again)
3. Explore the residence at time of death - Tooting which is London
4. The will indicates that Mary was living with her daughter Lucy who married Richard William Eastwick
5. By the time Mary King died, her only son had predeceased her within a year of this will being made, yet Mary had not made a new will.

Nelson Mandela

Just before I head off to bed each night I flip the television on or over to Sky News for a quick news fix.

I was saddened to see and hear that Nelson Mandela had passed away, aged 95 years. 

What an inspirational man.

Nelson Mandela was a major driving force to end Apartheid in South Africa. Apartheid was system of racial segregation which was enforced by legislation by the National Party of South Africa who were the ruling party between 1948 and 1994.

It was during this process of enforced segregation that the media of the United Kingdom became somewhat focused on the athlete, Zola Budd, well known for competing barefoot.

Zola Budd is a white South African, who aged 17 years  was denied the status of holding the world record in 1984 because South Africa was at the time unable to compete in International athletics due to the apartheid status. In 1985, whilst representing Great Britain Zola claimed the world record for the 5000 meters.

She represented Great Britain, because, one of the British tabloid papers, The Daily Mail, persuaded her father to apply for British Citizenship on the grounds that her Grandfather was British. 

I recall the media coverage of the campaign held by the Daily Mail because it was whilst I was at my Aunt's she mentioned the fact that her Great Grandmother had been called Budd. As a teenager I listened and added the data to the memory bank. Further coincidence occurred because Zola made her home in Guildford, my home town and not more than 4 miles from Puttenham where my Budd ancestors hailed from. Another fact that I had added to the memory bank and had not recalled those facts and events until I sat and saw the news of Nelson Mandela's death.

I have no idea if there are links between my Budd family and Zola's. I guess anything is possible. Budd though is a fairly common name in my bit of Surrey and genealogy can be plagued with serendipity as we all know.

Mystery Monday - Those Budd's!

My family were in the village of Puttenham Surrey from around 1724. We know this from the Church Records, with a Baptism of Martha Budd in 1724 which reads daughter of Henry and Martha "First of the Budd's". That indicates that the Budd family were elsewhere prior to 1724 and this is confirmed in the church records. Certainly the marriage of Henry and Martha is not in Puttenham, it was found in the parish of Chertsey in 1723, which was the bride's place of birth.

Furthermore, the Curate for Puttenham, Charles Kerry kept a series of manuscripts and in one of the volumes this pedigree has survived. confirming that Henry was first of the Puttenham Budd's

From the Charles Kerry Manuscripts
Sourced from Puttenham One Place Study

On seeking a birth place for Henry I used a map and gradually searched each and every parish within a 5 then 10 mile radius. Given the proximity to the border with Hampshire I concurred that he came from the parish of Binsted and was born 1699, but I can not prove that this is "my Henry" only that there was a Henry in Binsted in 1699. Sometimes, there is a gut feeling that what documentation is found is not actually correct. I added a tentative Henry born circa 1699 to my working model tree, along with a question mark and carried on researching.

A chance posting on a mailing list mentioned a Henry Budd in a nearby parish to Puttenham. In reviewing my notes with a map realised that I had overlooked the records for Shackleford, a village a few miles across the fields. Shackleford is linked to Peper Harrow and the survival of records prior to 1837 is scanty. I have since established that a Henry Budd in 1720 was in Elstead, (another local village within walking distance), witnessing a marriage. I have also established that a Henry Budd was living in Shackleford, at a house called Cobblers in 1720. My gut feeling tells me that this is my Henry, but I need further proof to confirm this.

In this instance, it is important to look beyond the immediate Parish Records for that named person, perhaps your ancestor like mine appears on a parish record as a witness to someone else's happy day.

Over the last year or so I have tentatively looked into the Budd's again. I came across a marriage located in Peper Harow on the Sussex Family History Strays Index for a Daniel Budd of Lurgershall marrying Alice WILLSON in Peper Harow on 15th September 1704. I pondered that this might be Henry's father or perhaps an Uncle or no relation at all!

Marriage of Daniel Budd to Alice Willson 15th September 1704
Peper Harow Surrey England
Image courtesy of Ancestry

Then last week I was looking again at the Surrey Records, following the release of the Surrey records on Ancestry and spotted a birth for Mary Budd on 15th September 1704 daughter of Daniel Budd. 

Baptism of Mary daughter of Daniel Budd 15th Sept 1704
Peper Harow Surrey England
Image courtesy of Ancestry

I looked at the marriage and see that it is the same date. Clearly Daniel was a fast worker! I spent another three hours looking for any trace of Daniel in Peper Harow or Surrey for this period and it revealed, nothing. Zilch. Although I did notice a trail of Budd's in the mid to late 1600s in Pirbright, Guildford and Seale. Not a million miles away, but I am leaving that query for another day!

Lurgershall is a parish in Sussex, just over the border. It is not my first family link to the parish and I have to admit, I felt my heart sink just a little bit as I realised that I might be heading once again into a very tangled ancestry. 

That said, I have just come across a will for neighbouring Haslemere in 1713 and a death for a Daniel Budd in the same year. Needless to say I have a headache as I can see it mentions a sister in law Mary Wilson, and daughters Mary & Elizabeth and a son Daniel.

The plot thickens and I am no further in establishing the birth and parentage of my Henry Budd.

Fearless Females 2012 - Day 4

March 4 — Do you have marriage records for your grandparents or great-grandparents? Write a post about where they were married and when. Any family stories about the wedding day? Post a photo too if you have one.


I do have the marriage record of my Grandparents, but though that I would share this one.

This is the marriage that links together the families of my Grandparents who married each other in 1939 and were completely unaware that they were related!

My Grandfather, George Butcher, descends through his maternal line, back through the surnames of Harris, Ellis and Budd. All the families deeply rooted in the parish of Puttenham. 

The common ancestor was the marriage of Richard Budd to Sarah Collins in Puttenham in 1742. Richard and Sarah raised a family of 5 children, comprising of 4 daughters and one son. Their third daughter, Mary Budd was born in Puttenham in 1779 and married in Puttenham to Richard Bridger in 1797. Richard and Mary Bridger then proceeded to have a large family of 14 children, all born in Bramshott Hampshire.

My Grandmother, Lilian Edith Matthews descends through her maternal line, back through the surname of Elstone. In this particular case, Eliza Bridger, named in the marriage certificate above was the 8th child from the family of 14 born to Richard Bridger and Mary (nee Budd).

Eliza Bridger married William Elstone in the parish of Bramshott in 1828. The Elstone's had been in the parish since the 1730s, and were eventual owners of Bramshott paper mill, through the marriage of William's parents, John Elstone and Ann Pim in 1786.

Beyond the Internet: Week 9 – Baptisms, Banns and Burials

Continuing the weekly theme, inspired by Family History Across the Seas

Civil Registration in the UK did not begin until 1837 and even then that is not a absolute certainty that you are going to find the person you are seeking. Victorians were uncomfortable with sharing data for the Civil Registration and therefore some did not comply.

Beyond that attention must be turned to the Parish. Have records survived? and how much further you can research will vary parish to parish. Sometimes, it is necessary to look at the parish in a wider context.

My family were in the village of Puttenham Surrey from around 1724. We know this from the Church Records, with a Baptism of Martha Budd in 1724 which reads daughter of Henry and Martha "First of the Budd's". That indicates that the Budd's were elsewhere prior to 1724 and this is confirmed in the church records. Certainly the marriage of Henry and Martha is not in Puttenham, it was found in the parish of Chertsey in 1723, which was the bride's place of birth.

On seeking a birth place for Henry I used a map and gradually searched each and every parish within a 5 then 10 mile radius. Given the proximity to the border with Hampshire I concurred that he came from the parish of Binsted and was born 1699, but I can not prove that this is "my Henry" on that there was a Henry in Binsted in 1699. Sometimes, there is a gut feeling that what documentation is found is not actually correct. I added a tentative Henry born circa 1699 to my working model tree, along with a question mark and carried on researching.

A chance posting on a mailing list mentioned a Henry Budd in a nearby parish to Puttenham. In reviewing my notes with a map realised that I had overlooked the records for Shackleford, a village a few miles across the fields. Shackleford is linked to Peper Harrow and the survival of records prior to 1837 is scanty. I have since established that a Henry Budd in 1720 was in Elstead, (another local village within walking distance), witnessing a marriage. I have also established that a Henry Budd was living in Shackleford, at a house called Cobblers in 1720. My gut feeling tells me that this is my Henry, but I need further proof to confirm this.

In this instance, it is important to look beyond the immediate Parish Records for that named person, perhaps your ancestor like mine appears on a parish record as a witness to someone else's happy day.

Hugh Wallis's fabulous and very useful set of links relating to the various parishes within Family Search is invaluable.

The details for Puttenham Surrey are available HERE. It is also worth checking if there is a One Place Study for a particular parish via the Index site HERE and some parishes are covered by the relevant County On line Parish Clerk Scheme. These have been rather usefully linked into the One Place Study site.

Beyond the Internet: Week 8 - Certificates

Continuing the weekly theme, inspired by Family History Across the Seas.

The early marriage certificate featured below, is the marriage of Richard BUD, who is my 4 x Great Grandfather.  Richard married Sarah Kemp in Stoke Next Guildford on 21st July 1796. This record was copied from the early church records which have been filmed by the Church of Latter Day Saints.

What is truly wonderful is that I can see the writing of Richard and his sister Elizabeth. Guildford was only about 5 miles from Guildford and was a bigger market town than nearby Godalming. It was also Sarah Kemp's parish. After the wedding Richard and Sarah returned to Puttenham where they raised their family.

Once Civil Registration came into force in 1837, the amount of data a certificate increases as you can see here, from the Marriage certificate of my Great Aunt in 1902, Edith Matthews to Charles Jelley.




Whilst the Certificates can provide details on the name of the father, perhaps the witnesses give a clue to family members, or the address. Even the occupation, nothing can be assumed to be 100% correct. In this case, it does not reflect that Edith and Charles had met whilst he recovered from an injury in the Boer War. So, whilst he perhaps was a labourer, he should have put soldier, as he was not discharged from the Army until June 1902.

Across the border into Scotland and the certificates provide much, much more information. In 2010, I accompanied my husband to register the death of his father. The registrar asked for details of my late father in law's occupation and that of his wife and any previous wife's. Had my sister in law registered the death she would not have provided accurate details and my mother in law would have had a an absolute fit at being asked for details of his first wife, whether she was deceased or not.  I should mention that clearly on the certificate it states that failure to provide correct information is subject to a £1,000 fine. Having registered the death we were issued with a small certificate, free of charge, which gives next to nothing in regard to genealogical data (this is the same in England). We paid for a full certificate.

Fearless Females - Day 4

March 4 — Do you have marriage records for your grandparents or great-grandparents? Write a post about where they were married and when. Any family stories about the wedding day? Post a photo too if you have one.

I do have the marriage certificate of my Grandparents, but sadly there are no photographs.

Instead I thought I would post a copy of the marriage certificate for my Great x 4 Grandparents Richard Budd to Sarah Kemp. The marriage took place in Stoke next Guildford parish which is about 6 miles from Puttenham, which is the parish that Richard Budd came from. The marriage date was 21st July 1796.

Fearless Females - Day 3

March 3 — Do you share a first name with one of your female ancestors? Perhaps you were named for your great-grandmother, or your name follows a particular naming pattern. If not, then list the most unique or unusual female first name you’ve come across in your family tree.

I don't share any names with my female ancestors.

There are no particular naming links in my family. My Great Great Great Grandmother was called Prudence Budd. Prudence was born in Puttenham in 1817, she married George Ellis in 1834 and died in 1855. The name Prudence was passed down to the Grand Daughter of Caroline, my Great Grandmother Annie Prudence Harris and was then passed down again to the Great Grand Daughter of Caroline and used as a middle name in 1939. As far as I know that was the last time the name of Prudence was used in the family.

The most unusual name appears on my Grandmother's Warwickshire ancestry with a Bethsheba Drakeley born in Nuneaton in 1797, She married William Matthews in 1818 in Nuneaton and died aged 80 years in Newbold on Avon, near Rugby in 1878.

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 24

Even though I am not sure what the catalyst was for my starting to research my family history, the catalyst for my undertaking a One Place Study was seeing my Great Grandmother's name on the 1881 Census. I remember being so overwhelmed with emotion, here she was, just aged 2. I simply had to know all I could about the village which was embedded into my ancestry.

In the early stages I did like many of us, work back from known to unknown with fairly rapid speed. By the time I was back another two generations from Annie Harris I was firmly addicted and attached to both the parish of Puttenham and to the name of Budd, which I just love! There was even a Rose Budd in the family!

The Budd family were poor, the family featured consistently in the Poor Law Records for their illegitimate children! but regardless, they were part of my family and I felt something for their plight when I read it in the various documents. I wonder what they would make of the world now? These were women who were ridiculed for their "morals" and illegitimacy, yet look at the world today, where it is quite common for women to raise a family whilst unmarried or perhaps have offspring with more than one father. It is a complete turnaround, in what is a relative short space of time, given the history of mankind!

The village itself is a rural one; steeped in history and part of that history was the world occupied by the Curate Charles Kerry. Kerry originated from Derbyshire, yet he spent considerable time in the parish and kept a series of manuscript on the inhabitants of the village. These manuscripts were written at the time and often contained snippets of local history, hearsay & incidentals of village life, there are some parish records details for not just Puttenham but also neighbouring Compton parish and there are a series of pedigrees written at the time by Kerry with the help of those in the relevant family.

Here is the pedigree for the Budd & Strudwick family:



The pedigree contains such incidentals of life for example. There is a reference to William Budd putting his hand down a rabbit hole and being bitten by an Adder snake. The note also says that William put his finger in his mouth and then became a cripple for the rest of his life. I would not have known that from official records - William was born in 1731 in Puttenham, and is not recorded on the census records. There is also a note that Richard Budd who married Sarah Collins and is my direct line of descent had a fine tenor voice and sung in the choir. Another fact that I would have not know. These manuscripts have enabled me to see behind the dates that our ancestors create, and it is these facts that bring them alive and make them people rather than the written word. It is remarkable that the manuscripts survived. The originals were returned the Derbyshire Records Office where Kerry lived. How many more of these manuscripts are in the various parishes across the land, not just here in the UK, but also overseas? These documents were written when there was surely more important things to worry about, perhaps the next meal or the health of a parishioner, yet they were written and I am forever grateful for Charles Kerry.

Word count 576

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 15

I have always thought that my Ellis families from Puttenham and Elstead were connected. When I initially embarked upon trying to untangle the Ellis I shared my thoughts with Ivy Sheffield, who was my Grandfather's first cousin. Ivy was then in her late 70s, but like most of the Grandchildren of Caroline Harris, nee Ellis, Ivy had an amazing memory and as I explained my hypothesis to her, she simply nodded and said I suspect your right. Not perhaps the most helpful of statements, but I felt that there was perhaps some truth in my thought process.

Then in 1990 I met a contact, I can't even remember how we met, but someone who shared a connection to one of the Ellis families in Elstead. She didn't live too far from Elstead and I was invited to tea and to see the documents and photos she had. They were delightful. With hindsight I wish I had photographed them, but I didn't, although I did transcribe and described the documents. The transcripts of those documents is online. Following that meeting I was even more confused and I elected to go back to basics and start again with a clear head.

The bottom line was there were too many families in the same 4 mile radius each having children and calling them all the same names. See the problem?, but there was a glimmer of light on the horizon and I remember telling myself at the time that I must not get swept away and caught up in the details that I was about to unravel.

The first thing was to head back to Ivy. Her son in law, (DW), was the Grandson of a man, from Elstead called Job Ellis. DW presented me with a birthday book that had come down through his family, and was understood to have originally belonged to Adelaide Underwood. I copied the details and like the other Ellis material it is online. It was the least of my problems to know where Adelaide Underwood slotted into the general mix. So my big question was to DW what is the connection between your Grandfather Job and your wife's Grandmother Caroline? The answer was a smile and then "that is what your to find out!" I could have cried. I didn't of course. DW reached into a photograph album and very kindly lent me some photographs that I shall load to the Ellis' of Elstead blog.

So, now I had four sets of Ellis families in the parishes of Elstead, Puttenham, Godalming and Guildford, and in 1992 I met a fifth connection to the Ellis families.

1. My Great Great Grandmother Caroline Ellis born 1844 the daughter of George and Prudence nee Budd in Puttenham.
2. Job Ellis born in Elstead in 1848 and the Grandfather of DW
3. The family of John Ellis born 1817 in Elstead whose family had migrated to Geelong Australia in 1854. I had already made connections with at least three other researchers in Australia and met them during their time in England, or mine in Australia
4. The family of my contact OS whose family came from Elstead.
5. The family of my contact BE whose husband's family came from Elstead.

The early families, were easy to work on.

• John Ellis born 1817 was the nephew to Job Ellis through the marriage of George Ellis and Sarah Hall in 1801 and subsequent lineage to James Ellis
• Caroline Ellis born 1844 was the Second Cousin to John Ellis leading to James Ellis
• Caroline Ellis born 1844 was the third Cousin to Job Ellis leading to James Ellis

Initial research has shown that James Ellis, who is the key to this entire family was one of three sons who were the children of James Ellis born circa 1690 and Jane Edwards who married in Peperharrow in 1710. As to what happened to the other two children of James and Jane I have no idea, and I am almost to frighted to find out!

The members who connect to the families of OS and BE are related and eventually join up and connect to Job Ellis.

So I was right when I sat and said to Ivy I think they all connect, I simply hadn't thought that they connected back in 1710!

Word count 720

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 13

I have in my study a set of notebooks, they are not anything special to look at, simply notebooks for jotting down the incidentals of life. To me these note books hold the key to my ancestry because they are the original notebooks that I used to gather information from my relatives. I am posting this particular post today, because today would have been my late Aunt's 96th birthday and there are pages of notes, snippets of information that she passed to me that I wrote down. At the time some of those bits of information didn't make sense and it was only through research that the information all nicely slotted into place.

As a child I would routinely visit the sisters of my Grandfather. They would chat with my Grandparents and I would presumably sit and play. I don't actually recall what I did. I simply recall being transported back 70 years or so into the world they inhabited as children. As I got older I would ask questions, who were they?, where did they live?, and rather than be frustrated by constant questions, they loved it, and I loved them for sharing those snippets with me. Those visits as a child were from talking to my cousins unusual. Even the grandchildren of one of my Aunts doesn't recall his Grandmother telling him or his brothers the details she shared with me. For that I am very lucky and I treasure those memories.

Those note books don't just house the information from my Grandfather's sisters. There are also snippets from my Grandmother, my Cousins who were the children of my Grandmother's sister Elsie and from the first cousin of my Grandfather, and any other family member who happened to mention something that would lead me onto the path of discovery.

My Great Aunt Rose shared so much with me. She was very elderly, and had always been very active, gradually her body gave up and she spent time in a wheelchair. Her sight failed, but with the support of her family she remained in her own home up until a few years before she died aged 94. I would still visit her, and open the front door and call out my name and she would always be delighted that I had visited. I would make us some tea then she would usually ask how I was getting on with my research. I recall one day asking Aunt if she knew the name of her Grandmother's mother, the reply was Prudence Budd. I jotted it down. A few weeks went by and I asked the same question and reply was the same. Then a few weeks later, another Great Aunt came with me to visit my Aunt and we were accompanied by their first Cousin Ivy. All three of them, sat and remembered earlier times and my pen could not move fast enough. I approached the subject again of Aunt's Great Grandmother, to which the reply was "I have already told you twice, it was Prudence Budd" I simply didn't believe that Aunt could possibly have know the name of someone who was three generations back from Aunt and had died long before she was born. Somehow, Aunt did and all three of them sat and chatted about a story they had heard, of events long before they were born. Now that is family history!

Word count 565

Family History Writing Challenge - Day 8

My Grandmother's family has always been tricky to research. This has been due to a number of factors, but mainly down to the fact that she knew fairly little about her relatives, and geography; as her father's family originated from Warwickshire.

In complete contrast, my Grandfather's family hadn't moved more than 40 miles in 300 years, although they did drift across the borders of Surrey, Hampshire and Sussex. Whilst these are three neighbouring Counties it does need to be remembered that you can cross the border from one County to another in this patch in perhaps a mile or so.

I recall visiting the Bramshott and Liphook Preservation Society offices in Liphook one summers day during the early 1990s. I was on the trail of a connection from the Budd family of Puttenham and Richard Bridger, which appears on my Grandfather's line of descent. Richard Bridger from Headley Hampshire in 1777 and married Mary Budd in Puttenham Surrey in 1797. I knew from researching another family line, the Harris' that the movement between Frensham Surrey, Headley & Bramshott in Hampshire and Lurgershall in Sussex, was common and within a mile or two the boundary had changed.

So, I was sitting writing out various entries from the births, marriage and deaths for the names that I was researching when I spotted the following Eliza Bridger daughter of Richard Bridger marrying William Elstone in Bramshott in 1828. I recall that I had written the entry and turned the page before the slow recognition that I knew those details already. Didn't I? I turned back through my note book and saw that yes I indeed knew the name of William Elstone, as it appeared on my Grandmother's line of descent.

I stopped a moment to reflect. My Grandmother, Lilian Matthews descended from the marriage of William Elstone to Eliza Bridger. My Grandfather, George Butcher who married Lilian Matthews descended from Eliza Bridger who married William Elstone. I still have the scribbled tree that I drew out to see if I could establish just how many times removed my Grandparents were from each other. I recall being so excited. When I got home, I inserted the details into my family history programme then clicked on the relationship calculator button which revealed that my Grandparents were 4th Cousins, sharing the common ancestor of Richard Budd & 4th Cousin sharing the common ancestor of Sarah Collins.

I know that my Grandparents would not have known that fact and I wonder just what they would have made of it. For me, that is just the wonder and fascination of researching my ancestry.

Word count 435

Ancestor of the week - Henry Budd

My Ancestor this week has always been a bit of a challenge. Just when I think I have "got" him something happens that changes any hypothesis that I might have.

I started researching my ancestry the way most of us do, researching from what is known to the unknown. My Great Great Great Grandmother was a lady called Prudience Budd and it was this fact that got me on the trail to Henry and my obsession with the rural village in Surrey the family lived in called Puttenham.

As I trawled through the Parish Records and archives I became aware of one of the Curates of the parish called Charles Kerry. Kerry kept during his time in Puttenham a series of manuscripts written at the time and it was this manuscripts that brought the Budd family to life.

This pedigree, which appears in Volume 8 of the Kerry Manuscripts confirms all the details that I had already established from the Parish Records and very faintly, just above the name of Henry it reads "First of the Budds". I can still remember, 20 years on, the fascination that I felt when I stumbled across this pedigree, also the "what do you mean?" response that I echoed to the papers in a room full of archives and fellow researchers, much to everyone's amusement!.

I went back to the parish records and retraced my steps. All the children of Henry and his wife Martha were baptised in Puttenham. Another look in the Marriage records did not reveal a marriage for Henry to Martha. I spent more than 10 years looking for their marriage, searching each parish methodically from Puttenham and then each village and parish within a 10 mile radius. Success happened with the Church of the Later Day Saints released the Vital Records on CD.

Bingo! I had located the marriage of Henry Budd to Martha Ottaway in 1723 in the parish of Chertsey. I should say that given the proximity of Puttenham to both the border with Sussex and Hampshire I checked the strays indexes held in those two Counties by the Family History Societies in addition to the one held in Surrey and there was no other marriage for a Henry to a Martha in the right time frame. What I did know was that Henry had certainly been in the neighbourhood as in 1720 he was witness to a marriage in the parish of Elstead, about a mile or so from Puttenham.

Next I set about trying to unravel the details of Henry's birth. I headed to the IGI first of all to see if that could give me a clue. The index revealed a Henry born in 1699 in Binstead Hampshire. Not all that far from Puttenham, certainly walking distance by 18th Century standards. I wasn't convinced I had the right man. I shelved the Henry Budd mystery for a while.

Then I was following a discussion on the Surrey Rootsweb list when someone suggested that perhaps my Henry came from Shackleford, a rural parish some 2 miles from Puttenham as there was a mention of a Henry Budd being a tenant of a house called Cobblers. Alas no parish records for Peperharrow, which would be the most likely parish for any births to be recorded in, have survived. I am now still looking in the neighbouring parishes for the birth of Henry.

What is a coincidence is that I had a Great Aunt and Uncle who lived in Shackleford for many years, the distance by road is about 2 miles and across the fields to Puttenham the distance is shorter and unachievable now or certainly in the 18th Century. My gut feeling tells me that this is the Henry I am seeking, I just need to have some proof and undertake some additional research on this elusive ancestor of mine.