Charles White was born in 1725 in Wheatfield, Oxfordshire, England, about three miles from the village of Aston Rowant. He was the son of William White (b 1705) and Mary Cockey (b 1701).
St Andrews, Wheatfield, Oxfordshire
Charles was baptised on 22 November 1725 at St Andrews, Wheatfield.
Charles was one of three children born to William and Mary.
Wheatfield is a civil parish and deserted medieval village about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Thame in Oxfordshire.
Few of Wheatfield’s buildings remain today except the Church of England parish church of Saint Andrew, the former rectory and the former outbuildings of the no-longer-standing manor house. The 1801 Census recorded 89 inhabitants and the 1831 Census recorded 105. In 1784, poor children in Wheatfield were reported to be “schooled by a weekly donation”. A Sunday school was started in 1790, and restarted in 1824.
Charles was a tenant farmer like his father in Towersey and Chalford.
At the age of 22 Charles married Jane Cooper by license, on 9 May 1747 at St Peter and St Paul, Aston Rowant. Charles stated he was of Towersey, and that Jane was of Chalford.
Aston Rowant parish register 1747
I’m not sure why but it also appears in the index under Shabbington, Buckinghamshire in the Buckinghamshire Marriage Index.
St Peter and St Paul, Aston Rowant
Jane was the widow of John Stephens.
Jane and John married on 8 October 1733 at Aston Rowant, and had four children together – Thomas b 1734, Jenny b 1736, Mary b 1739 and John b 1741.
John died in March 1745 in Bledlow, Buckinghamshire.
Jane Cooper was born in March 1714 and baptised at Aston Rowant on 23 June 1714, the daughter of Simon Cooper (1679-1751) and Mary Brooks (1673-1722).
Charles and Jane had four children together. Charles and Jane lived at Towersey, where the first two children were baptised, and then may have moved to Chalford by 1754.
- Thomas b 1747 Towersey d 1834 Oakley. Marr Mary Filbee. 3 children.
- Eden b 1749 Towersey d 1833 Chalford. Marr Sarah Wall. 11 children.
- John b 1757 baptised & buried 1757 Aston Rowant
- Charles b 1757 d 1825 Chalford
Charles junior’s headstone at Aston Rowant states he is buried (9 April 1825) with his brother Eden. The burial register states he was 67 years old in 1825 and his abode was Chalford.
According to the 1754 UK Poll Book and Electoral register, Charles and Jane lived in Chalford in the Siddenham (Sydenham) district.
White 1754 Poll Book Siddenham
Charles White was a churchwarden at St Peter and St Paul Aston Rowant with John Eustace in 1761 and 1762, and Charles appears in the Churchwardens account book several times under receipts and disbursements. The following years of 1763 and 1764 Mr Paine is noted as churchwarden, and is paying out expenses to Charles.
According to other researchers this is the White family home in Chalford.
Charles White farm house in Chalford
In 1786 Charles can be found paying land tax in the liberty of Chalford.
map showing Chalford Aston Rowant Kingston Blount
In 1798 Charles appears in the Land Tax redemption records for Chalford. The owner of the land is William Lowndes – Stone, Esquire. Living on the same estate land is Robert Rixon, the father of Mary Rixon (wife of Eden White b 1800, Charles’ grandson) .
Charles died in January 1802 at Chalford aged 77, and was buried at Aston Rowant on 20 January.
Aston Rowant burials 1802
Charles’ wife Jane died in October 1807 at Chalford and was buried at Sydenham on 23 October 1807. On her burial record she was described as “Jane White a widow of Chalford”.
