Thomas Rawbone and Mary

Thomas Rawbone senior was born in 1721 in Drayton, Oxfordshire (9 miles south of Oxford), England to parents John Rawbone (b 1690) and Elizabeth White (d 1744).

Thomas was baptised on 2 March 1719 at St Peters, Drayton. He was one of six children born to the couple.

There are three villages with the name Drayton in a 50 mile radius which can be confusing the I believe my Rawbone family are from the Drayton 9 miles south of the major city of Oxford.

It looks like the clerk had missed writing in his baptism on the day, and it was added to the last page of the baptism register after the end of 1725.

Thomas married a lady named Mary, surname unknown, possibly in either Drayton  or Hinton on the Hedges, Northamptonshire, 10 miles away, where his many children were baptised.

 I am unable to find any other Rawbone marriages for Drayton, apart from Thomas’s parents in 1711. I’ve searched the Drayton registers for 20 years each side of 1750. Or was he married by his Reverend Uncle someplace else?

Hinton in the Hedges, a quaintly named tiny village, is just 3.2 km due west of the town of Brackley. It is near the border of Buckinghamshire. In 1720 the population was just 20 houses, but by 1891 the population was 144. Today there are about 70 houses, with a population of 170.

Thomas Rawbone married his wife Mary around 1750, most likely near his home parish of Drayton, or Hinton in the Hedges, or perhaps at his wife’s parish church. He then had the following ten children –

1. John b 1749 Hinton on the Hedges, d 1807 Winslow. John was a schoolmaster in Winslow, Buckinghamshire and at Aylesbury. He was buried at Aylesbury. John married Hannah Maiden in 1711 and had eleven children in Aylesbury.His will proved in 1808 states he was a schoolmaster, and he leaves his estate to wife Hannah, 7 surviving children, and his cousin the Rev John Rawbone 1743-1825 (who was curate of St Marys, Aylesbury in 1797 and received a stipend £30 and also licensed to Fleet Marston).His eldest son Rev John Rawbone was also a Clerk Curate at Aylesbury from 1806 to 1817. John Rawbone junior left bequests to his mother Hannah, brother William and his children in his will of 1816.
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2. Thomas b 1750 Hinton in the hedges, d 1836 Winslow. Married Hannah Taylor in 1779 at Winslow. Schoolmaster of Roger’s Free School in Winslow for over 60 years. Two known children.
   
   Beneficiary in the will of his uncle, the Rev John Rawbone (1717-1775). Thomas was Chief Constable of Winslow in 1798.

The Winslow History website has some wonderful information about the school and the village.

3. William b 1753 and d 1840 Hinton in the Hedges. Married Margaret Hemming. 1 child.

4. Samuel b 1756 Hinton in the Hedges d 1824 Newbottle. Married Sarah Side. 5 children.

5. Richard b 1758 Hinton in the Hedges d 1819 Newbottle. Marr Mary Claydon. 4 children.

6. Joseph b 1760 and d 1769 Hinton in the Hedges.

7. Benjamin b 1762 Hinton in the Hedges d 1806 Islip. Baker, Marr Susannah Cuckon, 3 children.

8. Elisabeth b 1764 and d 1844 Hinton in the Hedges. Marr William Rawlins, 2 children.

9. Ann b 1767 and  d 1868 Hinton in the Hedges.

10. Joseph b 1771 and d 1771 Hinton in the Hedges.

Thomas and Mary lived there whole lives in Hinton in the Hedges, and Mary died there in March 1781 and was buried there on 31 March 1781. Her husband Thomas died in December 1784. He was buried there in the village churchyard also on 16 December 1784.