BEDFORDSHIRE ANCESTORS
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TODDINGTON & LOCALITY
My earliest RICHARDSON ancestor William Richardson married Rebecca Osborn in 1793 in Toddington. I can document the lives of only four of their six children, namely Lot, Rebecca, John and Joseph. I do not as yet know what became of William and James. Whereas I do not as yet know the identity of William (senior) 's parents as he was not baptised in Toddington, my family can be traced further back through the OSBORN family (originally from neighbouring Chalgrave), the BUCKMASTER family (originally from Houghton Regis) and the POTTS and WILDMAN families. William Richardson was a horsedealer; the Osborn's tended to be carpenters and wheelwrights; the Buckmasters were often farmers; the Potts were blacksmiths. The earliest entries for Potts in the PR relate to a wealthy family which later moved away but it is thought that the Potts who remained were related to the original family. My Potts listing should be treated with caution and the first 3 generations are fairly speculative!
SHILLINGTON & LOCALITY
Lot Richardson was a plumber and glazier (later a builder). In 1829 he married Mary FLINT from a long established Shillington family which can be traced back in the Parish Register into the 17th century. Lot and Mary had six children. My own branch is descended from their eldest son, Daniel and is documented well into the 20th century except for the family of his daughter Emily Sarah Wilson CRAWLEY (wife of Herbert Crawley, a butcher and publican) from Hitchin. This couple had 8 children who may have descendants. Joseph's family moved to Tottenham, Middlesex and nothing further is known about their 8 children, except for Lavinia who married Alfred Charles WALLACE and was last recorded in Hornsey in 1901. Lot (junior) lived for a time in Shillington but he and his family disappear after the 1871 census and I later found to have emigrated to Newport, Rhode Island (see emigration page). Mary married John WALLER, a publican. Her family comprising 9 children seems to have been especially mobile and the last trace of the family is at Chesterton, Cambs in 1901. Rebecca married George SIMKINS, butcher and farmer of Shillington, the only branch of the family which is believed still to reside locally. Other related familes are POULTER, WILSON and FRANCIS.
Apart from my own branch descended from William Richardson through Lot and Daniel,
I believe that there may be other Richardson descendants alive today descended through
Lot (junior)-