Potential Great x3 Grandfather William Batchelor

My potential Great x3 Grandfather William (c 1822 - c 1862), was an agricultural labourer, father of eight, and the potential grandfather of my great grandfather William Batchelor (c 1882 - 1939).

(Several of my DNA matches on ancestry share the ancestors Mary Enoch and Benjamin Branson. It is most likely I am related to them via my great grandfather William Batchelor (c 1882 - 1939) and his father John Batchelor. Benjamin and Mary's daughter Fanny married a William Batchelor (c 1822 - 1850's) and had children - including a John Batchelor - so it is likely through this line, though I am yet to confirm just how they connect.)

William was born around 1822, in Little Bourton, Oxfordshire, to Robert Batchelor, a labourer, and Ann Batchelor.

William was baptised on 17th Ferbuary 1822, in Cropredy, Oxfordshire.

William was the eldest of two children:

• William  1822
• Catherine  1826

[There seems a possibility that William's mother was maybe called Sarah Ann: most of the time going by Sarah, but going by Ann on William and Catherine's baptism records. Because Robert and a Sarah (nee Townsend) have more kids in the village and on the 1841, 1851 and 1861 Census are literally a page over from William and his family, meaning they were very close neighbours. Plus I cannot find a marriage for a Robert and an Ann. However I cannot find a record where she goes by Sarah Ann. If the theory is correct, that would mean William and Catherine had more siblings:

• Mary  1815 
• George  1816
• Mercy  1818
• Mercy  1819
• Joseph  1820
• William  1822
• Evis  1824
• Catherine  1826
• James  1829
• Mary Ann  1835]

Sometime, possibly as a teenager, William moved about twenty miles north from his native Little Bourton, Oxfordshire, to Thurlaston, Warwickshire.

On 28th June 1840, William (about 19), an agricultural labourer, married Fanny Branson (about 25), a single mother of two, in the next village over from Thurlaston, in Dunchurch, Warwickshire.

1840 Marriage Certificate:

Fanny and William did not sign their names, leaving only their marks, implying they could not write.

At the time of their marriage, both Fanny and William were living in the village of Thurlaston, Warwickshire. Within a year, they settled 20 miles south in William's native Little Bourton, Oxfordshire.

Map of the local area

William and Fanny had eight children (3 daughters, 5 sons):

• Elizabeth  1840 - 1841 (about 2-3 months old)
• Elizabeth  1842
• Elijah  1845
• Sarah Ann  1847
• Levi  1849 
• Robert  1851
• Frederick  1855
• John  1857

Their eldest daughter Elizabeth passed away as a baby in 1841. On 19th January 1841, she was buried at St Mary the Virgin, Cropredy, Oxfordshire.

They gave their next daughter the same name.

All their children's births were registered in the district of Banbury, Oxfordshire. Censuses give their birthplace as the village of Little Bourton, Oxfordshire.

William and Fanny only had three of their children baptised: their eldest Elizabeth, Levi and their youngest John. All in Cropredy - a village less the two miles north of Little Bourton, where the family lived.

1841 Census:

In 1849, William's house in Little Bourton was sold. Being a poor labouring family, I assume they rented a small cottage - sadly it is called a 'hovel'.

From the Banbury Guardian of 8th November 1849:

William Batchelor was the only one of that name living in the village on the 1851 Census, so I assume this article from 2 years earlier is regarding their family home. However, William was not a junior and his father was called Robert.

1851 Census:

The 1851 Census describes William's step son John Branson as having impaired faculties and being a cripple. Fanny was likely the primary carer for her disabled son.

In Jul/Aug/Sep 1856, William's older step-son Owen (who lived with his maternal grandparents) passed away, aged twenty-three, in the district of Banbury, Oxfordshire. He was buried on 7th Sep 1856, at St John the Baptist, Upper Boddington, Northamptonshire.

There is a possible death registered for his disabled step-son John Branson in Oct/Nov/Dec 1856, in Banbury, Oxfordshire. [No age is given though]

1861 Census:

On the 1861 Census, Fanny is listed as married, but William is not present. On the 1871 Census, Fanny is listed as a widow. William passed away either in the 1860's or 1850's.

There are two deaths registered for William Batchelors in the district of Banbury, Oxfordshire: one in 1862, another in 1863. He would have been about forty. 

Her husband absent, Fanny worked in the fields. Their sons would go on to be agricultural labourers.

One of William and Fanny's daughters - likely Sarah Ann - had an illegitimate son called William Batchelor in Oct/Nov/Dec 1869, in Bourton. On the 1871 Census, William is listed as Fanny's son (very unlikely as she would have been in her mid fifties and her last child was born over a decade before) and on the 1881 Census, he is living with Levi and his wife, and listed as his nephew.