All known Titfords are descended from a small family group centred on the
village of Bratton, under the Westbury White Horse, in Wiltshire in the 16th
century, though the surname possibly originated in Lincolnshire and made early
appearances in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. The author's account of twelve
generations of Titfords, over four centuries, as they scattered from their
Bratton home, is a quite exceptional piece of family history writing.
It is much more than the prosaic story of a lowly and obscure West Country
family. Wide-ranging and painstaking research into national, local and family
records has enabled John Titford to bring to life not only his own ancestors, in
astonishing details, but also the communities in which they lived.
He focuses on one particular branch, which was settled in Frome, Somerset,
for some two hundred years, working in the wool trade, before setting off to
find fame and fortune in London. Other Titford branches are drawn in, while also
central to the story are the distaff families into which the Titfords married:
brides with surnames that include Smith, Fairfield, Godsden, Davie, Dix,
Franklin, Lacey. Coles, Stark, Adlam, Carpenter, Oldbury, Edgar, Hasted, Shaw,
Parkes, Mason, Archibald, Buckler and many others.
The author's well-referenced text is a mine of information for other
searchers, as well as an award-winning example of how to construct such an
account.
The book will be of interest not only to family and local historians, but
also to students of economic and social history, non-conformity and patterns of
family migration. Indeed, it has great appeal to the general reader, as well
does the author use his material to give a view of English history through the
eyes of simple people of no great social significant. It is the story, in
microcosm, of the common man and woman of England, greatly enlivened by more
than sixty illustrations - maps, pictures of people and places, documents and
carefully chosen pedigree charts. Comprehensive notes quote all sources, while
there is a full bibliography and, or course, an index.
Contents:
List of Illustrations
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
Preamble
Introduction
The First Generation
- 1. Richard to Servant (?-1603)
The Second Generation
- 2. Thomas the Shoemaker (1558-1624)
- 3. Thomas the Alehousekeeper (1556-1632)
- 4. Richard the Yeoman (?1564-1632)
The Third Generation
- 5. William and Mary (?-1678/9)
The Fourth Generation
- 6. Thomas and Margery (1628/9-1677)
- 7. Henry of Southwark (1630-1665)
- 8. William the Wiredrawer (1635-1717)
- 9. Ralph the Pauper (1636/7-1708)
The Fifth Generation
- 10. William the Emigrant (1681/2-1746)
- 11. Thomas the Calvinist (1688-1771)
The Sixth Generation
- 12. William the Cardmaker (c.1738-1801)
- 13. Thomas the Cardmaker (c.1740-1803)
- 14. Charles the Cheesmonger (c.1749-1802)
- 15. John the Cardmaker (c.1750-1828)
The Seventh Generation
- 16. W.C.T. (1786-1828)
- 17. Ben the Outrider (1786-1816)
The Eighth Generation
- 18. Robert the Mariner (1809-1839)
- 19. Benjamin the Silversmith (1814-1879)
The Ninth Generation
- 20. Benjamin James (1846-1905)
- 21. William the Gold-Engraver (1849-1918)
- 22. Charles Frederick (1856-1899)
The Tenth Generation
- 23. Henry James to Goldmounter (1875-1967)
The Eleventh Generation
- 24. Sidney Horace the Company Secretary (b. 1904)
The Twelfth Generation
- 25. John Stuart (b. 1945)
Conclusion
Addenda
Notes
Bibligoraphy
Index
.
