My great (x 3) grandfather James Ashby was born in Frant, Sussex in the 1780's. The 1851 census says 1787. I'm told there is a James Ashby born in Frant in 1785 in the parish registers, and he is reported in the IGI. His parents are Thomas and Sarah Ashby. They had several other children in Frant between 1777 and 1789, and they were still living in Frant after 1800. I'm also told that no baptisms or marriage for them can be found in Frant, and therefore no parentage. I know of a Thomas Ashby who lived in Frant at that time and owned/managed the Bartley mill there, but it isn't him (he was married to an Elizabeth). It's possible that the Thomas Ashby born in Wadhurst in 1749 is him, but there is no evidence for this. There isn't a Thomas and Sarah marriage on the Sussex Marriage CD that isn't otherwise accounted for (the Bartley MIll Thomas had previously married a Sarah, but she died in 1773, and a Thomas Ashby married a Sarah Sayers, but they lived in Lamberhurst). My Thomas and Sarah may have married in Kent, or Surrey or possibly further afield. A systematic search of parish registers seems to be either impossible or ruinously expensive...
Having said that, if anyone could do a marriage lookup for Thomas and Sarah Ashby in the early 1770's anywhere in Surrey, Kent, West Sussex or Middlesex, that could really be helpful.
08-04-2008, 10:26 AM
Thomas & Sarah Ashby
