Atkins

[jonwarrn]

There don't seem to be many options for Charlotte.
It's not impossible it's the same lady, but there isn't really anything to suggest it is.
The bride signed on both marriages.

I'm not sure what happened to sister Sarah Lipscomb, she had two daughters baptized in Oxford?
The names of the Davison children aren't good from the Charlotte Leech point of view.

If we could trace the daughter Charlotte it might help.
For a London connection, there is a Charlotte Felicia Atkins who married James Boyland in Westminster in 1791. They then had children in Chelsea, including a son called Charles Atkins Boyland, who died young.
In 1841 she is apparently in Marylebone with a daughter, and her age given as 78. It's hard to tell, but possibly she was not born county.
Death and burial as plain Charlotte Boyland in Chelsea in March 1846, age 82. So one year out really from the Charlotte born in Oxford in October 1764.
As I can't see a baptism of a Charlotte Felicia Atkins, I can't say who she is. Possibly Felicia was added later!
Perhaps I am being optimistic here in searching for a connection.

George Davison did a splendid signature on his marriage.

[VALLMO9]

Do the 1773 Davison/Atkins marriage witnesses provide any clues? (I don't have Ancestry, so unable to view the image).

[Norfolk Nan]

Thank you, jonwarrn. I found a marriage c1805 (I think, haven’t got the note in front of me), for a Charlotte Atkins at Henley on Thames to a Mr Chamberlain, might be Charles and Charlotte’s daughter but no proof of course.

Yes, George’s signature is impressive. It’s all I know of him. No idea what he did but I’ve not found any workhouse or criminal references for him and Charlotte so that’s encouraging. The pair are a total mystery. They buried 5 of 8 babies so were unlucky and maybe not healthy.

I’m chipping away, hoping to find a clue, but it’s a tough job…

Mo - the witnesses are connected to the church, I think.

[VALLMO9]

Mo - the witnesses are connected to the church, I think.

What are the witness names?

[jonwarrn]

The Davisons had three boys they called George (two died)
First one baptized in Marylebone, 13 March 1776
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... -8961-SVDR

But no daughter Charlotte. Perhaps mum already had one!

[Norfolk Nan]

Sadly, none of the George’s lived. Only a John, Sophia and William Augustus.

Sorry Mo, can’t get at the witnesses right now.

[VALLMO9]

I do wonder why the last (?) child was given a middle name (Augustus). It appears the older children didn't have middle names.
Could father George have died prior to WAD's birth? Suggesting that WAD's actual father was someone named Augustus?

Did your GD definitely die in 1790? Or could that 1790 burial be someone unrelated?

[jonwarrn]

The witnesses were Wm Smith and Mary Goodson.
Mary witnessed the marriage above, nine days earlier, with Stepn. Goodson.
Stephen Goodson and William Smith were regulars.

[Norfolk Nan]

Mo, there’s no way to know. I’ve only got the burial register, it gives no additional info but it’s 2 years after William’s baptism and in the same church. All his George siblings are already dead and unless it’s his grandpa (as yet unknown) I can’t think who else it is.

William was a shoemaker/cordwainer by profession but I’ve yet to find apprenticeship papers - they would, hopefully, confirm his father.

[VALLMO9]

No idea what he did but I’ve not found any workhouse or criminal references for him and Charlotte so that’s encouraging. The pair are a total mystery.

If it were me, I'd prefer any record -- good or bad -- to help confirm the couple's origins. Have you tried searching for them in newspapers?

Perhaps Charlotte hadn't been a widow for long by 1773, and decided to use her maiden name when she married George Davison. Maybe her maiden name was Atkins/Attkins.