Well, I’ve spent today at the Who Do You Think You Are? Live exhibition in London. It was an exhausting day, with over 6 hours of train travel, plus a couple of hours hanging around for connections.
Still, the day itself was interesting and I did get to ask my question about ‘Aston’ of the Shropshire Family History Centre. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the response I was hoping for so I’m no further forward in terms of keeping/discounting Church Aston as a likely birthplace for James Williams.
In fact, I’m more confused than ever, as the Shropshire Family History Group had a list of place names that included no fewer than 6 townships and hamlets with the name ‘Aston’:
- a township in Claverley ancient parish
- a township in Munslow ancient parish
- a township in Oswestry ancient parish
- a hamlet in Shifnal ancient parish
- a township in Uppingham and Wellington ancient parishes
- a township in Wem ancient parish
- a detached township in Lydham ancient parish, which became a Civil Parish in Montgomeryshire in 1866
In addition, there is also Church Aston and Chetwynd Aston as other possibilities.
It looks as if I really will have to go through the census looking at everyone who has the birthplace Aston, Shropshire and seeing what sense I can make of it.
UPDATE:
Thanks to the parish registers becoming available online and therefore enabling a more effective way of searching, I did determine that Jame