The Ancestors of Thomas York
A Research Status Report
The ancestors of Thomas York have eluded me for years. I am publishing this in the hopes that
someone out there can help to get me past the brick wall.
© 1998 Shirley York Anderson.
This information may only be used in other publications with permission of Shirley York
Anderson.
This material represents research in progress. Use of terms such as may, possibly and probably
means that this is speculation only and should not be repeated as fact. Further research probably
can only be done on site in England and some at least must be done in London.
The notation after the person's first name denotes their generation. The generations are going
back from Thomas1 York, and are noted as letters rather than numbers.
The sources are mentioned in the body of the text. Further description of some sources is in the
endnotes. All locations are in England, and are in Northamptonshire unless otherwise indicated.
In the 1777 Militia list(2), there is a Thomas York, collarmaker, in Crick, but no York in Long
Buckby. Thomas and Alice York had children baptized in Long Buckby in 1776 and 1778. Why
isn't he on the Long Buckby list? There are York families in Crick. The York entries in the
Crick parish register burial index and in the baptismal register end about 1770.
There is a York family in Long Buckby, going back to the 1600s (early parish register)(3), that
were collarmakers. The connection between this family and the York family in Crick has not
been identified nor has the relationship of our ThomasA York to either family been determined.
Question: who is the Thomas York mentioned in the 1759 will of John York of Long
Buckby?
Given that no baptisms of children are recorded after 1781 for Thomas and Alice York, ThomasA
York is likely the Thomas York who was buried on 21 Sep 1781 at Long Buckby (Long Buckby
parish register).
ThomasA York was married on 27 Aug 1775 at Long Buckby to AliceA Boreman (Long Buckby
parish register). Children baptized at Long Buckby (Long Buckby parish register):
Alice York baptized 26 Aug 1776. She is most likely the Alice York who married William
Warren on 28 Nov 1803 at Long Buckby (Long Buckby parish register). Thomas York and Mary
Dickens were the witnesses. They are probably the William and Alice Warren at least some of
whose children are recorded in the Long Buckby Parish Register: Jane born 27 Jul 1806; William
Cole born 10 Sep 1808; Samuel born 10 Jun 1813
Thomas1 York, baptized on 25 Dec 1778 (see above).
Grace York, baptized on 23 Aug 1781. She was one of the witnesses at the marriage of Thomas
York and Mary Dickens. No further record, either of marriage or death, has been found in the
Long Buckby parish register. She is not in Long Buckby in the 1841 Census.
Although the Boreman name appears in many other towns in Northamptonshire, it is not a name
that occurs in the Long Buckby records prior to Alice's marriage, except for a Joseph Boreman in
the 1777 Militia List whose name was drawn but he found a substitute.
No baptism of an Alice Boreman has been located yet. She may be somehow connected to the
following family:
Joseph Boreman (elder), grazier of Hollowell. His will(4), signed 4 Aug 1747, proved 23 Apr
1748, names wife Sarah and children: Joseph (oldest), Thomas, John, Alice (m. William
?Eagson), and Sarah (m. William Gout). Keziah Dickens of Hollowell was one of the witnesses.
Other Boreman records that may be relevant:
Joseph Borman m. Sarah Harish 16 Nov 1724 Pistford (IGI)(5).
Alice Boreman, daughter of Robert and Mary Boreman, baptized 2 May 1756 at Biddenden, Kent
(IGI). The Boreman name occurs frequently in Kent, and the name Alice is common among
them.
Alice Boreman, widow, buried 22 Jan 1741 (Brington parish register)
Joseph Boreman buried 29 Nov 1721 (Brington parish register). Joseph Boreman, husbandman,
will(6) dated 14 Apr 1722. (He seems to be a good possibility as the father of Joseph jr. who is
probably the same as Joseph of Hollowell.)
Children of Joseph Boreman jun. (Brington parish register): John buried 23 Aug 1716, Elizabeth
buried 1 Nov 1720.
Joseph (of Little Brington) buried 11 Jan 1747 (Brington parish register)
Sarah Boreman, widow, buried 2 Nov 1762 (Brington parish register)
The following seems likely to be one of the sons of Joseph Boreman Jr., but not the father of
AliceA:
(Brockhall parish register unless otherwise indicated) Thomas Boreman, grazier of Brockhall,
buried 5 Sep 1770; Elizabeth Boreman buried 27 Jun 1773 - affidavit by Susannah Cleaver (there
are references to a Cleaver family in Henry York's letters).
Children of Thomas and Elizabeth Boreman: Sarah baptized 21 Dec 1741; Hester/Esther
baptized 24 May 1743; Elizabeth baptized 14 Feb 1744/5, buried 12 Mar 1769; Anne baptized 6
Mar 1746/7, buried 23 Jun 1770; Mary baptized 24 Nov 1748; Joseph baptized 1 Sep 1750
(Bishop's Transcript); Thomas baptized 20 Feb 1725; Katherine baptized 30 Aug 1753, buried 13
Aug 1770; John baptized 3 Aug 1754 (either he died young or he is the same as the 1755 John);
John baptized 23 Aug 1755 (Bishop's Transcript); Bridget baptized 14 Feb 1757; Edward
baptized 14 Jan 1759; Francis baptized 28 Aug 1760; Valentine baptized 3 Mar 1762; Charlotte
baptized 12 Apr 1764.
The will(7) of Joseph Borman's widow Elizabeth, signed 25 May 1773, proved 16 Oct 1773,
named as one of her executors her brother-in-law John Boreman of Hadlow Kent, officer of
Excise. John Folrvell?, husbandman of Floor and one other were named guardians of 11
children.
Joseph Borman, age 61 [born circa 1751], d.3 Mar 1812, buried 8 Mar. (Brockhall Bishop's
Transcript)
Valentine Boreman, chemist & druggist, Farthingstone (admin)(8).
There are two Joseph Boreman's that could be the son of Joseph Jr., but again with no child
Alice:
(Brockhall parish register) Children of Joseph and Ann Boreman: Ann baptized 14 Feb 1757,
Mary baptized 29 Apr 1759, Martha baptized 11 Jan 1761, Joseph baptized 27 Jul 1766.
(Guilsborough parish register) Children of Joseph and Deborah Boreman: Sarah baptized 21 Sep
1751; Mary born 2 Dec/baptized 2 Jan 1754/5; Joseph baptized 25 Jul 1755; Elizabeth baptized 9
Aug 1757.
No records have been located for their brother John. Apparently he is the John Boreman of
Hadlow, Kent, named executor in Elizabeth's will. If he was to fulfill that function, he must have
been a frequent visitor to the Long Buckby area. Exise office records are at the Public Record
Office in London and have not yet been examined. He may not have been in Hadlow when his
children, if any, were born. The Hadlow parish register(9) has a child of John Borman born in that
period, but not Alice.
When did AliceA (Boreman) York die? There are several possibilities in the Long Buckby parish
register, but no other information has been found that will help to determine which is her: (1)
Alice York, widow, buried 10 Jul 1798; (2) Alice York, widow, buried 5 Feb 1827 age 91 [born
circa 1736] (she seems a little old but not impossible, would have been 45 when last child was
born in 1781; however, husband Thomas, possibly born in 1755, seems unlikely to have had a
wife 20 years older); (3) Alice York, buried 10 Aug 1837 age 80 [born circa 1757] (she is the
right age but there is no mention that she is a widow).
The possibility that Alice remarried was considered. There is no record of a marriage in Long
Buckby of Alice York other than that to William Warren. As the Long Buckby parish register
lists births of children of William and Alice in 1806, 1808 and 1813 (at least) it is unlikely that
the mother was AliceA Boreman, who would have been at least 56 years old in 1813.
One of the widows listed above is probably the widow of the Samuel York, husband of Alice,
who was buried on 9 Mar 1791 at Long Buckby (Long Buckby parish register). Their children
were baptized in 1757 and 1758.
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Return Home
Thomas1 York was the son of ThomasA York
and AliceA Boreman, baptized 25 Dec 1778 at
Long Buckby (Long Buckby parish register). According to his age in the 1841 and 1851 censuses
and at his death, he was born about 1778 at Long Buckby. He died on 7 Nov 1852 at Long
Buckby (civil registration). He was a flaxdresser/cordwainer. See The Descendants of Thomas
York and Mary Dickens for his marriage and children.
ThomasA York, husband of AliceA Boreman, may be the Thomas York, son of John and Mary
York, who was baptized on 25 Dec 1755 at Long Buckby (Long Buckby parish register)(1).
AliceA Boreman was born by 1757, as she would have had to be at least 18 years old to have
been married by banns, rather than with a parent's permission.
Notes -
1. All Northamptonshire parish registers are at the Northampton Record Office. Information
from these registers is used with the permission of the Record Office. Return to text