Anthony Clark Paxton

As we've previously discussed, William Paxton and Isabel Archibald had six children.  (I erroneously listed John Paxton twice in a previous entry - he is listed as born in 1755, but christened in 1758.  This could be correct, could be legibility issues, etc.)  

Their first son, William, was born in Tweedmouth on Sept 1, 1752.  The christening date we have for him, whether accurate or not I have not confirmed (if any of you can confirm, please share), is July 12, 1762.

Jane Clark was born in Tweedmouth on Dec 10, 1767, and christened on Dec 20, 1767.

William and Jane were married in Tweedmouth around 1784-1786 (again, records discrepancies).  They had 10 children:

• Isabel (1787-)
• Margaret (1790-)
• Eleanor (1792-1793)
• Selby (1793-1804)
• William (1795-)
• John (1798-)
• Robert (1801-)
• William (1804-)  
• (again, 2 children of same name?  Discrepancy?  Comment with sources if you have them)
• Mary (1807-1811)
• Anthony Clark (1812-)

William died 23 April 1836 in Tweedmouth.  His wife Jane died 3 July 1822 in Tweedmouth.

An engraving of Newcastle in 1832, courtesy of wikipedia

About 60 miles down the coast from Tweedmouth, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, still in Northumberland, Jane Mills was born on 6 Sept 1814, christened 2 Sept 1815.  Jane Mills' ancestors had been in the Newcastle area for at least 8 generations.  Newcastle-upon-Tyne, about 10 miles inland from the coast, along the north shore of the Tyne River, is today a bustling metropolis.  In the early1800's Newcastle was benefiting  from an earlier coal trade monopoly and was in the middle of a  printing press rush.  Being a large port on the river, close to the North Sea, it was also a big player in the shipbuilding industry.  The Tyne river forms the border between Northumberland and Durhamshire.

South Shields, with Tyne and Wear in the background.
Courtesy of TripAdvisor.com

Whether a seaman because he was in Newcastle, or more likely, was in Newcastle because he was a seaman, William and Jane's son Anthony Clark Paxton made his way to Newcastle, and on 23 September, 1833, married Jane Mills in South Shields, a borough of Durhamshire at the mouth of the Tyne.

Anthony and Jane had 6 children, all born in the Tynemouth / South Shields area:

• William Mills Paxton (1836-)
• Isabella Paxton (1838-1905)
• Peter Mills Pazton (1841-)
• Anthony Clark Paxton (1842-1931)
• James Mills Paxton (1845-1910)
• Jane Paxton (1848-1935)

The HMS Dreadnaught

Anthony died at sea on 25 May 1848, on board the hospital ship HMS Dreadnaught, at the time, a hospital ship for ex-members of the Merchant navy or fishing fleet (wikipedia).

According to Anthony's son James Mills, in his autobiography: My father was of English and Scotch decent and a sea-faring man. My mother was of Scotch and English decent. She has often told me of a strange presentment which occured to me when very young. In which I persisted that my father was dead. It proved to be too true, for he was stricken with brain fever, on a return voyage from London, and died on board of the Dreadnot; a floating hospital. (A disabled seventy four gun ship) 25th May, 1848 5:45 a.m. he was 38 years old when he died at Greenwich.

 After the death of her husband, Jane is recorded in the 1951 census living with four of her children in Monkwearmouth, a suburb of Sunderland, about 6 miles down the coast from South Shields.  In our next post, we'll investigate what happens to Jane.

Sources

A record of Anthony Clark Paxton's
christening

A record of the 1851 census, list Jane Mills Paxton,
along with four of her children, in Monkwearmouth, Durham

A photo (claimed to be) of Jane Mills Paxton,
from a family portrait.

A record of the death of Anthony Clark Paxton,
upon the hospital ship Dreadnaught, and his
subsequent burial.

The Paxton Surname, Part 2

In the previous discussion, we took a look at where the Paxtons came from, as far back as the 1200's, and where the name came from.

In a separate line, as previously discussed, we have a Hew Paxton, b 1675 in Abbotshall, Fife, Scotland.  His father was also Hew Paxton, but his father was Williame Paistoun, from Inveresk, Midlothian, Scotland.  Williame's father was Samuell Paistone.

So we see a evolution of the surname from Paistone to Paxton.  Certainly this is not the only case of an evolution of the Paxton surname.  It would be interesting to know if other Paxton lines had similar transformations, if they had similar origins, and even if these lines ever cross, or if there are multiple families that come upon the surname Paxton.  Hopefully we'll be able to shed some light on this with some lines.

Tools?

OK, time to help each other, Comments solicited:

If you use a genealogy program, please share your preferences:
What tool do you use?  Why?  What does it do well for you?
Here's a great list of the "top-10" tools.
Some of the common tools:

• PAF
• Family Tree Maker
• Legacy
• Ancestry.com

Your thoughts / experiences with on-line only tools, such as Ancestry.com?

Some issues important to me:

• Storing media - images, photos, etc.
• Marking an entry as Verified
• LDS integration - as you leave comments, recognize that this is not important to all.

The Origins of the Paxton Name

So, just as we've declared we're starting in the middle, we're going to jump back to an earlier middle, and investigate where William Paxton's surname came from.

First a note about the origins of surnames:  From 4crests.com:  Since the dawn of civilisation the need to communicate has been a prime drive of all higher mankind. The more organised the social structure became, the more urgent the need to name places, objects and situations essential to the survival and existence of the social unit. From this common stem arose the requirements to identify families, tribes and individual members evolving into a pattern in evidence today. In the formation of this history, common usage of customs, trades, locations, patronymic and generic terms were often adopted as surnames. The demands of bureaucracy formally introduced by feudal lords in the 11th century, to define the boundaries and families within their fiefdoms, crystallized the need for personal identification and accountability, and surnames became in general use from this time onwards.

Modern-day Berwick Castle

In 1903, a William M. Paxton published an extensive study into the origins of the Paxton name.  While not an authoritative source, and still needing some validation, it is a valuable resource.  He states:   The name Paxton is of Saxon origin.  Our ancestors as early as the sixth century, crossed from the continent, and settled in what is now Berwickshire, Scotland.  Referencing "A Distinguished English Herald", he states:  Berwickshire is a maritime county of Scotland, forming its southeast extremity, being separated from England by the Tweed.  It is chiefly noted for the renowned Berwick Castle, which sprung into importance, during the long struggle between the Scots and Saxons for its possession.  It was around, and in sight of, and under the protection of this case, that the Paxtons located their territorium as one of the original families that colonized England, after the departure of the Romans..  He also quotes the herald as follows:  The name Paxton is derived from a Saxon word meaning gardiner.  The laird, or head of the family, established himself in a territory in Berwickshire, Scotland.  The name of his land was, first, Pac-cingas-town, then Packingtown, then Packston, and since A.D. 1250, has been written Paxton.

The village of Paxton, Scotland.  The Tweed River is to the right.

Indeed, if we look at the "Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland, Preserved in Her Majesty's Public Record Office", the edition covering the 50 years from 1307 to 1357, we find several entries in the early 1300's regarding land ownership of several residents of Paxton, referred to (using Roger as an example) as "Roger de Paxton", (Roger of Paxton) for example.

About that same time, the death of Margaret "Maid of Norway", the Queen of Scotland, left no clear successor to the Scottish throne, leaving it vacant for two years.  In 1291, King Edward I of England "volunteered" to help determine the legitimate heir.  He called a series of meeting with those claiming heir.  John balliol was chosen as the heir and crowned King of Scotland in 1292.  However, in 1295, he allied with Philip of France, and in 1296, Edward invaded Scotland and stripped Balliol of his power.  Edward called another series of meetings, or a "parliament" at Berwick.  All the prominent Scottish landowners, churchmen, and burgesses were summoned to swear allegiance to Edward and sign the parchments and affix their seals.  In these so-called "Ragman Rolls", we find listed two Counts from Paxton:  Nicol de Paxton, and Robert de Paxton.


From here, we next have evidence of Paxtons in Buckinghamshire in England, in the early 1500's.  The author of "We Are One" claims that the Paxtons were driven from their ancestral home in the Berwick, Scotland, area, and found refuge in Central England.  Whether all the Paxtons relocated, and whether the ancestors of our William Paxton were among them, is as of yet undetermined.

From the Paxtons in England, a group of Presbyterian believers fled to northern Ireland near the time of the British Restoration of the Monarchy, and the religious persecution that came with it under Charles II, in 1661.  Among these was a James Paxton.  Three of James' sons, William, Thomas, and Samuel, emigrated to America.  From this line come the Pennsylvania Paxtons, and the Revolutionary War heroes Caption John Paxton, Major William Paxton, and Colonel Thomas Paxton.

Another group of the Paxtons in England joined William Penn and the Quakers, and in 1682, emigrated to America.  Most of this group changed their name to Paxson, though a few kept the name Paxton.

It seems fairly certain that none of these groups are the specific Paxton line we are investigating, as our line reappears in the Berwick area in the early 1700's, and doesn't appear in America for a couple more generations.  We have previously identified a Paxton reappearing in the Berwick area from northern Scotland.   Perhaps our William's ancestors fled to northern Scotland at the same time that other Paxtons were fleeing south to central England, or to Ireland, only to reappear in Berwick, or perhaps there were even some Paxtons that remained in the area while others fled.

This is what we don't know.

This is what we need to find out.

Our Story Begins... In the Middle

A view of Tweedmouth, with Berwick-upon-Tweed in the background.
Take a virtual tour of Berwick-upon-Tweed area here, or view some
beautiful photos of the area here

In this town of Tweedmouth, in 1731, a boy named William Paxton was born.  He was (assumed to be) raised in the area.  In the same town, sometime in March of 1733, a girl was born, named Isabel Archibald. William and Isabel married in Tweedmouth on June 30 of 1751 (because of legibility issues, this year is disputed, and may be 1754 or 1761, but assuming 1751 based on year of birth of first child).


According to what we know from current documentation, William and Isabel had seven children:

• William   (1752-?)
• John (1755-?)
• Jane (1757-?)
• John (1758-?)
• Selby (1760-?)
• Isabel (1763-?)
• Robert (1764-?)

Isabel's paternal family had been in the Northumberland for several generations, having made their way from Worcestor, in central England, up through Alnwick, in southern Northumberland, eventually settling in the Tweedmouth area.  Other ancestral lines had been in the Northumberland region for several generations longer.

A view from Fife, Scotland

Whiile no more specifics are certain about William's heritage, there is reason to believe they came from Scotland.  A certain Hew Paxton was born 12 Sept 1675 in Abbotshall, Fife, Scotland, and married Christian Tosh (b. 1672, Dundee).  Hew and Christian had eight children, according to records, the first 6 of which were born in Abbotshall.  The seventh child, James Paxton, was born 16 Jan 1720, in Berwick-upon-Tweed.  It is quite certain that James was not William's father, as James was born only 11 years before William.  However, James had four brothers (George, b 27 Mar 1698;  Hew, b 10 Feb 1702; Hugh, b 4 Nov 1705; Robert, b 15 Aug 1708) that would have been plausible ages to have been William's father.  Did James' brothers come with Hew when he moved to Berwick-upon-Tweed?  Could one of them be our link to further generations?  Or were there already Paxton relatives living in the area that encourage Hew to move to the area?

And so it is that we begin in the middle of the story.  From here, we will investigate William's descendants, but also attempt to determine William's heritage.  You are invited to join in the investigation and contribute what you find, or if it suits you better, just join along for the journey.  Either way, let's all enjoy the journey !

Our Setting

At the northernmost point of England, along the border with Scotland, is the English county of Northumberland.  At the northern tip of Northumberland, along the coast of the North Sea, the River Tweed, aka Tweed Waters, flow into the North Sea.  This being the mouth of the Tweed River, there is a town there called Tweedmouth.  Across the river to the north is another town called Berwick-upon-Tweed, as the town is "upon" the Tweed River.

Berwick-upon-Tweed on the left, Tweedmouth on the right.
See more beautiful photos of the area.

Northumberland is a large and quiet part of the country.  In modern-day Northumberland, the large Northumberland National Park consumes about one quarter of the county.  It is rich in Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and religious history.  The area was once part of the Roman Empire, and as part of the Borders region, has been the scene of many wars between England and Scotland.  Castles dot the landscape as evidence of its violent past.

Salmon Netting in Paxton

Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland National Park

Across the border with Scotland (the River Tweed which makes about 20 miles of the border with Scotland), is the the Scottish Borders region.  This eastern-most region of the Scottish Borders was known until 1975 (local government reorganization) as  Berwickshire, named after Berwick-upon-Tweed.  Ironically, Berwick-upon-Tweed along with a small radius of land, was lost by Scotland to England in 1482, so that the England-Scotland border diverts from the Tweed river in a semi-circle northward, just a few kilometers from the coast.  In this area, the Whiteaddr Water comes in from the north-east and merges with the Tweed just after it crosses the border into England.

Right in the corner of the River Tweed, the Whiteaddr Water, and the diverted border, in the Scottish Borders district of Scotland, sits a traditional, country village surrounded by farmland, called Paxton.  Paxton is traditionally home to villagers working the land or working the salmon in the River Tweed.

While the hills of the west have made way to a mostly flat region near the coast, the broader region is rural (avg about 62 people per sq. km.) hilly, and noted for its undeveloped landscape of high moorland, popular with landscape artists.

This is the setting, in the village of Tweedmouth, that our story begins...

The village of Tweedmouth, Northumberland, England