The Paxton family is the only family on my maternal grandmother's side that I have been struggling with for, well, 20 years. I knew that Emma Paxton was my grandmother's grandmother. Early on someone sent me her obituary and I found a few descendants of her siblings who had a family bible. From that we had her father Benjamin Paxton, (not Henry Benjamin as some have it), her mother Mary Douglas and the birth dates of her siblings.
I also found his obituary, which said he came to the United States at age 8 and was born in Buckingham-shire. Records from the town where he enlisted listed his parents, William Paxton and Mary Brown and said he was born in Oxford-shire, around 1823. I still find no baptism record for him. His marriage to his third wife is recorded as taking place in a Methodist Episcopalian church, consistent with the Church of England.
No matter how hard I searched for years, I just didn't get very far. We found Benjamin first in 1850 in Saint Lawrence County, listed as a cobbler with his wife Mary and first son, William H. (Henry) Paxton. In the household was a Martha Paxton who I took to be his sister. I was able to track William Paxton forward from there and all of his children, but still nothing on his parents. I am pretty sure folks have the Henry Benjamin because of the eldest son's name, but at the time of Benjamin's birth, it was rare to see middle names in any baptisms I have found among all my English ancestors.
About a year ago, I noticed some in common matches with my Paxton relatives (we have a lot of those) with my grandmother's sister and an Endersbee and a Paxton from Canada. Researching both lead me to discover that Martha Paxton, the sister in 1850 married a William Endersbee and is the ancestor of those Endersbee matches, who remained in Saint Lawrence county, New York. The Paxton came from King County, Ontario, and the 1851 and 1861 showed a William Paxton born in 1781 and 1796 (same guy with same family) in England. William's wife Catherine was Catholic and records in Quebec show the family lived there prior to locating to Ontario sometime between 1840 and 1851. The baptisms give her maiden name as Byran, but the marriage record from 1835 gives the name of Brown. The couple had four children, Mary, Eliza Ann, John P and George Paxton.
I decided to forgo the Brown for Benjamin's mother, but still had little luck. There aren't all that many William Paxton's born between 1781-1796, but there are fewer maybe 4 or 5 born in Buckingham or Oxford. I found one I like (and still do, despite the one tree I found that had that William) born in 1786 in Maid Moreton, the son of a John Paxton and Sarah. The reason I feel this one is the most likely, is that literally none of the others seem feasible as they are traceable in their village and county after the emigration of my William, where the Maid Moreton isn't there. Also the entire family were cobbler's, and given the time, I think this may be how Benjamin was trained in his train. It is my best theory, but it is by no means sure. I have spent a bit of time tracing these descendants out, but there aren't all that many and we have had no DNA matches to confirm it.
I found an 1833 burial in the same church in Quebec for a Mary Paxton. Today I found in the same church in 1832 a burial for Mary Paxton, age 12, the daughter of William Paxton emigrant and Mary Adams. Both records are in the same church, a Church of England denomination in Quebec, as the marriage record found in 1835. Looking for marriage records, I find one William Paxton in England marrying a Mary Adams, in St. Paul's Weldon in Hertfordshire in 1821. It is a little distant from where the Paxton's were supposed to live, but it does seem like this might be our family. Also, the sons of John Paxton did move away to practice their trade. Nowhere do I find baptisms for any of the three children, Mary, Benjamin or Martha Paxton. All of them were supposed to be born in England prior to emigrating to England around 1832. The religious history in the records (Canadian census, church records, and marriages) does not suggest they were non-conformists. There aren't any in there either anyhow.
By 1851, William moved to King, Ontario where he remained until his death in 1869. His sons and daughters from his second wife marry from there and some move to the states while other's remain in the same county in Canada. Canadian records just aren't at the same level as England or the States, so I haven't found much else to go on. I have not found any ship information for transportation which should be in 1832 to Canada based on what Benjamin Paxton said and the records in Canada.
We have a similar brick wall for Mary Douglas. She is matching a Paxton from Saint Lawrence in 1850 who was born in 1794 in Canada, but he is a dead end. She also has several matching suggesting she is related to the Douglas family of Vermont who move to Clinton County. Some of their family did go on to Quebec, so that may be the connection. It does appear that she is either Canadian or American and not English.
