The Early Years of The Nixey Family

I have heard various stories over the years of where the Nixey family originated, which include the following:

So which of these, if any, is correct? It seems that the combination of the Y-DNA tests linking us to the Nix family, along with the definition of Nix / Nixy / Nixie from the Encyclopaedia Britannica gives us the most likely answer to that question.

The information I have been able to compile so far suggests that there were two males, William and John Nixy, who had both been living at North Hinksey in Berkshire. They were most likely brothers who were born in the 1670s or the early 1680s. However, some burning questions remain unanswered:

The surname Nixey seems to have come into existence in England at the turn of the 18th Century. The earliest parish record I’ve found so far is in 1700/01 at St. Leonard’s church at Sunningwell, Berkshire, located about 3½ miles south of Oxford. The fact that the lady concerned was said to be a servant could indicate that she was a younger adult, and so could possibly be John and William’s sister. Her burial entry reads:

Another intriguing burial took place a little over 16 months later on 25th May 1702 at St. Helen’s church in Abingdon, 3 miles south of Sunningwell. This was of a “widow” whose surname was Nixy. This is the closest I’ve ever come to possibly finding details of William and John’s mother. Unfortunately, her forename was not recorded on her burial entry. It did however state that at the time of her death, she was living at Shippon, located a mile west of Abingdon, and the inclusion of the word “Alms” suggests she had either been in receipt of financial help from the parish, or had been living in the Alms Houses there.

About 5 miles north of Abingdon, and to the west of Oxford, was where the small picturesque village of North Hinksey, also known as Ferry Hinksey, was located. Situated on the bank of the Isis river, a ferry was established here from at least as early as 1647, but probably much earlier than that.

It was here at North Hinksey that the first marriage was recorded where the surname Nixy appeared, an event that happened between the two burials previously mentioned. The wedding of William Nixy and Elizabeth Davys took place On 10th November 1701 at St. Lawrence’s church. William and Elizabeth had seven children, all of whom were baptised at the same church:

Name  |  Approx. Birth Year

William and Elizabeth’s first son, John, was baptised on 23rd March 1702/03. Very sadly, he died at a young age, and was buried on 20th October 1704 at North Hinksey. It’s interesting to note on his burial entry that his father was named as Jon, not William.

Their next child, a daughter named Elizabeth, was baptised on 9th January 1704/05. Elizabeth Nixey and William Butler were married by Licence at St. Mary Magdelene, Oxford on 13th January 1736/37, both were said to be of Garcington in Oxfordshire. They baptised two sons at Garcington, William (2nd October 1737), and Thomas (23rd August 1741).

Their third child, another daughter who they named Mary, was baptised on 3rd January 1706/07. She married Christopher Holloway at Hart Hall Chapel, Oxford on 3rd May 1732. They baptised six children at St. Lawrence’s, North Hinksey: Mary (19th October 1732), William (17th April 1737), Kathrine (10th August 1739), Stephen (1742), John (1st July 1744), and Susannah (16th February 1744/45).

Their third daughter, Katharin, was baptised on 1st October 1708. Catherine Nixey married William Allom at Christ’s Church College Chapel, Oxford on 4th November 1744. They appear to have had no children.

Their next child, a son named William, was baptised on 14th February 1712/13. Very sadly, he died a few days after being baptised, and was buried on 20th February 1712/13.

Their next child, their third and final son, who they chose to name William, was baptised on 24th March 1714/15. Very sadly, just like his two brothers, he died at a very young age, being buried on 4th April 1715. His burial entry actually has no forename entered, but he is said to be “the son of Willia & Elizabeth Nixy.”

Their final child, a daughter named Martha, was baptised on 5th October 1718. Martha Nixey married William Verney at Christ’s Church College Chapel, Oxford on 7th January 1743/44. It appears that the first of their two sons, William, died before he could be baptised, and was buried on 3rd April 1745. Their second son, Thomas, was baptised on 11th May 1746. Following her husband’s death in 1754, Martha married James Hinton on 5th October 1761 in the presence of Thomas Davies and Charles Parker.

William and Elizabeth Nixey were both buried at St. Lawrence’s, North Hinksey, William on 6th January 1749/50, and Elizabeth on 8th October 1752. As William’s age was not recorded on his burial record, there is no indication as to when he may have been born. As all three of William and Elizabeth’s sons died in infancy, the family surname died out as far as this family line was concerned.

Four days after William and Elizabeth’s daughter Elizabeth was baptised, John Nixy of North Hinksey in Berkshire and Joan Saunders of Cuddesdon in Oxfordshire were married by Mr. Holland on 13th January 1704/05 at the church of St. John the Baptist in Merton College Chapel, Oxford.

Mr. Holland later became Dr. Holland and a Warden of Merton College. The college had been founded in 1264 by Walter de Merton, who was a Chancellor of England and later the Bishop of Rochester. It was the first fully self-governing college in Oxford University. The church itself is rather unique in that it was the parish church as well as the college chapel, and many people from other Oxfordshire parishes and the nearby counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Warwickshire were married there after obtaining licenses. this meant that neither John nor Joan needed to be resident in the parish or have a link to the parish to be able to be married there. According to published sources, John does not appear to have matriculated as a student at the university, or at least, not using the surname Nixy or Nixey.

John and Joan had at least two daughters and two sons, Mary, Ann, John, and William. As no baptism records have been found for any of them, it’s unknown where or when they were baptised, or in which order they were born. In this chapter, they appear in the order that they were married.

The earliest reference I’ve found so far of the Nixey family being at Cuddesdon is the burial entry of Francis Munt on 27th December 1729, where Joan Nixey was named as affidavit. The intention of the Burial in Woollen Acts of the late 1600s was to protect the wool trade in England, and these acts were still effective through the 1700s. An affidavit had to be sworn before a Justice of the Peace and two witnesses that the person had been buried in a woollen shroud. If the affidavit was not given to the incumbent within eight days of the burial, it was reported to the magistrate and a fine was imposed.

Cuddesdon was an Anglo-Saxon linear village along the area that is now the High Street, its name being derived from the Old English Cuddes Dune meaning “Cudde’s Hill” or the “Hill of Cuthwine.” Today, Cuddesdon is a mainly rural village, centred 5½ miles east-southeast of Oxford. The parish is bounded by its tributary Cuddesdon Brook to the north, the River Thame to the east and southeast, field boundaries to the southwest, and the road between Wheatley and Garsington to the west. The village overlooks south Oxfordshire, northern Berkshire, the Aylesbury Vale in central Buckinghamshire, and a small part of west Bedfordshire. There are views of both the Chiltern Hills and the area of outstanding natural beauty known as the North Wessex Downs.

Coming down from the higher ground into the river valley, the only building is the large, rather austere three-storey mill. This mill which is still in existence was built in the late 1700s, on the site of the former mill which had been the home of the Nixey family. The river Thame divides around this lower area, and centuries ago was likely to have been marshy, and possibly not such a healthy place to live. There is an excellent Ordnance Survey map of the area, complete with contours and houses marked, which shows visually what has just been described.

Mary was the first of John and Joan’s children to be married, settle down, and raise a family. After marrying John Cribbs at St. Martin’s, Oxford on 30th September 1730, they baptised three children at All Saints, Cuddesdon: Jeffery (4th October 1731), Mary (18th August 1734), and John (1738). Following the death of her husband in 1740, Mary married William Webb of Burcot, Oxfordshire at St. Mary Magdelene, Oxford on 25th April 1742. They had four children, all of whom were born at Cuddesdon Mill and baptised in the parish church: William (29th April 1743), Anne (13th March 1744/45), Thomas (28th September 1748), and finally Richard (6th October 1750 who died just a few days later and was buried on 15th October).

Mary Webb was left one shilling by her father in his will dated 1758. She died ten years later in the Spring of 1769 and was buried on 7th June at All Saints, Cuddesdon. As no age was recorded on her burial record, there is no indication as to when she may have been born.

It was almost five years later before John and Joan’s daughter Ann married Thomas Rippington of Waterperry, Oxfordshire. Their wedding took place on 9th April 1735 at the All Saints church in Cuddesdon. They baptised four children at the church of St. Mary the Virgin at Waterperry: Anne (23rd January 1736/37), Thomas (1st January 1738/39), Mary (22nd July 1747), and Sarah (23rd September 1749).

Even though Ann Rippington died at Waterperry in the Spring of 1757, just like her sister Mary, she was left one shilling by her father in his will dated 1758. She was buried on 30th May at St. Mary the Virgin, Waterperry. As no age was included in her burial record, there’s no indication of when she may have been born.

Thomas Rippington was born at Waterperry in 1707, and was a warden at the parish church. His name is inscribed on one of the church bells dated 1732, and he was appointed as an overseer of the poor from 1729 to 1749. Just prior to his death in 1778, he wrote a will, leaving monies totaling £400 to his children.

John Nixy and Mary Saunders were married at St. Thomas, Oxford on 14th October 1736. They baptised three children at All Saints, Cuddesdon:

Name  |  Approx. Birth Year

John Nixy: 4th September 1737 (my great great great great grandfather). In 1753 John was apprenticed for seven years to Richard Worth, a Wheelwright of Milton, Oxfordshire. For some reason he didn’t complete this apprenticeship, because in 1754 he was apprenticed for seven years to another Wheelwright, William Cox of Brightwell, Berkshire. Details on John’s marriage and adult life is given in a later chapter.

William Nixy: 24th April 1739. It was the descendants of this William who took the Nixey surname to Ireland and Scotland. He married Eleanor Broad at All Saints, Cuddesdon on 22nd July 1760, in the presence of John Bigges and Thomas Hinton. On this occasion, William signed his surname as Nixey. They baptised seven children at All Saints, Cuddesdon: William (31st December 1760), Mary (13th February 1762; she married Joseph Russell at St. Peter le Bailey, Oxford on 24th July 1788 in the presence of John Nixey and Nicholas Merry), John (6th May 1764; he married Hannah Elms at Grandborough in Buckinghamshire on 28th November 1788, in the presence of William Mayne and John Holland; following his wife’s death in December 1803 he married Elizabeth Stacey at Cuddesdon on 23rd July 1804, in the presence of William King and John Griffin), Ann (16th February 1766 who Very sadly died as a young child, and was buried on 5th November 1772), Thomas (6th December 1767; died unmarried at Horsepath, Oxfordshire and was buried on 17th April 1797), Edward (15th October 1769; married Elizabeth Freeman at Great Haseley, Oxfordshire on 30th May 1792 in the presence of Richard Smith and George Barney), Elizabeth (28th February 1772, : Very sadly she died in infancy, and was buried on 3rd November the same year). In late 1772, Eleanor Nixey née Broad passed away, and was buried on 5th November, the same day as their daughter Ann, and just two days after their daughter Elizabeth. William survived her by 28 years until his own death in 1800, and was buried on 29th December at Cuddesdon.

Thomas Nixey: John and Mary née Saunder’s third and final child Thomas was born at Cuddesdon Mill and baptised on 27th September 1741. Very sadly, he died while a young child, and was buried on 1st May 1743 at All Saints, Cuddesdon.

In late July 1753, John Nixy’s wife, Mary née Saunders, died at Cuddesdon Mill, and was buried at the Parish Church on 1st August. About three years later, John married his second wife, Mary Stevens, on 24th July 1756 at the same church, in the presence of John Bigges and John Ambrough. On this occasion, his surname was written as Nixey, John being described as “the younger.” As neither John nor Mary could write, they both signed with a mark. They had three children, all of whom were baptised at Cuddesdon:

Anne Nixy: 20th March 1757. The Parish records for Anne’s baptism gives her parents’ residence as Cuddesdon Mill. It seems most likely that she married William Cleadon on 15th October 1781 at Baldon Toot in Oxfordshire. They appear to have had four children, the first three being baptised at Baldon Toot, and the fourth at Baldon Marsh: Thomas (17th February 1783), Robert (22 April 1792), Mary (14th April 1795), and James (15th April 1798).

Thomas Nixy: 1st October 1758. Thomas had five children at Oakley, Buckinghamshire with his “wife” Ann, although so far no marriage has been found for them. Some sources suggest that her surname was Gibbon. They baptised the following children: John (25th September 1787),, William (6th February 1791), Thomas (about 1794; he married Hannah Bunce at St. Mary’s, Oakley on 11th December 1816 in the presence of William Shirley, James Eborn and Philip Eborn), Phoebe (9th June 1796 who died just a few weeks later and was buried on 5th July), and Fanny (18th August 1799; she married Edmund Dickens at All Saints, Middle Claydon, Buckinghamshire on 4th October 1819 in the presence of George Diggens and Mary Hamp.

Mary Nixey: 19th March 1760. Her baptism record gives her parent’s residence as Wheatley, and her father’s name appears to be “Tho”, the shortened form of Thomas. However, in old handwriting it could easilly have been originally noted down as “Jno”, the shortened form of John, and was incorrectly copied over. Mary married John Lovegrove at Cuddesdon on 20th October 1794 in the presence of Elizabeth Sawyer and Jane Quartermain. Nothing further is currently known about her.

William Nixey: John and Joan née Saunder’s final child, William, was buried on 25th February 1741/42 at All Saints, Cuddesdon, and yet again, no age was recorded. Eleven months before his death, his mother Joan had died and was buried on 27th March 1741. Her burial entry shows that she had died at Cuddesdon Mill, which is the earliest reference I have found so far of the Nixey family being connected with the mill.

John Nixey died about 3 months after writing his last will and testament which was dated 21st October 1758. In his will, he is named as “John Nixey the elder,” and is described as a “Yeoman.” In historical terms, this has been defined by the Oxford Reference website as “a man holding and cultivating a small landed estate; a freeholder; a person qualified for certain duties and rights, such as to serve on juries and vote for the knight of the shire, by virtue of possessing free land of an annual value of 40 shillings.” John Nixy was buried at All Saints, Cuddesdon on 30th January 1759, and, as there was no record made of his age, there is no indication of when he may have been born.

As well as being named as the sole executor of his father’s will, John was to receive all other goods and chattles, ready monies, wearing apparel and all other possessions. He also left his grandsons John and William £5 in his will. Although £5 doesn’t sound much in today’s money, back then it would have been worth the equivalent of about £1,220.

John Nixey “the younger” died just two years after his father, and was buried at Cuddesdon on 29th January 1761. Once more, no age was recorded, and so there is no indication as to when he may have been born. A number of years after his death, his widow Mary née Stevens married John Talbot at Cuddesdon on 6th June 1776 in the presence of John Bigges and Anne Callaway.

As a closing thought, If John Nixy and Joan Saunders had married when they were of full age, that is, at a minimum age of 21, that would give them an approximate birth year of 1683. In the Cuddesdon parish registers for the 1600s, the surname Saunders seems to be interchangeable with Sanders, and an entry that caught my attention was of Joan Sanders who was baptised there on 24th August 1677, the daughter of Robert and Ann. If this is the correct person, then she would have been around 27 years-old when she married John Nixy, and 64 when she died. However, a question remains: Is this Joan Sanders the lady who married John Nixy?