Ford Family In Hanbury 1700s On

A Memory of Draycott.

We travelled from Sydney, Australia in 2006 to Hanbury, looking for traces of our Ford Family who had lived in the area around 1800.  Our particular ancestor was a convict, John Ford, "Alias Tonks", b. 1801. He was tried and sentenced to 7 years in the colony of NSW, and was never to return, his crime was that of pig stealing.

Armed with some prior research done for us by the Stafford Office, we were aware that John Ford "Alias" Tonks was born along with his 8 siblings  at "Foxholes Farm", they were all christened in the Parish of Hanbury. The marriage of their parents William Tonks Ford and Mary Ward took place in Marchington in 1797.  William Tonks Ford was named in the Parish record as "Will Bastard Son of Mary Tonks".  We found "Foxholes Farm", an old pig farm, which ceased to operate as such c1944, around the time of the Fauld Explosion. It was in Draycott-in-the-Clay, turning at the old drinking fountain, down Pipe Hay Lane and at the end of Greaves Lane. To stand on the soil of our ancestors is a big thing for an Aussie with only 200 odd years of history, this was a wonderful memory for that will always stay with us.

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