Family History

This Eaton Bray genealogy is an attempt to compile many available sources, thereby showing family relations otherwise impossible or very difficult to discover. It is by no means complete and focuses on the mid to late 1800's. I hope that others will add and correct based on evidences they have access to. I started my main work of compiling in 2004 while serving as a consultant/patron assistant at the Family History Department of the Brigham Young University Library. I had access to the microfilm/microfiche collections The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints had filmed of many of the original Eaton Bray genealogical records(Church of England banns, marriages, baptisms and burials, Wesleyan marriages and baptisms). I also used England Census from several sources including the LDS Church and Ancestory.Com. I have built on records collected by my grandfather (V.F. Wootton) and his family. Documentation is in the Notes section of my original Personal Ancestral File (PAF) for each person.

My great great great grandfather, James Wootton was born in 1776 in Ivinghoe, Bucks. He earned his living as a Sawyer and apparently moved to Eaton Bray around 1803 when he married Susannah Brinklow. My great great grandfather, William Wootton was born in Eaton Bray in 1808 and also worked as a Sawyer. After converting to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1848, William remained in Eaton Bray until 1861 when he and his family emigrated to the United States, eventually settling in Butlerville, Utah (south of Salt Lake City).

As I began to collect information on my ancestors I quickly found that I was related to many of the families of Eaton Bray and it became easier to just put all of the individuals I located into a common database (PAF in my case). This approach proved beneficial and allowed me to cross document family relations that would have been very difficult to establish otherwise. Even with this many records, I know that there are errors in this database—duplications and combinings that are not valid are the most common. As I find new evidence, I continue to correct this database. I hope this is helpful to others and I hope that you may find as much satisfaction in your family history as I have.

I am very appreciative of the work of so many others that I have relied on. The Eaton Bray web site is wonderful and very helpful. GENUKI.com has been very valuable. Google Maps and Ancestry.com have been invaluable. The microfilms/microfiche the LDS Church has made available were critical and I am extremely grateful to the Church of England and the Wesleyan Church for allowing filming of their original records. Finally, I wish to thank Community Trees for providing a web site where family histories can be posted for all to utilize.