RAMPTONs of Whitchurch and Surrounding Parishes
Introduction
This section examines another of the Hampshire families of RAMPTON, those living in the area covered by the modern-day Registration District of Whitchurch. The parishes in this section of the One-Name Study are:
The area is bordered on the north by the Registration District of Kingsclere, on the East by Basingstoke, on the West by Andover, and on the South by Basingstoke.
St Mary Bourne is the most westerley parish in the Registration District of Whitchurch. It's parish church of St Peter has registers from 1661.
The parish church of St Andrew, in Hurstbourne Priors, records marriages and burials from 1604, although baptisms exist from 1621 only (presumably the earlier ones are lost).
Whitchurch's oldest Anglican church is All Hallows, and Parish Registers exist from 1605.
The earliest record of a RAMPTON in Whitchurch is the baptism of
William RUMTON in 1673. His father's name is given as Goodman RUMTON. The next event is the marriage of
William RAMPTON to Joan BRADBORN, described as
both of this parish, in 1693. Joan had been baptised in Whitchurch, in 1674. William and Joan had one son, also William, baptised in 1694 in Whitchurch, and then the entire family disappears from the Whitchurch registers. The next RAMPTON event in Whitchurch in 1766, and this one is in doubt as the writing on the marriage entry is quite clearly
Joseph BAMPTON, not RAMPTON. He has signed the register and that signature is clearly and positively BAMPTON also. It is not until 1786 that the first beginnings of a RAMPTON dynasty can be detected in Whitchurch, with the marriage of
William RAMPTON and Sarah COOPER.
St Mary's church has registers from 1714, although marriages were not recorded before 1762.
St Nicholas parish church has registers from 1820 to 1976. The folk of Freefolk otherwise travelled to Laverstoke parish for baptisms, etc.
Laverstoke St Mary has registers from 1656.
Parish Registers have been kept in the Parish of Overton, at the Church of St Mary, since at least 1617, although many of the early registers are incomplete or lost. It is therefore not possible to be precise about the earliest RAMPTON event. The earliest
known RAMPTON event is that of the baptism of Martha to
William and Martha (nee HARRIS). Neither parent was of the parish, since Martha was "of Winterslow in Wiltshire" and William was "of East Tytherley". Although I have a chart for this family showing a number of children, I have been unable to establish the subsequent history of any of them.
The church of Holy Trinity and St Andrew has registers from 1606, although entries prior to 1729 were copied from the early registers which were subsequently destroyed.
History and Geography
The Evidence
All events have been checked, as far as possible, against primary sources. Occasionally, secondary sources, such as Phillimore's Index of Marriages in Hampshire or the International Genealogical Index (IGI), have been used where it has not been possible to view original material, and this is always mentioned in the text with a caveat. Unless otherwise stated, all places are in Hampshire.
Census Information
© This Research prepared by Sue Beard December 2002