My First Steps

I started with the memorials found in that church, I spent time writing down all the names dates, of burial etc. Some memorials gave me the links between the family members but others were just names with no spouses or children mentioned.

The memorials were beautifully preserved inside the church and some of the memorials were to lords and viscounts, so I had a head start with finding the links. I started with the village I found the church in, Twyford in Buckinghamshire, and looked for prominent families in that area. I then started to research their family history, finding lots of information in the history of the county of Buckinghamshire enabling me to make links between a lot of the names I had found in the church.

The family history I uncovered was intriguing and pointed me in the direction of other villages and towns in the area. The first one I investigated was Thame in Oxfordshire. Their family history showed the family of Wenman marrying into the Williams family who were very wealthy landowners in and around Twyford, Thame and other areas. When Lord Williams died sometime before 1660, he left his estate to his two daughters one Isabel who was married to Richard Wenman, great-grandfather of Thomas, 2nd Viscount Wenman, here I had the link on the name I was looking for Wenman.

This led me to Thame Park a large mansion on the outskirts of Thame, my first port of call was to the local church, where I found nothing, the local tourist information centre was better and I discovered that Thame Park had its own chapel, hence nothing in the local church, but having also found out that Thame park was now in private hands I could not get access to the chapel or the burials records. I started researching the history of Thame Park and found that there were no descendants of the Wenamns left, the family having died out with no male heirs left. This tied into my family history myth of the lack of male heirs but did not give me any links to follow up on and a seeming missing generation. My next move was to apply for a copy of the last will and testimony of the last Wenman I had found there Sophia Elizabeth Wenman Baroness of Thame, unfortunately there was no mention of other Wenman’s in the will.

So I was left at a dead end again.