The BOX Family of Sussex

Ancestors of Mandy Willard

Family History is my hobby - I am not a professional genealogist.

Thank you for taking the time to view my humble effort. Also, a very BIG THANK YOU to all those who have kindly contributed information.

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The BOX Family of Sussex

Locations

Ardingly

Barcombe

My Box Ancestors

I join the Box tree with a 4x Great Grandmother Sarah Box, who married John Knowles in 1788 in Ardingly, Sussex. Sarah was born and baptised in Ardingly and her parents, John Box and Hannah Hames had married there in 1754. John and his father George Box were also baptised in Ardingly. George married Ann Comber in nearby Balcombe in 1715, although she had also been baptised in Ardingly.

George's father, William Box, had settled in Ardingly at least by the time he first married there in 1679. I descend from his second wife, Susanna Vinall, widow (possibly nee Susanna Payne), whom he had married as William Vaux in 1681 in Lewes. William was baptised in Barcombe on 1 January 1647/8, and his father Geroge Boxe died before William was a year old. George married twice and I descend from his second wife Jane Longley. At the moment I don't know what became of Jane, but her son also named George, was buried in Ardingly in 1655, therefore, I assume she moved from Barcombe to Ardingly sometime between 1648 and 1655. Jane was baptised in Horsted Keynes. Her husband and his first wife had a son baptised in Ardingly in 1642, so again, I assume George had some connection to the parish, although he had also been baptised in Barcombe in 1615 and was buried there in 1648.

In the early 1600's and back into the 1500's, the Box surname was more often spelt Bokes or Bookes and even Boakes. George baptised in 1615 was the son of William Bokes, by his third of four wives, Susanna Beard of Rottingdean. William was most probably born in Barcombe before the commencement of the parish registers in 1581, and was probably the son of John Bokes who when he died in 1606 left a will mentioning his son William. John may have been born in the 1540's and may have been the son of Robert Bokes who left a will in 1571 in which he named his 2 sons John and Robert. I am guessing that Robert was born circa 1510 may have been the son of Richard Bokes who left a will in 1555.

I am grateful to so many other Box descendants for their help in putting together our Box family history, but in particular I would like to thank Helen Green and Nigel Sawyer. There's still more to find and unravel, so watch this space, there maybe more to come.