Granthams of North-East Oxfordshire
Pam Griffiths
William Grantham, who was buried at Quainton in Buckinghamshire on 22nd September 1776, was a prolific parent. He had thirteen offspring by his two wives, and at least one child out of wedlock. His son, John Grantham, limited himself to one wife but fathered another thirteen children. The Grantham clan grew rapidly during its time in Quainton and has now spread around the world. The trail leads one generation further back, to William's parents - Thomas Grantham and Ann George of Barton Hartshorn. This is all detailed in 'Five Hundred Years of Grainges', also on this website.
There are no clues to this family's origin in Buckinghamshire, but a number of Grantham families were living in North-east Oxfordshire in the 17th and early 18th centuries. It seems highly likely that there is a link between the Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire families, as the area involved straddles the county boundary.
However, in spite of meticulous searching in three counties, I have been unable to find a definitive link, so this theory remains firmly in the realms of speculation, and the attached account is full of 'ifs' and 'buts'. My reason for publishing is the hope that someone will contact me either with proof positive either way, or with another piece of the jigsaw.
The accompanying pdf document, Speculations Rife, details what I have discovered about the various Grantham families and my attempts to find links between them. There are also two separate trees in pdf format: The Descendants of Thomas Grantham of Barton Hartshorn, and A Speculative Grantham Clan Reconstruction, as well as those embedded in the text.
If you do not have a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader, it is available for free download here.