“Years of researching my genealogy have revealed some interesting surnames. One in particular has fascinated my family for over a century: Sparrowhawk, my great great grandmother’s name. She was Edith Annie Sparrowhawk, but I now know that she wasn’t really a Sparrowhawk at all.
“Edith Annie was born in 1869 in the village of Aston, near Bampton in Oxfordshire. Her parents were carter Frederick William Sparrowhawk and his wife Fanny Fox.
“Sparrowhawk is still a common name in the Aston area. The personal name predates the Norman Conquest, and the first recorded bearer of the surname was Geoffrey Sparheuec, who lived in Warwickshire, c1221.
“My 3x great grandfather Frederick William was the son of Ann Sparrowhawk, a spinster of Aston. In the 1841 census records, Ann was working as a servant for Thomas and Elizabeth Lindsey, who were wealthy farmers at High Cogges near Aston.
“Ann had a son called Thomas Sparrowhawk in 1839, and no father was mentioned on the baptism record. She then gave birth to Frederick William Sparrowhawk in 1842. Although William had been a popular name in the family since the 1500s, he was the first Frederick.
“None of the official records held any clues regarding Frederick William’s father. His baptism entry only gave his mother’s name, “Ann Sparrowhawk”, and listed her as a spinster. There was no mention of his father on either of his two marriage certificates.
“Ann was working for the Lindsey family around the time of Frederick William’s birth, so I decided to research them. I was intrigued to notice that in 1822 Thomas and Elizabeth Lindsey had a son, called Frederick.
“By 1851, Frederick Lindsey was married, but not to Ann. She had moved to Oxford and her sons were living with her parents in Aston. I felt sure that Frederick Lindsey was my 4x great grandfather, but I just couldn’t prove it.
“Both my dad Tim and I took AncestryDNA tests, but neither of us had a match with any Lindsey descendants. In 2021, I persuaded my grandmother Jean to take a test. It was so exciting when the results came back and revealed matches with several of Frederick Lindsey’s relatives.
“The closest link was a fourth cousin relationship, with the common ancestors being Frederick Lindsey’s parents Thomas and Elizabeth. Jean also linked with descendants of Frederick’s sisters, Mary and Ann.
“It was so satisfying to solve the mystery regarding Frederick William’s father. The DNA findings also revealed that Ann Sparrowhawk and Frederick Lindsey were third cousins.
“I now had whole new branches of the family to explore – the Lindseys and Heritages of High Cogges. Elizabeth Heritage’s family was from the Cotswold village of Cornwell. The trail continued back via various families to 16th-century Warwickshire and the village of Barton-on-the-Heath, 15 miles south of Stratford-upon-Avon.
“My 13x great grandfather Edmund Lambert lived in Barton-on-the-Heath and married a farmer’s daughter called Joan Arden. She was born c1530 in Wilmcote, Warwickshire.
“Joan had a sister called Mary who married a local businessman in 1557. They lived in Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon, where Mary gave birth to their son, William Shakespeare, in 1564.
“So I am the first cousin, 14 times removed, of the most famous writer in the world. It was amazing to discover this connection to the Bard, even though I have never been a fan of his works!
“It was important to me to prove this link, so I double-checked the details with parish registers. I also found a family tree online with sources including the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and that backed up the claim.
“It was fascinating to find a link to Edmund and Joan Lambert in The Taming of the Shrew, which has a reference to “Burton Heath” (now Barton-on-the-Heath) where they lived. In the 1590s, the Lamberts feuded with John and Mary Shakespeare regarding land ownership around Burton Heath, and Shakespeare must have been aware of his relatives there.
“I’ve since been able to connect with a couple of my Lindsey relations via AncestryDNA. They were very interested to hear of the Sparrowhawk scandal.
“It’s fantastic that DNA can link me to famous names in history. It’s also amazing that it can help to unravel a paternity mystery from 180 years ago.”