The Hyphen Family Lineage

The only record I have found so far connecting James Laxton to his purported parents William and Sarah is his presence in the 1851 census listing for their household, in which his birthplace is given as Spalding and his age as seven years. Initially, I had taken this for a transcription error, and that it should have been read as the number "2" for his age - William and Sarah did not marry until the spring of 1846, but James' presumed birth year would have been about 1844 according to that listing.

There is a birth registration record for a James William Laxton in Spalding, Lincolnshire Cty, England from the fourth quarter of 1843 that might well be this same boy, but the indexed record does not give any parents' names. Afterwards, James can be found as an employee in the 1861 census in the household of Henry and Rebecca Upton, also in Pinchbeck.

As such, I tend to believe that James is not a son of William and Sarah, but rather he is more likely a nephew of William's. I have not done a complete survey of the Laxton family in this area of Lincolnshire Cty from that time period, but it should be noted that there were multiple Laxton households in Pinchbeck and Spalding in the 1841 census. It seems probable that these households were all related to William, and one of them is quite possibly James' immediate family.