Alice Boyson was the daughter of a farm worker and fifth in a family of nine children. She was only 32 when she died at Crick in 1856.
Despite her humble circumstances, it has been possible to track her Boyson forebears for eight generations back to Staverton, then Barby, Kislingbury and Gayton, after which the family arrived at Winwick where Alice was born.
Sources including wills, hearth tax records, newspaper reports, tombstones and a quitclaim made in 1705 have helped to assemble the picture, as well as the well-worn path of parish registers. A sister and a sister-in-law spent time in the County Lunatic Asylum whose records allow a much closer knowledge of the individuals concerned than would otherwise be possible. There is also a brush with an execution for sheep-stealing in 1815.
Among the other local families mentioned are Hynes, Flamell, Harding, Salsbury, Bates, Latham, Elmes and Crisp.
You can download an illustrated account about Alice and her family as a free PDF from the Internet Archive