Henry Nixon was born in 1841 in Huxley Lodge Northamptonshire, the youngest and 5th child of Reuben and Ann Nixon.In 1871 he lived with his sister Sarah Hill. He married Matilda Ann Henley in 1881 at Holy Trinity Church in Wimbledon. They had two children one of whom was our grandmother Margaret May. His oldest child was His son Harry Burtenshaw born in 1882. His wife died in 1887 and he remarried Amy Lawrence in 1888 at Blean Kent and they had two children, Laura Maud and Cicily Nixon.
Henry had apprenticed as a wheelwright and became a carriage maker. He died in 1926 and left his estate worth $250,000 in 2021 dollars to his youngest daughter Cicily who was then single and living with her mother. Henry seemed to be an example of upward mobility in England. His father’s estate was worth less than 20 pounds.
It was thanks to Henry Nixon that my father was able to get an education. Public education didn’t go beyond elementary school then and he paid the fees for high school for only my father.
