Just to close this message string out for anyone who comes across it in future.
William Ayling was born 1769 in Woolavington and deceased in 1855 in Worthing. He was the son of Thomas Ayling (1738-1820) born in Graffham and deceased at Norwood Farm in Woolavington. Autosomal testing of about a dozen descendants confirms this assessment. Even more conclusively, YDNA testing of me and a descendant of William confirms Thomas was our 5th great grandfather. This assessment is rock solid. I descend from William's brother James Ayling (1775-1860), born in Woolavington and deceased in Brighton (but returned to East Dean for burial where his wife Mary was buried).
See "Aylings of Graffham/Woolavington, West Sussex" tree on Ancestry for the family lines back to Richard Aylyng, of Heyshott, one of the first men to have the surname recorded in a tax document. He was probably born somewhere around 1250 AD.
Since my original post above, I've since done extensive research on the Ayling (and Aylwin) surname, including compiling the records for all parishes in West Sussex, Hampshire and West Surrey. I have recently compiled transcripts of all Ayling (and Aylwin ) Wills and Administrations, of which there are nearly 500, as well as over 100 Estate Inventories. All of the above has allowed me to figure out where most families originated and how they connect.
YDNA testing of 11 Ayling men (as of spring 2021), with West Sussex ancestors in Iping, Stedham, Lodsworth, Graffham, Woolavington, South Stoke, Houghton, Walberton and Worthing, confirms we share essentially the same Y chromosome --and that we therefore descend from the same man. In assessing the minor differences in our YDNA signatures against known genealogy, I am fairly confident our ancestor-in-common was John Aylyng (D. 1511) deceased at Bramshott, Hampshire. He may have been the person recorded as the Reeve of Droxford Manor, Hants in the late 1400's.
To see the above research check out aylinghistory.net
Cheers,
Chris Ayling
Canada