Willis Family of Toddington, Dunstable, Luton

[KerrUSA]

A number of my Mum's ancestors seem to have come from Bedfordshire between 1750 and 1900.  Here is the listing (going backwards from most recent) of those I have documented thus far:

The Hon. Judge William Willis, QC, MP (b. 29 Apr 1835 Dunstable, Beds; d. 22 Aug 1911 Blackheath, Essex), married first to Annie Outhwaite (b. Blackheath) by whom he had all but one of his children, and married second to Marie Elizabeth Moody (b. Lewisham).  His father was ...

William Willis (b. c. 1811 Toddington, Beds; d. Jun 1885 Leighton Buzzard, Beds), married Esther Kentish Masters (b. c. 1810 London; d. 1877 Islington).  He appears to have been a straw-hat maker in Dunstable and Luton.  His father was ...

Thomas Willis Jr. (b. 1782 Toddington, Beds; d. 15 Mar 1846 Toddington, Beds), married Alice SNU (d. 6 Jan 1846 Toddington, Beds).  Thomas was a moving force in the founding of the Toddington Baptist Church in 1816 and is buried with his wife on the church grounds.  His father was ...

Thomas Willis Sr., about whom I know nothing.  I only know his name, because the church records repeatedly refer to his son as Thomas Willis Jr.  I don't know if he was born, lived, or died in Bedfordshire, or if he might have lived entirely elsewhere, so I am seeking suggestions on how to locate information on him.  The GRO have been of practically no assistance, since I have no idea what parishes he may have been born or lived in.

Any suggestions?  I am also hoping to connect with anyone who might be researching the same Willis family.  I have loads of information on the descendants of Thomas Jr. and will be happy to share.

[bedfordshire boy]

Don't assume that Junior necessarily means that his father was also Thomas. I've seen cases where the relationship was grandfather/grandson, uncle/nephew and one last week where there was no relationship at all. It just differentiated two people of the same name in the same parish, one of whom was older than the other.

The GRO only deals with civil registrations which started in 1837, so events in the 1780s won't be found there. You need to be looking in parish registers.

According to the NBI a Thomas Willis aged 77 was buried at St George's Toddington, on 26 Apr 1848. Is this a separate Thomas to the one who died in 1846? (later: I suspect the 1848 burial was actually Thomas Willison, whose death appears on freebmd in the June quarter 1848 - there's a 73 year old ag lab in Toddington in 1841 whose surname has been transcribed as William, but which looks more like Willison to me) He/they should appear in the 1841 census. There's only one -

Dunstable St., Toddington
Thomas Willis 61 Farmer
Alice Willis 60
Joseph Willis 25
Mary Ann Willis 20
Ruth Willis 4
All born in Bedfordshire

So on the face of it Thomas was born in Beds, although the 1841 is not particularly reliable on this score.

Virtually all of Beds parish registers pre 1813 have been extracted onto the IGI at www.familysearch.org, making Beds a fairly easy county to research. Alice SNU doesn't look to be an English name. There's an extracted entry on the IGI of a marriage  on 6 Jan 1803 at Toddington of Thomas Willis and Alice BAILEY, and another on 26 Aug 1816 at Toddington of Thomas Willis and Alice ROBARTS. You need to view the microfilm to check them both out, to see if in the later marriage Thomas was described as widower, and to see if a parish of residence other than Toddington is given, and to see if the witnesses provide a clue. I can't see a burial of an Alice in Toddington 1803-16.

If the family was non-conformist they may not have baptised their children in the established church, and if they were Baptists they didn't believe in baptising children, so it may be difficult to trace Thomas' baptism from which you would have got his parents' names. But baptists still had to marry in the established church if they wanted a legal marriage. The 1803 marriage is the first Willis entry in Toddington, so it's difficult to know where the father was from. The first Willis burial in the parish church was on 25 Dec 1837 with Susan Willis aged 69. She seems too young to have been Thomas' mother

I would check with Bedford and Luton Archives and Records Service to see if they hold any wills for Willis in Toddington - see http://blars.adlibsoft.com/wwwopac.exe?DATABASE=catalo%3Earchives&LANGUAGE=0&DEBUG=0&BRIEFADAPL=../web/adapls/wwwreq&DETAILADAPL=../web/adapls/wwwreq&%250=400038953&LIMIT=50 for an extract of the 1846 will of Thomas. He seemed to own quite a bit of property in various places. But it's his father's will you really  need. See also http://blars.adlibsoft.com/wwwopac.exe?DATABASE=catalo%3Earchives&LANGUAGE=0&DEBUG=0&BRIEFADAPL=../web/adapls/wwwreq&DETAILADAPL=../web/adapls/wwwreq&%250=400039212&LIMIT=50

You also need to go through the BLARS online catalogue at http://blars.adlibsoft.com/ and also the A2A archive at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/advanced-search.aspx?tab=1

There were also numerous Willisons in Toddington at the crucial time

A licence was issued on 9 Apr 1804 for a dwelling house in Toddington in the occupation of Henry Saunders, next to the house of Mrs Alice Wheeler, to be used as a chapel/meeting house. The persons registering the building were Henry Saunders, T.Willis, Alice Willis, James Bailey, Mary Saunders, Thomas Saunders, John Lee


David

[KerrUSA]

Virtually all of Beds parish registers pre 1813 have been extracted onto the IGI at www.familysearch.org, making Beds a fairly easy county to research. Alice SNU doesn't look to be an English name. There's an extracted entry on the IGI of a marriage  on 6 Jan 1803 at Toddington of Thomas Willis and Alice BAILEY, and another on 26 Aug 1816 at Toddington of Thomas Willis and Alice ROBARTS.

David

David, thank you VERY much for this information and your search suggestions.  You've given me more than a few minutes' work!  I must apologize for my "Alice SNU" shorthand.  I use "SNU" to indicate "surname unknown" in cases like Alice, whose surname is not mentioned in any records I have viewed to date.  I should probably use the more conventional "___________", but it takes longer to type.

The marriage of Thomas Willis and Alice Bailey in 1803 looks to be a promising one.  They would each have been about age 20 or 21 at that time and the first child I have record of being born to them was William around 1811.  I believe the 1841 census information you supplied is indeed for my Thomas and Alice, as I have record of their children being William, Joseph, and Mary Ann.  Not sure whose child Ruth might have been!  At age 30, William was married (to Esther Kentish Masters) and living in Dunstable in 1841, so no longer in Thomas' home.

The marriage of Thomas Willis and Alice Robarts in 1816 might either be a second marriage or the marriage of the Thomas Willis who was buried in 1848 at age 77.

These are very promising leads, so I shall get busy tracking them down.

[bedfordshire boy]

I realised well after I'd finished amending what SNU was!

"Ruth Jane Willis natural daughter of Mary Ann Sear" (Thomas' "daughter Mary Ann, wife of Edmund Sear" ) was left £300 by her grandfather in the will that I mentioned

David

[KerrUSA]

I realised well after I'd finished amending what SNU was!

"Ruth Jane Willis natural daughter of Mary Ann Sear" (Thomas' "daughter Mary Ann, wife of Edmund Sear" ) was left £300 by her grandfather in the will that I mentioned

David

That clears up the Ruth Ann Willis mystery.  She was, as some have previously speculated, the illegitimate daughter of Mary Ann Willis prior to her marriage to Edmund Sear, whom she married in 1843 in Woburn, Beds.


Another tidbit:  Several Saunders are mentioned in your note about the 1804 licensing of a dwelling house.  One of William Willis' daughters married a Francis Saunders, whom Mum remembers fondly as her "Uncle Frank" and is mentioned in the obituary as a son-in-law present at William's funeral in 1911.