Sampson WILLIAMS - St. Martin on Looe Bay

[jovi75]

Does anyone have access to records for this parish for the mid-late 1700's?  I have hit a complete brick wall with this chap and do not now know which way to turn.

Info I already have is:

Sampson Williams married Mary Webber on 03.09.1786 in St.Martin.  They went on to have the following children: William (1787), Richard (1789), Mary (1791), John (1793), Jane (1795), Matthew (1797).

I cannot find any reference to Sampson before or after these dates.  I can only find one Sampson Williams in the 1841 census and he is about 75 yrs old living in Maker, Cornwall.  Possibly my one??

In my search I can only ever find reference to a Sampson Williams from Breage but he stayed in Breage and married Elizabeth Trannick.

If anyone is able to have a go at breaking my wall I really would be most grateful (I've been on this for months & months now).

Thanks

[shirl100]

Hi there, I don't know if you are still hunting, but there is a baptism (long shot!) on Cornwll OPC in Menheniot (5 miles from St Martin) so could be a possible one although it would make him about 31 on marriage : 11 May 1755 mother Mary, says baseborn.

Interesting on the familysearch.org pilot under England marriages Sampson is shown as Sampson Grills Williams married to Mary Webber, may be a clue somewhere there? The name Sampson Grylls Williams also appears on Matthew's and William's baptism record . Just to confuse everything there is Jane's baptism at St Martins where mother's name is shown as Mary Grills and on John's baptism she is shown as Mary G. Food for thought although I think I may have added to your brick wall!

Shirl

[jovi75]

Hi Shirl,

Thanks for picking up on this topic.  I haven't come across the baptism you mentioned before, and only 5 miles from St. Martin it sounds promising.  Any idea what baseborn means?

Yes the "Grylls" / "Grills" thing has been confusing with it being linked to both Sampson & Mary.  I did trace Mary's family a bit and have not come across any other link to that name so have assumed (possibly wrongly) that it is a link to Sampson.

I will now have a go at looking into this new baptism.

Thanks again for helping with this.

Best wishes
Natalie

[shirl100]

Well fingers crossed it might be a lead for Sampson -  baseborn shown in parish records usuaully means illegitimate.

Good luck with your research

Shirl

[jovi75]

Ooohh, illegitimate!!  Even more interesting - though would bring my search to a bit of an end - mindyou, I guess if that was the case then the Williams name would be his mother's.  I wonder if there were siblings then?

Many thanks

Natalie x

[Roberts1969]

Curious as to how this search has turned out. Sampson Grylls Williams is an ancestor on mine. The name Williams runs all the way down to my paternal grandmother. He is as far back as i have got on ancestry.com.