Hi Nannyj,
Sorry John 1670 was my mistake, it was 1684 of course and so the four children were baptised between 1684 and 1700, not 1684 and 1670 as I stated, must have been having a Der moment.
In my notes I mention that I noticed an Edward son of Edward 7 Mary Willis baptised 20 Dec 1679 at Shalford and that I hadn't checked out that family.
I really don't know what to make of the John and Temperance couple, the thoughts ricocheting around my brain are:-
Was the name temperance an error or mistaken identity by the person writing up the baptism entries in the PRs?
Alternatively were there two guys named John Willis/Willowes active around the same time in Shalford, one with a wife named Elizabeth and the other with a wife Temperance?
Or was Elizabeth also named Temperance?
I've put that theorizing to one side for the time being because I was going around in circles, I'm hoping when or if I have the marriage of John and Elizabeth it might provide the clue.
If an Elizabeth Young is the wife of John Willowes then the Free Reg transcripts may have provided me with Elizabeth's baptism * * 1663 the daughter of William Young at Little Dunmow but I won't be carrying out any research on that until I have John & elizabeth's marriage.
Thanks for taking an interest, much appreciated.