William Wallis
Derrick's great-great-great-grandfather. A labourer's son who married at nineteen, fathered at least eight children and died before the census of 1851 left his widow on the parish.
Family
Parents
Joseph Wallisc. 1783–1827inferred
Ann Phillipsa record read here
William Wallisgeneration 5
married 10 Feb 1827Mary Fostera record read here7 children
Joseph Wallis1827–1912a record read here
Emma Wallisb. c. 1830inferred
Ann Wallisb. c. 1834inferred
Hesther Wallisb. c. 1836inferred
Eliza Wallisa record read here
Jeremiah Wallisa record read here
William Wallisa record read here
2 siblings
Jane Wallis
Esther Philips Wallis
Each person is marked by where that line came from, in words as well as colour.
On the individual lines:
- Joseph Wallis (parent): best candidate
- Ann Phillips (parent): her daughter's middle name says so
- Joseph Wallis (child): baptised to William and Mary
- Emma Wallis (child): same household in 1851
- Ann Wallis (child): same household in 1851
- Hesther Wallis (child): same household in 1851
What the record says
Probable His baptism and his marriage are register entries matched by name and parish, and he is the only William Wallis baptised at Weston between 1790 and 1810; his death is inferred from the 1851 census, in which his wife is a widow.
Born Weston, Hertfordshire, baptised 13 September 1807 · died between May 1848 and March 1851 (not found)
| When | What | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Oct 1804 | His parents marry at Weston | Joseph Wallis, bachelor, and Ann Phillips, spinster, both of Weston Holy Trinity; witnesses James Swaine and Robert Hide. | Documented |
| 13 Sep 1807 | Baptised at Weston | William, son of Joseph and Ann Wallis. His sister Jane was baptised on 2 June 1805 and his sister Esther Philips on 6 May 1810, to the same parents. The second sister's names are the clue to the mother: Esther was the name of Ann Phillips's own mother. | Documented |
| 10 Feb 1827 | Marries Mary Foster at Weston | William Wallis, bachelor, and Mary Foster, spinster, both of Weston Holy Trinity, witnesses James Watson and William Kent. He is nineteen, if this is the William baptised in 1807, and the only William Wallis baptised at Weston from 1790 to 1810. His son Joseph is baptised five months later. A Joseph Wallis aged 43, probably his father, is buried at Weston on 6 April 1827, two months after the wedding. | Read with care |
| 1827 to 1848 | At least seven children baptised at Weston | Joseph (22 Jul 1827), Eliza (6 Nov 1842), Jeremiah (5 Oct 1845) and William (7 May 1848) are in the register to William and Mary Wallis, labourer. Emma, Ann and Hesther are in their mother's household in 1851 and their baptisms were not found. | Documented |
| 30 Mar 1851 | His widow is on the parish | Mary Wallis, 42, a labourer's widow and a pauper, in Weston village with Emma, Ann, Hesther, Eliza, Jeremiah, William and a granddaughter, Eliza Ann, aged one (HO 107 piece 1709, schedule 81). So William died between the baptism of May 1848 and the census. | Read with care |
Where this comes from
Each line of the table above names the record it rests on in its third column, and the grade at the top says how well the whole is evidenced. What is not established is said under its own heading below. How the grades and the labels on the chart are decided, and every source this archive holds.
What is not established
- His death has not been found; the index gives no age before 1866 and several William Wallises are possible.
- His own parents are one candidate, not a finding. Joseph Wallis and Ann Phillips married at Weston in 1804 and had Jane, William and Esther Philips baptised there; the register names no surname for the mother, and the identification of the William of 1827 with the baptism of 1807 rests on his being the only one.
- His father Joseph is most probably the Joseph baptised at Clothall on 5 January 1783 to Joseph and Mary Wallis (who married at Clothall on 26 December 1771), but he was buried at Weston aged 43, which is a year younger than the baptism, and no document names him as the Weston groom of 1804. A Joseph Wallis baptised at Great Munden in 1781 is accounted for as another man: he married a Stains in 1801 and was buried at Great Munden in 1848.
- His mother Ann's baptism is the one at Weston on 16 November 1783 to William and Esther Phillips, who married at Weston on 21 February 1775 by licence (William Philips, bachelor, and Esther Wright, spinster, both of Weston; witnesses John Wright and Wm. Hide; the couple and the first witness signed with a cross). A William Phillips, yeoman, was buried at Weston on 20 October 1793, and Esther, widowed, married William Harwood at Weston on 3 October 1795 as Esther Phillips, widow, and is probably the Hester Harwood buried there on 2 October 1831 aged 75 (Esther Wright's baptism is probably that of Hester Wright at Stevenage on 27 December 1754, to John and Sarah Wright; that is a match by forename, date and age and no document names her parents as a Weston bride's). William's own parents are not known: a William Phillips, yeoman, of Weston made a will in 1760 (Hertfordshire Archives, 107HW16 and 16HR150), which has not been read and is the likeliest place to find them. Ann was buried at Weston on 5 April 1833 aged 48, a year younger than the baptism.