Willises of Winlaton??

[heather93a]

I'm trying to trace a John Willis born in Winlaton married to Mary (possibly Steward) from London. THey had 7 children, the eldest being Thomas born 1837 in Whickham. There seem to be 2 Willis families in the area but I'm tracing the Winlaton lot. I've tried IGI but there is very little for Winlaton, any ideas what to do next?

[Geoffers]

I'm trying to trace a John Willis born in Winlaton married to Mary (possibly Steward) from London. THey had 7 children, the eldest being Thomas born 1837 in Whickham. There seem to be 2 Willis families in the area but I'm tracing the Winlaton lot. I've tried IGI but there is very little for Winlaton, any ideas what to do next?
First thing is, have you been able to trace an entry of birth in the GRO index for any of the children, and so order a birth certificatge? A birth certificate would give the mum's maiden name and so help to confirm that you have the correct marriage when you track it down.

With the mum's maiden name and birth place, you could check census returns to see if she might have had any other family living in this part of the country.

From census returns, and the parents ages recorded there, is Thomas likely to have been the first child or could there have been earlier children? i.e. Do census returns indicate the parents were born around 1815-1820-ish - if they were born much earlier, it is possible that they had other children and married earlier.

If you get no luck with the GRO index for births, you will have to resort to using parish registers for the area.

Geoffers

[heather93a]

Thanks for that. I've found Hannah Jane Willis, Thomas's sister, and sent for the birth certificate, I'll then take it from there.