Family:Elias Williams and Ann Rumble (1)

Elias Williams, like his brother Reuben, left Creech St. Michael Somerset in the late 1840s and moved to London. Both brothers seemed to have settled in proximity to each other in the area of Wandsworth in Surrey.

Elias may have been married three times. He had a daughter born 1847 in Battersea, Surrey who was living with the family on the 1861 census.

The August 1851 marriage of Elias Williams, carman, to Ann Rumble, daughter of Edward Rumble, at the parish church of St. Mary Newington is almost definitely Elias's, given that the father is listed as James Williams, butcher, and tracing the only really good matching Elias Williams of London on the census later indicates his birthplace as Creech St. Michael.

However, an 1853 letter from his nephew to his sister details that he was living in London and his wife had two children. This could be interpreted as the second wife raising the first wife's daughter (Sarah Ann) and then having another child of her own (as yet unidentified)or introduces the possibility that the age for Sarah Ann, 14, provided on the 1861 census was off by at least 4 years and Ann Rumble was her mother (or, that they may have had Sarah before they were married). Currently, Sarah Ann is listed here under an unknown mother until further documentation comes to light.

It does not seem like Elias and Ann had children surviving to 1861 and Ann Rumble likely passed away before 1864. In 1861 the household was home to Elias, his wife Ann (born Worcestshire) and three masons, all born in Bath, Somerset: James, George, and John Davis.

By 1871, Elias had two sons, William Arthur, born 1865, and Henry, born 1870, likely both by a wife with the maiden name Callingham. He is listed as married but no wife is in the household. Susan Ward, unmarried, reportedly 37 years old was housekeeper for the family.

The 1881 census would find only William Williams, aged 18, living with his grandparents, Henry and Amelia Callingham in Ealing and working as a stone mason's labourer. Susan Ward, widower, now reportedly aged 64 was a lodger in the same household.

As can be seen, not everything in this family story adds up and as Williams is such a common name, further investigation is definitely needed.

1. ↑ Parish Register.

   Elias is listed as "of full age", bachelor, residing at High St. His father is listed as "James Williams, Butcher" and this, combined with an Elias Williams born 1821 "St Michaels Creech, Somerset" on the 1871 census and the letter written by his nephew James in 1853 ties Elias in Surrey and later Wandsworth to his father in Durston, Somerset.