Person:William Willows (1)

William Willows was baptised on 14th March 1803 at Carlton-le-Moorland in Lincolnshire, son of Richard Willows and his wife Mary. William was the couple's third child to have been baptised there. When William was still very small the family moved about ten miles south to the village of Foston, where his parents had another three children baptised between 1805 and 1813.

On 17th May 1825, aged 22, William married Mary Heels at Foston. They had one son, baptised at Foston in 1826. Mary died in 1827, when she was said to be 21 years old.

On 22nd May 1828, aged 25, William married Elizabeth Singleton at Foston. They went on to have three daughters at Foston between 1829 and 1833. Each of the girls' baptisms describe William as being a labourer. William's son from his first marriage died in 1830, aged three years old.

William died at the age of 32, being buried at Foston on 6th February 1836. Elizabeth survived him by nearly seventeen years.

1. ↑ Church of England. Parish Church of Carlton-le-Moorland (Lincolnshire). Parish registers for Carlton-le-Moorland, 1561-1998. (Lincoln: Lincolnshire Archives, 1991-2002).

   1803 / March 14 William Son of Richard & Mary Willows

2. ↑ Burials register, in Church of England. Parish Church of Foston (Lincolnshire). Parish registers, 1776-1940. (Lincoln, England: Lincolnshire Archives Office, 1993).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Foston in the County of Lincoln in the Year 1836
   No.	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   170	William Willis	Foston	February 6th	32 years [1803/4]	G.W.S. Menteath, Off[iciatin]g Min[ister]

   Although the surname here is given as Willis rather than Willows, the two are phonetically similar, no other plausible death or burial for William has been found, and this burial was performed by a different clergyman from the one who performed both William's marriages who may therefore have interpreted what he heard differently. Some of William's younger siblings' baptisms at Foston also use the spelling Willis.