Willis/Willows dead end in cambridgeshire please.

[glendahewitt]

Hi all,

I'm back again with these martins, willis and willows.

My relative John Martin (originating from Cambridge) married a Diana Reed in 1830 in Boston Lincs. His profession was a chimney sweep.

There are 2 John Willis born around this time one in 1810 and one in 1812.

I have taken the 1810 John to be the correct one as his parents listed as
John and Mary, and John was a chimney sweep.
Siblings: Frederic 1813 Dec 30 son of John and Mary
Sarah 1814 June 11 dau John and Mary of Bull Lane chimney
sweeper buried 1814
Susanna 1817 Jul 19 dau of John and Mary chimney sweep

I obtained this info baptisms register on a recent visit to the Cambridge Archives.

11 Jan 1810 John Willis of John Mary Ely Holy Trinity. Cambridgeshire.

I also have a Robert Willows

24 Sep 1786 son of John Mary Fen Drayton Cambridgeshire.

I thought perhaps Robert and John were brothers or cousins.

I have got the discs for St Mary Ely, Holy Trinity Ely and now Fen Drayton
but cannot get a link. Dont want to have to buy them all.
There are lots of Willows around this time, most
have parents of John and Sarah and I can see only one for John and Mary as above.

Have also looked at the Cambridgeshire baptisms on line, but only one
John with parents of John and Mary.

So I am not sure whether my John (sen) originated in Cambridgeshire or not.
Any ideas or help would be much appreciated.

I dont really know what to look for now. As I dont even have a maiden name.

I think the Robert Willows to be the Robert Willis that married E Thurston
26 May 1811.

Thanks in advance

[Phoenix]

Have you contacted Cambridge FHS? I'm fairly sure they have a marriage index. That would give you a list of possible marriages.

[glendahewitt]

Yes looked for these things when there recently. Nothing found

[KiteRunner]

If you ever manage to find a connection with the name Martin then I suppose it would help to prove you were following the right line.
It seems unlikely that Robert 1786 would have the same mother as Susanna 1817, don't you think? Just about possible if Mary was in her teens when Robert was born, I suppose.

[glendahewitt]

Sorry Kite Runner

I may have caused confusion here.

John Martin married a Diana Reed in 1830.

John Martin was born as John Willis in 1810 with parents of John (chimney sweep) and Mary.

Their other children were a Frederic, Sarah, and Susannah.

I am assuming that John and Mary was married sometime around
1806 - 1808 and that he had been born 1790's and that the Robert
Willows 1786 with parents also of John and Mary might have been
Johns (1810) uncle and John of John and Marys brother..
I have tried to show what I mean below

John Willis and Mary (1790s)
had
John Willis b 1810 Ely Holy Trinity
married as John Martin to Diana Reed 1830

Robert Willows (1786) Fen Drayton who married E Thurston 1811
also had parents of John and Mary.

Other Willows of the period in Fen Drayton had parents of John and Sarah
I dont think Mary and Sarah would be the same person

There are Willis, Willows etc in my tree they keep changing.

[KiteRunner]

Glenda, I was just thinking that if you could find that the parents of one of those possible Johns were connected with the name Martin, it would make it very likely that was the right family.