For some time Kim & I had been trying to prove that Alfred Willingale born 1812 and Mary Ann Willingale born 1818 were the siblings of James William Willingale (I0353) who was christened at St Mary’s Church Maldon on 28 May 1809, the son of James Willingale (I0342) and his wife Mary Ann.
James William (I0353) was in the main tree but Alfred and Mary Ann were still in the tree containing what we refer to as the ’Unconnected Willingales’
Mary Ann Willingale had married Thomas Millett in 1835 and a Mary Ann Millett had registered the death of James Willingale, a shoemaker in 1850 and we knew from Alfred’s marriage certificate that his father’s name was James and that James was a shoemaker. We believed that Alfred and Mary Ann were siblings but was James (I0353) also a sibling? We needed to find some piece of information that connected these people.
James William (I0353) had married Sarah Lees in 1834 and fathered several children, one of whom was Ann Lettice Willingale. Mary Ann Willingale & Thomas Millett had several children from their marriage, including Mary Ann Elizabeth Millett who married Thomas Welford in 1853.
Ancestry has the image of the register entry for the Millett/Welford marriage and guess who the two witnesses were…. James Willingale and Ann Lettice Willingale !!!! Now would they have been witnesses if they weren’t closely related ? I don’t think so, do you?
So we have now moved Alfred Willingale (I6432), Mary Ann Willingale (I6450) [and their descendants] over to the main tree as siblings of James William Willingale (I0353).
