*LEGAL BITS*
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Privacy Policy
Information about living persons is included in this site, but is only viewalbe to those who have a User Account. Such accounts are authorised by the site owner, Paul Willis at his discretion and are subject to the User Account requestor being one or more of the following:
- someone who appears in the Willis Tree
- someone whose direct ancestors or other relations appear in the Willis Tree
- someone who is undertaking serious research into one of the surnames appearing in The Willis Treel.
I highly respect your privacy. If you would rather not have your personal information available to other family members (such as birthdate, photos, or any other personal information), please contact me and I will remove the requested information immediately and completely from this website’s database.
Please note any comments entered into this site is considered public domain, and therefore cannot be considered as confidential information.
Accuracy Note
In this web site I am constantly striving to ensure the accuracy of my research and I am committed to sharing my sources with other researchers. As much as possible information provided is from primary sources, i.e., government records, vital records, cemetery records, etc. Other information provided has been obtained from a variety of secondary sources, i.e., personal web sites and oral family history, and has not necessarily been verified through official documentation. Please use this information with discretion in your own research.
Credits
This site is powered by WordPress 3.1.3 which utilizes MySQL database to execute PHP files into HTML code. The theme used is based on Miscellany by www.the-cloisters.net.
The Willis Tree Database is maintained using Personal Ancestral File and is displayed on this site using The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding software.
Disclaimer
The content included in this web site has been compiled from a variety of sources and is subject to change without notice. The Willis Tree makes no warranty with respect to documents or other information available from this web site; assumes no legal liability or responsibility whatsoever for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any such information; and does not represent that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Further, The Willis Tree makes no representation or warranty whatsoever regarding the quality or adequacy of the web site or content, or the suitability, functionality, or operation of this web site or its content. By using this web site, you assume the risk that the content on this web site may be inaccurate, incomplete, or offensive or may not meet your needs and requirements.
*KNOWN ISSUES*
There are a couple of known issues with The Willis Tree which I need to make visitors aware of, and which will affect your experience of the site depending on which web browser you’re using.
In Internet Explorer…
… the main menu [Home, About Me, Family Tree etc] is shown as a vertically-stacked list of links. When shown correctly it should be a horizontal strip across the screen.
In Chrome…
…Pedigree Charts in the Family Tree section get stuck on the ‘Loading…’ screen and just show empty boxes where the ancestor details should be.
In Opera…
…Pedigree Charts in the Family Tree section get stuck on the ‘Loading…’ screen and just show empty boxes where the ancestor details should be.
William Nicholls – important updates
The mystery surrounding what happened to my 2xGreat Grandfather William Nicholls – who was last recorded as a Gunner in the Royal Artillery stationed at Fort St George in Madras, India in 1876 [see A Biography of my Great Grandfather, William NICHOLLS (1870-1932)] – is a few steps closer to being solved.
Thanks to Sylvia – a new contact on the Who Do You Think You Are? online forum - I have been able to add more information to what I had so far found out about William and his family.
A record of William’s death and burial have been found – he died in Madras in January 1877 aged 31. No more details are known at present.
His two youngest children – Charles and Henry – both sadly died before their first birthdays.
The search for more about their sister, Elizabeth Ann Nicholls continues.
My next search is to find the military records for William and his compatriot, John Gorman (who married William’s widow the year after his death).
Sylvia advises:
Paul – my guess is that John Gorman was probably retired to pension, in which case you should be able to find a service record for him in the collection of “Chelsea Pensions” records digitised by FindMyPast.
Sadly no such record is likely to exist for William Nicholls because he died in service.The only way to trace his service will be through the muster and pay lists held at The National Archives in Kew. The catch is that the R.A. was such a large organisation and unless you know which company William was in, you (or a researcher) may not know where to start. However, it is reasonably likely that Ellen’s 2nd husband had served in the same company, so once you know this, it may provide a starting point for further research.
Sylvia
Willis Tree cousin wins battle for information on dad’s heroic deeds
Charlie Elphicke – Member of Parliament for Dover & Deal – has been helping a Willis Tree cousin and contributor to gain access to his father’s military records. The following comes from Mr Elphicke’s website:
Anthony Pile battled for three years to gain access to his war hero father’s medal citations. Anthony was told that as he was not the next of kin he was not allowed to know of his father’s heroic deeds in WWII.
I thought this was crazy. So I took it up with the Ministry of Defence and they claimed data protection. So I got a ruling from the Information Commissioner’s office that there was no reason to withhold the medal citations. The MoD then gave way and Mr Pile now has the full information on his father’s heroic exploits in the Navy.
I am delighted that Anthony can now tell his kids about how his father was a war hero and gallantly served our country.
Source: http://www.elphicke.com/news/son-wins-battle-for-information-on-dads-heroic/252
Another HOPPER strand…
I’ve discovered another Hopper strand… starting with William Hopper, born in 1766 somewhere in Kent. He married Sarah Grant in Swingfield, Kent in 1793 and they settled in Coldred, Kent. They went on to raise a family of nine children.
Alas this is another Hopper family I am currently unable to link to my main Hopper line, descending from Richard Hopper, born in Ickham, Kent in about 1560.
New name on the Roll of Honour
I received an email from Therasa Dowsett who said:
I have found out that my 2x great uncle, Jack Taylor, died fighting in WW1. Jack (born 18th October 1894) was the brother of Percy and the son of Frederick Taylor and Annie Maria Hopper and is listed on your website. I would be really pleased if you could include him in your Roll of Honour for WW1.
She gave me some further biographical details and information from Jack’s military records and with those, and data and a photo of Jack from the Dover War Memorial Project, I have been able to add an entry for Jack to the Roll of Honour:
The Hoppers and Aussie Rules Football, 1931
Julie Hopper sent me a photo of the Navarre Australian Rules Football Team, dated 1931 – a picture which includes her father, Cecil, and his two brothers Harry and Tom, and their brother-in-law ‘Pat’ Beattie.
She told me:
Hi Paul, Am forwarding this for your interest – this lady was asking about the history of the Navarre football team (Navarre is a smallcountry town in Western Victoria where my father and his family lived before he and my mother were married.) I sent her a copy of this photo with the info and it occurred to me that you may find it interesting too because of the Hopper links. Not all the names will mean anything to you, of course, but as you will see, my dad and his brothers as well as his brother in law were well into Australian Rules football!Cecil Hopper was my father and his two brothers on the team were Tom Hopper and Harry Hopper.‘Pat’ Beattie was their brother in law as he married their sister, my aunt Maud. In this photo Dad would have been16 or 17, Tom 19 and Harry 20 or 21. Not sure if Pat and Maud were already married – she would have been about 23 andPat maybe a year or so older.
From a Benefield descendant…
I received a message via Genes Reunited today from Ruth, who said:
I am trying to find some more information on John Benefield (my great grandfather) b1885 d1963 and Matilda Feekins b1879 d1962 whom he married in 1908. Can you help me?
I’ve been able to provide Rachel with a link to John Benefield’s details on The Willis Tree, and add some more individuals from Rachel’s tree to mine. It turns out that Rachel and I are 5th cousins, once removed. 
The Willis Tree – featured in the Dover Express newspaper!
Terry Sutton – veteran journalist on the Dover Express – has written a great little article about The Willis Tree in the latest edition of the town’s premier newspaper.
By clicking on the image above you can see the full-size image and read the article, or you can also read it online at http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/family-tree-hung-drama-tragedy-scandal/story-12787454-detail/story.html
There’s also a link to the article on the front page of the site, under ‘Featured On…’.
Enjoy!
A new Gurnsey contact
Received a message on Genes Reunited from Frances who is researching the Gurnsey family, and has a number of photos of Edward Gurnsey, his wife Edna (nee Collins) and their family.
Early Willis ancestors in Dover…
Following my discovery of two strands of the Willis family in Dover in the 17th century I did a search for Willis’ in Dover on the IGI from 1538 onwards. Here is what I found (all baptised in St Mary the Virgin Parish Church, Dover):
ENGILL WILLIS – baptised 8 Feb 1561
THOMAS WILLYS – baptised 24 Jun 1564
JOB WILLYS – baptised 2 May 1568
JOHN WILLIS – baptised 18 Dec 1572
PAUL WILLIS (!) – baptised 18 Dec 1572
JOHN WILLYS – baptised 13 Oct 1577
ELIZABETH WYLLYS – baptised Jul 1585 (father: WYLLYAM WYLLYS)
Marriages:
WYLLYAM WYLLYS married Jone Edwards on 11 Jun 1570 at St Mary the Virgin, Dover.
Sadly its very doubtful if I will every find out for definite if they are related to my own Willis lineage…
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Stats as at 1st February 2012
Total Individuals: 10,502
Total Males: 5,290
Total Females: 5,212
Total Families: 2,852
Total Surnames: 1,582
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