The Williams Family at Ryde
The Williams Family on the Isle of Wight
George Williams, born c1660, Brooke -- died unkown -- married c1690: Susan of Brooke
George Williams, born c1688, Freshwater -- died 1747 -- married 1719: Lydia Dore in Brooke
George Williams, born 1721, Freshwater -- died 1797 -- married 1748: Hannah Stone in Freshwater
John Williams, born 1757, St Helens -- died 1836 -- married 1778: Elizabeth Richardson in Newchurch
George Williams, born 1785, Newchurch -- died bef.1851 -- married 1812: Martha Wearn in Newchurch
John Henry Williams, born 1813, Ryde -- died bef.1855 -- married 1836: Harriet Norgate in Newchurch
William Henry Williams, born 1837, Ryde -- died 1925 -- married 1866: Jane Brann at Wittersham, Kent
The Wil
The earliest known member of the Williams family is George Williams of Brooke, in the Isle of Wight. Brooke is a small, scattered village at the extreme west of the island, which lies within sight of the sands and chalk cliffs of Freshwater Bay, and sheltered behind by the 600' of Brook Down.
George married Susan some time around 1685 in Brooke. They had eight children, the eldest of whom, another George, was born about 1688 in nearby Freshwater. He was followed by David (1691) and John (1693), also born in Freshwater; Thomas (1694), born in Mottistone; another John (1698), born in Shalfleet; and then daughters Mary, Sarah, and Jane. The parishes of Brooke, Freshwater, Mottistone and Shalfleet are small in size and their borders all come together in the area of Brooke.
Their eldest son, George, married Lydia Dore at St Mary's church in Brooke in 1719. Lydia (neé Osborne) was the widow of William Dore, a mariner, whom she had married by licence in 1706 at Gatcombe, near Newport. She had four children by her first husband up until his death in 1713. With George Williams, Lydia had a further five children: David (1719-43), George (1721), Mary (1724), Betty (1726-46), and William (1730).
George Williams was a yeoman farmer, who is variously described as living at Easton and Middleton, and who also appears to have had an interest in property at Norton. These are all hamlets in the parish of Freshwater, within a couple of miles of each other. In those days, Freshwater was pretty much isolated from the rest of the island by the estuary of the river Yar, and its people lived by fishing or growing wheat, barley, and oats.
George Williams died on 13 April 1747, aged about 60. He was buried at Freshwater church two days later. At the time, he was in possession of a house and land at Clayhouse.
George left this house and land to his wife and surviving children to "share and share alike"; which means it was to be divided equally amongst all beneficiaries who outlived the maker of the will. This is the text of his Will:
In the name of God, Amen, I, George Williams of Parish of Freshwater in the Isle of Wight and County of Southampton, herein do make this my last will and testament in manors following.
My request is that all my extant debts and funds and expenses be paid by my executrix herein after named, and that my brother Thomas, and my brother John Williams shall have paid to each of them one shilling and the like sum of one shilling to each of my sisters, Mary, Sarah and Jane.
I give the house and land hereto belonging called Clayhouse, with all other effects, money, goods and chattels that I am possessed off whosoever or whatsoever equally to be divided between my loving wife, George and William my sons, and Mary the wife of Richard Dore, my daughter, share and share alike.
And I do appoint my beloved wife Liddia to be my executrix to this my last will and testament, revoking all other wills by me heretofore made.
I wittness whose of I have hereunto my hand and seal this thirteenth day of April 1747. Signed, sealed, published, and declared by George Williams to be his last will and testament in the presence of Phil Odar, John Dore, James White.
George's widow, Lydia, died five years later, on 6 November 1752, at the age of 66. She was buried at Freshwater church four days later. Her gravestone, along with those of her husband and their children who died young, can still be seen today in the churchyard of All Saints church.
Lydia's will, written down on the 31 October 1752, distributed quite substantial sums of money to her various children (by both her marriages), but made no mention of land. This is the text of her Will:
In the Name of God, Amen.
The thirty first day of October in the year of our Lord Christ, one thousand and seven hundred and fifty two, I Lydia Williams of the parish of Freshwater in the Isle of Wight and County of Southampton, widow, being of infirm body but of perfect and sound memory, thank to God, therefore calling to mind the mortality of my body and knowing it is appointed for all men once to die do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament.
That is to say, first of all, I give and recommend my soul to the Almighty who gave it and my body I recommend to the earth to be buried at the discretion of my executors herein named and as touching my wordly estate, I dispose of as under mentioned.
I give and bequeath to my daughter, Lydia Clark, one shilling. To my son, John Dore, five guineas. To my son, George Williams, one shilling, and to his child, one guinea. To my daughter, Mary Dore, ten pounds of lawful money of Great Britain.
To Richard Dore's children, I give and bequeath one guinea each. I give the twenty pounds My daughter Lydia Clark is indebted to me to her son James, and Lydia her daughter.
My bequest is further that my daughter Mary Dore shall have all my wearing apparell and my son William Williams I make my sole executor and I hereby revoke and annull all former Wills made by me.
Confirming this to be my last Will and Testament, in witness whereof I, the said Lydia Williams have set my hand and seal the year and day mentioned. Signed, sealed, published, and declared by the said Lydia Williams [the mark of Lydia Williams] as her last Will and Testament in the presence of us, James Miller, Elizabeth White.
Soon after George Williams' death, in 1748, his son George married Hannah Stone at the church of All Saints at Freshwater. George was twenty-six years old. Not long after that, George and Hannah moved all the way across the island (only some twenty miles). On 31 December 1750, George - together with John Denonish and Richard Dore (husband of George's sister Mary) - became a tenants of Troublefield Farm in the parish of St Helens.
We don't know the cause of this move. His father's Will implies that both George and Mary would receive equal shares of the property, together with their brother William and their mother. So they could have inherited land but sold it in order to move for some reason. Or the land may have passed to William, forcing George to seek another farm - William became their mother's executor and so may have been the preferred son.
Troublefield Farm was located in the north-west corner of the parish of St Helens, close to the coast and just to the east of the town of Ryde, separated from the town by a stream called Small Brooke, on the Ryde to St Helens road.
Troublefield is a corruption of Turberville, the name of the family that owned the land around the manor of Preston in the 14th century, when the it was known as Preston Turberville. It was mentioned in the Domesday Book as part of the manor of Presteton, a name derived from the old English meaning priest's farm. The manor was later divided into Preston, which grew in to the present-day Ryde suburb of Oakfield, and Preston Turberville, which is today the Ryde suburb of Elmfield.
In the eighteenth century, Troublefield Farm was owned by the earl of Mount Edgcumbe, a large Cornish landowner. The Mount Edgcumbe estate at Preston comprised two farms: Troublefield and Old House.
Troublefield farm was described as a "small farm house, barn, stable, and sundry arable meadow, pasture, and woodland in the parish of St Helens held by George Williams, with Troublefield Coppice in hand". The farm comprised a total of 64 acres, 3 roods, and 33 poles of land, in four adjacent locations. This consisted of a house, garden and yard, Little Home Field (2 acres) Great Home Field (4 acres), Five Acres, Three Acres, Meadow (2 acres), Four Acres, Little Butt (2 acres), Steens (4 acres), Youngs Paddock (2 acres), Monkton Mead (5 acres), The Moore (30 acres), Blind Paddock (3 roods), and Troublefield Coppice (2 acres).
When the earl of Mount Edgcumbe put the farm up for sale in 1787, it was still leased to George Williams and to Thomas Buckle (husband of George's daughter, Sarah). Richard Dore, with whom George originally took out the lease on the farm thirty-seven years earlier, had died five years earlier. In 1788, Thomas Buckle, George Williams' son-in-law, purchased Troublefield Farm from the Mount Edgcumbe estate, which he owned until his death in 1806, after which his executors sold the farm.
Troublefield Farm was renamed to be St John's Farm around 1862, and again to Appley Farm at the end of the nineteenth century. Today, most of the farmland has been built upon, although some of the farm buildings remain (Old House Farm still exists today, known as Westbridge Farm).
George and Hannah had six children: Mary (1750), George (1754), John (1757), Nanny or Ann (1767), James and Sarah; all born in the parish of St Helens. George Williams died in late June of 1797, and was buried on 6 July 1797 at St Helens. His Will, proven at the Consistory Court of Winchester on 24 Jun 1797, valued his estate at £300 and deeded his tenancy in Troublefield to his son James:
I, George Williams, of Troublefield in the parish of St Helens, Isle of Wight and County of Southampton, husbandman, in perfect health of body, and in perfect mind and memory, thanks be given unto God, calling unto mind the mortality of my body, and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament.
That is to say, principally and first of all, I give and recommend my soul into the hand of Almighty God that gave it, and my body I recommend to the Earth, to be buried in Decent Christian Burial, at the discretion of my executors. Nothing doubting, but at the general Resurrection, I shall receive the same again, by the mighty power of God, and on touching such Worthy Estate, wherewith it has pleased God to bless me, in this life, I give, devise, and dispose of the same in the following manner and form.
First, I Give and bequeath to my dearly beloved children, Mary the wife of Benjamin Hayles, George Williams, John Williams, Sarah the wife of Thomas Buckle, and Nanny the wife of James Kilbarth, the sum of sixty five pounds of good and lawful money of Great Britain, to be paid at the end of twelve months after my decease, and equally divided amongst them, viz, thirteen pounds each.
Secondly, I give to my godson, James, the son of Benjamin Hayles, the sum of one guinea to be paid immediately on my decease.
Lastly, I give and bequeath to my beloved son, James Williams, whom I likewise herewith make and ordain the Sole Executor of this, my last Will and Testament, all and singular, my lands and tenements, goods and chattels, by him freely to be enjoyed.
And I do hereby utterly disallow, revoke, and dismand all and every other forms, testaments, wills, legacies, bequests made by me in any way before. Signed, willed, and bequeathed, ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my last Will and Testament, in witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this thirty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord, one thousand, seven hundred and ninety-six.
With Troublefield passing to James, his brother John must have had to find other employment. And although we don't know what it was, we can assume that is was either in farming or fishing. At that time, Ryde consisted of two settlements. Upper Ryde, which was the closest village to Troublefield, was a sparsely-populated farming community. Lower Ryde was a collection of fishermen's and mariners' cottages at the base of steep cliff, hidden from the view of the upper settlement - the two only linked by a narrow, wodded track called Node Close. A fierce rivalry existed between the two hamlets even though, in 1795, their combined population numbered less than 600 souls.
John Williams of St Helens parish, married Elizabeth Richardson of Newchurch parish, by banns on 15 October 1778 in the parish church of All Saints at Newchurch. Both signed their names in the parish register, in the presence of two witnesses, Benjamin Hayles (his brother-in-law, husband of his sister Mary), who signed his name, and Molly Hayles, who made her mark. John was 21 and Elizabeth just 20 years old.
John and Elizabeth had five children: another John (baptized 1780), Edward (1782), George (16 Apr 1785), Mary (1787), and James (1792); all born in Newchurch parish. John lived to be 81 years old, and was buried on 28 October 1836 at Newchurch.
Their son, George, started out as a husbandman, which according to Dr Johnson's dictionary was a man in a "low position of life who supports himself by the use of the plough". Later George became a mariner, seaman and fisherman. He married Martha Wearn of Newchurch on 29 July 1812 at All Saints parish church in Newchurch. George, who was 27, and Martha, who was 20, made their marks in the presence of two witnesses: James Gallpen and Sarah Wheeler.
Martha came from a sea-faring family of Lower Ryde. In 1767, Martha's grandmother, another Martha, a widow at 27, is listed as leasing "one messuage and garden at Lower Ryde at or near the sea shore, before part of the Ship's Malthouse … bounded on west by a messuage in occupation of Walter Feverall, on south by Node Close, on north by the highway". The Ship was Ryde's oldest inn where, according to legend, Charles II passed an hour or two playing cards after his pinnace was left high and dry on a visit in 1662. With Martha, lived her sons John, and Richard (who subsequently drowned). John, the younger Martha's father, became a mariner, but was also drowned in 1801. Subsequently, his widow Mary is listed as a pauper of the parish (her 11 children, including Martha, having all grown up). The seas around Ryde could clearly be a perilous place to try to make a living.
George and Martha had five children: John Henry (baptized 24 Jan 1813), George Thomas (1815), Edwin (1819), Selina Fanny (1821), and Georgiana (1823); all of whom were born in Ryde.
Ryde had long been a fishing community, but its development as a port had been held back by the long tidal reach, which limited vessels to access at high tide. The novelist Henry Fielding recorded his experience of a visit in 1755:
I was pretty easily conveyed on board this hoy; but to get from hence to the shore was not so easy a task; for, however strange it may appear, the water itself did not extend so far. Between the sea and the shore there was, at low water, an impassable gulf, if I may so call it, of deep mud, which could neither be traversed by walking nor swimming; so that for near one half of the twenty-four hours Ryde was inaccessible by friend or foe.
However, as there is scarce any difficulty to which the strength of men, assisted with the cunning of art, is not equal, I was at last hoisted into a small boat, and being rowed pretty near the shore, was taken up by two sailors, who waded with me through the mud, and placed me in a chair on the land, whence they afterwards conveyed me a quarter of a mile farther, and brought me to a house which seemed to bid the fairest for hospitality of any in Ryde.
The town started growing as a seaside destination after the construction in 1814 of the 1740-foot long pier. Built at a cost of £12,000, the pier was described as "the most delightful promenade in England", and it was extended several times during subsequent decades. By only 1821, the population had risen to nearly 4,000. In 1835, the Royal Victoria Arcade, a covered shopping promenade was built directly across from the pier, along Union Street, which had itself been laid out along the old route of Node Close. Upper Ryde, situated at the top Union Street - "at the top of an eminence in a clear and pleasant air" - became the summer residence of many wealthy families, including the Duke of Buckingham and Earl Spencer.
The subsequent introduction of a regular steam packet service to Portsmouth, in 1825, fueled further growth as a seaside destination. Visitors were encouraged by an early "consumer protection" law that compelled a vessel or ferry to go off from Ryde in any fit weather, and at any time of the tide, for a fare of seven shillings (boatmen being liable to a £5 fine for charging more).
Perhaps consequent on this change in the local economy, George's son, John Henry Williams, did not take up fishing but became a carpenter. At the age of twenty-three, he married Harriet Norgate on 23 May 1836 in the parish of Newchurch (Ryde did not split off from Newchurch and form a separate parish until 1866). The ceremony was witnessed by George and Martha Bachelor.
Their son, William Henry Williams was born on 6 January 1837 in Ryde. He was baptized a month later at the George Street Congregationalist Chapel. Once he was 18, William crossed the Solent to Gosport, joined the army and, to the best of our knowledge, never returned to the Island.
Primary Sources:
-
Will of George Williams: 19 April 1747 (Isle of Wight Record Office)
-
Will of Lydia Williams: 31 Oct 1752 (Isle of Wight Record Office)
-
Will of George Williams: 31 Dec 1796 (Isle of Wight Record Office)
-
Lease of the Ship Malthouse to Martha Wearn: 31 Dec 1767 (Isle of Wight Record Office: LIND/69)
-
List of Paupers, Parish of Newchurch: 1834 (Isle of Wight Record Office)
Secondary Sources:
-
Pigot's Directory of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight: 1830, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT
-
Kelly's Directory of the Isle of Wight: 1904, ancestry.com
-
The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon, Henry Fielding, London, 1755
-
The History of Hampshire, including the Isle of Wight, Rev. Theodore C Wilks, London, 1867 [National Archives Libary]
-
The Victoria History of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, ed. William Page, vol 5, London, 1912 [National Archives Libary]
-
Ryde Pubs: An Illustrated History, Kevin Mitchell, Kena Publishing, 1999
-
History of Land Holdings in the Isle of Wight, Isle of Wight Record Office
-
Catalogue of the Oglander Collection, Isle of Wight Record Office
Acknowledgements:
-
Staff of the Isle of Wight Record Office, Newport, for thorough research and friendly help
-
Judy Keena, Sydney, Australia, for sharing her researches about our common ancestor, George Williams of Troublefield
-
Hazel Gott, 2nd cousin and co-descendant of William Henry Williams, for sharing her research in the Isle of Wight.
-
Bruce Yaxley, current owner of some the surviving buildings of Troublefield Farm (Appley Farm Cottages)
Illustrations:
-
Freshwater Bay, from the direction of Brooke, with Stag Rock in the foreground (lithograph: T Nelson & Sons, 1892)
-
Freshwater Bay and the Solent (from Thomas Moule's 1837 map, James Barclay's Complete & Universal Dictionary 1842)
-
The Will of George Williams of Freshwater, 1747 (Isle of Wight Record Office)
-
The Will of Lydia Williams of Freshwater, 1752 (Isle of Wight Record Office)
-
Ryde and Spithead (from Thomas Moule's 1837 map, in James Barclay's Complete and Universal Dictionary, 1842)
-
Troublefield Farm & Old House Farm (Mount Edgcumbe Survey of 1771, Isle of Wight Record Office)
-
The Will of George Williams of Troublefield, 1796 (Isle of Wight Record Office)
-
Ryde from the pier, in Victorian times (chromolithograph: T Nelson & Sons, 1892)