What do we know of the father of William John Wills?

Question

The Wikipedia article for William John Wills has a short parentage in the Early years section. The text there is:

Wills was born in Totnes in Devon, the second child to Dr William Wills (bap 21 November 1790 Totnes, Devon – 28 September 1889) and Sarah Mary Elizabeth Wills (née Calley, 23 December 1800, bap 12 March 1801 Totnes, Devon – 19 February 1880). He was baptised in Totnes on 5 January 1834 in Totnes, and was one of seven children.

I was contacted on Wikipedia with a well-reasoned analysis that the information for his father is wrong based on 1841 and 1851 census records that the father would have been born in 1803 or 1804. I followed Wikidata to find the WIkitree entry for William John Wills and then found the profile of his father William Wills. The problem is that the Wikitree entry only cites the WIkipedia article of his son to get the date of his baptism.

Can anyone confirm the 1790 date or affirm that the analysis for 1803/4 is sound so that both WIkitree and WIkipedia can be corrected? None of my quick sources for William John Wills provide his father's dates.

Thank you,

  Scott

Comments

Further information provided in the Wikipedia conversation.

1889 'BALLARAT CHRONICLES AND PICTURES', The Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 - 1924), 25 February, p. 4. , viewed 28 Mar 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204040212

It supports that in 1889, historians believed that William John WIlls' father was born in 1803 or 1804 at Compton Castle, Devon.

Answer 1

Here's baptismal transcript record:

First name(s)	William
Last name	Wills
Gender	Male
Birth year	-
Birth place	-
Baptism year	1790
Baptism date	21 Nov 1790
Place	Totnes
County	Devon
Country	England
Father's first name(s)	George
Father's last name	Wills
Mother's first name(s)	Agnes
Mother's last name	-
Record set	England Births & Baptisms 1538-1975
Category	Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers)
Subcategory	Parish Baptisms
Collections from	England, Great Britain

I cannot, however, find a baptismal record for a son William John Wills baptized 1834. Was any source given for 1834 baptism?

Comments

That certainly proves that there was a William Wills born in 1790, but doesn't show whether he was the father of William John Wills. There has been a bit more in the Wikipedia conversation.

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I'll do a bit more looking on this tomorrow. You mentioned 7 children so some of the baptisms should show. May need to cast the geographic net a little wider. Does your 1889 article have with it primary source documentation? A lot of the genealogical books done in America that time period are rather suspect either lacking documentation or done for pay in which case all kinds of fantasies were created.

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The 1889 source is a newspaper article about famous people from Ballarat, linked in the comment on my question http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204040212 The father had lived in Ballarat from late 1853 or soon after, but then returned to Devon in 1862 and served as migrant ship surgeon for a trip to New Zealand in 1864-65. He still lived in Devon aged 84 or 85 according to the Feb 1889 article.

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I searched on FindMyPast.co.uk in their "Devon baptisms" collection for William Wills baptized in 1804 plus or minus two years. There were 18 of them. It was not an uncommon name. However, there was exactly one baptized in Marldon in 1804, and I have no doubt that is the right one. Of course, it would cost me money to get the details, and I am not going to do that. (I don't even seem to be able to buy "pay as you go" credits on FindMyPast anymore.) Given that at the 1871 census Dr Wills said that he was born in Marldon, and 1804 fits with his age, I think it must be right.

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Find My Past entry for person Bob Howlett mentions:

First name(s)	William
Last name	Wills
Birth year	1804
Birth date	24 Mar 1804
Baptism year	1804
Baptism date	08 Apr 1804
Denomination	Anglican
Baptism place	Marldon
Father's first name(s)	John
Mother's first name(s)	Sarah
County	Devon
Archive	South West Heritage Trust
Archive reference	3239A/PR/1/2
Record set	Devon Baptisms
Category	Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers)
Subcategory	Parish Baptisms
Collections from	England, Great Britain

How did we get from Totnes to Marldon for POB? Didn't follow on that.

That the following is the same person not documented but year of birth does match. The one born 1804 can be followed for a time in Census data.

First name(s)	William
Last name	Wills
Age	85
Birth year	1804
Death year	1889
Burial year	1889
Burial date	03 Oct 1889
Burial place	Marldon
Denomination	Anglican
County	Devon
Country	England
Archive reference	3239A/PR/1/13
Archive	South West Heritage Trust
Record set	Devon Burials
Category	Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers)
Subcategory	Parish Burials
Collections from	England, Great Britain

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Marriage to Sarah Calley (but we don't know it is WW born 1804, note this is in Totnes and not Marldon. There are WWs married to other people in Marldon marriages):

Record set	Devon Marriages
First name(s)	William
Last name	Wills
Marriage year	1830
Spouse's first name(s)	Sarah M E
Spouse's last name	Calley
Denomination	Anglican
County	Devon
Place	Totnes
Archive	South West Heritage Trust
Marriage date	22 Sep 1830
Parish	Totnes
Category	Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers)
Subcategory	Parish Marriages
Collections from	England, Great Britain

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We got from Compton Castle in the Parish of Marldon to Totnes based at least partly on a February 1889 history article in the Ballarat Star - http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204040212

Since this morning, I noticed that article also mentions a book written by William (Senior) about his son's expedition. There is more in that book about the author as well, but I have not had time to read much of it yet. There are several copies available online from this library index: https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/5053700

Skimming it, I have not found an indication of its editor's age or date of birth.

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I have never looked for a baptism record for the explorer, since his father's book says that he was born in Totnes on 5 January 1834. The statement in the Ballarat Star article of 1889 that the father was born at Compton Castle is backed up by the census records of 1871 and 1881: in 1871 Dr Wills gave his birthplace as Marldon; in 1881 he said Compton. It is true that in 1851 he gave Totnes as his birthplace, but maybe that is reasonable since Marldon is a tiny little place near Totnes which is an important place. In 1871 he decided that he should give the correct parish, and in 1881 he even gave the village within the parish. The fact that he was married in Totnes rather than Marldon is as expected since Totnes was the bride's parish. I am a little surprised that he was buried in Marldon, having lived in Totnes for so long.