William was Ari’s 6x great-grandfather, the husband of Frances. He was born in 1782 in Cawston, Norfolk. William White’s History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk (1845) tells us that Cawston “is a considerable village and parish, 2 miles E. of Reepham, and 4 miles W.S.W. of Aylsham. … Three FAIRS are held here annually on Feb. 1st, and the last Wednesdays in April and August; the latter of which is a large sheep fair. W.E.L. Bulwer, Esq., owns a great part of the soil, and is lord of the manor, which he holds in free soccage of the Duchy of Lancaster.”
St Agnes’ church, Cawston, and rooftops in the distance.
William was the son of Robert Williams and his wife Hannah, and we can see his baptism here:
Norfolk, England, Church of England Baptism, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812
He must have married Frances in about 1806, and their first child, John, was born in 1807 in Cawston.
I don’t know whether they met and married in Norfolk or Derbyshire, but I would love to find out!
In the 1841 census he is not listed with the rest of his family (where was he?), but the previous April when his son Samuel got married, his occupation was given as pig dealer. The 1849 Post Office directory for Derbyshire lists him as a pig and cattle dealer:
At the time of the 1851 census William and Frances are living in Buxton Road, Ashbourne, with three of their five children still at home.
Looking down on the Buxton Road, Ashbourne
In 1857 their son Thomas got married, and William was described as a pig jobber (another word for a dealer).
In the 1861 census we can see William at the age of 80 listed as an almsman (someone receiving alms), at Church Yard in Ashbourne, and he died there at the age of 86 {from “natural decay”) on 14 March 1868. He was buried at St Oswald’s, Ashbourne, on the 19th.
Ari, this is how you are related to William:
