William Mears

My mother's father's father's father's mother's father.

Name:
William Mears

Date and place of birth:
Abt 1759 Northamptonshire, England

Names of parents:
Unknown

Date and place of baptism:
Unknown

Details of each of his or her marriages:
Marriage to Mary ? approximately 1782/3 Mary had 10 children only 5 survived to adulthood one of them my ancestor Hannah (link below) Mary died September 1799 (link below)

Marriage to Lucy Smith on 18th November 1799 at St Faith's Church, Newton in the Willows, Northamptonshire, England - no children that I know of Lucy died January 1804

Marriage to Ann Collins 15th May 1804 Caldecot, Rutland, England - Ann had 4 children only two survived to adulthood only one marriage no further children.

Since these threads below were created I am convinced this is the right family because of other stuff found.

Link to Mary William’s first wife:-
http://www.genealogistsforum.co.uk/f...ighlight=mears

Link to Hannah Mears their daughter:-

http://www.genealogistsforum.co.uk/f...t=hannah+mears

Occupation:
Miller at Newton in the Willows mill

Addresses where they lived (including county if in UK):
Newton in the Willows, Northamptonshire, England

Date, place and cause of death:
June 1829 Newton in the Willows, Northamptonshire, England

Date and place of burial:
10 June 1829 at St Faith's Church, Newton in the Willows, Northamptonshire, England

Details of will / administration of their estate:
A notice in the Northampton Mercury:-

The Affairs of the late Mr William Mears
All persons who were indebted to WM. MEARS, late of Newton in the Willows, in the Country of Northampton, Miller, deceased, are requested immediately to pay their respective Debts to Ann Mears, the Widow, or Thomas Collins Mears, the Son of the Deceased, who are the joint executors of the said William Mears. - And all Persons who have any Claim or Demand whatsoever upon the Estate and Effects of the Deceased, are requested immediately to deliver an Account thereof to the said Ann Mears, or Thomas Collins Mears, in order that the same may be examined and discharged.
By Order of the Executors,
HENRY LAMB, Solicitor.
Kettering, 25th of June, 1829.

Memorial inscription - if any:
Unknown

[Angela]

Hello Maggie

Greetings from one of your many New Zealand 'cousins' on the 150th anniversary of the wonderful letter written on 16 January 1866 by Thomas Collins MEARS of Kettering to his niece in America.

Like you, we descend from William MEARS (1755-1829), miller of Newton in the Willows, and his wife, Mary OSBOND (1759-1799).

Specifically, we descend from William & Mary's oldest surviving daughter, Ann BRAMPTON, nee MEARS, (1786-1863). One of Ann's daughters was Mary Ann REYNOLDS, nee BRAMPTON, (1813-1890). Mary Ann's oldest son was Raymond Leicester REYNOLDS (1840-1922). Raymond, a shoemaker, came to New Zealand in the 1870s. He had six children and 26 grandchildren (three of whom are still alive, although now quite elderly).

Raymond Leicester REYNOLDS is my great-grandfather and there are now at least two further generations in this country.

On behalf of all MEARS descendants in this branch, I send special greetings to you on this 150th anniversary of the 1866 letter which I hope will once again reconnect the various branches of our family.

With very best wishes,
Angela

PS: I really, really wanted to send this email on 16 January - the 150th anniversary of the letter written by Thomas Collins MEARS of Kettering to his niece in America. Unfortunately I've been all but defeated by the technology this evening. Earlier I tried to post a message on Jerry Green's website but was unable to do so and now it's taken longer than I thought to post to this website. So as I write it has just clicked over to 17 January here in NZ but it's still 16 January in England - so the special-ness of this date is still valid for you. Hope to hear from you soon. A.

Hi Angela

Good to hear from you in fact since I posted this I have done a lot more research, William's wife's name was Mary Osborn it is mis-transcribed a few times on documents but does look like Osbond on two records at Northamptonshire Record office but it is Osborn.

PM me your email address, I have some very early documents about Mary Osborn her sister Catherine and her father William (to do with property and transferring rights) that my cousin Michele and I found at Northamptonshire Record Office, Mary's father name was William Osborn b1736 in Stanion and her mother's name was Mary Norton. Her grandparents William Osborn's parents were William Osborn and Mary Riddle.

Like I said pm me your email address and I can fill you in on my research.

It was like finding a Gold Mine when I found Jerry's website and the letters from Frances Green to her brother Abraham Walter who married Charlotte Mears and emigrated to USA but the best was Thomas Collins Mears letter. It mentions a lot of our ancestors in it and timelines of deaths and where living.

Oh I forgot to say I have had contact from another lady in NZ who is descended from John Ashby and Lucy Mears' son John so another branch of descendents in NZ.