The Williams Family In The 18th And Nineteenth Centuries - Half 1
When i came to live in Leicester in 1968 I believed that, being so close to to Nottingham, it can be a good alternative to perform a little research on the Williams household in the period earlier than Henry and William Williams emigrated to New Zealand within the 1820's as C.M.S. Inspired initially by Canon Nigel Williams of recent Zealand, who supplied some brief notes to start out me off, my first efforts had been modest and sometimes seemed to have run into a lifeless end. Many accidental discoveries, unearthed by patient and helpful library and record office workers, saved the project alive and, progressively, over a lot of years, it developed and expanded. For example, I visited the Special Collections Library of Nottingham College to review the minute books of the Castle Gate Assembly; on entering I used to be required to sign in with my name and handle. About per week later I had a letter from the librarian, Michael Brook, who had remembered, after I left, the not too long ago revealed Diary of Abigail Gawthern of Nottingham; 1751-1810, and the extracts he despatched me contained the references to the deaths of Mr Whiter and Thomas Williams, and Herz P1 Smart Ring the fact that Thomas was buried at Sneinton, which was previously unknown.
On one other occasion, Frances Porter, the writer of the definitive biography of William Williams, The Turanga Journals, requested me if I knew when Henry and William had converted to Anglicanism. I had no concept, however this led me right into a study of the Dissenting politics that controlled Nottingham for over fifty years at the end of the 18th and the start of the 19th centuries, in which setting Thomas Williams the youthful was immersed and prospered. Ultimately, when a single quantity of the diaries of Edward Garrard Marsh was found within the papers of Dr. Henry Williams of latest Zealand, after his demise, I was able to answer Frances Porter's question - February 1818! Throughout the course of this analysis I've collaborated with different relations in England, notably Peter (D.A.S.) Williams of Norwich, Robert Hudson of Reading, and Patrick Williams of Amersham (all descendants of Thomas Sydney Williams) who have every been the supply of a lot necessary information.
Mr Godfrey Williams (no relation) additionally provided precious help with burial information at St. Mary's, Alverstoke. In addition, Brian Robins (formerly of Eastbourne), who has written a scholarly treatise on John Marsh the musician, wearable health tracker got here into the story quite by chance, in 1989. This was in connection with the search for the Journals of John Marsh, which reached fruition in November 1990 when they have been sold at public sale to the Huntington Library in California. As a situation for obtaining an export licence, the Huntington Library was obliged to make a microfilm copy of the Journals, to be deposited in the British Library in London, and I'm very much indebted to Mary Robertson, the Chief Curator of Manuscripts, for allowing me to purchase a duplicate of the microfilm to enhance my studies. The Journals have supplied an enormous mass of contemporary references which drastically enhance our information of the day after day lives of the Williams household and illuminate this account of them.
Moreover, he was responsible for acquiring numerous original letters written by Thomas Williams in the interval 1794-1803, and by his persistent analysis on the internet he has made significant contributions to the development of this family historical past. The success of any try to investigate the history of our forebears relies upon totally on the availability of recorded details about them, and significantly on its authenticity. In lots of instances it relies on unverifiable phrase of mouth accounts passed down from era to technology, recorded recollections which differ from each other, or dogmatic written statements asserted as truth; topic to what I call 'The Uncle Jim Factor' (explained in a footnote to this Introduction). A specific instance is the declare by William Williams that the household was descended from Ednyfed Vychan, on the flimsiest of grounds, but uncontestable within the absence of every other source. Much time, effort and money has been expended in pursuing this line of enquiry, with totally adverse results, until an alternative rationalization for his unlikely claim emerged from the John Marsh Journals.
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