Williams - Early Family History and Origins of the Thomas Williams's of Gosport and Nottingham.

www.williams.gen.nz

Early Family History and Origins of the

Thomas Williams's of Gosport, & later of Nottingham
covering mainly the period 1725 to 1850

Some of the persons whose names appear more than once on this page are colour coded to aid the reader.

The Reverend Thomas Williams (1724/5 -1770) and his son Thomas Williams (1753 - 1854) are the forefathers of many descendants world-wide, the majority (over 5000) hailing from New Zealand. However, very little is known of the Rev. Thomas Williams and there is certainly no accurate knowledge of his family origins.

The results of many years of sincere research by family members have been compiled and written into an historical documentation, The Williams Family in The 18th and 19th Centuries in the UK by Nevil Harvey Williams. Nevil himself has spent some decades dedicated to researching the family in a very meticulous manner, and his work is the main article on the web site. There are many other supporting documentation and research notes given here, in particular the transcription of recently acquired letters of Thomas.

An exceedingly vast quantity of information is already available on Henry and William, the two son's of Thomas who went to New Zealand as Missionaries, and their children, so very little of that is repeated in these pages.

Larger images of:
Thomas
Sydney
John
Henry
William

THE WILLIAMS FAMILY IN THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES IN THE UK. An in depth article / story in several parts compiled by Nevil Harvey-Williams from his own and other genealogical research undertaken to date into the family in the Nottingham and Gosport areas. [PARTS 1-4 FULLY UPDATED MARCH 2011]
	PART 1 Introduction, Preamble, Search for the Welsh background of the Williams Family, Rev. Thomas Williams of Gosport,, Thomas and Mary Williams at Gosport. PART 2 Thomas Williams and the family at Nottingham, The collapse of the business. PART 3 Mary Williams (nee Marsh) at Southwell, The children of Thomas and Mary Williams, Catherine Heathcote, Southwell tailpiece. PART 4 APPENDICES: Notes on Religious Non-Conformism, IGI extracts, Extracts from Gosport and Nottingham Registries, Governance of and Evengelical Revival of Nottingham, John Marsh, The Vicar and Moses, SOURCES TW & C Thomas Williams and the Coldham Family Abstracts of Letters Chosen to Augment the Story of Mary and Catherine's Lives in Southwell. Speculations on Origins Extracts of letters chosen to complement the Preface in Part 1 above, concerning the asserted family descent from Ednyfed Vychan The Rev. Thomas Williams of Gosport Request for information regarding the Rev. Thomas Williams (1724/25 - 1770) of Gosport.
THOMAS'S EARLY LETTERS, BEGINING 1794: These are VERY IMPORTANT letters - they are first-hand vindication of Thomas's life, and the family situation in part of the 18th century. If a descendant, he is most likely your 4th, 5th or even 6th great grandfather!
	Origin of, and Notes on Transcription of Letters 1794 Letters 1, 2 & 3 Letters from Thomas to his wife Mary at their home in Gosport. They cover his arrival at Nottingham to establish a new home there, family, friends, and various connections to the British Navy. 1794 Letters 4, 5 & 6 Continuation of above sequence - includes letter to young son Sydney. 1802 1 letter The first four pages of a letter to Mary, now living at Nottingham. 1803 Sequence Five letters, this time written to his wife who is now in Nottingham, while he is on a business trip. HOSIERY History A brief history on Hosiery and Lacemaking in Nottingham relevant to Thomas's letters and the 18th & 19th Century Williams History below. (Thomas became a hosier).
Autobiography:
	Edmund Sydney Williams 1817 - 1891 This makes very interesting reading , particularly forThomas Sydney Williams descendants, and covers his family while living in UK and at Altona and Hamburg in Germany. 'Early Memories And After' written by Fred W Williams (1854-1940) for his sons. Pertains to Paihia, Gisborne and Napier, N.Z. areas. F.W.W. is the grandson of William Williams and was founder of Williams & Kettle Stock & Station Agency, Mayor of Napier etc.
Trees: (Use your back button to return to this page.)
	EARLY WILLIAMS FAMILY: A tree showing Thomas and Mary with the Isger / Marsh connections, and their children with spouses. View as a pdf file or as a jpg image . THE COLDHAM FAMILY: Showing the grandparents, parents and siblings of Marianne Williams (nee Coldham), wife of Henry. View as a pdf file or as a jpg image THE NELSON FAMILY: There is a very strong Williams family connection with the Nelson's dating at least back to the Sherriff of Nottingham days of Thomas Williams, whose son William Williams married Jane Nelson, niece of a co-sherriff of Thomas's. Both a daughter and grand-daughter of William and his wife Jane (nee. Nelson) also married into the same Nelson family. The backbone of the livestock farming and meat industry development of the East Coast, North Island of New Zealand was to a large extent due to the stock and station firm of Williams and Kettle Ltd, begun by F.W. Williams, and the meat processing company the Tomoana Freezing Works begun by William Nelson, an uncle by marriage to F.W.W. and a 1st cousin (once removed) to Jane The tree is viewed as either a pdf file or as an image and shows the grandparents and parents of Jane and the connections mentioned above. [updated June 2010] THOMAS SYDNEY WILLIAMS: The eldest son of Thomas. The tree gives several lines of descent. View as either a .pdf file or jpg image. Web pages listing the children and grandchildren of Thomas Sydney Williams giving spouses, dates and some information to help those interested, and includes the 'tooth' letters of Tom.
Names:
	Names of Ancestors List of earlier ancestors by surname given on this website, with tree or page references. Names of Researchers A list of some of those involved with the Williams family research during the past century.
Other Websites:
	C.M.S. History Extracts pertaining to New Zealand from the 'History of The Church Missionary Society.' These few chapters give a good understanding of the enormity of the role that Henry and William Williams played in the shaping of New Zealand. Waitangi.com New Zealand history, in which Henry and William are prominent, expressed from a more complete perspective than what is orthodox. Williams Historic House: The Retreat was built at Pakaraka, Northland, for Henry Williams in 1851 or 1852. This is now owned on by theHenry and William Williams Memorial Museum Trust.
Some Online Books:
	Through Ninety Years 1826-1916. Life and Work Among the Maoris in New Zealand. Notes of the Lives of William and William Leonard Williams First and Third Bishops of Waiapu. By Frederic Wanklyn Williams Christianity Among The New Zealanders Interesting reading, giving a good account of the Williams brothers involvement in early New Zealand. By William Williams, D. C. L. Bishop of Waiapu.

Would be keen for anyone to suggest any other book links, web links, autobiographies or articles for this website

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