Henry Willis is my three-times great-grandfather.
Henry Willis was born in 1781 in Queen Camel, Somerset. His father, Henry, and his mother, Lucy, were both 31. He married Martha Warham on 27 November 1809 in Southampton, Hampshire. They had five children over 17 years. He died on 1 March 1858 in Southampton at 77 and was buried in Hythe, Hampshire.
By 1809, Henry had left Queen Camel for Southampton, where he met and married Martha Warham on 27 November 1809 in All Saints Church. Between 1810 and 1827, they had five children: Mary Anne (1810), Elizabeth (1819), Sarah (1826), and Emma (1827). There is a burial record for what may be their sixth child. It notes she is the child of Henry and Martha Willis and was buried on 19 February, aged six months. However, she is also called Elizabeth, like their second child, who is now eleven.
In 1827, his daughter Sarah was baptised in All Saints, and the document shows the family living on Lower East Street. Lower East Street was the name for the eastern continuation of East Street outside Southampton’s medieval East Gate. By 1827, it was part of the built-up eastern suburb running towards St Mary’s and Marsh Lane.
The 1851 census shows him living with his wife and daughter at 16 Chandos Street. He is employed as a porter, and his daughter, Sarah (26), is a dressmaker.
Henry died on the 1st of March 1858 and is buried in Hythe.
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