My first thought when I saw this week's topic, was to write about the will (stubbonness?) of some of my female ancestors. But when I read the suggestions for March, I thought I would leave those thoughts for next week.
I have yet to delve into wills of my ancestors. I doubt there would be many surprises as most were farmers.
Then it hit me: 'William' has been a frequently used name for males throughout my family tree.
In my Allen line, the father of the emigrating family was William ALLEN (1770-1840). He had a son William (~1816-1900) who fathered William John (1854-1926). This direct line of Williams ended as this William John never married.
The immigrant William had several other children who named a son after their father:
- Richard had son William (1835-1918) who never married
- Matilda Martha had son William KYLE (1841-1918)
- John had son William (1849-1929)
- Robert had son William Daisley (1849-1935) who was my Great-Grandfather
- James had son William Frances T. (1859-1892)
- William KYLE (1841-1918) had son William Bennett KYLE (1878-1953) who had a son William Allan KYLE (b. 1916)
- William (1849-1929) had son William Edwin (1890-1973)
- William Daisley (1849-1935) had son Joshua William "Oscar" (1883-1972)
My father was not the only grandson of William Daisley given the name William. There was also William Osborne (1928-1977) and William George (1914-1985).
All told, I have 21 male Allens in my database of 6 generations with the first name William. There will be others with William as a middle name as well as Williams descended from a female with a different surname.
As a genealogist, I can appreciate parents naming a child after an ancestor, but with a common surname of 'Allen', the last thing I need is to have to search for individuals with the first or middle name of William.
