52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 9 (Where There's a Will)

What 'Will' to write about?

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)

The next generation continued with the tradition:

• 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)

The use of the name William continued on through the generations of my Allen ancestors - including my own father: William John "Jack" (1923-1990).  The middle name of one of my brothers is William.

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.