USA Masom & Swain Willey
Can there be a link between the Swains of Yardley Gobion and the Swain Willey who married a Masom from Yardley in the 1850s and the family contiued to use the Swain name for their descendants? See below.
Please let me know if you have the answer or even a clue.
Carol Perkins says:-
I live in New Jersey, USA and am the great granddaughter of Charles Swain Willey who married Elizabeth Ann (Hannah) Masom. I became interested in genealogy in the spring of 2003 so in only four short years I have found a tremendous amount of information. The Yardley Gobion site was amazing to me when I came upon it for the very first time and found the history of the village and then the story of my own ancestors!
I contacted Brenda from this site in search of information regarding a possible connection between the Swain and Willey families. She passed on a contact to me who is presently helping me to explorer this. My Willey ancestors have used the name Swain as a middle name in every generation ever since the late 1700’s.
I will update this information when I am sure of a relationship here.
JOHN MASOM
John Masom was born 1756 in Yardley Gobion district of Potterspury in the county of Northamptonshire, England. He married Mary (last name unknown) born 1755 in Yardley Gobion. It is believed John and Mary are descended from the Masoms of Passenham or Deanshanger. John died 2 Apr 1843 and Mary died in Aug 1843. They are both buried at Potterspury. Their children were: John, William, Elizabeth, Mary, who died as an infant in 1783, a second Mary, Thomas, Ann, Hannah and Richard. Richard was baptized 12 Aug 1798 and is the ancestor.
Richard was an agriculture laborer (farmer). On 7 Oct 1822 in St Nicholas Church Potterspury, Richard married Ann Hillyer who had been baptized 1 Aug 1802 also in Potterspury. Ann’s parents were William and Ann Hillyer born around 1782. Richard and Ann had two sons, Richard born April 1825 who lived only two weeks, and John born Apr 1829. Ann died in Aug 1853 and Richard died in Dec 1880. They are both buried at Potterspury.
John Masom married on 3 Apr 1848 Ann (Hannah) Atkins (daughter of James) in Yardley Gobion, Northamptonshire. John was a dairyman who farmed ten acres of land. They had five sons and four daughters: Andrew, the oldest was a laborer; George, a painter, and William H. Daughters were Elizabeth Hannah born in 1857 and Louisa J. born 1871.
Some of John and Hannah ‘s children:
Richard, born 1849 married Isabella Cole. They had a daughter, Isabell and two sons, Raymond and Stanley. They immigrated to the US in 1870 and settled in New Jersey.
Andrew John born March 1854 is living in Potterspury with his mother, Hannah and daughter Emily in 1891.
Elizabeth Hannah Masom born 16 Sep 1857 married Charles Swain Willey in Leicester in 1876. A son, John Swain Willey, was born the following year. They then immigrated to the U.S. and settled in New Jersey where three daughters, Ann, Zillah, and Ruth, were born.
George William born 1863 married Lily Jane Varney on 20 Oct 1883 in Potterspury.
William Henry born 1868 married Elizabeth Morton 1887 in Potterspury.
Louisa Jane born 1870 married Thomas Burke in Birmingham and they had a son, Thomas born 1900.
“I am offering this additional information in the hope someone will be able to make an early connection between the Swain and Willey families.”
JOHN SWAIN WILLEY
John Swain Willey was born 1794 in Whiston, Hertfordshire, England. He was a miller. He and his wife had three children: Mary Ann, James Swain and William Swain. John died at the age of 89.
His son, William married Jane Keys in 1851 at Potterspury. William died at about 31 years of age but left three daughters: Mary Jane, Ellen and Ann.
One of these daughters, Mary Jane Swain Willey, married Richard Brown in 1874 at Potterspury and they had three daughters and a son: Ellen Jane, Winifred C, Mabel A and William H.
Jane Keys Willey remarried after William’s death to John Foulks in 1861 and they had four children: James, Joseph, Florence and Lillian.
James Swain Willey, the other son of John and Mary Ann, married Ann Green in 1848 in Potterspury. They had one daughter, Sarah Ann Swain and three sons, Charles Swain, James Swain and John Henry Swain all born in Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire, England. James was only 38 years old at the time of his death. Ann remarried in 1866 to Ebenezer Sabey, a hatter from Bedfordshire. They had two sons, Arthur E and William S. Ebenezer died in 1874. Ann then remarried for a third time in 1881 to Thomas Downing, a blacksmith in Stony Stratford. Ann died in 1891 and Thomas in 1894, both in Potterspury.
Sarah Ann Swain, daughter of James and Ann, married Francis Albert Govier 1874 at Potterspury and they were the parents of Francis Henry born 1876, Annie Elizabeth, born 1878 and Charles John born 1880 all born in Pottterspury. Sarah Ann died in 1884 in Wandsworth, London.
James Swain Willey, son of James and Ann, died at 16 years of age.
John Henry Swain Willey, another son of John and Ann, was an Engine Fitter. He married Mary Ann Morris 1883 in White Chapel, London and had three sons: Charles Swain, James Henry Swain both born in Potterspury and Henry who was born 1887 in New Jersey, USA.
Of these sons, Charles married and settled in Kearney, NJ. This Charles S had a son, Charles S also. James Henry Swain also married and settled in Kearney, NJ.
Charles Swain Willey, son of James Swain and Ann Green, married Elizabeth Hannah Masom. They lived at 36 Carrington St, Derby St Peter, Derbyshire, where their first child, John Swain Willey was born on 3 October 1877.
Elizabeth and Charles then migrated with John to the United States in 1884 and lived at Whittlesey Street in West Orange, New Jersey and then later at 48 Linden Avenue in East Orange, New Jersey.
Three daughters were born to them in New Jersey: Ann in August 1886, Zillah in July 1888 and Ruth in March 1891.
Most of the Willeys were house painters/decorators/paper hangers in England and continued this occupation in the U.S.
Ann married Percy Edgar Wilson, a painter/paperhanger/decorator from Devonport, England. They lived in South Orange, Orange and East Orange, NJ and had three children: James born 1906 (later became a painter also), Ann, born 1907 and Edgar Charles born 1920.
Percy was one of six children (James, Ernest E., Frederick G., Albert E. and Ethel M.) Their father was a boatswain in Devonport.
John and Percy each made at least two trips back and forth between the U.S. and England.
John came to the U.S. as a small boy but traveled again on the St Louis arriving back in the US on 25 February 1899
Percy first arrived on 9 Sep 1903 on the “Majestic” when he was single. The second voyage on the “St. Louis” took five days and five hours arriving August 22, 1914 He was traveling alone and meeting his cousin, Frank Weeks who was born in 1867 or 1869, Derbyshire, England and who, along with his sons, Chauncy and William, was a painter in East Orange.
Note: All of the Willeys continued to take Swain as a second or third name.
Sources: 1851 Census, England, Leicester, St Martin, John Willey, Miller, b 1801 Hertford, Wheston
1871 Census: England, Buckinghamshire, St Giles, John S Willey, widower, age 78, retired miller, born Hertfordshire, Whiston about 1793
BMD Death Index: John Swain Willey born about 1791 died 1880 Northamptonshire, Hardingstone District
Several other Willeys in the census of Weston in 1841 and 1851
UPDATE November 2009
This is a correction and update from my previously entered information:
William Swain Willey, who married Jane Keys in 1851 died 5 Nov 1854 in the Battle of Inkerman in the Crimean War; not at Potterspury as previously stated. William was born in 1827 in Tooting, Surrey, England.
Since my previous posting I have received the following information from a fellow researcher.
It seems John Swain Willey was born 19 Feb 1793 and was the son of James Wille born 1742, Weston, and his second wife, Susanna Swain born 1742 at Weston.
John died 22 Mar 1825 and Susanna died about 1832, both at Weston.
This would make the Swain connection.
Going back a bit further, James Wille born 1742 was the son of Andrew Willy born 1697 in Little Hadham and Elizabeth Wheeler.
Andrew was the son of John Willy and Elizabeth, both of Much Hadham. They both died about 1729.
Caroline