Lydia HOLLOWAY, wife of William WELLER of Amersham

[Richard Weller]

I have long been puzzled by the lack of information about Lydia
HOLLOWAY who married my great-grandfather William WELLER in Amersham
in 1839. The space for her father's details is blank in the marriage
register.

In censuses Lydia consistently stated that she was born in Two Waters,
Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire about 1818. At least three family
trees online state that she was baptised at St Mary's, Wimbledon on 21
Sep 1817. I discounted this because Wimbledon is nowhere near Hemel
Hempstead and the date is too early. Research showed that the
Wimbledon Lydia died in Jan 1819 aged 16 months. (When I looked at
the said trees with a view to notifying their 'owners' of the error, I
also found that all three had my own mother as having died aged 78
several years before I was born!)

Further research (with help from Maddie of Lincoln, for which 'many
thanks') has solved the mystery. The will of George HOLLOWAY, brewer,
of Two Waters, written 1821 and proved 1827 is explicit:

He left cottages and his household effects etc to "Eleanor COOK now
residing with me," and makes bequests to "my son or reputed son George
HOLLOWAY [and] my daughters or reputed daughters Sarah HOLLOWAY and
Lydia HOLLOWAY born out of the body of the said Eleanor COOK."

All three children - Lydia HOLLOWAY, George HOLLOWAY and Sarah
Holloway COOK - were baptised at Kings Langley on 27 Nov 1820,
children of Eleanor COOK, with no mention of father.

It is interesting to note that George, despite his illegitimacy,
became a C of E clergyman.

Richard

[Malcolm Weller]

Thanks Richard,

I have updated the web site;
http://www.weller.org.uk/cgi-bin/FamilyTree/ShowFamily.pl?PersonID=117

Mal.

Richard

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[Julia Weller]

This is a very interesting story!

O. Julia Weller
Partner
Pierce Atwood LLP
202.470.6423 direct
jwe...@pierceatwood.com

-----Original Message-----
From: weller...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:weller...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Richard Weller
Sent: Friday, July 29, 2011 4:14 PM
To: Weller Family
Subject: Lydia HOLLOWAY, wife of William WELLER of Amersham

Richard

--

[Richard Weller]

Thanks Mal,

 

I had forgotten that I was enrolled on the wellerfamily group as 'megric' not 'wellername.'

 

It was an interesting piece of detective work.  I have now discovered that 'Maddie' is actually called Sue, but I don't think it matters.  I just felt she deserved a mention because it was she who found the baptisms at Kings Langley, which was a vital key to making the breakthrough.

 

All good wishes,

 

Richard