HI EVERYONE. DUE TO SO MANY PEOPLE WANTING TO LOOK AT MY SITE, TRYING TO GUESS THE
PASSWORD IS NO LONGER REQUIRED. THE PASSWORD IS   OZZY  This is lowercase lettering.
THANKS TO THE MANY PEOPLE FROM AROUND THE WORLD WHO KEEP SENDING ME THEIR CONNECTIONS
AND PHOTOGRAPHS, OLD CERTIFICATES AND INTERESTING OLD ARTICLES.
THIS TREE JUST KEEPS ON GROWING. I AM UPDATING WEEKLY TO KEEP UP.
IF ANYONE HAS MORE CONNECTIONS TO ANY OF THE FAMILIES ON THIS SITE PLEASE LET ME KNOW.
OLD FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED AS I COULD ADD THEM TO THE SITE.
======================================================================================


A 2010 WILLS FAMILY HISTORY CONVENTION IS CURRENTLY BEING PLANNED FOR ALL THE MANY 
WILLS ENTHUSIASTS. THE PREVIOUS ONE IN 2003 ATTRACTED MORE THAN 150+ DURING THE DAY.
RESEARCHERS CAME FROM ALL OVER AUSTRALIA AS WELL AS FROM ENGLAND AND NEW ZEALAND.
THIS ONE IS EXPECTED TO BE BIGGER THAN EVER AS IT MARKS THE 150th ANNIVERSARY YEAR 
SINCE THE BURKE AND WILLS EXPEDITION COMMENCED FROM MELBOURNE IN 1860.
ON THE DAY THERE WILL BE MANY FAMILY TREES ON DISPLAY AS WELL AS GUEST SPEAKERS.
DATE: 7th March 2010.
VENUE: COLLINGWOOD TOWN HALL, 140 Hoddle Street, Abbotsford, Melbourne, Victoria, 
Australia.
This venue is close to all public transport and just minutes from the city centre of 
Melbourne.
TIME: 10am - 4.00pm.
COST: TO BE DETERMINED LATER IN THE YEAR DEPENDING ON NUMBERS INTERESTED.
AT THIS STAGE WE ARE TRYING TO KEEP THE ENTRY COST TO A MINIMUM OF $10 OR LESS.
Keep up to date with our planning by checking our web site at
                                                       tww.id.au/fam/get/2010get.html
======================================================================================

          
THE WILLS FAMILY TREE FROM THE EARLIEST FINDINGS TO THE PRESENT DAY.

THE WILLS CONNECTIONS TO THIS TREE COMMENCE IN THE 1300s IN THE TOWN OF ORFORD IN 
SUFFOLK WHICH IS ON THE NORTH EAST COAST OF ENGLAND AND CONTINUES ON THROUGH THE 
YEARS DOWN AND AROUND THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE LONDON AREA. FROM AROUND THE 16th 
CENTURY SEVERAL FAMILIES MOVED TO DEVON AND FROM THE EARLY 1800s TO MANY OTHER PARTS 
OF THE WORLD AS MANY PEOPLE LEFT ENGLAND FOR VARIOUS REASONS. A NUMBER OF OTHER 
FAMILY TREES LINK UP WITH THIS TREE DURING THE 1300s AND GO BACK TO THE 12th CENTURY.
THOSE PARTICULAR SURNAMES ARE AS FOLLOWS : HEYFORD,DE MOREWICK,UMFRAVILLE & DE LUMLEY.
APART FROM THE SURNAME OF WILLS, THERE ARE CURRENTLY 1224 OTHER SURNAMES CONNECTED.
DURING THE MANY YEARS OF RESEARCHING THIS FAMILY TREE MANY HISTORICAL BITS OF 
INTEREST HAVE BEEN UNFOLDED ALONG THE WAY. WE HAVE A COPY OF A PAGE FROM THE 
COVERDALE BIBLE OF 1535, THE GREAT BIBLE OF 1549 AS WELL AS THE BISHOPS BIBLE OF 1568 
WHICH WAS REVISED TO THE KING JAMES VERSION OF 1611 ( See pics in my photo album 
amongst my index of Wills people familiar with those bibles during their lives ) 
PHOTOS OF THE OLDEST CHURCHES IN ENGLAND AS WELL AS VERY OLD DOCUMENTS etc ALL ADD TO 
THE INTEREST FOR THOSE THAT ARE BROWSING THROUGH THIS SITE.

From the early 1800s many families headed for the U.S.A, Canada, South Africa, 
Australia and New Zealand in search of a better life.
There are also many other families connected to our Wills tree that went to Hong 
Kong,India,Belguim,Portugal and France. If they are anywhere else please let me know.
Currently there are 1302 people with the WILLS surname connected to this tree. More 
than 825 of them lived in England and about 175 in Australia with 
the rest of them worldwide. There are many people alive today with the Wills 
surname that are not listed on my site for security reasons. 
Apart from the WILLS surname there are many other surnames that have been extensively 
researched which add many hundreds of connections to this tree. They are as follows:
NOSWORTHY,DANIELL,BOWDON,LEARE,MURLEY,ROWELL,RENDELL,SHARMAN,SMERDON,WALKER,LOVEYS,
HANNAFORD,HARRIS,BICKFORD,MOON,DAYMOND,HENSHAW,WOODLANDS,YOLLAND,MANTELL,GERMON, 
HIND,SWETE,TARR,WILL,WOODLANDS,WINTERTON,CHATTERTON,COLLYNS,PINSENT,ARLOTT, BOARD, 
JACKSON, LEE, HIND, SHILSTON, TURNEY, WOOSTER, YARDE, AMERY & CHETWYND.

Work has recently been completed involving adding files from the 
Mantell,Mauntell, Lumley, Morewick and Heyford family tree line which connect
to this tree during the 1400s. Those particular lines go back to the 1100s 
period. There are countless numbers of family trees connected to that lot. 
When a connection has been found, that line is then traced back as far as 
possible in all directions and so it continues on year after year.
Apart from the enjoyment of finding new names it also helps other researchers 
to fill in those missing gaps on various family trees.

Between 1348 and 1351 in England and other parts of Europe was the Bubonic Plague or 
known otherwise as Black Death. This terrible disease wiped out between 30% and 60% 
of Europe's population. How many people with the Wills surname or other variant names 
were lost is unknown and will never be known. 
_____________________________________________________________________________ 
          
   THE COMMENCEMENT OF RESEARCH TO OUR WILLS FAMILY TREE.

Our Wills family tree has been traced back to the early 1300s where research
commenced with Amos Wills in the town of Orford in the County of Suffolk, 
England. He married around 1322 and had two twin sons David and Oliver Wills. 
Several of our Wills family during this period of time attended the Church Of 
St.Bartholomew in Orford, Suffolk as well as the Church Of St.Botulph in Iken, 
Suffolk. Both these churches are more than 900 years old and over the centuries have 
been kept in great shape despite structual problems caused by fire etc.

There were many Wills' born in both Orford and Iken in the 1300s as well as from the 
Caton family who were one of the earliest connecting families to our Wills'
In my photo gallery on this site there are several pictures of both churches where 
Wills and Caton marriages took place as well as other ancient churches from around 
Sussex.

ENGLAND'S OLDEST CHURCHES - SEVERAL OF OUR WILLS' WERE MARRIED IN THEM
St.Martins Church in Canterbury is the oldest church still in use. It was built in 
597 AD by St.Augustus ( See photo in my picture gallery )
The oldest church in England still standing is St.Peter's Chapel, Bradwell-on-Sea in 
Essex.This church was built where St.Cedd landed in 654, on his mission from 
Lindesfarne. The people of Essex worshipped their for over 600 years or more, but so 
remote was the spot the congregation dwindled and eventually the church was left 
standing empty since and that's probably the reason why it's in such good shape today.
St.Nicholas Bramber Castle in Sussex is the oldest Norman Church in England.
St.John The Baptist church in Clayton, Sussex was built in the 11th century. It has 
Byzantine style wall scenes painted in 1060.
Coombes Church in Coombes , Sussex also dates back to the 11th century and was 
mentioned in the Domesday Book. I have found that the history of these churches is 
just as fascinating as the Wills family history. To see them is just amazing.

Most of the researching credit prior to 1750 must be given to Henry Joseph 
Wills along with his father Edward Joseph Wills and Henry's grandfather 
William Wills. All three were born in Ashburton, Devon, during the 1700s. 
Their early documentation shows that their combined efforts were carried out 
over a period of more than 60 years. After the death of Charles Wills in 1741 
his son William who apparently was quite interested in Wills history commenced 
putting together all the Wills family history. As we understand it he was the 
instigator who transcribed all the Wills' records in existance at the time together 
with all known information that had been passed down through several 
generations to him and traced back the Wills family tree to the 14th century. 
Apart from knowing who all my ancestors were, there are however many hundreds 
of connections with the Wills surname who are simply a remote distant 
relative. Despite being distant, their connections have been added because 
that then leads to a connecting point with other family trees. One thing that 
was made mention of in early documentation was that the earliest births, 
deaths and marriage records in England were in the year 1538.
Landowners records go back to the 14th century of which during that time there 
were many of our Wills' landowners indexed. Those records which are still kept 
today no doubt played a vital roll in compiling the early generations of this 
family tree. Without the many years of researching by William, Edward and 
Henry Wills this tree would not be like it is today. It would have begun from 
the late 1600s instead of the early 1300s.
At the end of 2005 this tree had been found to link up with 9 very large 
family trees from around Devon, England. This increased to 22 by the end of 
June 2007 as more people found connections to this tree.In May 2009 there were 99 
family trees from around the world that have linked up with mine. After contacting 
several people, they kindly sent me their Gedcom files which have been loaded 
on to this site. Many other ( Devon )Wills trees can be found on the net. They 
are on the Tribal Pages Site as well as on Rootsweb. 
On the Tribal pages site just type in the surname of WILLS and many WILLS 
family trees will appear.The ones from Devon, England are the ones where most 
link up to this tree.
They are connections to our Wills tree that link up at various points over the 
centuries. Many descendants of those families are now living in Canada, U.S.A. 
and Australia.  
If anyone feels that they might be related to anyone listed on this site then 
please don't hesitate to send me an email. New information never goes astray.

                 FAMOUS CONNECTIONS TO THIS FAMILY TREE
There are some very famous people that are connected to this tree.
On my side of the family we have WILLIAM JOHN WILLS ( 1834-1861 )who with Robert 
O'Hara Burke was the first to cross Australia from Melbourne to the Gulf Of 
Carpentaria in the far north of Australia. I am not a direct descendant but have 
connections to his parents through a WILLS - PETHYBRIDGE marriage.
Another on my side also connected to the Wills family is SAMUEL HANNAFORD ( 1835-
1911) He was born at Southcombe Farm in Devon, England. He was one of 10 children 
born to Roger Hannaford and his wife Mary Northcott. In 1844 the family moved to the 
U.S.A. He was to become one of the most admired architects in the history of 
Cincinnati.Some of his best known landmarks in the city are The Music Hall, City Hall 
and many other buildings were of his design. this very capable architect ran a very 
trusted and famed business by the name of Hannaford & Sons until it's closure in the 
early 1960s.
One particular marriage that took place was in 1901 between Mary Curzon and Frederick
William Francis George Frankland.He became Sir William Frankland 10th Baronet of
Thirkelby in the County of York.
On my mothers side a famous connection is Thomas Chatterton ( 1752-1770 )
During the 1760s he was one of the most popular poets not only in England but was 
well known in other parts of the world as well. 
He wrote many outstanding pieces of work until one day he was questioned by other 
writers that noticed he was adding lines to his own works written by other poets and 
taking credit for it. 
Very soon the whole world knew about it and sadly he departed the scene as quickly as 
he appeared. He went into hiding and couldn't stand the pressure that he was under 
and poisoned himself.
Also on my mothers side was a Robert Taylor who was an Armourer of his magesty's ship 
the Endeavour. Lieutenant James Cook Commander specifically requested that Robert 
Taylor be appointed as Armourer and Taylor joined the ship on the 11th June 1768.
On the 17th October 1769 Cook was the first to set foot on New Zealand soil. He 
claimed the North and South Islands of New Zealand on the 22nd August 1779.
On April 29th 1770 Captain James Cook arrived on his ship the Endeavour at Botany Bay 
in Sydney Australia. 
Cook traveled from his homeland great Britain to lands where few had gone before 
bringing home much for his country. Cook was a discoverer, mapreader and an innovator 
in the process of long distance travel and navigation. He was born in 1728 and died 
in 1779. More info on Cook including portrait and newspaper articles dated 
August 19th 1768 can be found by clicking on COOK - LIEUTENANT COMMANDER on my 
surnames index.


                     WILLS CONNECTIONS IN ENGLAND
This Wills tree dates back to Orford, Suffolk from the very early 1300s.
From their many families gradually moved to the London area from the 1400s.
During the 1600s many of our Wills families were farmers around Oxford and 
later in many parts of Devon in places like Ashburton, Lustleigh, Newton 
Abbot,Bovey Tracey, Bideford,Chudleigh,Ilsington and further north to Exeter.
In February 2008 after tracing back connections to our Wills families that lived 
around Exeter in Devon I hit the jackpot. Some children of one family after getting 
married moved to Kensington and Bayswater in London. I then found more than 100 on 
record that lived in the same area during the late 1500s right through to the early 
1800s. From then onwards I couldn't keep track of where they went to as there were 
hundreds of Wills all around England.

                    WILLS CONNECTIONS IN THE U.S.A.
Several Wills families left Devon from the late 1700s up until the late 1800s.
Many descendants from those families today live in many parts of the U.S.A.
Their were also many families related to the Wills families that went to the 
U.S.A as well as Canada. The Daniell and Daymond families were two that had 
dozens of descendants from the early 1800s to the mid 1800s period. Today they 
are everywhere. This was one of the most time consuming researching episodes 
that I had ever undertaken as I kept finding one Daniell family after another 
with most having at least 10 children. One family had 23 would you believe.

                    WILLS CONNECTIONS IN AUSTRALIA.
The Australian connections to this tree began when Henry Wills left Ashburton, 
Devon, England in May 1841 and arrived in Port Jackson, Sydney in December of 
that year. Henry spent two years in Sydney. What he did their nobody knows.
From their he moved to Melbourne, Victoria. After his marriage in 1850 he  
moved to Majorca in Central Victoria in search of gold. The rest is history as 
many of his descendants still remain in central Victoria today. Due to lack of 
work in country Victoria many descendants are now living in metropolitan 
Melbourne.

Although there are many hundreds of Wills names connected to this tree in 
astromomers terms many are so distant they are light years away just 
like stars as this tree is continually growing. Help from researchers in 
England, Australia, Canada and the United States of America continually keep 
me busy with their updates. Many people living here in Australia have 
contacted me regarding as to who their ancestors were that lived in England. 
Several people that knew nothing at all about their English ancestors have 
commenced compiling their family tree and have now got the genealogy bug.
All of these people must be thanked for sending me old Church photos and other bits 
of information connected with genealogy.

Several Wills, Leaman and Rendell descendants living in England today have 
continued on helping me in recent years with the task of adding more connections.  My 
task of adding the many Australian connections was made a lot easier with the 
wonderful support from the late Richard "Dick" Wills of Ilsington, Devon. 
Prior to his death in March 2003 he sent me many Wills indexes of one kind or 
another from all around Devon,England which greatly helped me with my research 
in Australia.I owe so much to that man for what he gave me.  
Dick Wills as he was known to all was always prepared to help someone when it 
came to family history. He was the 14th generation of the Wills family to live 
and farm at Narracombe, Ilsington. Dick had gathered up that much Wills 
history over the years and with his knowledge was the author of THE BOOK OF 
ILSINGTON which sold like hot cakes in 2000 all around the world.
This book covered many interesting stories regarding Wills families and 
connections in Ilsington and other parts of Devon.

             RESEARCHERS IN ENGLAND WHO HAVE STUDIED THIS TREE

Researchers in England including "Dick" Richard Wills have found that 
the research carried out by Henry, Edward and William Wills was correct right 
back to the late 1400s and they reached the conclusion that their findings 
going back to the 14th is assumed to be correct. Today we no longer have access to 
the many early records searched because due to one reason and another they have 
either been destroyed by fire or lost by other means before the 1700s. The conclusion 
reached by several Devon Researchers was that the early Wills research would be 
correct because what little they did find in the 1300s was spot on. The earliest 
Wills records connected to this family tree regarding births, deaths and marriages 
were around the Orford area in Suffolk in the 1300s period where several weddings 
took place at the Church Of St.Bartholomew and St.Butolph in Iken.
These church's were built during the 1100s.
Orford is on the east coast of England facing the North Sea. Two of the main  
attractions today for tourists are the church of St.Bartholomew and Orford 
Castle. Both were built around the same time. Both the church and the castle 
are magnificent structures to say the least. 

The Wills surname was first found on record at Saltash in Cornwall in the 11th 
century. From that period of time the spelling of the Wills surname has varied 
quite a lot. It has been found on records as being spelt the following way:
Wils,Willls,Willes,Will,Wylls,Wiels,Wiells,Whills,Wells and Walls. They are 
all variants of the Wills surname. See my web page of History of the Wills 
Surname.
                   http://tww.id.au/fam/lists/surname.html

 UNSOLVED WILLS FAMILY CONNECTIONS FROM THE 1400s - EARLY 1600s.
       The end of the line regarding some family trees.


One particular Wills line that lived around Christow, Lustleigh, Bovey Tracey 
and Bridford in Devon during the 1400s- 1500s had ancestors with the surname 
of Will and Willmeade.
For a long time some Devon researchers thought that some Wills families 
descended from the Will family but reached the conclusion in 2004 that both 
lines were separate families altogether.
Researchers have been unable to connect the Doddiscombsleigh Wills to the 
wider Wills families of Devon due to a number of uncertanties, particularly 
between 1570 and 1620.
Also the surname of Willmeade that was connected to the Wills families from 
very early times had died out completely by the end of the 1600s.

After a 5 year study by myself and others of many Wills family trees of Devon the 
following conclusions were reached . It was found that over a two hundred year span 
around half of all Wills families in Devon between 1650 - 1850 connected up at 
various points during that time with many living at that time probably not knowing 
that they were related.
A search of some 1200 Wills marriages during that time found 30 WILLS - WILLS 
marriages where cousins married cousins. The reason for this I'm told was to 
keep the wealth in the family.

              SOME HUGE CONNECTIONS FROM OTHER FAMILIES

Some very large connecting families to this tree are MURLEY, AMERY, HEYWARD, SMERDON, 
DANIELL, NOSWORTHY, HANNAFORD & BICKFORD. They had very large families and like the 
Wills' they all married into each others families creating a few more 
headaches for researchers. These connecting names total more than 1000.
During the 1600-1700 period there were 3 consecutive generations of 
Nosworthys' that married their cousins etc with several of their children at 
the time having the same name. It was a case of finding their parents first 
and then their children as their families grew and grew.

                           A RESEARCHERS NIGHTMARE
Mary Pethybridge b 1795 married John Nosworthy at Manaton,Devon in 1814 whilst 
her younger sister Anna Pethybridge b 1804 married another John Nosworthy in 
1823 also at Manaton. The two John's were cousins as well as brother inlaws. 
To confuse the issue even further both had large families and both had a John 
as well. There were dozens of Nosworthys' around Manaton during that time.
There are many people from the HANNAFORD family connected to this tree.
 
A HUGE FAMILY THAT MULTIPLIED FAST - Hannaford connections to this tree.

Joseph Hannaford one of 10 children to Roger Hannaford and Mary Northcott was 
born in 1836 and married 4 times, his brother Samual b 1835 married 3 times 
with 3 others in the family that married twice. Despite his 3 marriages Samual 
Hannaford went on to become one of the most respected architects in the history of 
Cincinnatti, U.S.A. Between Joseph, Samual and the whole family living in America 
there were more than 65 children in a short space of time. I guess there was no radio 
or T.V. in those days and a lot of harjy barjy must have taken place.
Some of the buildings designed by Samual Hannaford can be seen in my photo gallery.

By 1450, some of my Wills' families gradually moved from Suffolk to live in  
London in the towns of Chiswick, Hemel Hemstead, Hendon, Bloomesbury 
and Bromley in Kent. Tracing the various families and what they did was quite 
interesting. Those living during that period of time worked as Fisherman - 
Carpenters - Builders - Stonemasons and a few were farmers. One was a Flag 
Weaver. During the early 1500s several Wills families were now living north 
and west of London and by 1580 some of them were working as farmers in the 
area between Oxford and Exeter. Later many of them moved to farms in and 
around other parts of Devon where properties were bigger. 
Many of my Wills' lived in  North Street Ashburton and in other nearby towns
like Lustleigh and Ilsington where several generations of them farmed the land.
During the period from the 1700s to the 1800s a great many of our Wills' were 
farmers . This was also a terrible period for a lot of people because of 
various diseases and freezing cold winters. This forced some of our Wills' to 
leave England. Those that met the requirements by the authorities were given 
the all clear to travel to Australia and other countries to start a new life.

      THE LONGEST GIVEN NAMES TO ANY CONNECTION TO THIS FAMILY TREE
George Augustus Curzon who was born in Parham, Sussex, England in 1836 married twice.
His first marriage was to Mary Florence Treherne in 1867 but she died in 1869.
His second marriage in 1873 was to ( wait for it as it's not a joke )
Mary Louisa Anne Frances Josephine Martha Alderton. They had a daughter Mary who later 
married the 10th Baronet of Thirkelby in the County of York.


                  TWO INCREDIBLY UNIQUE DATES FOR A BIRTHDAY

One particular connection to this tree is that of Ann Higgins who was born at 
Abbingdon in London on the 1st January 1700. She married John Croft who was born on 
the 1st January 1699. Believe it or not they married on the 1st January 1722 in  
London, England. They had several children but couldn't manage having one born on the
1st January.
Another one is that of Mary Ann Hannah who was born on the 1st January 1800.
She married John Foakes in Cambridgeshire.
Several connections to this tree were born on Christmas Day which is quite 
special for some.

SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT SOME FAMILIES CONNECTED TO OUR WILLS TREE.

There have been over the centuries many inter marriages between certain 
families on this family tree. Had this not been recorded early it would have 
been an absolute nightmare today trying to sort them all out.
Wills - Nosworthy - Bowdon - Smerdon - Leare - Pinsent and Daniell were just a 
few surnames of families where cousins married cousins etc. Most of these 
marriages lasted but some didn't. Some married twice and even three times.
You name it and it all happened. As an example John Wills married Mary Wills 
and for some reason she died so John then married Mary's sister Ann. This 
happened several times with both men and women from Wills families.

Other researchers from around England have told me that the main reason for 
the Wills - Wills marriages  was to keep the wealth in the Wills family. Many 
of the Wills farms around Devon were quite large. Some were 75 to 100 acres but
in Ilsington, Lustleigh and Ashburton there were some big ones well over 200 
acres. George Wills of Lustleigh once had a property of 220 acres which he 
sold in 1810.
             
                 WILLS - WILLS MARRIAGES AND THEIR COUSINS
                     This may be of interest to some.
Medical experts that have done intense studies regarding marriages between 
cousins say there is only a 2% chance of a genetic deformity regarding a 
childs birth. 

In the mid 1800s,several men and women from the Daymond family from around 
Bovey Tracey in Devon moved to Quebec and St.John's Newfoundland in Canada and 
some went to Adelaide in Australia. Some from the Board family from Bickleigh, 
Devon moved to Sheboygan and Newburg, Washington, U.S.A, in search of a better 
life. By the early 1900s there were hundreds of connections to the Daymond and Board 
families. James Evance Daniell married Eliza Hodges in Surrey, England in 1795.
Together they raised 17 children in which 3 died before they reached 2 years 
old, but the rest survived and married and lived not only in various 
parts of England but also in Hong Kong, India, U.S.A, New Zealand and 
Australia. Many of the Daniells' had large families of up to 16 children.
However, there was one exception. Joanna Wills of Lustleigh, Devon married 
Francis Daniell of Berkshire in Kent and raised a staggering 21 children.
All but two survived. I'm not sure if the husband had time to go to work or whether 
or not he helped out with the chores at home. 
One of the saddest stories of all was the marriage between John Mantell and 
Sybell Bridger who married at Monks Horton in Kent on 26th February 1662. They 
raised 7 children of which none lived longer than 2 years. There have been other 
cases especially during the 1500s and 1600s where some married couples had 8,9 and 10 
children that all died very young. This was absolutely heartbreaking to say the least.
One mystery has yet to be solved. In 1806 Augustus William Mantell married 
Anne Woodlands in Kent. They had two children William and Jane and for some 
unknown reason their births were registered with the surname of Woodlands.
There must have been a good reason for that to take place.

_____________________________________________________________________________
 
MY G.G.GRANDFATHER HENRY WILLS AND HIS ARRIVAL TO AUSTRALIA 
The beginning of all the Wills and other family connections in Australia.   
_____________________________________________________________________________
In 1841 Henry Wills who was the son of Henry Joseph and Maria Henshaw of North 
Street in Ashburton said goodbye to his parents, brothers and sisters that were all 
working on the family farm. Although he helped with general chores on the farm he was 
very academic and was a law student at the time he had decided that there was a 
better future in Australia for him. The Wills farming business had been run very well 
for 3 generations to that point of time and even today descendants are still farming 
around Devon.

Henry Wills had been persuaded to go to Australia by a close family friend in 
Dr.Richard Evans who had set up a thriving practice in Melbourne, Victoria, 
some 2 years earlier. Henry had no hesitation as he was told it was a much 
better life in Australia as there was an abundance of work with plenty on 
offer. One old letter makes mention of the fact that winter in Melbourne was 
very comfortable without any snow. Referance to these stories have come from 
Jennifer Gould in Newton Abbot, Devon. She descends from the Evans family and 
her family tree connects to the Daniell tree during the early 1800s.
Jennifer has provided some interesting information that has been handed down 
to her since the early 1800s. 
In 1841 Henry Wills was 24 years old and a Law student who attended Exeter 
University. On the 21st May 1841 he departed from Port Plymouth on the 
ship "William Metcalfe" and after 97 days sailing arrived at Port Jackson, 
Sydney on the 27th of August 1841 and was the first Wills on our tree line to 
come from England and set foot on Australian soil. 
He spent 2 years in Sydney before moving down to Melbourne where he married 
Maria Walker who was born in Bristol, England. The wedding took place in 
St.James Cathedral on the 25th February 1850. Not long after that the newly 
weds moved to Majorca in Central Victoria where they settled and together they 
raised 14 children. Sadly only 7 survived. Many other connecting families to 
our Wills' also came out to Australia in the mid to late 1800s to settle. Some 
of the surnames of those families were Walker, Henshaw, Sharman, Lee, Murley, 
Tiley, Winterton,Moon, Bilton, Soutter, Taylor, Gathercole, Brown, Roberts, 
Rendell,Gahan, Gruer and Peart.
Descendants of all these families are scattered all around Victoria today.
Some of the towns they lived in were : Inglewood, Dunnolly, Bendigo, Creswick, 
Ballarat, Tarnagulla, Daylesford, Maryborough, Timor, Mildura, Geelong, 
Wedderburn, Rutherglen, Majorca, Talbot, Raglan and Wonthaggi.

After a thorough search by some researchers in England, they were unable to make any 
connection with this Wills tree to W.D.& H.O.Wills who were the tobacconists in 
Bristol, England.
As it stands at the moment there are 205 Wills connections in Australia and 939 Wills 
connections from Devon, England including William John Wills who was born in Totnes 
on the 5th January 1834. He was the son of Dr.William Wills a notable surgeon that 
lived in Totnes,Devon. William John Wills was famous with the Burke and Wills 
expedition that took place in Australia between August 1860 and July 1861. They 
crossed Australia from Melbourne in the State of Victoria to the Gulf Of Carpentaria 
in the State of Queensland but didn't quite make it back again which was tragic.
The expedition had been tried 7 times before by others and all had failed.
William John Wills was a brilliant surveyor as he was able to set the party on 
the right track at all times.
His father Dr. William Wills who had a practice at No.3 The Plains, Totnes.
William John obtained his Certificate of Chemistry, having studied at Guys and 
St.Bartholomews. In 1850 he left school at the age of 16 and became Articled 
Surgeon to his father, a career he did not particularly like.
He lived for a time at Ipplepen and was educated in Ashburton whilst boarding 
in Ireland House. He was a good scholar and very interested in Science. On the 
1st October 1852 on the the ship "Janet Mitchell" William John and his brother 
Thomas left Dartmouth and set sail for Australia and arrived at Port Philip, 
Melbourne on the 3rd January 1853. Not long after their arrival both men 
worked as shepherds on a sheep station at Deniliquin, 200 miles from 
Melbourne. Both were being paid 30 pounds per week. 
In August 1853 their father Dr.William Wills arrived in Melbourne and it took 
him until October to find his two sons. In January of 1854 William John was 
digging for gold like everybody else was at the time but he soon joined his 
father in a practice in Ballarat. His brother Tom worked as Dispenser.
In 1855 William John Wills became restless and made enquiries about joining a 
party but nothing became of it. In August 1858 Prof.George Noumayer of the 
Astronomical and Magnetical Observatory was looking for an assistant. He 
offered the post to William who gladly accepted.
In 1860 William decided to join a party. The leader was Burke, with Landells 
second-in-command. Wills was given the job as surveyor and astronomer. 
Dr.Beckler the botanist and medical officer and Becker the naturalist.
Ten others were chosen for minor posts.  
On the 20th August The Expedition left Royal Park, Melbourne with 37 camels, 
wagons laden with stores.
During the journey several arguments broke out between several men and the 
party was split in two. The rest of the story is now history. Both Robert 
O'Harah Burke and William John Wills both died of starvation due to some wrong 
decisions made by Burke that proved fatal. 
Both men were given a proper funeral and were buried in the Melbourne General 
Cemetery in Carlton, Victoria, Australia on the 20th January 1863 and 9 years 
later in January 1872 John King who was the only survivor of the journey also 
died and was buried in the same cemetery. His health had gradually declined 
since that epic journey. He was just 31 years of age.

During the 1700s and early 1800s many Wills' left Devon to find a better 
life. Earlier, some went to the U.S.A where many descendants live today. 
Bennet Wills settled in Maine in 1627, John Wills settled in St.Christopher in 
1634. Thomas Wills settled in Maryland in 1673 and two brothers named Thomas 
and William Wills settled in Virginia in 1654.
A great many of our Australian Wills' worked as Miners during the mid 1800s 
right up until most of the mines closed around 1920 in Victoria. Some also 
worked in New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia. Several also 
died during this period of time due to various kinds of mining accidents.

 SOME  INTERESTING  STATISTICS AND FACTS ABOUT OUR WILLS FAMILY TREE
_______________________________________________________________________________
The average age of all males going back in a direct line from myself is 63 yrs.
The average age at the time of marriage for all male Wills' is 24 years.
Mary Wills born on 18-9-1622 and died on 25-5 1727 was the longest living 
Wills. She lived for 104 years and 8 months.
Four generations of Wills' were all born between the years 1400-1500.
George Wills the son of Edward Wills worked as a police officer around London during 
the early to mid 1800s. There have been several doctors with the most notible 
being William Wills (born 1804).
He was the father of William John Wills the explorer. There have been two 
Wills Solicitors and there have been several teachers, builders and plenty of 
miners, particularly in Australia. In England most Wills' were farmers.
Thomas, William. George and John have been the most common names for men.
Mary , Sarah, Elizabeth and Jane have been the most common names for women.

The Wills surname is now more than 900 years old which in time is only 
yesterday so that means it will be around for a few more days yet.