OK. Louisa Willard (1822) was the daughter of Henry Willard (1776), a millwright in Brighton and Susanna (unknown). Henry was married to Lucy at the time. Baptism certificate for Louisa in Broadwater-by-Worthing Sussex in January 1823.
Louisa married Christian Frederick Taylor (1809-1900) in 1847 at Saint Martin in the Fields. With her she brought her son Henry. Henry had been born in 1842 in France to person unknown. In the 1851 census he is shown twice; once as Henry Willard living with his grandmother Susanna in Hailsham with her husband Edward Barnard, and once with his mother's new family in Stoke Newington as Henry Woollard, but you know it's him as he was born in France in 1842.
Henry was still living with the Taylors in 1861 and has now got the surname of Taylor - again the fact that he was born in France gives it away that he's the same guy. In 1871 - Susanna (Louisa's mother) is living with the Taylor family. So Henry was the guy that held it all together, so I was always interested in him.
By sheer chance, I live in Melbourne Australia now, been here 17 years now, and my Ancestry search always seems to default to Australian records for some reason. Henry appeared in a search - his death record (6/1/1917) clearly shows him as; Henry Taylor, father's name Christian Frederick Taylor, mother's name Louisa Willard, born in France in 1842, father's occupation Coachman.
A quick search of Australian records showed that he and his wife Isabella Gathercole (daughter of Robert Gathercole) arrived in Melbourne on the Hougoumont in May 1869. With them they had two kids, one of whom died on the voyage (I believe), and one survived; William Arthur Taylor 1868-1939. Isabella and Henry continued to have a further 5 children all who died in childhood under 6. Henry died in the Melbourne hospital of kidney failure and hypostatic pneumonia aged 75 occupation shown as wharf labourer. Isabella died in 1922. I traced Henry's burial to the Coburg Cemetery but it was a pauper's grave with no headstone plot COE D1202 - I visited on Friday and paid my last repsects.
So all in all, he had a tough life, and I try and imagine what life must have been like for him 100 years ago. I will always remember him as the guy who tied together my family tree. He is also the only person in my entire family tree who was not born in England!!
Anyway - thank you for listening to the tale of Henry. I would love any more information about Susanna's maiden name - I have tried without success to find details of her marriage to bricklayer Edward Barnard of Hailsham. I would also like to know more about Henry Willard (1776), Louisa's father, some have said he was from Chiddingly in Sussex, but I have seen no proof. I would also like to know where Christian Frederick Taylor (1778-1844) the ostler married to Sarah was from.
Cheers, Jeff
