Hi Trevor ....
It's great to hear from you - although I'm saddened to hear of your father, Walter's, passing. Although I did not communicate with him directly, I've seen his messages on GenForum and my elder brother (James) communicated with him for many years regarding the Fewell line. Your father did some fantastic work(much of it before the internet revolutionized genealogy) - and many of the subscribers to this forum are indebted to him in that we are descended from William and Margaret and used much of Walter's research (directly or indirectly) to help map our own trees.
Because so many of us are descended from William and Margaret - especially their son Samuel (who married Sophia Childs at Chignal St James) any further data you can pass on will be eagerly received. In particular, and as you can see by the exchanges above, we are all desperately keen to firmly establish who William of Felstead's parents actually were. We'd just started to think that, after years of research by many people (including your father) we had discovered that William's parents were called William and Hannah ... not Philip and Ann. Ho hum the joys of genealogy eh !! ??
I must confess that I like the thought that William was from the Takeley / Dunmow area - and from my researches Philip and Ann are one of the few likely couples to have been his parents had this been the case (I can't find a suitable William - with or without a wife called Hannah anywhere .... yet, at least.) One of the problems has been that there is a black-spot of nearly a decade in the Takeley records - where the vicar (rather anti socially or slothfully) decided not to bother keeping them. Needless to say this is the decade in which 'William of Felstead' would probably have been born. Anything that you are prepared to share with us regarding this critical part of the tree would therefore be truly appreciated.
Once again, it's great to hear from you .... and know that Walter's works are not lost to us.
Aye
Trevor (aka ME)
