MILLS Joseph & Martha (nee WILTSHIRE)

[bails]

Thank you one and all for your helpful research. It has been great and I have managed to piece together a lot more information that I began with. The Nelson City Council cemetery records were very helpful and also have the passenger list from the Queen of the Avon ship.

If anyone has access to the UK Census records, I would appreciate a quick lookup to see if you can find Joseph or Martha in the 1841/1851 records. I don't know who their parents are. All I know is that Joseph was born 1835 in Wottmungrege, Gloucestershire, England and Martha was born 1837 in Kingswood, Gloucestershire, England.

TIA
Bails 

[firefly74]

Hi Bails

I'm wondering if Wottmungrege is actually Wotton under edge. If so, this may be your MILLs family in 1851

1851
Civil Parish: Kingswood
County: Gloucestershire
Reg District: Dursley
Sub-reg district: Wotton

MILLS Hannah, Head, Mar., 42, Weaver (woollen cloth), b. Gloucestershire, Anseley
MILLS, Anne, Daur, U, 19, Winder of woollen yarn, b. Gloucestershire, Minchinhampton (?)
MILLS Joseph, Son, U, 16, Cloth cutter (woollen), b, Gloucestershire, Wotton under edge
MILLS Charlotte, Daur, U, 11,[occupation blank], b. Gloucestershire, Kingswood

This might be the same family in 1841:

1841
Civil Parish: Kingswood
County: Wiltshire
Reg District: Dursley
Sub-reg district: Wotton Under Edge

MILLS William, 30 Weaver, N
MILLS Hannah, 30, N
MILLS, John, 11, N
MILLS, Anne, 10, N
MILLS Joseph, 6, N
MILLS Charlotte,1, Y

I read by googling that Kingswood was transferred from Wiltshire to Gloucestershire in 1844.

Cheers
Helen

[firefly74]

There are some MILLS photos in the Nelson Provincial Museum Glass Plate Negative collection. You can scroll down the page to find the link for the collections online search engine.

Cheers
Helen

[Janette]

Their marriage

Marriages Jun 1857 
 Surname  First name(s)  Age  District  Vol  Page 
Mills  Joseph    Dursley  6a 341   
Wilshire  Martha     Dursley  6a 341   

The district Dursley spans the boundaries of the counties of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire

Cheers Janette

[Janette]

Martha's birth

Births Sep 1837 
 Surname  First name(s)  Age  District  Vol  Page 
WILTSHIRE  Martha    Dursley  11 219

Cheers Janette

[Lucy2]

Hi Bails

There are a number of family trees online at ancestry.com.

They tend to confirm Joseph MILLS, born c. 1835 at Wotton-under-Edge (Gloucester), was the son of William and Hannah MILLS.

  ~  Lu

[bails]

Fantastic!! I can now confirm (with the help of those census records - thanks Helen) that Joseph, his wife and first born, emigrated with his siblings and parents also (thanks Lucy2) 

And Helen, I have had a look at those glass plate collections and there are a lot of MILLS there! However, no christian names so it makes it hard to correctly identify anyone. I will have a proper look shortly and see if the dates/photos make sense to any of my MILLS.

Thanks again for all your wonderful help.
Best regards
Bails 

[MalNZ]

Hi bails,

Have been out of my tree for some weeks, and have just read that you are needing details of some distant relatives of mine.
Be wary of the photos, there are at least 2 probably unrelated Mills families in Nelson in the mid-late 1800's and I dont know whether any of the present-day families have seen and identified them with any certainty. Some details below were taken in 2002 from
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/mpearce/family/a/j/e/359.html

Your Mills family is part of the Mills-Blick-Manning-Harman and others complex of Nelson and Marlborough.

William James Shipton Mills  bapt. Tetbury 4/10/1807  d. 30/8/1892
m. Hannah Blick  b 1808   marr. 8/6/1829, Minchinhampton
children  John, Anne, Joseph, Charlotte and James

as per 1841 and 1851 censuses already noted above - (but I have an unchecked note to say that ages given in either the ship's list or the censuses may conflict (1841 census age may be rounded down to the nearest 5 years for those above age 15)

Arrived (in steerage) on "Queen of the Avon"  London (Gravesend) 23/3/1859,  arr Wellington 13/7/1859, arr Nelson 27/7/1859
Anne had married Llewellyn Manning and came with the other Mills on this ship.

The family was sponsored by William's brother in law, the weaver, Thomas Blick (d 1860) but passage (but not John's) was paid for by his son James.  John Mills apparently was sponsored and booked (and recorded?) for the same passage but came later on the "Wild Duck".  The money for his passage was paid for by Thomas and Henry Harman.  Thomas Harman was the Mills' uncle by his marriage to Ann Blick, Hannah's sister.

Joseph and Martha had (my unchecked records)
William John Mills 1858-
Sarah Jane Mills 1860-
Edwin Thomas Mills 1862-
Frederick Henry Mills 1864-1954
Joseph Alfred Mills 1866-1873
Charlotte Mills 1867-
Mary Ann Mills 1869-1940
William Mills 1871-

Joseph's sister Charlotte later married her cousin Benjamin Blick.

One day I'll count the number of cousins Joseph had in Nelson - there must be about 20 or more ( I think I am his cousin thrice removed!!!).

Cheers

MalNZ