Hello,
From your comment about people being noted "of this parish", I do agree that it is possible they could have just resided, but it is equally possible it is their native parish.
While tracking families can lead from one place to another, beyond the census this is increasingly difficult and evidence from things like marriage/banns documents were increasingly critical to prove that a person moved several parishes over. If your female ancestor noted the parish where she came from in her marriage, then that is evidence for you to make a link. William who married Margaret only has evidence to say he was from Great Waltham which is even further away from Takeley than Felsted. Born or not, there is still nothing to say directly he was from Takeley only possibly the Milicent name. I note that a lot of the Fewells were Farmers, Agricultural Labouers, etc. so it is possible they moved around a bit, but it not as likely they moved around as much as the mining families in the Durham area who were poached from Colliery to Colliery moving several parishes or County. Farmers I have researched over England in my family were usually more settled.
Consider that a lot of the records are not transcribed yet or will never be due to being lost. A lot of what we do see can be re-written from the originals. Have you extensively searched the registers for Great Waltham and the parishes further south for your William.
About the possibility comment it is meaning that the odds are more stacked in favour of William husband of Elizabeth being the son of Philip Fewell and Ann Judd than William who married Margaret.
I also have looked at the baptism to Thomas and Elizabeth in 1740 and while you can confidently rule this out as your William based on no children by the name Thomas, I can also make the same judgement based on William and Elizabeth not having any children called Thomas. That William is suspected to be the one who married (1) Sarah Harsler and (2) Elizabeth Greygoose at Great Dunmow. That William had a son called Thomas in 1771.
While I do understand your significance for the name Milly/Milicent being the eureka moment in your research, as mentioned before that is highly circumstantial. There are plenty of other Milicient's living who could namesake their daughter. It could have even been the nurses name. I have in my family tree born in 1840 a Thomas O'Conner William Binns Maddison. While this could have been a clue to the families heritage, the documented family line shows nothing quite that unique. It could well have been the Milkman for all we know.
If the Milicent name is the hook for making your connection to Philip and Ann, then we need to provide evidence to rule out:
- William Fewell married Elizabeth Green at Takeley (marriage noted a third witness Philomon Fuell, who is likely father or brother who could only have been one of the two Philip's that lived in Takeley at that time, considering a third witness is not required it signifies a family importance);
- William who named a son Philip;
- Philip who in turn named two daughters Milly/Milley after his plausible aunt;
- William and his son Philip who lived in the same town/parish as Philip Fewell and Ann Judd.
Have you seen that Jeremiah Fewell who I suspect is the son of Philip and Ann (born in the missing baptisms evident by his burial age given) named two children Philip 1780 and Ann 1774. Jeremiah attended Hatfield Broad Oak the same parish that William and Elizabeth frequented, making a brother connection very likely.
None of the Fewells descended from John Fewell and Elizabeth Green that I have researched has lead me as far East as Felsted let alone South/East to Great Waltham. The furtherest the sons in this family has gone (down to the late 1700's) is Dunmow, Hatfield Broad Oak and Great Canfield, basically a triangle area.
Have you seen on the Essex site that the Samuel, assume son or grandson of your William is noted occupying (assume renting): "Channels etc. in Little Waltham, Springfield and Broomfield in occ. Tho.Beardwell, Dan.Harrington and Sam.Fewel" D/P 220/25/156. It would pay to search for other records of the Waltham areas to see just how long the Fewells could have been there. It is completely possible the Fewell surname in that area derived from another surname based on the localised accents that England had from town to town. For instance researching my Maddison family from Durham I found that the Northumbrians commonly spelt and pronounced it Matthewson. When Matthewsons went down to Durham evidence from census and parish register records showed that it became Maddison and vice versa from Durham to Northumberland. Maddison's generally derived from Stanhope in Durham back to the 1100's and the Matthewsons from a more Scottish ancestry or migration of continental europeans to the UK fixing their father's name.
Kind Regards,
Jared
