Francis, Mary & Elizabeth Whitmill of Brooklyn
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In reply to:
William Whitmill, North Newington, Oxfordshire
Jane Mowl (nee 4/29/02
How interesting ... there is a Francis Whitmill in my family who was born on March 17, 1813 and may have been a British immigrant.He was a ship's carpenter by trade.As of the late 1840's, he was living in Brooklyn, New York with a Mary Whitmill who was born in 1840 and an ELIZABETH WHITMILL WHO WAS BORN IN 1842!I always presumed these were his daughters, but have never been able to find any evidence of their mother -- so it's quite possible that Mary and Elizabeth were born to someone else, and Francis took them in. SO PERHAPS MY FRANCIS AND YOUR WILLIAM WERE BROTHERS!Francis married my great-great-grandmother, Deborah Morris, in 1849, when she was a 46-year-old recent widow with a brood of nine children of her own and he was 36.Francis and Deborah never had any children together, though he seems to have taken care of hers very well and taught my great-grandfather, Gilbert Brower, the ship's carpenter trade.Francis Whitmill's family bible was passed on through my grandmother, Hannah Augusta (Brower) Hall, and is currently at the Hall Family Homestead in Isle La Motte, Vermont.The first listings in it are for Francis, Mary and Elizabeth Whitmill.Recently, an e-mail correspondent of mine in Brooklyn discovered their wills, which indicated that Francis died on or about April 12, 1892, Elizabeth died shortly thereafter on November 13, 1892 and her older sister Mary followed suit on April 6, 1893. How sad ... Apparently, neither Elizabeth nor Mary ever married.Please reply as to whether you think there is any connection!
More Replies:
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Re: Francis, Mary & Elizabeth Whitmill of Brooklyn
Pauline Parrott 1/19/04