There were many children who were baptised as William Lewis in Abergavenny in the 1760's, but in view of his place of living after his marriage to Elizabeth, it originally seemed possible to me that he was the William Lewis who was born in Monk Street, the son of James and Ann Lewis,
William and his wife Elizabeth were living in Monk Street, Abergavenny, when Mary and their subsequent children were born. The burial of a William Lewis of Monk Street, Abergavenny was recorded on 7th January 1834, when he was said to have been aged 70, implying that he was born around 1764, so it is quite likely that he was the William Lewis who was baptised on 19th August 1764 as the son of Joseph and Mary Lewis of Mill Street.
It would appear that there were at least two couples called William and Elizabeth Lewis in Abergavenny at around this time, because a Martha Lewis was born to a couple of this name in Tudor Street on 15th February 1800 and an Elizabeth Lewis was born to the same couple and place on 1st July 1803. These were both years in which a Sarah Lewis was born to William and Elizabeth Lewis of Monk Street. Also, a John Lewis was born to a Wlliam and Elizabeth Lewis of Frogmore Street on 7th November 1807, just 7 months before the birth of William to William and Elizabeth Lewis in Monk Street. The Frogmore Street couple may or may not have been the couple who lived in Tudor Street
William and Elizabeth may well have had no more children after William in 1808. If Mary was the eldest child, they presumably married around 1790, but I have yet to find a record of this marriage.
The 1845 will of a William Lewis, who was a hatter of Cross Street, Abergavenny at the time of his death, does not make any reference to the children of the late Mary Jones (nee Lewis), nor does that of his wife Elizabeth, which would tend to suggest that my William was not this one.
I could not find any William or Elizabeth Lewis in the 1841 census of Abergavenny nor have I been able to locate any marriage of a William Lewis to an Elizabeth in Abergavenny. |
