The earliest Wilce I have in my tree is William Wilce 6th April 1802 – 10 October 1871 born in Awre, and died in Viney Hill. Married Elizabeth 1800-1882 and had a son also Willam 1827-1889.
I am struggling to go back any further. I was wondering if anybody has found a link between the Awre and Ruardean Wilce's or at least point me in the right direction.
Thanks

Hi Stu,

Looking at the Awre Parish Register, isn’t your William born to Thomas Wilks and Mary Evans 4 April 1802, who also had Thomas Wilks bap. 29 Jun 1806 and Harriot Wilce bap.17 Jul 1808 buried 7 Apr 1811.

It looks like Thomas died 29 Jun 1808 Age 47 and Mary Wilce (widow) married Joseph Wilks 13 Nov 1810.

If Thomas was born approximately in 1761, and there is a Ruardean connection then he may be the Thomas Wilce bap 18 Jul 1762 to John & Elizabeth at Ruardean.

Glenn Robertson

Thank-you Glenn. This is certainly a big help. I had noticed Thomas Wilks before but ruled it out on the basis of Wilks not Wilce. Do you think this is just a misspelling? Then Mary Wilce (spelled correctly) marries Joseph Wilks (or should this be Wilce? Brother?) It’s very confusing! How can I confirm?

A point to remember is that many of our ancestors were unable to read or write and so they would give their name verbally to the clergy or enumerator and their name would be written down with the spelling of what they believed to be correct, another person could spell their name in a different way. An example of this is with some of my own ancestors whose surname was WOAR but it has also been written with variations of WOOR, WOORE and HOARE on the original records.

Hi Stu,

Yes you are right, it is very confusing. Once we go past the official records and enter the church records, its a bit of a balance between guess work and detective work. There is no way to definitively say one way or the other ... sometimes just our "gut feel".

In your case, there are some good clues to say that the Wilks/Wilce family in Awre is the one you are after.

There are a few Wills for that name at Gloucester Records Office that may provide some more light on the family http://ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk/genealogy/Search.aspx

I'm currently working on anything to do with Awre, so please let me know if you have any further questions.

Cheers

Glenn Robertson

Hi Glenn,

I did do a search as you suggested and it revealed a number of entries with a ref no. How do I find out more on-line using this ref. or do I need to go to GRO.

You also mention you are researching Awre. Do you have any pictures or perhaps a website that I could look at?

Thanks again

Stuart

I do not know if it is of any help, but I have a number of Wilce's from Ruardean in my family tree. The spelling does vary into Willis. Thomas Wilce born 1762 died 1808 was the son of John Wilse and Elizabeth Meek.
Fiona

Hi Stuart,

The ref numbers are the Gloucestershire Records Office's own ref numbers (nothing to do with the GRO) and you can write to them using their standard forms on their web site. Wills cost 2 pounds plus postage (costs are also listed on their website).

I have found this FoD website one of the best for information on the area. I regularly Google "Awre" etc to see what pops up.

Happy hunting.

Glenn

Thank-you Fiona. You are the third person now to confirm this for me. This is great news. I have been able with the help of Graham Chamberlain at http://www.katiandgraham.com/genealogy/ to go back to William Wills 1615. That's 200years in less than a week! My family is very excited at the news.
Thanks again