13. Family of John and Sarah Wills
to Newfoundland, Ontario and Australia
13. Family of John of Compton, Marldon, Devon.
In 1731 Joseph of Smallacombe
was baptized at Ilsington, he married Elizabeth PINSENT in 1754
and they had three daughters and three sons including John born
in1760.
John continued to farm at Smallacombe
then moved to Compton Barton in Marldon. This farm overlooked
Compton Castle.
John married Sarah 'Sally' RENDELL at
Combinteignhead in 1787
The original of this painting of her is in Ontario.
Their eldest daughter Sarah married Cmdr
Henry LeVESCONTE of Jersey and they emigrated to Newfoundland.
This letter to his father in Seymour East, Newcastle District,
Upper Canada, is from their son Henry Thomas Dundas LeVESCONTE
and is dated 1843.
Henry was a member of the Franklin Expedition
to search for the North West Passage and perished with the
rest of the expedition. We have a letter written from H.M.S.
Erebus just before it sailed and it is clear that his will
was also written at this time. His remains were eventually
discovered and are buried in the painted Chapel at Greenwich.
In order to save paper the writing is in two directions on
the same side of the paper.
John's son Thomas was born in
1798 at Marldon and he also emigrated to Newfoundland. His grandson
John became the Mayor of Belleville and his brother Henry Thomas
b 1853 was a bank manager with the Canadian Bank of Commerce
and is standing on the right hand side of this group. The picture
is the cover for the 1998 bank calendar.
Henry Thomas was the manager
of the bank in the Klondike during the gold rush in 1897 and
is standing in the back left of this picture.
This Ontario family used this
WILLS crest. But in fact it is associated with a WILLS family
from another Compton Castle in Castle Cary, Dorset.
This similar crest was used
by an unrelated WILLS family in Australia at about the same
time.
