DISCUSSION
Aside from the burial of John Welles on September 13, 1659, there is little to indicate that our ancestor John Wills was actually born in Stockbury. The hearth tax of 1664 gives some promising leads in the surrounding parishes.
An IGI sweep turned up the christening of John Wills to Richard and Margaret Wills on July 12, 1655, in Holligbourne. As our John named his first born Richard, this appears to be our family.
FAMILY
The first records we have of Richard Wills is his marriage to Margaret Durtnall at All Saints Church in Hollingbourne on Sept 19, 1654. Given that this was an era when there will still many handfast (a personal pledge between the bridge and groom) marriages, it may not be surprising that the christened their first child a month later:
WILLS FAMILIES ARRIVE IN HOLLINGBOURE DURING 1650s
At least Wills/Wells families abruptly appeared in Hollingbourne's parish registry during the 1650s:
They presumably all came from other parishes and, given their closeness in age, it seems likely that some (possibly all) of these family heads are brothers.
In the case of our Richard Wills, he appears to have been born about 1620 and I suspect he may be the son of the John Hales who was buried in Stockbury during 1659 (More about this)
TAKING CARE OF AUNT MARGARET
Hellen Allinson wrote about Richard and Margaret Wills, and their aunt Margaret Hunt, in her book HOLLINGBOURNE, THE HISTORY OF A KENTISH PARISH (p 71):
"Margaret Hunt, a widow who died in 1670, was cared for at the home of her niece Margaret Wills and her husband Richard. She was troubled by the fact she had not made a will even though she had little to leave and "by word of mouth did she had been much troubled with that little she had and therefore said she gave or left the same to them of ye house meaning to ye said Richard Wills his wife and chioldren. In ye presence of Mrs Elizabeth Thatcher and Mrs Susan Thatcher."