Henry was born c 1816 in Wymeswold. In 1816 the current Monarch is George III. In January the Davy lamp, invented by Sir Humphry Davy is first tested underground as a coal mining safety lamp at Hebburn Colliery in Durham. This made coal mining far safer by reducing the danger of explosions, the wick lamp has the flame enclosed inside a mesh screen. In February Preston becomes the first English town outside London with gas lighting publicly available. Both Lord Byron and Beau Brummell flee Britain to escape scandals and growing debts. Locally on the 28th June Luddites destroy the bobbinet lace machines in John Heathcoat's factory in Loughborough. The Luddites were a 19th-century movement of English textile workers who opposed the use of types of cost-saving machinery and would destroy the machines in protest. After the factory was attacked John Heathcoat moved his whole operation down to Tiverton and quite a number of his workers and their families followed him, walking all the way to Devon.
In 1841 Henry Mills is living in the village of Burton on the Wolds, lodging with John & Martha While. He is working as a agriculture labourer. The majority of farmers were tenants, land being owned by the landlord, locally it could have been owned by the Church or Trinity College, Cambridge. The tenant farmer was socially somewhere between a labourer and a landowner, the agriculture labourer like Henry, being at the lower end of the social scale.
He married Ann Cox on the 26th November 1842 at the Baptist Chapel in the nearest Town of Loughborough. Henry and Ann are my 3rd Great Grandparents on the Wootton/Mills line. Ann came from the nearby village of Hoton, her parents being Joseph & Sarah Cox (nee Marriot) and she was born in 1813. In 1813 the Napoleonic and Peninsular War are still ongoing. The early steam locomotive Puffing Billy is introduced at Wylam colliery, County Durham. On the 16th January 14 Luddites are hanged at York and later in the year in October the Cape of Good Hope becomes a British colony.
Most people have noted Henry's Father as Edmund Mills in their family trees, If the marriage to Ann Cox is correct then his Father is recorded as a Thomas Mills. For certain after their marriage in 1842 Henry & Ann moved to Wymeswold to an area known as Little London at one end of London Lane, Wymeswold. They are living there with their young family in the Census 1851. Henry Mills is now aged 36, still noted as a Ag Lab. Now living with his Wife Ann Mills, aged 38. Also there there are their children, Henry, 7, Thomas, 5, Harriet, 3, all noted as Scholars. All the children were born in Wymeswold.
In the 1861 Census, they are still living in Little London, Henry Mills is head of the house and still noted as an agriculture labourer, his Wife Ann Mills is also there and they are joined by their second Daughter Mary, aged 9, noted as a Scholar. By the time of the 1871 Census Mary is 20 years old and working at home as a housekeeper for her Father in Little London, he is now noted as a Grazier of 17 acres and so has moved up the social scale from his beginnings as a humble agriculture labourer, his Wife has passed on the year before in 1870 from liver disease which she had been suffering from for at least 6 months.
Henry made his will on the 18th July 1873 and passed away himself on the 28th July 1873 with heart disease, probate was completed on the 29th August, effects being under £300. Probate was proved by his son Henry Mills, Farmer of Willoughby-on-the-Wolds and William Hallam, Farmer of Wymeswold. In his will he left his house & premises to his housekeeper Elizabeth Smith for her natural life, it would then go to his daughter Mary Wootton. Other equal shares would go all his children, Henery Mills, Thomas Mills, Harriett Warwick and Mary Wootton.
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Henry Mills (1816-1873)
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Born c 1816 in Wymeswold, Leicestershire
Census 1841. Henry Mills age 25 - Ag Lab
Address - Burton on the Wolds, Leicestershire
Lodging with John & Martha While.
Marriage. 26 November 1842. Henry Mills to Ann Cox.
Baptist Chapel, Loughborough, Leicestershire.
Henry Mills - Full age - Labourer
Residence - Burton Barndale (?)
Father - Thomas Mills - Labourer
Ann Cox - Full age
Residence - Hoton
Father - Joseph Cox (Deceased) - Labourer
In the presence of John Mills, Mary Kirk
Census 1851. Henry Mills age 36 - Ag Lab
Address - Sch 133. Little London, Wymeswold
Born Wymeswold.
Wife Ann Mills(38)
Born Hoton.
Henry Mills (7) - Scholar
Thomas Mills (5) - Scholar
Harriet Mills (3) - Scholar
Children all born in Wymeswold.
Census 1861. Henry Mills age 44 - Ag Labourer
Address - Sch 116. Little London, Wymeswold
Born Wymeswold.
Wife Ann Mills(46)
Born Hoton.
Mary Mills (9) - Scholar
Born Wymeswold.
Census 1871. Henry Mills age 55 - Grazier 17 acres
Address - Sch 40. Little London, Wymeswold
Born Wymeswold.
Mary Mills (20) - Housekeeper
Born Wymeswold.
Will made on the 18th July 1873, Henery Mills of Wymeswold.
Henry Mills died 28th July 1873 Wymeswold, Leicestershire.
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Ann Cox (1813-1870)
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Born 1813 Hoton, Leicestershire
Baptism 1st Nov 1813 Hoton, Leicestershire
Father Joseph Cox & Mother Sarah
Census 1841. Ann Cox age 25 - F'S' (female Servant)
Address - Hoton, Leicestershire
Living with -
Ann Pratt (40) - Farmer
Harriet Pratt (17)
Caroline Pratt (14)
Thos Topley (20) - M'S' (male Servant)
Sarah Marshall (14) - F'S' (female Servant)
Marriage. 26 November 1842. Henry Mills to Ann Cox.
Baptist Chapel, Loughborough, Leicestershire.
Henry Mills - Full age - Labourer
Residence - Burton Barndale (?)
Father - Thomas Mills - Labourer
Ann Cox - Full age
Residence - Hoton
Father - Joseph Cox (Deceased) - Labourer
In the presence of John Mills, Mary Kirk
Census 1851. Ann Mills age 38
Born Hoton.
Address - Sch 133. Little London, Wymeswold
Henry Mills (36) - Ag Lab
Born Wymeswold.
Henry Mills (7) - Scholar
Thomas Mills (5) - Scholar
Harriet Mills (3) - Scholar
Children all born in Wymeswold.
Census 1861. Ann Mills age 46
Born Hoton.
Address - Sch 116. Little London, Wymeswold
Henry Mills age 44 - Ag Labourer
Born Wymeswold.
Mary Mills (9) - Scholar
Born Wymeswold.
Ann Mills died 28th September 1870 in Wymeswold, Leicestershire
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Notes on Children :
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Henry Mills (1845-1948)
b. c 1845 Wymeswold, Leicestershire
m. Ellen Pacey Apr-Jun 1869 Leicestershire
Children - Hannah Maria Mills(1870-1948), Henry Charles Mills(1876),
Thomas Pacey Mills(1878-1957), Harriett Ellen Mills(1882)
d. 6 Oct 1914 Wymeswold, Leicestershire
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Thomas Henry Mills (1845-1948)
b. 25 Sep 1846 Wymeswold, Leicestershire
m-1. 23 Sept 1873 West Haven, Orange, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
to Helen Ellen Kerr (b Scotland 1852)
Children - Henry James Mills(1875–1958), W. Lucretia Mills(1878–1890),
Agnes H. Mills(1879–1910), William Waters "Willie" Mills(1881–1887),
Leicester Thomas "Lester" Mills(1882–1883), Edward Mills(1884–1885), Harry Mills(1886–1910)
m-2. 19 Aug 1891 Orange, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
to Catherine Gress (b Germany 1846)
Children - Charles Herbert Mills(1892–1960)
d. 8 Apr 1917 Orange, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
*Orange is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town is named after William III of England, who was Prince of Orange. William is remembered for succeeding James II, deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
*As early as 1848 a separation of Orange and West Haven was considered. It was not until 1921 that the two were officially separated by act of the Connecticut General Assembly and the new city of West Haven was formed out of the south-eastern portion of Orange.
*Above dates to be confirmed. Taken from Ancestry.co.uk.
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Harriet Mills (1848-1894)
b. 14th Feb 1848 Wymeswold, Leicestershire
daughter of Henry Mills Labourer & Ann (formally Cox)
Informant + marked by Ann Mills Mother Wymeswold
m. Francis Warwick Oct-Dec 1867 Leicestershire
Children - William(1871), Frank(1874), Albert(1877), Ernest(1880)
d. 27 Dec 1894. buried Maidstone Road Cemetery, Chatham, Kent, England
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b. c 1851 Wymeswold, Leicestershire
m. 02 Mar 1872 to Joseph Wootton
General Baptist Chapel, Baxter Gate, Loughborough, Leicestershire
Children - Sarah Ann Wootton (1872-1948), Thomas Warner Wootton (1874-1954), Florence Harriet Wootton (1879-1943)
d. 16 Apr 1924 Wymeswold, Leicestershire
*See direct descendant main page
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Above : Marriage record of Henry Mills & Ann Cox. Baptist Chapel, Loughborough. 26th November 1842.
Above : Census of 1851. Little London, Wymeswold.
Henry Mills and Wife Ann with their first children, Henry, Thomas and Harriet.
Above : Census of 1861. Little London, Wymeswold.
Henry Mills and Wife Ann with their youngest Daughter Mary Ann Mills (Joseph Wootton's future bride).