Henry Mills (1816-1873)
Ann Cox (1813-1870)

Henry Mills and Sarah Cox are my 3rd Great-Grandparents on the Mills  family line. Henry Mills was born around 1816 in Wymeswold,  his Father is called Thomas, a farm labourer. 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, promoted by the Jesuit priest Joseph Dunn. Both Lord Byron and Beau Brummell flee Britain to escape a scandal and growing debts. Locally on the 28th June Luddites destroy the bobbinet lace machines in John Heathcoat's Loughborough factory. 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 clandestine raids.

In 1841 Henry is living at Bandalls, Burton on the Wolds, lodging with John & Martha White, he is working as a agricultural labourer. The majority of farmers were tenants, land being owned by the landlord, such as Trinity College, the Church or a local estate. The tenant farmer was socially somewhere between a labourer and a landowner, the agricultural labourer being at the lower end of the social scale. 

He married Ann Cox in 1842, she came from the nearby village of Hoton. The marriage certificate mentions Henry is at Burton Bandals and Ann is from Hoton. Henry and Ann are my 3rd Great Grandparents, Ann was born in 1813 in Hoton, her parents being Joseph & Sarah Cox (nee Marriot). The marriage certificate mentions Joseph, Ann's Father and Thomas, Henry's Father, they are both noted as labourers.

In 1813 when Ann was born 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.

After their marriage in 1842 Henry & Ann have 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 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 agricultural labourer, his Wife Ann Mills is also there and they are joined by their second Daughter Mary, aged 9, she is noted as a Scholar at that time. Mary would later marry Joseph Wootton, they are my 2nd Great Grandparents on the Mills/Wootton line of the family. 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 agricultural 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 passed away himself on the 28th July 1873 with heart disease, he was noted as a cottager (farmed small plot of land), his will had been made shortly before on the 18th of July, his house was left to Elizabeth Smith, his housekeeper, for her lifetime. Equal share of his estate and gifts of money are made to his four children Henery, Thomas, Harriett and Mary. Probate was completed 29th August 1873, proved by his son Henry Mills, Farmer of Willoughby-on-the-Wolds and William Hallam, Farmer of Wymeswold, effects were under £300.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Henry Mills (1816-1873) 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Born    c1816 in Wymeswold, Leicestershire  

Census 1841. Henry Mills age 25 - Ag Lab

Address - Bandalls, Burton on the Wolds, Leicestershire

Lodging with John & Martha White.

Marriage. Henry Mills to Ann Cox.   26th September 1842.

Baptist Chapel in Loughborough.

Henry Mills - Full age - Bachelor - Labourer.  Burton Bandals.

Father  Thomas Mills - Labourer. 

Ann Cox - Full age -  Spinster.  Hoton. 

Father Joseph Cox  - Labourer.

* Burton Bandals - Either Bandalls Lane or Bandalls Farmhouse off Bandalls Lane, Burton on the Wolds. 

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.

Died.  28 July 1973 in Wymeswold, Leicestershire

*to view more details on Henry's passing click here

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Ann Cox (1813-1870)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Born    1813 in Hoton, Leicestershire

Baptism 1 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. Henry Mills to Ann Cox.   26th September 1842.
Baptist Chapel in Loughborough.
Henry Mills - Full age - Bachelor - Labourer.  Burton Bandals. Father  Thomas Mills - Labourer.
Ann Cox - Full age -  Spinster.  Hoton.  Father Joseph Cox  - Labourer.
* Burton Bandals - Either Bandalls Lane or Bandalls Farmhouse off Bandalls Lane, Burton on the Wolds.

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.

Died.  28 September 1970 in Wymeswold, Leicestershire

*to view more details on Ann's passing click here

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes on Children :

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Henry Mills (1845-1948)  

born c1845 Wymeswold, Leicestershire

married Ellen Pacey Apr-Jun 1869 Leicestershire

Children - Hannah Maria Mills, Henry Charles Mills, Thomas Pacey Mills, Harriett Ellen Mills

died 6 Oct 1914  Wymeswold, Leicestershire

 ----

Thomas Henry Mills (1845-1948)  

born 25 Sep 1846 Wymeswold, Leicestershire

married-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)

married-2 19 Aug 1891  Orange, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
to Catherine Gress (b Germany 1846)

Children - Charles Herbert Mills(1892–1960) 

died 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.

  ----

Harriet Mills (1848-1894)

born Jan-Mar 1848 Wymeswold, Leicestershire

Married to  Francis Warwick Oct-Dec 1867 Loughborough District

Died 27 December 1894.

Burial Maidstone Road Cemetery, Chatham, Kent

 ----

Mary Ann Mills (1851–1924)

born c1851 Wymeswold, Leicestershire

married 02 Mar 1872 to Joseph Wootton
General Baptist Chapel, Baxter Gate, Loughborough, Leicestershire

died 16 Apr 1924  Wymeswold, Leicestershire

*See Main Decendant - {Mary Ann Mills}

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------