This obituary for Drusilla WILLS (nee WREFORD) featured in my previous post stated that:
Mrs. Wills is survived by two children. Mr James Wills and Mrs. D. Evans, and 15 grandchildren, and 20 great-grandchildren.
My searches of the NZ BDM showed me that Thomas & Drusilla had 3 children:
So you may presume (as I did) that:
a) their son Richard Henry died prior to 1934; and
b) the Mrs D Evans referred to is their daughter, Drusilla Howard.
However a search of Wills/Evans marriages from 1865 only came up with 2:
This means that one of the surviving children was actually ANOTHER daughter called Charlotte (and the D being her husband’s initial). However, there was no birth record of a Charlotte WILLS. So, IS this Charlotte a daughter of Thomas & Drusilla?
I was able to find the marriage of Drusilla Howard WILLS (spelt Drucilla – one of the 3 births listed) to a William SHORT in 1899.
I checked the WREFORD pedigree compiled in 1908 (more on that another time) which notes Drusilla and Thomas had SIX children. With only 3 of those listed in the online BDMs – is it possible to find these other children OR was the compiler mistaken?
Next Steps:
- Check birth notices in newspapers (Papers Past)
- Check BDM for WILLS deaths prior to 1934
- Scour newspapers for any other references to the family
