No, this in NOT about the Village People !
This little discovery came when I was scouring newspapers on PapersPast for an article I knew I had seen, but had failed to record where. Let that be a lesson to you all. Document your sources !!
I was looking for the name of a house which my great-grandfather’s brother had built in Cambridge, New Zealand. I found an obituary for his wife instead, which I don’t recall having seen before. Harriett and her husband were first cousins. Their mothers were sisters, so obviously she was my great-grandfather’s cousin too.
Her obituary in the Waikato Independent, 26 August 1939, page 4 gave some details about her family, birth place and arrival in New Zealand. She had come with her parents – who were 2nd cousins – to Auckland and then the Coromandel. She was their only child. Her mother died at Shellback Creek near Tararu in 1869 when Harriet was about 14. Her aunt and uncle lived at Tararu too so I daresay they helped her widowed father care for her.
Anyway, back to the discovery. One sentence.
“It is of interest to note that Mrs Davys was the second cousin to Sir George Williams, the founder of the Y.M.C.A.”
What ?
If Harriet was his second cousin, then chances were that her husband and his siblings, including my great-grandfather were too. So I had to search and see what I could find.
George Williams was born 11 October 1821 at Ashway Farm near Dulverton. He was the youngest child of Amos Williams and his wife Ann/Betty/Elizabeth (just to be confusing). I didn’t have any other Williams in my tree, apart from an odd one here and there, so who was his mother ? She had to be the key.
Cue flashing lights.
Wikipedia says his parents were Amos Williams (tick) and Elizabeth Vickery. On the same page Wiki also says her name was Ann “Betty” Vickery. Hmmm. BUT, I do have a bunch of Vickerys mixed in with my Norman paternal great-great-grandmother’s family….and BINGO ! Harriet’s mother Caroline and my great-great-grandmother Sarah were Norman sisters. Harriett’s father was also a Norman (2nd cousin – remember ?) Jane and Caroline’s mother was Sarah Vickery, who had married her 1st cousin William Norman. Nothing out of the ordinary it seems in Huish Champflower !
Off I went to find the baptisms on Ancestry and build a tree to look for the link. First I found their marriage to get a starting point to look for baptisms. They married at Withiel Florey on 15 August 1807 and their first child John Vickery Williams was baptised 14 January 1808, in the same parish. The father of my 4 x great-grandmother Sarah Vickery was John. Was this another lightbulb flashing ? A quick diversion to check what siblings I had for Sarah, found she did have a sister Betty Ann baptised in 1785 (the date is illegible on the page of the church record book).
That solved the problem of how Sir George Williams could be the 2nd cousin of Harriett, and proved that he was also the 2nd cousin of my great-grandfather. But how did this youngest son from a farming family happen to be the founder of the Y.M.C.A ?
George was the youngest of 7 sons, he also had one sister. As career paths go seventh sons are way down the list. Not much chance of taking over the family farm there. Wikipedia says he attended Gloyn’s in Tiverton, Devon until he was 13 when he began working on the family farm. His family sent him to Bridgwater where he was an apprentice in Henry William Holmes’ draper shop. What is it with drapers and this part of the world ? They keep popping up in all my branches.
In 1837 he left the Church of England and joined the Zion Congregational Church and in 1841 he moved to London where he worked as an apprentice at Hitchcock & Rogers, a draper’s shop. In London he became a member of the King’s Weigh House congregational church. After three years with Hitchcock & Rogers, George was promoted to department manager.
On 6 June 1844, appalled by the terrible conditions in London for young working men, like himself, George gathered a group of 11 fellow drapers in the living quarters of Hitchcock & Rogers to create a place that would not tempt young men into sin. The name Young Men’s Christian Association was agreed on at the suggestion of Christopher W Smith, one of the 11. The aim was to put Christian principles in practice to develop a healthy “mind, body & spirit.” One of the earliest converts and contributors to the new association was his employer, George Hitchcock.
Nine years later in 1853 he married the owner’s daughter and was taken into the business as a partner. The business was renamed George Hitchcock, Williams & Co., and when George Hitchcock died in 1863 George Williams became the sole owner. George and his wife Helen had seven children. One son Albert went on to marry the granddaughter of Thomas Cook who had founded the travel agency Thomas Cook and Son. George’s nephew John Williams married the only child of Matthew Hodder of the publishing business Hodder & Stoughton. Matthew had been George’s lifelong London friend.
George Williams was knighted by Queen Victoria in her 1894 Birthday Honours, this same year was the silver Jubilee of the Y.M.C.A and the year he received Freedom of the City of London. He died on 6 November 1905 at the Victoria and Albert Hotel in Torquay aged 84. His funeral was attended by 2,600 mourners at St Paul’s Cathedral on 14 November 1905 and he was buried there. After his death he was commemorated by a stained-glass window in the nave of Westminster Abbey. A blue plaque is at No. 13 Russell Square, London where he lived from 1879-1905 and another plaque can be found on the façade of Ashway Farm where he was born. His portrait can be found at the National Portrait Gallery, London.
The things I wish I had known when I was in London !
Now here are a couple of other things I discovered in the search.
When I was adding the baptisms of George’s siblings to my tree in Family Tree Maker a message popped up for one. “Is this Robert Williams the same Robert Williams married to Betsy Davys ?” A little bit of checking and yes, he is. Uh-oh, now I’m related two ways. Betsy was a daughter Thomas Davys and Patience Palmer…Thomas was a younger brother of my 4 x great-grandfather. This Robert is the father of George's nephew who married the daughter of Matthew Hodder mentioned earlier,
When I first found the Wikipedia entry for George Williams in April 2020 it was called “George Williams (YMCA)” and included the comment that he was the 4 x great-grandfather of Boris Johnson, the current British Prime Minister. Today, the entry is retitled “George Williams (philanthropist)” and that comment is no longer included. However, I was able to verify that that was the case, by checking his family’s well documented entries in Wikipedia, a BBC Who Do You Think You Are episode and church records.
Just the other day on facebook I saw a post from someone who had
bought a Bible in a thrift store. The flyleaf said it had been presented to the
original owner by Sir George Williams. She had done a little research and discovered
who George was. She had also found his will where he requested Bibles to be
given to the members of his family. I think that might be a will I need to find
and read myself. I wonder if any such Bible made it’s way to New Zealand to his
family there ? I haven’t heard of one, but who knows ?
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