Simpson family

Donna wrote (April 6th & 7th 2017) …

I am researching the Simpson family from Ilkeston …Willoughby and Mary (Hardy) who had Willoughby jnr (who married a Harriet (Hardy)) … my great grand parents x5.
Any information would be great regarding their parents please.
Do you know anything about Willoughby’s daughter in law Harriet ? I don’t seem to be able to find her or anything about Charlotte (Simpson)
I am descended from Hosea Simpson, then his son Rueben, then his daughter Clara.
Any ideas where I could look up Harriet ? Was there an address for them (Willoughby senior) ?

Dave replied (April 7th 2017) …

I’m afraid can’t help with Willoughby and Mary (nee Hardy) beyond what you already probably know.

Willoughby died in Ilkeston on June 6th 1852, aged 86 (registered age) when he was recorded as ‘William Willoughby Simpson’. That would mean a birth year around 1766 (at Ilkeston?) … there doesn’t seem to be a corresponding birth/baptism at Ilkeston to fit.

The Simpsons were boat people and that took them all over the East Midlands … an added difficulty !!

The Simpsons were married at Sandiacre in 1801 which might help to place Mary Hardy … but that doesn’t get you very far.

I don’t know what else to suggest at this time … I have looked for wills with no luck.

Sorry !!

I believe that Charlotte Simpson, daughter of Willoughby jnr and Harriet died in 1837, aged 4, and was buried at St Mary’s Church, Ilkeston (March 3rd 1837)

Harriet Simpson, formerly Hardy, wife of Willoughby jnr, had an illegitimate child with Richard Blackburn before her marriage … (I believe !!)

This was Emily Blackburn alias Hardy, baptised at Newark in 1822.

Emily appears on the 1841 census as Emeler Simpson, living with the family. She married Jonathan Eyre in 1845 as Emily Hardy, when the marriage entry shows no father. Both Jonathan and Emily died in the 1890’s in Nottingham.

Harriet died on Feb 19th 1851 at Ilkeston, aged 57 … thus born about 1794. The 1841 census shows her born outside of Derbyshire but I can’t help with her parents. It is possible she was born in the Grantham area, possibly over the border into Lincolnshire. She married Willoughby in 1826, when she was aged about 32 … so it is possible that she was married before and that ‘Hardy’ is not her birth name?

Willoughby married a second time in July 1851 … at Aston, Birmingham, when his record shows him as ‘William‘ … his wife, Emma Spittle, died in 1854 at Ilkeston, aged 29, after the birth of their son Reuben (June 16th 1853)

I can add bits of detail but I think I have exhausted all I can tell you that might lead to more on the Simpson wives.

P.S. I believe both Willoughbys were buried at St Mary’s Church, Ilkeston.

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Sue Bowen wrote (Jan 6th 2019)…

George Simpson of Ilkeston ?

I don’t suppose you have unearthed a George Simpson anywhere in your travels? I have one that died in Newark-on-Trent in 1849. He shows in the 1841 census as not born in county and I have searched an searched to find out where he came from. Birth is shown as 1804 according to the census. He was a witness to one John Simpson’s marriage in Newark, and John was from Ilkestone, father was Willoughby Simpson. I so wanted them to be brothers but cannot find a George born in Ilkestone.

Dave replied …
I can’t seem to locate your George Simpson born about 1804 (presumably living at Newark) nor his death there in 1849 … the only death I see is for one born about 1795 (aged 54 when he died in 1849).
There are several Willoughbys associated with Ilkeston and there is a George, baptised in 1814 at Saxilby in Lincolnshire … he was the son of Joseph Simpson, born in Ilkeston about 1776, and Sarah (nee Hawley), who married in Ilkeston in 1802. Joseph left a will dated 1826 which is on line and which mentions several of his children.
The problem with many of the Simpsons of Ilkeston is that the male members were often boatmen and this occupation took them out of Ilkeston with their families, often to places in neighbouring Nottinghamshire and into Lincolnshire … so they are especially difficult to locate on the 1841 census.
If you have more detail of the Simpsons you mention, we might be able to unearth more.

Simpson family

Dave Johnson