[Index]
William TOWNSEND (1734 - 1817)
Children Self + Spouses Parents Grandparents Greatgrandparents
Ellenor TOWNSEND (1767 - )
William TOWNSEND (1768 - 1836)
Thomas TOWNSEND (1770 - 1845)
Elizabeth TOWNSEND (1772 - 1858)
Grace TOWNSEND (1774 - 1849)
Alice TOWNSEND (1776 - )
Mary TOWNSEND (1777 - 1838)
John TOWNSEND (1780 - 1812)
William TOWNSEND (1734 - 1817)

+

Alice ROWE
William TOWNSEND (1711 - ) Theobold TOWNSEND



Rebecca BRIGHT



Ellenor PHILLIPS












b. bef 21 Sep 1734 at Alphington, Exeter, Devon, England
m. 29 Jan 1766 Alice ROWE at Sowton, Devon, England
d. 23 Oct 1817 at Alphington, Exeter, Devon, England aged 83
Parents:
William TOWNSEND (1711 - )
Ellenor PHILLIPS
Children (8):
Ellenor TOWNSEND (1767 - )
William TOWNSEND (1768 - 1836)
Thomas TOWNSEND (1770 - 1845)
Elizabeth TOWNSEND (1772 - 1858)
Grace TOWNSEND (1774 - 1849)
Alice TOWNSEND (1776 - )
Mary TOWNSEND (1777 - 1838)
John TOWNSEND (1780 - 1812)
Grandchildren (28):
William BOWCHER (1787 - ), Deborah BOWCHER (1788 - 1862), John BOWCHER (1789 - ), Eleanor BOWCHER (1792 - 1863), Bathsheba Ann BOWCHER (1795 - 1863), Henry Chown BOWCHER (1797 - 1838), Richard BOWCHER (1800 - ), Jehoshabeth Alice Townsend BOWCHER (1804 - ), Caroline Elizabeth Cann BOWCHER (1806 - ), Eleanor TOWNSEND (1796 - 1854), Alice TOWNSEND (1810 - ), Anna Maria TOWNSEND (1812 - ), Alice TOWNSEND (1815 - ), Jane May TOWNSEND (1816 - ), Henry Cann TOWNSEND (1818 - 1889), William TOWNSEND (1820 - ), Frederick James BOWCHER (1806 - 1877), Edward BOWCHER (1807 - 1877), Charles Henry BOWCHER (1808 - 1826), Eliza Ann Jane BOWCHER (1808 - 1892), Emma BOWCHER (1810 - 1854), William Townsend BOWCHER (1813 - 1877), Henry James Cann BOWCHER (1815 - 1864), Francis TOWNSEND (1801 - ), Jane SNELL (1802 - 1872), Mary Anne SNELL (1803 - 1865), Matilda SNELL (1806 - 1886), Samuel John SNELL (1809 - 1887)
Events in William TOWNSEND (1734 - 1817)'s life
Date Age Event Place Notes Src
bef 21 Sep 1734 William TOWNSEND was born Alphington, Exeter, Devon, England 2
29 Jan 1766 31 Married Alice ROWE Sowton, Devon, England
bef 09 Jul 1767 32 Birth of daughter Ellenor TOWNSEND Shillingford St George, Exeter, Devon, England
14 Sep 1768 33 Birth of son William TOWNSEND Shillingford St George, Exeter, Devon, England 68
14 Jun 1770 35 Birth of son Thomas TOWNSEND Shillingford St George, Exeter, Devon, England 68
bef 01 Jul 1772 37 Birth of daughter Elizabeth TOWNSEND St Petrock, Exeter, Devon, England Note 1
24 Feb 1774 39 Birth of daughter Grace TOWNSEND Kenton, Devon, England 68
1776 42 Birth of daughter Alice TOWNSEND 2
04 Nov 1777 43 Birth of daughter Mary TOWNSEND Kenton, Devon, England 68
1780 46 Birth of son John TOWNSEND Townshend 2
25 Jun 1812 77 Death of son John TOWNSEND (aged 32) 2
16 Sep 1814 79 Will Alphington, Exeter, Devon, England 2
23 Oct 1817 83 William TOWNSEND died Alphington, Exeter, Devon, England
Note 1: Kenton (Shillingford), Exeter, Devon, England
Source References:
2. Type: Book, Abbr: Devon to Downunder, Title: Devon to Downunder, Auth: Bettie Elworthy, Publ: Bookbound, Date: 1997
- Reference = 8 (Will)
- Notes: From his will dated 16 Sep 1814, father William Townsend seems to have been a
man of substance. His estate was valued at two thousand pounds sterling; a large
sum in those days and assessed at more than half a million dollars by 1990
standards.
To son William who survived his father by eight years, he left all his "freehold
lands hereditaments and premises where-so-ever situated" as well as a leasehold
house in Alphington.
Thomas already owed his father five hundred pounds which was given into
trust to be held for him. In other words Dad wiped the debt - then relented and
left him five pounds cash!!

Because his daughter Ellenor was already a widow, William left her the interest
on four hundred pounds for her lifetime, to be divided amongst her daughters after
her death.
Two hundred pounds each was to go to Elizabeth Bowcher, Mary Snell and
Grace Symonds 'for her own sole use benefit and disposal separate from her said
husband and so as that he may not intermeddle therewith nor the same be liable to
his debts control or engatements'. After the death of each daughter, the money was
to be divided equally among their surviving children.
Five hundred pounds was given to Francis Townsend "son of my daughter
Mary Snell before marriage" and five pounds each to his nurse Mary Connot, to
Elizabeth Satterly and to Ann Tree. Mary, Elizabeth and Ann's maiden names were
PHILLIPS, William's cousins on his mother's side. Robert Cook, son of his late wife
by her first marriage, was left one hundred pounds.
The will is fairly complicated but William didn't intend anyone to mess around
with his wishes. One clause specifically states that if any legatee 'shall dispute or
endeavour to frustrate any of the bequests ... the legatee making such dispute shall
forfeit it and lose every benefit they could or would have gained'. That was really
telling them!

This was a most interesting testament which verified the children of William and
Alice shown in the IGI; told that one daughter had an illegitimate son; that his wife
had a child by her previous marriage; the married names of his cousins and the fact
he had a nurse, presuming ill-health or advanced age. He was in fact 83 when he
died less than three years later.

It also showed he either didn't have a lot of faith in his sons-in-law or generally
didn't trust men too much!

Henry's younger brother William 1820 apparently caused father Thomas some
heartache. Originally Thomas bequeathed 1500 pounds to William when he
reached 25 years but a codicil stated William should not have the money until he
was 28. However, if needed, the trustees could withdraw 700 pounds to set him up
in business. The reason for the codicil is not clear as it was made less than a year
before William's 25th birthday.
- Reference = 5 (Birth)
- Notes: One of Ellenor and William's sons, also a William, was baptised on 21 Sep 1734 at
Alphington. On 29 Jan 1766 he wed a widow Alice COOK nee ROWE at her home
village of Sowton near Exeter. Alice was a daughter of Elizabeth nee CANN of
Newton St Cyres and William Rowe of Pinhoe. She had a son Robert COOK 1758
from her first marriage in Feb 1757 to Robert Cook. Over a 13 year period, Alice
bore William eight children.

This public tree has about 60,100 people. Every person in the tree is related by birth or marriage to at least one other person in the tree - no strays. The people in the tree come mainly from four projects.
  1. My family tree. The original project begun about 1998. ID numbers less than about 6,000
  2. Canberra and Queanbeyan Pioneers. The next 30,000 begun about 2004. Sourced almost entirely from HAGSOC's excellent 'Biographical Register of Canberra and Queanbeyan'. The project began when I decided to add siblings, spouses and parents for a relation with an entry in the Register. 12 years work.
  3. Wagga Pioneers. I moved to Wagga and thought I would extend the Queanbeyan project by adding people from Wagga Wagga & District Family History Society's 'Pioneers of Wagga Wagga and District'. About 10,300 people added over about a year.
  4. Tumut Valley Pioneers. During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, I decided to extend the above projects by adding pioneers of the Tumut Valley. Initial sources were Snowden's 'Pioneers of the Tumut Valley' and 'Relict of ... Lives of Pioneering Women of Tumut and District'. Excellent references published by Tumut Family History Group. I've also added material from newspapers of the time - especially, death records, obituaries and weddings from 'Tumut and Adelong Times'. This project is in its early stage and might take a few years. I plan to extend to the upper Monaro (Adaminaby, Kiandra, Cooma, Jindabyne).
I upload new information to this website about every 3 months. My motivation for these projects is to provide public information for people seeking to trace ancestors and what became of them. Much of the information I provide can be difficult to find.
If you find errors - anything incorrect (dates, places, wrong parents, wrong children), and you have evidence, I would love to fix them. Or, if you have information that would extend my projects, do not hestiate to contact me on the email link below. I do not publish information on living people - which means I'm not much interested in people born after about 1920, and I usually distrust material from before about 1770 without extremely good sources.
g.bell@bigpond.net.au
When you click the mail address abouve, if it does not open your email app, copy the address on the screen.
Geoff Bell, September 2020