William Pitt

   FamilySearch ID: MGWH-SP8.

  General Notes:

The baptism records of the children offer a puzzle: Sara is the daughter of William & Sarah Pitt whereas later children are William and Jane or Mary Jane. His marriage to Jane in 1809 would seem to contradict that he had an earlier wife. It's also possible that there were children older than the earliest recorded, James born in 1809. John Pitt, age 38 (b.1803), appears on the 1841 census of Wimborne Minster, but disappears after that although children do not. They are the only Pitts in Wimborne Minster at that time other than the property that William owns in Holt, but it also helps to explain why Sarah and James Pitt were married in Wimborne Minster perhaps on Holt Green where William's property was located but occupied by another person by 1838.

William had evidently bought a small farm of about one acre in Holt Green in the 1790s that he held on to his whole life and where he started his family before moving on to Affpuddle to manage a bigger farm. That would have happened sometime after the birth of his last child in 1825 and the tithe maps of 1838. Interestingly, there are a number of Framptons baptised about the same time as William's children were baptised, and although they are generally laborers, there may have been a "shirt-tale" connection which led William to move to Affpuddle to occupy land owned by James Frampton.

1841 census at Affpuddle: William Pitt (65, farmer), Jane (50), James (35), Ann (20), Matilda (15).

National Records has will of William Pitt, Yeoman of Affpuddle, Dorset (31 May 1854,
Catalogue reference PROB 11/2191). The will mentions his wife Jane; sons William and James; daughters Ann Spicer (wife of James), Mary Jane Jackson (wife of William), Matilda Eliza White (wife of Richard), some of his grandchildren and his late daughter Sarah first wife of James Spicer. In it he leaves his house at Holt in the parish of Wimborne Minster to his wife, and also states that he has advanced the sum of six hundred pounds to his son-in-law James Spicer "the repayment whereof is secured by his note of hand with interest thereon at two pounds and ten shillings per cent per annum" (i.e. 2.5%). This interest is to be paid half yearly to the children of his "late daughter Sarah Spicer the first wife of the said James Spicer". Similar sums of £600 were advanced to his other children Wiiliam Pitt, Mary Jane Jackson and Matilda Eliza White. He also instructs his executors that a sum of one hundred pounds owed to him by his son James, residing in America, be repaid to his two grandchildren Henry & Eliza Spicer. He also mentions a sum of eight hundred poundes deposited with the Wareham branch of the
National and Provincial Bank of England. He also left a sum of one thousand pounds to be divided between the children of his three daughters as soon as they attain the age of 21, "the interest and dividends in the mean time to be applied to their better maintenance and education" & similarly to his 4 named grandchildren, children of his son William Pitt. Thomas Randall yeoman of Winfrith Newburgh and John Hooper (?) yeoman of Piddletown appointed executors .. "act under the advice.... of my cousin Mr William Pitt". Dated & signed 8 Apr 1854 in presence of Henry Bavering (?) dairyman of Affpiddle and Robert D Marshfield solicitor of Wareham. Proved London 31 May 1854 by the 2 executors. ¹⁷⁶

  Research Notes:

Tithe maps of Affpuddle show several cottages, farms & fields occupied by a William Pitt (prepared sometime between 1838 & 1854). Also at East Stoke. (TheGenealogist.co.uk ($)) Downloaded and saved Feb. 2017

Birth and baptism present a problem: Ringwood is given as his birthplace in the 1851 census, but a parish register has not been found online.

Close: is 1779 Thomas and William Pitt sons and twins, Christened January 30, 1779, parents Robert & Mary Pitt at Childe Okeford. (ca. 20 miles NW of Ringwood & 13 miles NW of Holt, where he bought an acre of land in 1800 and kept hold on it.) - https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2243/images/32435_239557-00443

Another close is Christened 27 Dec 1787 to Stephen and Sarah Pitt in Ringwood. That record below:
Ringwood Registers:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N154-TWP
Reference: Items 3-5
Digital Folder Number:007550355
That is microfilm of a typescript book (1963) in three volumes evidently available only at the FHL as a physical book or on microfilm only at FHL. Index is online though, just not the images. See
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/450580

There are also Bishop's Transcripts in a locked film, but apparently doesn't have relevant years:
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/oclc/866441215

This might be relevant: PR Transcripts (Locked): https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/596902 - Film 790971 - not indexed evidently.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Ringwood,_Hampshire_Genealogy

  Events

• Land: Holt, 1800-1854, Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England. 1847 Tithe map: Lot number 1456; Satute Measure: R: 1; P:39; House, Grden and Orchard occupied by Mark Willcox
Holt Green lies about 3 miles north and east of Wimborne Minster next to St. James's Church.

• Church: Vestry of St. Laurence, 30 Mar 1837, Affpuddle, Dorset, England. ⁸¹⁴ With Henry Frampton, Wm Pitt, John Toomer (?) and Charles Besant. Robert Besant is the warden with William Hooker.

• Church: Vestry of St. Laurence, 29 Mar 1838, Affpuddle, Dorset, England. ⁸¹⁴ With Henry Frampton, Wm. Pitt, Rich Scutt and Charles Besant. Robert Besant is the warden with William Hooker.

• Census, 1841, Affpuddle, Dorset, England. ¹⁴¹⁸ Age 65, farmer.

• Church: Vestry of St. Laurence, 28 Mar 1839, Affpuddle, Dorset, England. ⁸¹⁴ With Henry Frampton, Wm. Pitt, William Hooper. Robert Besant is the warden with William Hooker.

• Marriage, 9 Dec 1839, Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England. ^176,177,178

• Church: Vestry of St. Laurence, 26 Mar 1840, Affpuddle, Dorset, England. ⁸¹⁴ With Henry Frampton, Wm. Pitt, Charles Besant. Robert Besant is the warden with William Hooker.

• Church: Vestry of St. Laurence, 5 Apr 1841, Affpuddle, Dorset, England. ⁸¹⁴ With Henry Frampton, Wm. Pitt, Charles Besant. Robert Besant is the warden with William Hooker.

• Census: UK, 1851, Affpuddle, Dorset, England. ^1441,1443 Age 76 a Farmer of 400 acres employing 17 laborers. With wife Jane (60), married son William (40), Nephew William Jones (56), servant Ann Scutt (21), and daughter Selena (15).

• Church: Vestry of St.Laurence, 26 Feb 1852, Affpuddle, Dorset, England. ⁸²⁷

• Will, 8 Apr 1854, Affpuddle, Dorset, England. Extensive naming of children and spouses of children.

• Probate: called for debtors and creditors, 8 Jun 1854, Dorset, England. ¹⁴⁴⁴ by Robt. D. Marshfield, Solicitor to the Exectuors. Wareham, 23 May 1854.

William married Jane Hellyar, daughter of David Hellyar and Sarah Read, 7 Sep 1809 in Buckhorn Weston, Dorset, England ¹⁴³⁸.^,1439 (Jane Hellyar was born in 1790 in Buckhorn Weston, Dorset, England ¹⁴⁴⁵, christened 10 May 1790 in Buckhorn Weston, Dorset, England,¹⁴⁴³ died in 1868 and was buried 11 Jul 1868 in Affpuddle, Dorset, England ¹⁴⁴³.)