fate of Sampson Richard Willcocks

Question

Hi Mark,

Have been trying to find Sampson's fate and also his wife Mary Ann Dutton, both presumably in the 1870s. Any thoughts? Your presence in Aust suggests you may be descended from his son who came to Aust in 1870s

Comments

Hi Garry, It is difficult to see who you were addressing this message to. If you want Mark to read it then it might be better to send it directly to his Wikitree id as a private message.

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Found her name Mary Ann Dutton,Dec,1860

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Immigrated too Ascot Vale,Victoria Australia,Died as a Sailor at Sea.

You would need too verify this in Australia.Was given be a family descendant.

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My mistake Lynda - thought I would be addressing Mark direct. Later answer has added info relating to Sampson Willcocks. Many thanks.

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Probate of Sampson's estate in Victoria, Australia in 1889 indicates death regd in Honolulu 1887. Mary's not established however - would appear to be in Victoria, Australia. Still looking.

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Hi, yes I am a decendant of Sampson Willcocks. Not sure when they came to Australia but given he was running the Fountain Inn in Chichester in the 1871 census and declared bankruptcy in 1873 while still there it must have been some time between then and his death at sea while working on a New Zealand registered ship called the Olive in 1887. We assume he moved the whole family out given his son Rupert and daughter Ada both lived here although Mary Anne Dutton is so far a mystery in that we can't find any info on her here other than a Mary Anne Willcocks died at the Kew lunatic asylum in Victoria Australia at 3pm on the 7th oct 1883 that may or may not be her.

Cheers

Mark

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Also at the time Sampsons probate was registered in 1889 his address is mentioned as Middle street Ascot Vale, then in a census from 1893 his son Rupert Willcocks is recorded as living at 36 Bank street Ascot Vale that is only 3 streets from Middle street and makes me think those records are accurate and perhaps at the time of sampsons death Rupert may have had to move out of the house and only moved 3 streets away.

cheers

Mark

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Children Rupert and Ada came out on the "Great Britain" in 1873 accompanied by Mrs Ann Willcocks (all spelt Wilcox in the record). No sign of Sampson as a passenger (possibly a crewman?).

Mary Anne Willcocks who died at Kew Asylum in 1883 was recorded as aged 60, which if strictly correct, makes her quite a bit older than Mary Ann nee Dutton - also noted that she had no visitors during the 4 months she was there. No other info in the inquest to give any other clue to this Mary Anne Willcocks.

Executor of Sampson's will was Sam Letchford, his brother in law (married to Mary Ann's sister Eliza) and his residence was Middle St for a time.

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WOW thank you very much Gary that is information I didn't have about my family and now I know the Great Britain is in Bristol for visitors to look at I'm keen to get over there to see it and around Devon where my family is from.   May I ask what your interest is in this, are you family or related somehow ?

Mark

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The Mary Ann and Eliza noted were children of Richard Dutton. Richard's sister Mary Ann was my GG Gmother and she came out in 1849 with her family and her brother Thomas and his family. So I am descended through the Dutton line and we will be related somehow, Mark.

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Well isn't it a small world !?

I'm very pleased to meet you even if it is only online.

Mary ann Willcocks (Dutton) was my GG grandmother so yes we are distant relatives.

I was reading about the house Sampson was staying in at the time of his death and it turned out that Eliza owned it and the one next door and at the time of her death she owned 3 houses ! 2 in Ascot Vale and one in Moonee Ponds, very well done her and Samuel !

I also read a very sad coroners report on her death by drowning fully clothed by the St Kilda pier I felt so sorry for her, you probably already know all of this but I did find it sad.

Sorry I haven't been able to offer any info on Mary Ann but I will keep looking.

cheers

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Greetings to you, too, Mark. Had to sit down and work this out, but by my calcs we would be 4th cousins once removed. At least you still have the Willcocks name - I've gone through 4 ladies, so 4 changes from Dutton.

Sam was a good shrewd businessman from what I have read, although the 1890s depression hurt him. He was the executor of my GG Gfather's estate as well as another Dutton sister in law. He was also involved in a number of community groups, so something of a pillar of the community.

Eliza's death was very sad from what I have come across. Something of a shock/disappointment from the family's perspective.

Best wishes,

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Good morning Gary,

I don't have any real news for you but I found something interesting while looking through records. You may already know but I had a look at the will of Eliza Letchford (Dutton) and noticed she had left her houses to her two daughters, but with the house at 71 Middle st Ascot Vale she also left her piano to one of them. The interesting thing is that 71 Middle st was up for sale recently and I looked at the internal pics the real estate agent had put up and noticed there was an old piano in the house as well as some very old relics like a butter churner and I wonder if the house had stayed in her family all this time ?

Cheers and all the best

Mark

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Was 71 one of Eliza's properties? The departing owners have no connection with the family, so appears to be an unknown. A nearby property is still in family hands, but has no knowledge abt 71.

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Hi Gary,

I don't know if you have looked at Eliza's will on the public records office Victoria website; if not click on this link https://prov.vic.gov.au/search_journey/select?keywords=eliza letchford

in her will she leaves 40 Wordsworth st, 69 Middle st and 71 Middle st Ascot Vale to her daughters Ruby and Florence.

Sampson Willcocks will has his address as Middle st Ascot Vale so I can only assume he and Mary Ann (Dutton) lived in one of Eliza and Sams houses.

Cheers

Mark

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Just a quick observation - the piano noted in Eliza's will is a Lindahl, while the one in the Estate agent's spread is a Wertheim. Descendants are still in the presumed family home nearby, so I wonder if there has been some renumbering at some point. Just a thought - nothing is known about the present 71 being connected to the family. Disappointing to not have any further info on that.

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Thanks for that, I didn't even think to look at the make of piano.

My family and I lived in the Parade, Ascot Vale 1976-1980 and I had no idea all of this family history was just up the road.

Hopefully we can find out something about Mary Ann (Dutton) at some stage.

Cheers

Mark

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Hi Gary, i have found a little more information that may be of interest to us.

I found some census listings, Rupert Allison Willcocks was living at 69 Middle st Ascot Vale in 1901 and 1903,        Florence Alice Letchford was living at 71 Middle st Ascot Vale in 1913 and her occupation was a Milliner.

I found a Mary Willcox who died at Kew mental asylum in 1911 and her year of birth was 1836 (the year Mary Ann Dutton was born) that same spelling of the sir name was on the records of the ship they came to Australia on, i am thinking this was very possibly our Mary Dutton.

I also found the will and probate of Sampson Willcocks with Sampsons signiture on the will and Samuel Letchfords signiture on the probate, Samuel gives Sampsons place of death a Honolulu.

Hope you are all well and safe during this trying time,

All the best

Mark

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Hello Mark,

Mary Ann's father Richard wrote his will in 1882, noting that Mary Ann was deceased, so the 1911 death at Kew seems unlikely.. However her fate still can't be determined. Still looking though.

Best wishes, Mark and you and yours keep well also,

Garry

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Hi Gary,                                                                                     I've been searching through everything i could think of trying to find out more of Mary Ann Dutton and Sampson Willcocks and have made a little more progress.                  

As we know there is no record of either of them in Victoria after their arrival until Sampsons death Will written in 1881 in which Mary Ann is not mentioned, only their three children Rupert, Ada And Arthur and that got me thinking because i had never heard of Arthur until reading that Will but researching Ruperts and the Letchfords adresses i kept coming across an Arthur Wilcox and sort of dismissed him but he was living in the same area and even at 36 Bank st for a short time and Rupert had also lived at that exact address previous to Arthur, so i began researching Arthur Wilcox and the only one i could find for that period was born in Wallsend near Newcastle NSW in 1875, his parents were listed as Richard (Sampsons middle name) and Mary Ann and i thought well this could be someone else but it was looking positive so then i found his death record, he died in 1945 in Coburg Victoria and his parents on that record are Samson and Mary making it even more likely to be the child of our Sampson and Mary Ann but could not prove it for sure but just the other day i got copies of Arthur Wilcox marriage cert and Rupert Willcocks death cert and it all matched up, on his marriage cert Arthur Wilcox gave his parents names as Sampson Wilcox and Mary Ann Wilcox (nee Dutton) and that he was born in NSW, he gave his address as 241 Mt Alexander rd Moonee Ponds (the Letchfords address)  he even signed the marriage cert Wilcox and his brother Rupert signed it as witness Willcocks so the two spellings are deliberate by both,                        and on Rupert Willcocks death cert Arthur is the Informant and identifies himself as Ruperts brother.                            

So my conclusion is and i have documentation to show that Sampson and Mary were for whatever reason in Wallsend near Newcastle in 1875 but as yet no more is known after that other than the fact i found Sampsons hospital records from Honolulu showing he was admitted to Queens Hospital Honolulu on the 5th of November 1887 and died on the 14th of November of Kydney Disease, he had been aboard an Auckland registered ship called the "Olive" so i'm now looking for Mary Ann in New Zealand as well as here in Australia.   I have found a Mary Ann Willcocks who died in Auckland in 1881 but so far no confirmation.

All the very best

Mark

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Great work Mark,

A lot of extra work there and the docs you've located have cleared up or added quite a bit of information.

The NZ death looks like for a Mary Willcocks, aged a couple of years older than our Mary Ann, but could be her.

Good work and keep well,

Garry

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Hi Gary,

If you would like and of the documents i spoke of or even another i got yesterday which is the 1888 marriage certificate of Sampson and Mary's daughter Ada Mary Willcocks showing Samuel Letchfords signature as a witness and also noted as giving her away, showing again i think that Mary Anns children were brought up by the letchfords.

Cheers

Mark

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Sorry Garry last message was badly worded, was meant to say if you would like any of the documents i have mentioned I'd be happy to forward them to you.

Cheers

Mark

Answer 1

Seven Oaks ,Kent England,Marriages,Sampson Richard Willcocks,

4th Quarter 1860, Seven Oaks,Kent England.

Answer 2

sorry, I just seen the question. somehow notification email went to my junk mail. Anyway Sampson died at sea in 1887 aboard a ship registered in New Zealand called the "Olive" he was my great great grandfather, his son Rupert Allison Willcocks lived at 259 Mt Alexander rd Ascot Vale next to the tram depot where he worked as an inspector.