William Orpet (bef. 1804 - 1877)

Born before 18 Mar 1804 in Chilworth, Hants.

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Page) Orpet — married 23 Nov 1826 in Portsea, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom

Husband of Elizabeth (Carter) Orpet — married 19 Aug 1833 in St Mary Parish, Southampton, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom

Descendants

Died 19 Apr 1877 after age 73 in Chilworth, Hants

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Barry Smith [send private message] and Weldon Smith [send private message]

Biography

William's baptism is of public record, showing Mary Orput as mother, and no father listed (natural birth)^[1]. There is no record of William's early years until his marriage in 1826. His mother, under the name Mary, has left no record for those years either.

William was married first to Elizabeth Page on 23 November 1826. They had two children. After Elizabeth died on 19 June 1832^[2]. William then married Elizabeth Carter in 1833, they having seven children together. Finally, late in life, twice-widower William married third, the widow Frances Wren on 22 February 1859. They lived together for her final 16 years, she pre-deceasing him by 2 years.

Children of William Orpet, by his first two wives:

• Elizabeth Page
  • Elizabeth 'Emily' (1827)
  • Ellen (1829)
• Elizabeth Carter
  • Caroline (1834)
  • Charles (1835)
  • Emma (1836)
  • Owen (1838)
  • Enos (1840)
  • George (1841)
  • Alfred (1843)

The 1841 Chilworth census shows William and second wife Elizabeth living with the combined family of Elizabeth Emily, Ellen, Caroline, Charles, Emma, Owen, and Enos^[3].

The family is listed in the 1851 Chilworth census^[4]. Elizabeth had died in 1847^[5]. Emily may have married in 1849; Emma (15) and Ellen(22) cannot be found in the 1851 census, but are apparently living with other families. They married in the 1860s. William is shown as a widower and carpenter, with five children still residing with him at a Public House. Oldest son Charles, age 15, is shown living nearby (adjacent census pages) with the widow Amelia Biggs, employed as a farm laborer.

All of William Orpet’s children were baptised in Chilworth. There is a death recorded in 1877 for William Orpet in South Stoneham, the registration district for Chilworth^[6][7]. Although the estimated age of 77 years is four too many, these records likely refer to this William.

Another noted death of this family was that of Enos Orpet's youngest son, Walter Hayward Orpet, who was employed as a ship steward and met his demise while attending to passengers on RMS Titanic in April 1912.

Speculation Regarding Parentage

As with all natural births, we may never know the name nor family history of William's father. There is one hint, though. On his third marriage registration to Frances Wren, William is reported to have listed his father as Wm. Orpet^[8].

There has been found no marriage record nor baptism record for Mary Orput in Chilworth parish. Other than the birth of son William, there seems not a shred of evidence that she existed. But perhaps there is an alternative, for there exists a marriage on 3 Nov 1807 of Amelia Orputt and Edward Biggs in Chilworth^[9].

This possibility was furthered by the descendants of Charles Orpet, who show in their family tree that William's mother was Amelia (Orputt) Biggs. Charles, William's eldest son, lived with widowed Amelia in the 1850s, helping her to run her farm. He may have had first hand testimony from Amelia that she was William's mother, or it may be that Amelia acted as grandmother to Charles, and he thus honored her. Since there are no other candidates for William's mother in the records yet discovered, we follow Charles' lead and honor Amelia with that role here.

Unless further evidence is uncovered, William's father will be left as unknown.

Sources

1. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N1RR-DB4 : 6 December 2014), William Orput, 18 Mar 1804; citing CHILWORTH,HAMPSHIRE,ENGLAND, reference ; FHL microfilm 1,041,250.
2. ↑ "England, Hampshire Bishop's Transcripts 1680-1892," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLYW-2SCP : 9 March 2018), Elizabeth Orpet, 19 Jun 1832; citing Burial, South Stoneham, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom, Lancashire Record Office and Hampshire Record Office, United Kingdom.
3. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1841," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M79Z-CWC : 30 October 2015), William Orpet, Chilworth, Hampshire, England; from "1841 England, Scotland and Wales census," citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.
4. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1851," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SGBM-9PW : 24 July 2016), William Orpet, Chilworth, Hampshire, England; citing Chilworth, Hampshire, England, p. 2, from "1851 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
5. ↑ "England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2JQR-2ZS : 31 December 2014), Elizabeth Orpet, 1847; from "England & Wales Deaths, 1837-2006," citing Death, South Stoneham, Hampshire, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.
6. ↑ "England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2JKK-7M8 : 31 December 2014), William Orpet, 1877; from "England & Wales Deaths, 1837-2006," citing Death, South Stoneham, Hampshire, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.
7. ↑ Death certificate dated April 19, 1877; C.O.D. apoplexy
8. ↑ Reported by Hampshire genealogist Jean Evans in 1984. We do not now have a copy of this evidence.
9. ↑ "England Marriages, 1538–1973 ," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NKH3-CPL : 10 December 2014), Edward Biggs and Amelia Orputt, 03 Nov 1807; citing Chilworth,Hampshire,England, reference ; FHL microfilm 1,041,250.

Acknowledgements

• Family researcher, profile initiator, and g-g-grandson Weldon Smith
• Descendants of Charles Orpet, for their version of the family tree
• Descendants of Owen Orpet->Edward Owen Orpet, specifically family researchers Margaret (Orpet) Foster and her daughter Patricia (Foster) Morrison, who uncovered a wealth of evidence in support of the tree presented here

DNA

• NRY DNA
  • All the male Orpets in the DNA-verified segment of our shared tree have Y-chromosome DNA signature R1b-L48, the Frisian sub-variant of the Atlantic Modal Haplotype. In 1804, the natural birth of William Orpet switched the Y-DNA to this R1b-L48 unknown line. Orputt was his mother's birth name.
• Autosomal DNA
  • Two of William's sons have been found to have present day descendants having taken auDNA tests at testing company 'A'. Son Owen accounts for 11 cousins, son Enos 5.
  • The lineage from each descendant cousin back to William is shown below.
  • The discovered matches to WS are his 3rd half cousins, 3rd cousins, and 3rd cousins 1x removed.
  • The most recent descendant of Enos matches WS on small segments; each match indicates, but falls short of proving, that William is the collective MRCA of the tested pairs.
  • The bolded DNA test result, comparing WS DNA to that of the cousin,has format: total # cM / # of matching segments.
    • WS Base Match<-Hilda Orpet 1917<-Albert Orpet 1874<-Owen Orpet 1838<-MRCA
    • CH 10/1<-Margaret Miller 1921<-Margaret Baxter 1895<-Emily Orpet 1864<-Enos Orpet 1840<-MRCA