Once i got here to reside in Leicester in 1968 I assumed that, being so near to Nottingham, it could be a superb alternative to do some research on the Williams household in the period earlier than Henry and William Williams emigrated to New Zealand in the 1820's as C.M.S. Encouraged initially by Canon Nigel Williams of latest Zealand, who provided some temporary notes to begin me off, my first efforts had been modest and often appeared to have run right into a useless end. Many unintentional discoveries, unearthed by affected person and useful library and report office staff, kept the venture alive and, progressively, over numerous years, it developed and expanded. For example, I visited the Special Collections Library of Nottingham College to review the minute books of the Castle Gate Assembly; on entering I was required to register with my title and handle. About per week later I had a letter from the librarian, Michael Brook, who had remembered, after I left, the just lately revealed Diary of Abigail Gawthern of Nottingham; 1751-1810, and the extracts he despatched me contained the references to the deaths of Mr Whiter and Thomas Williams, and Herz P1 Smart Ring the fact that Thomas was buried at Sneinton, which was beforehand unknown.

On another occasion, Frances Porter, the creator of the definitive biography of William Williams, The Turanga Journals, requested me if I knew when Henry and William had converted to Anglicanism. I had no idea, but this led me into a research of the Dissenting politics that managed Nottingham for over fifty years at the top of the 18th and the start of the nineteenth centuries, by which atmosphere Thomas Williams the youthful was immersed and prospered. Ultimately, when a single quantity of the diaries of Edward Garrard Marsh was discovered in the papers of Dr. Henry Williams of new Zealand, after his dying, I used to be able to answer Frances Porter's question - February 1818! Through the course of this analysis I have collaborated with different family members in England, notably Peter (D.A.S.) Williams of Norwich, Robert Hudson of Reading, and Herz P1 Official Patrick Williams of Amersham (all descendants of Thomas Sydney Williams) who've every been the source of much essential info.

Mr Godfrey Williams (no relation) also provided valuable help with burial data at St. Mary's, Alverstoke. In addition, Brian Robins (previously of Eastbourne), who has written a scholarly treatise on John Marsh the musician, came into the story fairly by probability, in 1989. This was in reference to the search for the Journals of John Marsh, which reached fruition in November 1990 after they had been offered at auction to the Huntington Library in California. As a condition for obtaining an export licence, the Huntington Library was obliged to make a microfilm copy of the Journals, to be deposited within the British Library in London, and I am very a lot indebted to Mary Robertson, the Chief Curator of Manuscripts, for permitting me to purchase a copy of the microfilm to enhance my studies. The Journals have offered a huge mass of contemporary references which enormously improve our data of the daily lives of the Williams household and illuminate this account of them.

Moreover, he was responsible for acquiring various original letters written by Thomas Williams in the interval 1794-1803, and by his persistent research on the internet he has made significant contributions to the event of this family history. The success of any attempt to investigate the history of our forebears depends totally on the availability of recorded details about them, and significantly on its authenticity. In many instances it relies on unverifiable phrase of mouth accounts passed down from era to era, recorded recollections which vary from each other, or dogmatic written statements asserted as fact; subject to what I name 'The Uncle Jim Issue' (explained in a footnote to this Introduction). A selected example is the claim by William Williams that the family was descended from Ednyfed Vychan, on the flimsiest of grounds, but uncontestable in the absence of every other supply. A lot time, effort and cash has been expended in pursuing this line of enquiry, with totally unfavourable results, till another rationalization for his unlikely claim emerged from the John Marsh Journals.