John Mills (c1800-1879)

Due a reference to a baptism in the IGI, it has been long believed the John Mills who married Mary Ingram was the son of a Thomas Mills and Elizabeth, and was baptised in Shallborne, Wiltshire. I dispute this belief based on information provided from researcher Eric Marshman from the Phipps Papers – a large collection of legal documents relating to land transfers and other matters in Westbury and Dilton, and other parish documentation he obtained from Trowbridge. The papers are consistent with John Mills being from Dilton and not elsewhere, but is not definite proof.

Parish information indicates that a John Mills (bc 1749) married a Mary Grant in approximately 1767. This couple had at least 7 children baptised in the Dilton Church of England parish, including a son called John, baptised in 1773. For the purposes of this history, we will call this son John the elder. John the elder married Lydia Collier in 1795. It appears the couple went about a religious conversion several years later as Lydia is baptised as an adult into the Westbury Leigh Baptist Church on 19.7.1801, and John was baptised in the same parish as an adult on 17.7.1803.

Definitive evidence of children of this couple is yet to be found. John the elder died on 28.4.1828, leaving a will that did not mention the names of his wife or children. He left all his estate to his wife and the will was witnessed by a Robert Marshman. The Westbury Leigh Baptist Chapel does however have the record of a John Mills of Storemore (at the western end of Dilton Marsh) being baptised on 14.8.1823. This could well be a son of John the elder, baptised as an adult as his parents were. Weight is given to this John being the John Mills of our story, due to further entries marked next to this baptism. John Mills of Storemore was excluded from the church in July of 1852, restored in September 1853 and went to Australia. The reference to Australia gives strong weight that this is indeed our John.

On the 18.2.1831 occurred a release in fee; two messuages and premises in Dilton Marsh- Lydia Mills, who made her mark, to William Tucker, for £130. Also in 1831, a lease of 1 year was granted to Lydia Mills at the size of 17 perches (just over a quarter acre). In 1840, a John Mills bought back the property for £140 from William and Joseph Tucker and mortgaged to the Tuckers. This transaction appears to indicate that this John Mills was indeed a son of John the elder.

The two Mills families knew each other as the younger John leased his property to Lydia, and lived near her during the 1851 census. A son looking after his mother? Lydia died on 18.2.1852 of ‘old age’ and a ‘John Mills’ was in attendance, given further weight as John being the son of Lydia.

If this is the case, then our John possibly had a brother called Richard. Richard was born circa 1804 and married an Esther Bailey in 1828. They are located in the 1841 census at Red Pit Lane, Dilton Marsh, only two minutes walk away from where John & Mary Mills were residing. They had a daughter Hannah who married a Robert Marshman. Hannah and Robert came to South Australia on the ‘Sibella’ at the same time as David & Ebenezer Mills (the sons of John & Mary) did.

A proposed family tree is as follows:-

John Mills ( b c 1774) m. Lydia Collier (b c 1774) (her sister Ruth married a Robert Marshman, possibly witness to John Mills’ will) ↓

John Mills                                            Richard Mills b. c 1800                                             b c 1804 Dilton Marsh                                          Dilton Marsh m.                                                    m. Mary Ingram                                            Esther Bailey

2 children went to SA on the Sibella in 1848          1 child went to SA on the Sibella in 1848

Dilton Marsh
In the 1841 census, our John is recorded at Storemore, with wife Mary, sons Ebenezer, David, Job & daughter Mary Ann. John’s occupation is given as weaver. Living nearby are several families with the last name of Collier, a Tucker family, and also families with last names of Hillman and Humphries. The Humphries family living nearby is headed by John Humphries, father of Ann who would go onto marry Ebenezer. He is a widower and also has a son Edwin, aged 15. All are listed as being born in the county.

The 1851 census for Westbury, Wiltshire lists our John as born of Dilton Marsh. He, wife Mary & son Job are listed as wool weavers. Daughter Mary Ann is recorded as a scholar. No other children are listed for the family, so the gaps in the ages appear to be correct. Whether there were any more children of this family is yet to be determined, but it is a possibility.

In April 1854, the Phipps Papers records a conveyance transaction between a John Mills and Joseph Tucker, for the equity of Redemption of messuages, gardens and premises at Dilton Marsh - £140.10.00 owing, acquitted. This was just prior to the family leaving for Australia.

South Australia
John and Mary’s trip to Australia was paid for in advance by son Ebenezer. They were required to pay an extra six pounds (5 pd for John, 5 pd for Mary, 1 pd for Mary Ann, 2 pd for Job). Both John and Job were recorded as labourers and Mary Ann was recorded as a house maid. They arrived on 1/11/1855 at Port Adelaide aboard the ship Oriental. The ship was 580 tons, captained by Captain J. Macintosh, and had left from Southampton on 23rd June 1855. It's arrival was reported in the South Australian Register newspaper on Friday 2nd November 1855. 2 births and 5 deaths were reported on the passage, and Mr. William Arpthorp was surgeon-superintendent. The ship was 120.2 x 30.6 feet (length x beam) and built of teak at Cochin, India, in 1830.

It is uncertain at this point where John first lived and worked in South Australia. His daughter Mary Ann married at his residence in Steventon in 1862. The only ‘J. Mills’ who appear as possibilities in the 1867 Adelaide Almanack are a J. Mills listed as a farmer at Pewsey Vale in the district of Mt Crawford, and a John Mills listed as a farmer on sec 5360 district of Narine. It should be noted that the second John Mills was farming near a Richard Mills jnr who was a farmer in Native Valley. John is definitely recorded in the SA Directories as a farmer, near Tea Tree Gully, for the 1872 year. He is not listed for the 1873 year.

Mary died in 1874 in Tea Tree Gully. John died several years later in the Destitute Asylum in Adelaide.

Children

 * colspan="3" bgcolor="#FFfce0" style="color: #000000;" |Children of John and Mary Mills
 * colspan="3" bgcolor="#FFfce0" style="color: #000000;" |Children of John and Mary Mills