Introduction

Elias Willmot belonged to Hardington’s artisan class, working as a shoemaker in the village from 1828 to 1861.

Childhood at Halstock

Elias was born at Halstock on 14 March 1799, the son of Richard, a labourer, and his wife, Anne.

His mother died in September 1800 when Elias was only 18 months old. His father remarried in 1805, possibly to his late wife’s sister.

Marriage

On 9 February 1828, Elias married Jane Haggett at Hardington. Jane’s father was a sailor.

Elias and Jane established their home at Hardington, living near Manor Farm.

Horticulture

Elias occupied an allotment of 26 perches at Cold Harbour (number 515 on the tithe map), which he took pride in cultivating.  In 1846 and 1848, he won a prize of 7s for the high standard of his allotment.[1] His crops would have been a valuable addition to the family diet.

Tragic loss of two daughters

In June 1859, Elias’s daughter, Jane, became ill, and her health deteriorated over the following months. Her family did not seek medical assistance, and when she died on 14 December 1859, age 17, her death certificate attributed her death to “Decline, 6 months. Not Certified.”[2] Three months later, Elias’s daughter, Ann, began showing symptoms of tuberculosis, and she died on 26 May 1860, aged 20.[3] It is possible that Jane had died from the same disease and inadvertently infected her sister.

Death

Elias died in September 1861, aged 62, and Jane died in January 1864, aged 61.

Children

Elias and Jane had three daughters and one son.

Their oldest daughter, Mary, married Carey Burt, a woodsman of Pendomer, and had six children. Their other two daughters, Ann and Jane, died young.

Elias’s only son, John, moved to the Isle of Wight in the 1870s. He worked as a general labourer at Godshill and married a local widow in 1889. John died there in 1901, aged 52.

References

[1] Devon County Chronicle, 29 October 1846, p.3; Sherborne Mercury, 21 October 1848, p.4.

[2] Death certificate of Jane Willmot.

[3] Death certificate of Ann Willmot.