The Havill Family

The Havill Family

September 2006

The website has a new home.
Please go to www.geoffnutting.me.uk and update any bookmarks or references you may have.
The pages on this server will not be updated anymore and will eventually disappear.


		The pictures show Tom Havill my Great Grandfather with wife Annie Bovett and daughters Clara, Emma and Winifred. They are thought to have been taken in Wimbledon, shortly after the family's move from Devon.

My co-researcher on these pages is George Riley. A great deal of the commentary and details on the early Havills are the result of his work. George has visited the descendents of Richard 1800 at Havill Farm in Canada.

There are other Havill family lines in Devon and we hope to detail these in due course. If you have any comment or additional information please do not hesitate to contact us.

The origins of the Havill family are to be found in Devon, where the early pre-18th century records confirm the Havills` were few in number and widely dispersed across the southern and eastern areas of the county.

Parish records, where they exist, usually record events with the minimum of detail, but some early wills give a tantalising glimpse into early Havill mill families and how for one such family the Havill name died out.

The records from the late 17th century to the 19th century show that for this period most of the Havills` were born and lived within an area formed from several contiguous parishes roughly centred on and around an area to the east of Exeter, identified as St Thomas. The 1851 census confirms this concentration by listing a total of 104 Havills resident in Devon, almost all living within the St Thomas area. Their occupations reflected the nature of a predominately rural society, and included farmers, butchers, gardeners, blacksmiths, masons, carpenters, cordwainers, and labourers, with some women working from home in the lace industry.

In the 19th century the development of the railways accelerated the migration of Havills from the area, many of whom made their way to London to ply their trade. In the 1881 census out of a total of 364 recorded Havills, 104 were living in Devon, whilst many of those born in the greater London area were descended from Devonian Havills. Many of our more recent Havill forebears can be found from within the Devon migrants.

The page map below links to pages for later families and locations for earlier records. At the moment it covers what we think is the main line of our descent. We are also in the process of adding other lines as time and research permits.

Withycombe Raleigh	----------------	Plymtree Talaton Ottery St Mary Feniton Bradninch	------	Whimple South Molton Bishop's Nympton