A Longshot

In my post 'Old Soldiers' of 14 June I copied a letter I wrote to Phil Allchin who spent WW2 in the same unit as my father-in-law Bill Meek. In it I explained how I met and was good friends with George Atchison who was in the same unit for the duration of the war. Phil replied with a warm letter that included some photstat photos and info sheets of some of his army mates. He closed his letter with the words, "Was your great or great great grandmother Hannah Williams? Just another longshot."

I didn't follow up on that till the day before yesterday, when I asked Mum was there a Hannah Williams in our past. Well there was. My maternal grandmother's grandmother was Hannah Williams. Previous to that she was Hannah Allchin, before her husband Ebenezer died and she remarried to Francis Williams (no relation, to my knowledge, to the 'Williams' on my father's side). She was born a Wilson, daughter of Joseph and Hannah(nee Boulton).

Interestingly, Hanna Williams/Allchin, born a Wilson, had a brother, Joseph, who was the grandfather of Edgar, my grandfather. So Edgar and Annie, my maternal grandparents, were second cousins. At least I think that's right.

I know this because Meredith found for me a copy of the Wilson/Pitt family tree our uncle Ron did some years ago. My grandfather Edgar, a Wilson, married 'Old Nanna', a Pitt, shortly after WW1. Old Nanna's mother (Hannah Williams' daughter) married Percival Pitt. We always called our grandmother Annie 'Nanna' or 'Nanna Wilson' to differentiate between Lyle's mother who was 'Nanna Myrt' (her name was Myrtle), but she became 'Old Nanna' to Meredith's girls to distinguish her from their Nanna, Elvie. It stuck, and she became 'Old Nanna' to everyone till she died in 1996, aged 99.

When Hannah Williams was married to Ebenezer Allchin, they produced one child, James Allchin, whom I suspect is the link to Phil Allchin, making Phil and I relatives.
I rang Phil in Perth last night, to briefly tell him of my discovery. I'm going to photocopy the family tree and send it to him. He told me on the phone that Hannah Willams had four husbands in total so I look forward to learning more about my family history as this story unfolds.