Willsher
In Anglo-Saxon England the ancestors of the Willsher surname originated from Wiltshire, England.The name was recorded as Wiltunscir in 870 and as Wiltescire in the Domesday Book on 1086.
The name means shire centered on Wilton, Wilton is the old English for "willig" wich means Willow tree and "tun", for farmstead or enclosure, the name Wilton means farm where the willow tree grows
It is only in the last hundred years or so that it has been standardized, as the English language incomperated elements of other European languages, even literate people changed the spelling of their names.
The various spelling of Willsher includes Wiltshire,Wiltshear,Wiltsheir and others
The early roots of North America revealed a number of immigrants bearing the name Willsher or variant of the spelling.
John Wiltshire arrived in Virginia in 1654 , George Wiltshear settled in Maryland in 1742 a widow Willsher arrived in Barbadoes in 1679, John Wiltsheir settled in Barbadoes in 1679 with his servant so did Thomas Wiltsheir in 1679
Though the earliest willsher we have is Timothy Willtsheir c 1680.
We do have earlier Willshers from Eliazer Willsher born c1575 in Scripps Farm, Little Coggeshal, Essex, England and we know he married and had 2 sons both born in Scripps Farm, Little Coggeshall, Essex, England.
We are currently running the family tree with the 2 Willsher family's running separate in the same tree we are trying to find the link between them.
One theory is that Timothy c1680 is the son of Thomas Willsher born c 1652 and Eleazers grandson that would make Timothy Eleazers gr gr grandson and we could match the 2 family's.
Sadly this is only guesswork and no proof but maybe one of you out there have the proof we are looking for
As you all might know by know the Willshers are not easy to research.
One example is this.
In the Great Tey and Coggeshall area in 1788/1789 there was 3 James Willsher born and with great deliberation and help from John Priestly he knows lots of the Willshers ,who is descendant from the Percival s also a big name in the area we reach this conclusion of the three James.
James Willsher c 1789 born in Marks Tey married Ann Clark on 10 Oct 1816 and had 10 children he died Jan 1859 and his single mother was Elizabeth Willsher father unknown.
James Willsher c 1789 born in Great Coggeshall married Catherine Percival on 18 Nov 1811 and they had 10 children his parents where James Willsher and Susan Nunn he died in 1874. Incidentally his brother John Willsher married Catherine's Percival's sister Elizabeth 2 nov 1815.
There is also a James Willsher c 1789 born in Great Tey who is registered as having married Mary-Ann Murrells but have not been able to find anything more and this is a bit frustrating as we research both family's.