The Gillions, Gillians, and Gillings family of Bedfordshire

The earliest record of my Gillions family is in 1730 in the village of Dunton in Bedfordshire, England.

That earliest record notes the baptism of my 5x Great Grandfather, William Gillings, who is taken to Dunton's parish church by his parents John Gillings and his wife Mary. He appears to have been the oldest of at least three children, but it seems that the family moved to nearby Wrestlingworth by the time their second child, Sarah Gillings was born in 1732.

Gillions family in Wrestlingworth

When my pregnant 4x Great Grandmother, Susan Gillions marries in 1795 at Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire, England, to labourer (and my 4x Great Grandfather) Edward Gilbert, they soon set up home a few miles away in the village of Abbotsley, Huntingdonshire.

However, the Gillings family and the rest of their descendants appear to remain in Wrestlingworth until at least the early 1800s. A larger number of female descendants makes following the family somewhat harder to document in those pre-certification and pre-census years.

Variants of the Gillions surname

There are several variants of the Gillions surname, with more than one surname variation making it into the 20th century:

  • Gillians
  • Gillions
  • Gillings
  • Jillings
  • Jollings

Gillions family connections

The Gillions family is connected to a couple of my ancestral families: