Chelmsford
William the ironmonger had six Sons and a daughter and
when he died in 1816 he left his considerable estate to his wife Hannah
(Ann) Bonner, in trust for his children. However by 1831, fifteen years
later, Ann showed no sign of following her husband. Two sons, Christopher,
a carpenter at Runsell Green, Danbury, and Thomas, an ironmonger in
Billericay, gave up their share of the estate to th.eir older, and wiser,
brother George for £80 each (about £2,400 in 1990). George
Collis was an ironmonger in Romford and later was also a successful
auctioneer and surveyor. Two other sons, Joseph and Samuel, carried
on the family ironmongery in the High street. Joseph soon dropped out
and started business in l)unrnow, hut Samuel continued cIie1mst~rd High
Stree to trade until after 1861 when he was 66 years old.
Among the properties owned by the Collis family in Cheimsford was a
two storey house called Brettons. It stood between Back Street (Tindal
Street) and the High Street about where Lloyds Bank now is. On 19th
March 1808 the whole site burned to the ground and the tenant, a milliner
called Mrs.Smith, died after falling from a rescuers ladder. The site
was sold in 1810 for rebuilding.
James Thomas, workhouse master & builder, and h:is first wife Rebecca
Edwards had a daughter and three sons. Elizabeth (bJ789) died unmarried
at the age of 28. The eldest son Joseph was a grocer and inherited two
cottages from his brother James and another in Moulsharn from Joseph
Hitchcock who may have been his brother in law. James Griffin Col.iis
(h.1792) died in TI 814 at the age of 22 leaving four cottages.
The youngest son, John (b.1793) was a successful architect arid su:rveyor
arid he designed the Quaker Meeting House in Duke Street,now the law
library . He died at the age of 34 in 1827, a year after marrying Louisa
Griggs leaving her with an infant son, John.