Researching William Lea
Delve into the history of William Lea using the links below. We hope you find this information useful!
 | Did you know that in the 1881 UK census there were 5912 people with the Lea surname? In that year Lea was ranked number 721 for popularity in the UK. |
The name William means "resolute guardian" and is of German origin.
Records of William Lea on Ancestry
Ancestry is a major source of information if you are filling out the detail of William Lea in your family tree. Many large databases are available to search covering from births, deaths and marriages, military records, census records and immigration records with many other smaller collections too. Free trials are normally available and are a good way to fill out a lot of your tree quickly.
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Ancestry.com Global records search results for William Lea. |
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Ancestry.com US records search results for William Lea. |
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Ancestry.co.uk UK records search results for William Lea. |
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Ancestry.ca Canadian records search results for William Lea. |
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Ancestry.com.au Australian records search results for William Lea. |
DNA
Sometimes you can run into a brick wall in your tree and you just don't have enough evidence to make that next step back in time. If you are lucky then you may find some previously undiscovered Lea ancestors. Additionally, the modern DNA test can give you a breakdown of your ethnic mix - you may be surprised at the results!
Have you reached a brick wall in your Lea Tree?
Birth, Death and Marriage Records for William Lea and the Lea Family History
Birth, Death and Marriage records are often the best method of making the links to the Lea Genealogy that will form part of your family tree. Although records vary from country to country, they are normally the most formal record of a person's relations. From the sources listed below it will be possible to locate a birth record and, from that record, a birth certificate may be obtainable which is likely to list the names of the parents, therefore taking you back another generation. A marriage certificate may also list the names of the respective fathers of the bride and groom which may then help you to find them earlier in life on a census record enabling you to fill out more detail in the Lea family tree.
Look at Parish Records for William Lea at Find My Past.
Explore for the UK registered births, marriages and deaths of William Lea using the FreeBMD database.
Study Genealogy Bank for William Lea records.
Study MyHeritage for William Lea information.
Investigate the LDS Database for records about William Lea.
Research the Lea surname using fold3 Military Archives and view images of original Lea Military records.
| Did you know that there are currently 6827 people with the Lea surname in the UK? Lea is now ranked number 880 for popularity in the UK. |
Lea Genealogy Databases
Another way to build your tree quickly is to use the research other people have already done. This can help to confirm or refute your own deductions - however, be wary of taking this data at face value as other researchers may not have been as meticulous as you. Always try to back up deductions with some definitive sources rather than relying too heavily on others.
Explore the WikiTree database for user contributed records for William Lea.
Study MyTrees for information on the Lea family and people looking to contact living Lea relations.
Investigate One Great Family for Lea records submitted by people who are already researching the Lea Family Tree.
Find William Lea from Ireland on findmypast.ie
Lea Forums
There are a number of forums which are dedicated to rearching particular surnames. These can be good places to share your findings and also to tap into the knowledge that others may already have. These can sometimes be a good way of finding living relations as these tend not to show up on the other sources of information for privacy reasons.
Research the Lea surname using Genealogy.com forums .
| Did you know that there are currently 9115 people with the Lea surname in the USA? Lea is ranked number 154 for popularity in the USA. |
Miscellaneous Lea Databases
Search the Ellis Island Database for information on William Lea. This database contains over 25 million immigration records detailing passengers arriving in the United States of America.
Some Famous People called William Lea
William Lea (businessman)
William Lea (May 17, 1805 – December 28, 1876) was a member of a prominent flour milling family in Wilmington, Delaware, who was largely responsible for the development of the Brandywine Mills to their place of importance.
Lea was born to Thomas Lea (1757-1794) and Sarah Tatnall (eldest daughter of Joseph Tatnall) in a house at 1901 Market Street in Wilmington. He was a descendant of John Lea, a prominent Quaker minister from England, who came to America with William Penn on his second voyage. He was the father of Preston Lea, Governor of Delaware from 1905 to 1908.
Lea was first employed with his father in the firm of Tatnall and Lea, founded in the 1760s on the north bank on the Brandywine Creek by his father and grandfather, and then at Manayunk, Pennsylvania; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Terre Haute, Indiana. He was married to Jane Scott Lovett on the October 18, 1836. He returned to his old home in Wilmington in 1837 and became one of the proprietors of the Brandywine Mills. The couple had 11 children together, William (b. 1834), Esther (b. 1837), Henry (b. 1839), Preston (b. 1841), Mary (b. 1846), Sarah (1848-1848), Anna (b. 1849), Edward (1852-1867), Alice (1854-1857), Thomas (1856-1859), and Jane (b. 1860). In 1864, the firm was renamed William Lea and Sons when Lea brought his sons, Henry and Preston, into the business.
Besides operating the flour mills, Lea was for many years a director in the Union National Bank of Wilmington, and was also a director in the Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery Company. He was greatly interested in the improvement of Brandywine Village, in which he lived, and favored its annexation to the city of Wilmington as the Ninth Ward.
The Superfine Lane Condominiums (named for the grade of flour produced by the Quaker millers) were built in 1984 and incorporated the foundations of the old William Lea and Sons flour mills, which continued to operate 1923.
Source: William Lea (businessman), Wikipedia, The Free EncyclopediaOther names that sound a bit like Lea
Family names can get corrupted over time, particularly where literacy was not as good. The following list contains some names that have similar sounds so you may want to also look at one or two of the more likely possibilites.
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