William Webb (1749--1820), my 4 x great grandfather, is estimated to have been born about 1749 but his birthplace and any details about his parents have been a brickwall for several years.

William Webb married Alice Brightman on 13 October 1797 in Ampthill, Bedfordshire.

They had 4 proven children:- George baptised Ampthill 1798; Ann baptised Bedford St John 1802; Jeremiah (my 3 x great grandfather) baptised Bedford St John 1803 and Alice baptised Bedford St John 1806.

There is possibly a fifth child -- Charles, baptised Wellingborough Northants on 21 February 1800 to parents William and Alice Webb.  The names and dates fit and the assumption that this is the same William and Alice is made from the census returns of 1837, 1841 and 1851 wherein all the other Webb's there are proven to be related to me.  The unproven Charles is of the correct age to be a child of William and Alice.  There is nothing else to connect William and Alice to Wellingborough.

William was buried in Houghton Conquest on 13 December 1820 aged 71 years (so is estimated to have been born around 1749).  Alice was baptised in Houghton Conquest on 25 November 1766 and buried there on 10 August 1840.

When William married Alice in Ampthill he was a widower.  They were married by licence and I have a copy of the licence from the Society of Genealogists, but it gave me no useful information that I didn't have already, except that William was an Innkeeper.

His first wife, Elizabeth, was buried in Ampthill on 19 May 1797 (he married Alice in October 1797).  William and his first wife Elizabeth had 6 children, all baptised in Ampthill between 1784 and 1794.

There is no baptism for William Webb in either Ampthill or Houghton Conquest for 10 years either side of 1749.  I have searched for the marriage of William and his first wife Elizabeth between 1769 (when William would have been about 20) and 1784 (when their first child was baptised).  The only viable Bedfordshire marriage of a William and Elizabeth is in Cranfield Bedfordshire on 27 October 1771 when William Webb married Elizabeth Odell.  There are no baptisms in Cranfield of children born to William and Elizabeth.

Unfortunately, there are no marriages recorded in the registers for Ampthill between the years 1762 and 1778.  Likewise, there are no Bishop's Transcripts for that period either.  This is exactly the period when William and Elizabeth would have married.  I have searched the surrounding parishes to no avail.

For the time being, William Webb is the end of the line for my Webb family research