My paternal grandfather was William Albert Billings. He was born in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada in 1893. I never met his sisters, and his parents died well before I was born.

My grandfather told me very little about his family. His mother died when he was a boy, and I believe it may have been in a flu epidemic. He had two sisters, Gladys and Caroline. [I have since found records that show he also had 2 other sisters and 2 other brothers that died young.]

William was married young and had a child, Ila Maxine. Until recently, I only knew that his wife had died when his daughter was 6 or 7 years old. No one in my family knew her name or anything about her, and my grandfather rarely discussed it. On a recent visit to the St. Thomas Library, I unearthed a news clipping about the death of his wife, Laura Mary. Delores Laura Mary Jones was born in 1894 and died in 1919, when the flu was rampant in Canada and the U.S.

From the Friday Jan 10, 1919 St. Thomas Times-Journal. . .
Died.
Billings - On jan. 9, 1919, Laura Mary Billings, beloved wife of William Billings, aged 24 years. Funeral on Saturday at 3 p.m. from the family residence, 30 Barwick street, to the St. Thomas cemetery. [Scan of obit]

I am still searching for information on Laura. She is buried alone in a large plot in the St. Thomas West Avenue Cemetery.

A new aunt
I knew nothing about Ila Maxine, his daughter by that marriage, until my grandfather's death, when her son and grandchildren were mentioned in his obituary. I knew there was a woman named Maxine who had visited and was in many family pictures, but as a young girl, I never got the connection.

I posted a message in Rootsweb and got a response from my cousin once removed, Nancy Daoust. Her father was Tommy Beer, Ila's son by her first husband. We have remained in touch, and both of us would love to find any information about my grandfather's first wife.

John Albert Billings
The only Billings ancestor I was aware of was my grandfather's father, John Albert. During my research at the St. Thomas Cemetery in December 2001, I found him, his wife (Emma Bromell), and her sister all buried in the same plot. I also found more potential relatives, with the last name Billing, no "s." Edward, Giles, and Shedrick [aka Shadrach] Billing are all buried in the Old English cemetery. At that point, I could see no connection.

Edward Billing from St. Breward, Cornwall
Using the dates found in their cemetery records, I was able to go online to the LDS records and find that Edward and Giles Billing were brothers. Looking at the tree that resulted from this info, I first thought that Shedrick was the son of Giles's, which made him John Albert's cousin. It appeared Shedrick emigrated from Cornwall to Canda as a young boy and lived with Giles.

I then found Edward and Giles on the Visitations of Cornwall, and that gave me the Billings ancestry all the way back to the 1600s in England. Amazing what a little information can lead to!

I later found Giles and Edward as brothers living together in 1851, and Edward with his son John Albert in 1871.Happily, my hunches seem to be fast becoming facts, and I suddenly had a whole tree, where I only had a handful of names the previous year. I love genealogy.

[2005 update - Shedrick is Edward's son by his first wife in Cornwall! Edward and Shedrick were both living in Giles's house in 1851, which led me to believe that he was Giles's son. Edward was listed as single, so I had no inkling that he had been married earlier before emigrating.

Facts just didn't add up, so I delved deeper. I now have Shedrick's birth certificate which states that he is the son of Eliza Cowling and Edward Billing. I have not found any record of Eliza after 1851. Edward remarried Eleanor Foote, my great grandfather's John Albert's mother.]

Photos
Caroline Billings Batzold 

Caroline's daughter, Charice Batzold

Gladys Billings Beggs (later married Unknown Gungel)

Gladys Billings Beggs and an unknown child.

John Albert Billings and his family in around 1921. 

William's parents' tombstone.

A page of photos of Ila Maxine Billings, daughter of William Albert and his first wife (name unknown—she died in the flu epidemic of 1918).

Big Bad Bill Billings. My grandfather was quite famous as a pitcher for the St. Thomas Saint's baseball team in the 1920's.

Here's another shot of the St. Thomas Saints in 1923.

My grandfather William Albert in the 1940's.

An old Army photo of George William Billings, my father.

In a more recent photo, the Billings family visiting northern Michigan:
Todd holding Devan Westfall, William Thomas Billings, Brandon William Billings, and Ariel Billings Goodridge.
 

Marriages
My grandfather William Albert Billings married Ariel Lavern Watson, 1920

Obituaries and Memorials
Ariel Billings Goodridge (1921-2001)

Jack Ramon Billings (1925-1944)

Unknown Billings
John Albert and possibly Shedrick
 

Genealogy Reports and Family Group Sheets
The Billings report--last updated July 20, 2002.

My grandfather, William Albert Billings, and his family with Ariel Watson.

My grandfather with his first wife, Laura, and their child, Ila Maxine.

My great-grandfather, John Albert Billings, and his family.

My great-great grandfather, Edward Billing from Cornwall England with wife Eliza and family.

Edward Billing from Cornwall England with wife second wife Elenor and family in St. Thomas, Ontario.

Giles Billing, Edward's brother.

Shedric Billing, their cousin, also from Cornwall. [I have since found that this was the son of Edward and Eliza Cowling, Edward's first wife in England.]

John Billing, my great-great-great grandfather, father of Edward and Giles.

 

Here's a separate tree just for the Billing/Billings surname: The Billing(s) Tree Surname list Persons Sources

Census Pages
My grandfather with his family in the 1901 St. Thomas census.
 

Archives
Rick and I went to St. Thomas, Ontario, where I finally got to the cemetery. Story and photos in December 2001 archives.

Ariel Goodridge passes away November 2, 2001.
 

Links
The Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid
Billings family members are buried in St. Thomas and can be found in this great index.

Visitations of Cornwall
Billing of Trevorder, on pages 32 and 33, contains my ancestry. If you have ancestors from Cornwall, this resource may be of value to your research.