Frances Willis
1800–92
Sister-in-law of James Syme. Born in Leith, Scotland, the daughter of Robert Willis, a wine merchant, and his wife Agnes Hay. Her younger sister Ann married James Syme, 1829. After Ann’s death in 1840 Frances looked after James Syme’s children. After James Syme’s death in 1870 she lived with her elder sister, Agnes Mason, and her family in Jedburgh.
Sources
Census returns of Scotland 1841 (The National Archives of Scotland: North Leith 69 61/5 692/01021/00005), 1871 ( Jedburgh 6/2 792/00006/00002) (Scotlandspeople.gov.uk, accessed 27 and 28 January 2014)
ODNB s.v. Syme, James
Scotland old parish registers births 692/02 0070 0322 and 692/02 0070 0427 Leith (Scotlandspeople.gov.uk, accessed 27 and 28 January 2014)
Scotland statutory deaths 792/00 0046 (Scotlandspeople.gov.uk, accessed 27 and 28 January 2014)
Bibliography
ODNB: Oxford dictionary of national biography: from the earliest times to the year 2000. (Revised edition.) Edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. 60 vols. and index. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004.
