WILLIAM GAMBLIN was born 1775 in Wiveliscombe, Somersetshire, England, and died 1851 in English Settlement, Kings County, New Brunswick, Canada. He married JOANNA STANHOPE SEYMOUR August 27, 1810 in Saint George, East Stonehouse, Devon, England. She was born 1787 in England, and died 1851 in Pearsonville, New Brunswick, Canada.

William Gamblin was born in Wiveliscombe, Somersetshire, England. He was apprentice to a blacksmith.  William joined the service on January 3, 1805, at the age of 29, in Taunton. William got through with a slight sabre cut on one cheek and a bullet wound in his ankle.

William Gamblin married Joanna (Ann) Seymour in England while in the Royal Marines, Plymouth Division, in 1810. He was discharged two years later on June 15, 1812, for a condition called "hectic".  At the time, "hectic", was a medical term for a feverish condition such as tuberculosis ("consumption"), in which body temperature spikes daily.  However, since William lived another 39 years, he probably did not have TTB or lung cancer. 

Malaria would have been described as a "relapsing" fever, so it wan't that either.  They emigrated to Canada, and finally settled in English Settlement Queens County NB.  According to John Smith's Ancestry.com discussion group posting of 11 April 1999, William and Joanna Gamblin came to New Brunswick, Canada, when it was a wilderness in 1819 from Plymouth Dock, Devonshire, England with children John, William and Sarah. 

Sarah, the youngest, was born in 1818.  Joanna picked the bullet out of his ankle years after in New Brunswick on the old homestead. William and Joanna's homstead still exists in Pearsonville on Highfield Road in August, 2001. Both are buried in the Woodland United Church Cemetery, Pearsonville, New Brunswick, Canada.

A 9 March 1892 copy of a Land Grant from 9 November 1829 to William Gamblin, John Bartlett, Thomas Harvey, Alexander Carmichael, James Broad, and William Pearson is in the possession of Ken and Susan Barbi, Annapolis, Maryland, in February 2001.

In the on-line parish register from Stoke Damerel Parish, William Gamblin is referred to as a laborer at Plymouth Dock (later known as Devonport). Plymouth Dock-Stoke Damerel-Plymouth was in practicality all one place, different districts that grew and merged into present-day Plymouth. In those days, Greg Haley thinks there were only two Anglican Churches: Stoke Damerel and St. George's.

Joanna Elizabeth Gamblin, bapt. 3 April, 1814, Stoke Damerel, Devon, England.
Joanna Gamblin buried 22 October, 1815, age 1 year and seven months, in Stoke Damerel parish.
William Henry Seymour Gamblin, bapt. 18 August, 1816, Stoke Damerel, Devon, England.
Source: E Mail from Greg Haley dated May 2, 2008.

An alternative background for William and Joanna has been proposed by family members and included in research done by Colonel Frederick H. Mills in July,1950. 

William Gamblin fought at the Battle of Traflagar in 1805, and Joanna Seymour was a daughter of a Nobleman - - a direct descendant from the family of which Jane Seymour, wife of King Henry VIII, was an illustrious member, and whose brother was her progenitor.

William Gamblin was a sailor by profession, a member of England's majestic Navy. He ran away from home and joined the British Navy or Army with two pals (both of whom were shot soon after) at age 18 (about 1793) and served between 7 and 8 years (until about 1801). He distinguished himself by his heroic conduct at the Battle of Trafalgar, under the command of Lord Nelson on October 21, 1805. He was one of the men on board the HMS Victory when Lord Nelson was wounded and fell on the tiller-ropes and helped carry Lord Nelson down to his cabin where he died. Later he joined the British Army and served in it between 7 and 8 years (until about 1809).

The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval battle fought on October 21, 1805, by a British fleet and a combined French and Spanish fleet. It is one of the most celebrated naval engagements in European history. The battle took place off Cape Trafalgar on the southern coast of Spain, pitting a British fleet of 27 ships under the command of Admiral Horatio Nelson against a slightly larger combined fleet of France and Spain, commanded by Vice Admiral Pierre Charles de Villeneuve of France. The French admiral was under orders from Napoleon I to slip out of Cádiz, Spain, which was under British blockade, to land troops in southern Italy, where the French were fighting. Leaving port on October 19 and 20, Villeneuve's fleet was intercepted by Nelson's fleet on the morning of October 21. Villeneuve formed his ships into a single battle line, south to north. Nelson, however, surprised his adversary by ordering his ships into two groups, each of which assaulted and cut through the French fleet at right angles, demolishing the battle line; this bold strategy created confusion, giving the British fleet an advantage. The battle began shortly before noon; when it ended, in the late afternoon, some 20 French and Spanish ships had been destroyed or captured, while not a single British vessel was lost. Villeneuve himself was taken prisoner, along with thousands of his sailors. The British suffered about 1500 casualties, among them Admiral Nelson, who was mortally wounded. The overwhelming British victory destroyed Napoleon's plan to invade England and helped secure the supremacy of British naval forces for the rest of the 1800s.

William Gamblin married Joanna (Ann) Seymour while in the army in 1810. Joanna Seymour was a daughter of a Nobleman, and a direct descendant from the family of which Jane Seymour, wife of King Henry VIII, was an illustrious member, and whose brother was her progenitor. Joanna Seymour's father and family disinherited and also disowned her, as they considered that she had run away from her family to marry William Gamblin, considered a common sailor, an inferior, and against their wishes and commands. They emigrated to Canada, and finally settled in English Settlement Queens County NB. According to John Smith's Ancestry.com discussion group posting of 11 April 1999, William and Joanna Gamblin came to New Brunswick, Canada, in 1819 from Plymouth Dock, Devonshire, England with children John, William and Sarah. Sarah, the youngest, was born in 1818.