Non Population

Week 34 #52 Ancestors 52 Weeks

On the 7th of December 1857 Mary LAWRENCE nee FRIEND died in the Central Workhouse Minster, in the Isle of Thanet. During the 1851 census Mary was living with her husband William and her granddaughter Sarah Ann at Saint Nicholas at Wade in Kent. in the year following the census William passed away and it would appear leaving Mary and Sarah Ann to fend for themselves.

William and Mary were the parents of Jane LAWRENCE. Jane married Edward Waller LOADES in 1842 at the St Pancras Parish Church. By the time her mother passed away Jane and her family were half way around the world in Salisbury, South Australia. Life was getting better for Jane, while the life of her mother had deteriorated.

William and Mary had a total of 10 children. The family has been difficult to trace although one wouldn’t have thought that LAWRENCE was a common name. Unfortunately, the christian names are used multiple times and you can find several John or William LAWRENCE in the one place making it difficult to determine who belongs to who. We know from the records that William and Mary were married in 1808 at West Cliffe Kent. Mary was born and baptised in St Margaret at Cliffe and William had come from Littlebourne. From the baptism records of the children the family moved to St Nicholas at Wade sometime between 1814 and 1819.

Sarah Ann LAWRENCE was living with her grandparents from a very young age. We know that is was an illegitimate child or base born as the records say. Her mother Mary or Mary Ann died of consumption at the age of 30 in 1844. Where Sara Ann was at the time of her grandmothers death has not been discovered. Was she out working which seems likely as she would have been around 17 at this time. No records have been found that we can use the proof of evidence to say this is the right child. Is seems to be the case for many of the LAWRENCE siblings. There are baptismal records for the family but that is all that we can find.

The hunt for this family goes on.

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