My great-great-great-great-grandfather Thomas Allen (b.1760), son of William and Elizabeth Allen, was a well-to-do farmer from Colwall, on the Herefordshire-Worcestershire border. On 29 May 1801, when he would have been about 41 years old, he married Sarah Jones, my great-great-great-great-grandmother. Despite their apparent age difference (see below), the couple seems to have enjoyed a fruitful and long-lasting marriage, which ended when Thomas passed away in 1843 from “old age”. Sarah would outlive her husband by almost two decades, passing away in Colwall on 15 May 1861.
Thomas and Sarah’s marriage produced ten children: Thomas (1802-1870), Edward (1803-1889), William (1805-?), Mary Ann (1807-1884), Joseph (1809-1875), Anne Maria (1812-1877), Sarah (1814-1879), Margaret (1817-1839), Henry (1819-1850) and Robert (1821-1900).
Sarah’s first entry in my family history is her 1801 marriage. Online researchers as well as my own access to the Herefordshire FHS’s handy marriage index confirms that she and Thomas Allen were married on 29 May 1801. The actual marriage entry on the parish register simply reads “May 29 – Thos. Allen and Sarah Jones [were married] by Banns.”
Sarah’s next entry on official records is the 1841 census, when she had already been married to Thomas Allen for forty years. Sixty-year-old Sarah was living at the time in the family home in Evendine (a part of the parish of Colwall) with her husband Thomas and three of their surviving sons: William, Joseph and Henry. All but Sarah are listed as having been born in the county (i.e. Herefordshire), which raises the question: where was Sarah born?
Thomas Allen died in 1843. The 1851 census shows Sarah listed as a widow and living at The Knell (also known as Knell Farm) in Colwall. She was 71 at the time, which is consistent with a birth year of about 1780, making her roughly twenty years her late husband’s junior. Described as a farmer, Sarah shared her house with her son Joseph, his wife Hannah, their children Ann and Joseph, as well as a servant. Interestingly, Sarah’s place of birth is given as “Dº Whitbourne” – in other words ditto (referring to Worcestershire, mentioned a few lines above for an earlier entry) and Whitbourne. My geographical knowledge of the area is not the best, but though a simple online search I can easily locate Whitbourne: although most online sources refer to it as being in Herefordshire, it lies in fact on the border with Worcestershire, just east of the River Teme.
The fact that Whitbourne lies on the border may account for the discrepancy on the next census record regarding Sarah’s place of birth. The 1861 census was to be Sarah’s last entry on a census record before her death. Aged 83, but still listed as the head of the household and a farmer (she must have been tough!), Sarah was still living with her son Joseph, daughter-in-law Hannah and their son. This time, the census enumerator has listed Sarah as being born in Colwall, Herefordshire, which contradicts the information provided tean years before. Her age, however, remains more or less consistent with a birth somewhere in or around 1780.
Sarah’s death certificate later that same year was issued following the declaration made by her daughter-in-law Hannah Allen. Sarah was 83, and died in Colwall. Other than her status as Thomas Allen’s widow, there is little else to suggest what her origins were.
The main question that arises from this small handful of records is of course where was Sarah actually born? My gut instinct tells me that, while she may have spent her entire adult life in Colwall, she probably was actually born in nearby Whitbourne. Assuming that Jones was her maiden name (he parish register does not specify that she was a spinster or a widow), and assuming that she wasn’t widowed when she married Thomas Allen in 1801, when she would have been roughly 21, then we can try to find a baptism for her either in Whitbourne or, less probably, in Colwall. I am quite fortunate in that most Colwall baptisms, marriages and burials have been transcribed and made available online for free, and can be consulted here. Unfortunately there are gaps (for instance Sarah’s marriage to Thomas Allen is not recorded, as there are a few years missing) but if Sarah was indeed born and baptised in Colwall roughly between 1775 and 1785, then there is no likely candidate that fits the bill.
I am therefore inclined to think that Sarah indeed came from Whitbourne. If I search for a baptism for a Sarah Jones in 1780 (give or take 5 years either way) on FindMyPast, Ancestry and FamilySearch, I get the same results on all three search engines:
- Sarah Jones, baptised 22 November 1778, daughter of William and Elizabeth Jones.
- Sarah Jones, baptised 10 December 1780, daughter of Edward and Mary Jones.
- Sarah Jones, baptised 11 December 1785, daughter of Guy and Mary Jones.
- Sarah Jones, baptised on 16 April 1786, daughter of William and Betty Jones.
Without further clues, it is virtually impossible to identify Sarah’s true parentage.
If I had to hazard a guess (and I realise this is NOT how one should carry out genealogical research!), I would probably exclude the last two candidates for the simple reason that Sarah would have been 15 or 16 when she married Thomas Allen in May 1801. But then again, this is not entirely impossible, and we must remember that a date of baptism is not necessarily indicative of a date of birth.
I also do wonder whether the first and fourth candidates are both children of the same couple (William and Elizabeth/Betty Jones); if so, then the first candidate could be excluded, as it can be assumed that she died young, and her name was later given to a younger sibling. Again, to prove this, a burial record would substantiate this theory.
On balance (and again, I am just guessing here), I would be inclined to believe that my Sarah Jones is the one baptised in 1780, and for two reasons: first, a birthyear of 1780 would be fairly consistent with Sarah’s age on the censuses (and close enough, though not particularly precise, to match her age given on her death certificate). Secondly, the fact that Sarah’s second-born son was christened Edward, and that her eldest daughter was christened Mary Ann, could possibly be a reference to her own parents’ names (Edward and Mary), which are the names of the second candidate’s parents.
But despite these “coincidences”, without further evidence I am still not entirely convinced that my Sarah Jones was the daughter of Edward and Mary Jones. What do you think? What would you advise I do? Will DNA hold the key to solving this mystery?
The Genealogy Corner 