I’ve just taken part in the #ReclaimJane writing project
devised by the wonderful Natalie Pithers, who is also the brains behind the
Curious Descendants Club. The aim of the
project is to encourage people to give voice to their forgotten ancestors, often
but not always women, people who may have only shown up fleetingly in the
records but who lived very real lives.
I decided to turn my attention to my 2 x Great-grandmother
Jane Ladley (1828-1899), which curiously was also the name of my much loved late mother-in-law, and it
felt like she was calling to me across the generations. I
knew there would not be a blood connection to my ex-husband’s, and therefore my
children’s family, as this was his mother’s second marriage but nonetheless I was curious to see how the families
connected.
What follows is a longer post than my usual ones, if you want to skip past my research process then feel free to jump ahead to Jane's story at the end of the post.
Royalty free signpost image via pxfuel.com
Jane’s parents were George Ladley (1788-1868) and Ann
Markham (1785-1873)1. From the records I can find George and Ann married at
Horncastle on 2nd June 1812, and had 7 children: Eliza (1813-?)2 born
in Horncastle; Sarah (1815-1829)3 born in Winceby; then Mary Ann (1817)4 who was
born Greetham, followed by George (1818)5, Anne (1820)6, Thomas (1823)7, and Jane
(1829)8 who were all born in West Ashby. There
may well have been other children, however as this was prior to the
implementation of Civil Registrations in 1837, I am reliant on what baptism
records I can find. There is also the
additional problem with the various spellings of the surname Ladley. On first look you may think it is quite a
straightforward name, however, as my own children would attest it can so easily
be mistranscribed as Laidlow, Hadley, Padley etc and indeed George and Ann’s
marriage is under the name Ladlow and their first appearance on the Census
records (1841)9 is recorded under the name of Padley although on looking at the
image itself I can clearly see it is Ladley.
There is a lot of written history about the turmoils within
agriculture during the 19th Century, and I won’t dwell too deeply on
it as part of this blog post, but I do need to bear it in mind when trying to
picture the daily lives of my ancestors, the upheavals and uncertainty faced by
the introduction of new machinery and new farming practices
In the 1830s there was much disorder amongst the workforce,
the following is an extract of a letter dated 1831 and sent to Joseph Stevens
of Baumber, Horncastle (less than 5 miles from where my ancestors were based):
Steveson, you may
think it a great favour that we write before we fire. If you have a machine in
your yard, we will set fire to the stacks the first opportunity, and we can do
it if you stand by; and you and all the farmers must give better wages to the
labourers, or we will fire; and if fire will not do we will dredge poison on
your turnip shells. You may warn all the farmers.
Penalties were harsh too, for example a young 15-year-old
servant, Priscilla Woodford, was found guilty of setting fire to a haystack in
another area of Lincolnshire in 1832, and was transported for life.10
Certainly, times were tough but agriculture remained the
principal employment for Lincolnshire up to the 1850s and beyond. Even now, living in the county, I am
surrounded by fields, with both livestock and agricultural uses, although more
of them are getting turned over to recreational uses such as for keeping horses.
Returning to the 1841 Census 9, George is recorded as an
Agricultural Labourer, living with his wife Ann, daughter Jane and two others:
Samuel and Ann Barton, Samuel also being recorded as an Agricultural
Labourer. I have noted that on some
other Ancestry.com trees people have recorded Samuel as being the son-in-law to
George with Ann Barton being their daughter Anne (born 1820)6; as there is a
marriage record for an Ann Ladlow and Samuel Barton recorded in Louth in 184011 this would seem a reasonable suggestion, especially as there are no other
shared households on that particular Census entry.
By 185112 the Bartons have moved to Fulletby, around 3 miles
away and have 6 children: Sarah aged 19; Francis aged 8; John aged 6; Henry
aged 4; Elizabeth listed as 13 but having found a baptism record13, I believe she
was 3; and Mary A aged 9 months old.
This leaves Jane living with George and Ann, on the 1851 Census14 still at West
Ashby but now with an additional family member Markham Ladley aged 3. He is listed on the Census as being George
and Ann’s grandson and I initially jumped to the conclusion that he was
therefore Jane’s son; this is where my rabbit hole and Jane’s story truly begins….
When I was originally researching this side of the family I
had tried in vain to find a birth record for Markham Ladley, on both
Ancestry.com and FreeBMD.org despite his birth occurring after Civil
Registrations began. Picking my research
back up again as part of this challenge I had now learnt of additional places
to search; GRO.gov sadly still turned up a blank but on Find My Past I was able
to find a Baptism entry for Markham15.
Dated 17 Dec 1847, the entry records Markham as the illegitimate son of
Ann Ladley, Single Woman from West Ashby, his actual birth date is not listed.
This obviously gave me some questions!
Within the Ladley family there were 2 Ann(e)s and one Mary
Ann; was one of these actually the mother? Well Ann Markham, Jane’s mother was
already 62 and surely if she had put her name to the Baptism record for the
sake of decency she would have been recorded as a married woman? I have ruled
out Jane’s eldest two sisters as although I found it difficult to trace her eldest
sister Eliza, I think I have her in Boston as a servant in 184116, and Sarah
sadly passed away in 182917. Turning to her
other sisters, Ann would have been aged around 27, but appears to have already
been married and with children of her own; one being born in May 184812; so I
feel I can rule her out also. That would
leave Jane’s other sister Mary Ann, who would have been aged around 30 when
Markham was born; the few records I can find for Mary Ann though suggest that
she was married to a William Anderson in 183518, and by the 1841 Census19 was
living with him and 2 children, a daughter, Mary aged 3 and a son, William aged
2, still in West Ashby; at the time of the 1851 Census20, I found William recorded
as a Widower with one further child, a son, Robert aged 8, and digging a little
further I found a burial record for Mary Ann Anderson dated 184321.
I felt I had now ruled out either of the Ann(e)s and Mary
Ann from being Markham’s mother, which brought me back full circle to Jane.
West Ashby itself was a relatively small rural community; in
1841 there were 403 residents listed in the Census rising only slightly to 414
in 185122. Within such a small neighbourhood I
don’t believe that Jane could have concealed her pregnancy and son’s subsequent
birth so was struggling to understand why she had given a different name when
baptising her son. Then whilst typing
all of this up, I had a brain wave, something so obvious I can’t believe I
overlooked it. Jane will only have been
aged around 19 when she gave birth to her son, and despite having lived a hard
life, she was quite possibly overwhelmed when arranging to things such as the
baptism, perhaps her mother actually dealt with a lot of this for her. Was the name Ann being recorded as mother
simply a mis-understanding? Presumably unable to read in 1847, had Jane thought
the question ‘Mother’s name’ related to her mother, rather than her name as
Markham’s mother?
I believe that in this case, the simplest explanation is
indeed the correct one, but I don’t begrudge being side-tracked into
checking. One of the most important
things when establishing our family history is to make sure that our records
are as accurate as possible. Without my
exploring who Markham’s mother actually was, I most likely would not have
discovered Jane’s sisters or persevered with exploring their lives, or at least
not for some years to come.
And so I return to Jane, in 1851, a young unmarried mother
living with her son and her parents.
What next for them?
The following is a piece of creative non-fiction I have
written using the available facts, including Parish records, Census returns, and General Registration details; it is written from the perspective of Jane in the final years of her life, looking back over how her life developed.
As Jane
pulled the shawl tighter around her shoulders, and leant closer into the fire,
she let her eyes flit across to the window, seeing all the snow outside her
mind drifted back to a bitterly cold December day, over 40 years ago.
It was
1847; Jane had had to pull her shawl especially tight that day too, trying to
keep both her and her young son warm, as she shuffled along the edge of the
field trying to keep up with her mother who was striding out ahead of her. She was grateful when the crunch of the crisp
snow underfoot gave way to the crunch of the gravel, so that the cold was no
longer seeping up through her well-worn boots, and she could feel herself
slowing as they neared the church doorway, willing her feet to warm up.
‘Come
along Jane,’ her mother urged her, ‘the Reverend will be waiting for us. Try
and at least look grateful. ‘
Jane
felt the bite in that remark, but knew this was true, Reverend Pierce had
agreed with her mother and father at the Advent service a few weeks ago, that
he would do the Baptism today, Friday 17th December. There would not be many there of course, she
doubted if her father and brother Thomas would have been able to get away from
the farm, Ann was busy with her own youngsters over in Fulletby, and as for her
brother George he was very clear in his disapproval, even though she knew his
wife Hannah had taken pity on her.
‘Pity,’
she thought disparagingly, ‘what else is there for me now?’ It was quite clear
that many of the village folk thought she had brought this on herself, and it’s
not as if she didn’t understand the way of the world, she had grown up around
the Lincolnshire Longwools, watching when the tups got brought into the field. The young man in question had moved away, unaware of her condition. He and many other labourers had worked in the area a short time, moving on when the Mop Fair came Horncastle that May.
As she
left the Church following the short service, Jane actually felt a little
lighter. Markham had been very good, only giving one short squeal when the cold
water from the stone font had been splashed on his forehead, but then turning
back to silence as Rev Pierce traced out a cross there. Even Mrs Pierce, who
was purportedly there to do the church flowers even though Jane knew she was
really being nosey, had smiled at Markham and called him a bonny baby. She had
been pleased to see Thomas there, with his young lady Mary-Ann, they were to be
married next year, and would soon be thinking about children of their own.
She knew
was lucky that her parents hadn’t put her out, she could not begin to
contemplate what going on the Parish would mean for her and her young son. It
worked both ways she realised, her mother wasn’t getting any younger of course,
and relied quite heavily on Jane these days to help with the household duties,
especially the washing; and they had all felt a terrible loss to the family
when Mary Ann had passed away just a few years earlier and her widower William
had moved to the next village with the children to be nearer his sister.
A loud
crack from the fire brought Jane back to her Baumber sitting room; ‘Thomas will
be home soon,’ she realised, rising to put more wood on the fire, and swing the
kettle across. She allowed wry smile
crossed her face, ‘Thomas, her second husband.’ What a different life she had
had from the one she’d envisioned leaving the church, all those years ago.
The
first two years with Markham had been especially hard, but then she had met
Charles, a simple farm worker like her father and brothers, he had moved to
West Ashby to work at the farm and they started walking home after church
together, Markham now a toddler delighted in picking up twigs to show him and
Charles would pick him up and point out birds in the hedgerow; they were wed in
the Spring of 185123 and Markham took Charles’ name, Marshall.
Absent-mindedly Jane started to prepare the evening meal,
ready for when Thomas came in from the yard, and as she pottered around getting
the plates out and buttering the bread, she allowed her mind to wander again.
1870, another marriage and another 3 year old guest at
their mother’s wedding. ‘Ah yes,’ she
smiled inwardly, ‘sweet Liza.’
Markham had grown into a fine young man and started
stepping out with a pretty young carpenter’s daughter, Charlotte Brader who
lived in Hemingby near his uncle. She
already had a young daughter, Liza, but having been in the same position
herself Jane was unconcerned and allowed the relationship to flourish. They were married in May 187024 by Reverend
Thackeray, before moving to Revesby where Markham had already secured a
position. They had had quite the gathering
at the Coach and Horses, she recalled, unlike her own nearly 20 years
previously; her youngest two sons Edward and John being around the same age, played
happily with little Liza making daisy chains on the green. They had had a good marriage, after Liza
there were 10 more children, and Charlotte was heavy with another even now, and
Markham retained his job on the estate at Revesby, it paid him well and gave
him a much better living than her poor Charles had had.
‘Yes, poor Charles,’ she thought, he had been a good
man. She still missed him now, despite
having re-married Thomas25, himself a widower some 5 years earlier.
Extract from my TreeView family tree
Charles had died in 187526, leaving her with 3 young
children aged 11 and under, but a strong woman and never one to shirk her
duties she had carried on; and their son, George, by then 14 already working
had become the man of the house bringing home his wages as his father before
him had. Time moved on and the children
grew older, by 188127 George and Edward had both moved to Sotby near Market Rasen
for work and their sister Elizabeth28 had followed them, working as Cook at the
Rectory there, young John first moved to Horncastle29 where he had some fancy of
becoming a confectioner! ‘That didn’t last long!’ she recalled as he moved
again soon afterwards to become a groom30, certainly the outside life suited him
much better.
Jane stirred the stew, releasing its aroma to the small
room, before setting the lid back on the pot and wiping her gnarled hands on
her apron. She had done well she smiled to
herself, remembering again the timid 19 year old scuttling into West Ashby
church behind her mother all those years ago.
And now she had Thomas and his companionship with frequent visits from
children accompanied by various grandchildren to fill her days. It had been a hard life, but one well lived.
All Saints Church, West Ashby
via en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Ashby
Jane passed away in 189931 the 189132 Census shows her living with Thomas, with his daughter, and her daughter in law recorded as visiting together with 2 young grandchildren. She was right that her son Markham had turned into a fine young man, and her belief that the job at Revesby had been a good choice. In July1923, at the Lincolnshire County Show, Markham was awarded a prize for his long service, 54 years working for the same family; Markham also came second in the category for agricultural labourers who had brought up and placed out the greatest number of children, with 12 children born, 11 brought up and placed out. (The winner in that class had 17 children born, 14 brought up and 13 placed out). These achievements were shared widely in the press of the time, both national and local papers reaching as far afield as Cornwall shared articles about the County Show and awards33,34. Sadly Markham's wife Charlotte also passed away in July 192335 and so I am sure his achievements will not have held much meaning for him at that time, save to mark their long and successful relationship.
I have not still fully connected these Ladleys with my own extended family, but from the information I have found so far I believe that George Ladley (1788-1868) is a distant cousin to my ex-Father-in-Law's family.
1.
George Ladlow and Ann Markham, (1812) England
Select Marriages 1538-1973, 2nd Jun 1812, FHL Film Number 504249
via Ancestry.com accessed 15/06/2021
2.
Eliza Ladly (1813) England Select Births and
Christenings 1538-1975, 16th May 1813, Father Geroge Ladly Mother
Ann FHL Film Number 507835, via Ancestry.com accessed 10/02/2022
3.
Sarah Ladlow (1815) England Select Births and
Christenings 1538-1975, 07 May 1815, Father George Ladlow Mother Anne, FHL
Film Number 508073,508092, via Ancestry.com accessed 10/02/2022
4.
Mary Ann Ladley (1817) England Select Births
and Christenings 1538-1975, 23rd Mar 1817, Father George Ladley,
Mother Ann, FHL Film Number 432513, via Ancestry.com accessed 10/02/2022
5.
Geroge Ladley (1818) England Select Births
and Christenings 1538-1975, 11th Dec 1818, Father George Ladley,
Mother Anne, FHL Film Number 421896, via Ancestry.com accessed 10/02/2022
6.
Anne Ladley (1820) England Select Births and
Christenings 1538-1975, 20th Oct 1820, Father George Ladley, Mother
Anne, FHL Film Number 1541956 Ref ID p.10, via Ancestry.com accessed
10/02/2022
7.
Thomas Ladley (1823) England Select Births
and Christenings 1538-1975, 18th Sep 1823, Father George Ladley,
Mother Anne, FHL Film Number 1541956 Ref ID p.14, via Ancestry.com accessed
10/02/2022
8.
Jane Ladley (1828) England Select Births and Christenings
1538-1975, 25th Apr 1828, Father George Ladley, Mother Ann, FHL
Film Number 421896, via Ancestry.com accessed 15/06/2021
9.
George Padley (Ladley) (1841) Census return
for West Ashby, Lincolnshire, Enumeration district 12, Folio 8, Page 9 Line
2, GSU Roll 438760, via Ancestry.com accessed 15/06/2021
10.
Wilcuma (2020) X Agriculture and Society 1750-1850, available at https://www.wilcuma.org.uk/the-history-of-lincolnshire-after-1066-2/agriculture-and-society-1750-1850/
accessed 08/02/2022
11.
Ann Ladlow (1840) England & Wales Civil
Registration Marriage Index 183-1915, Oct-Nov-Dec 1840, Ann Ladlow and Samuel
Barton, Louth, Lincolnshire Volume 14 Page 892
12.
Samuel Barton (1851) Census return for
Fulletby, Horncastle, Lincolnshire, Class HO107, Piece 2108, Folio 62, GSU
roll 87737, via Ancestry.com accessed 08/02/2022
13.
Elizabeth Barton (1848) England & Wales
Non-conformist and Non-Parochial Registers 1567-1936, 18th Jun 1848
Father Samuel Barton Mother Ann Barton, Class Number RG4, Piece Number
1316, via Ancestry.com accessed 10/02/2022
14.
Jane Ladley (1851) Census return for West Ashby,
Lincolnshire, Class HO107, Piece 2107, Folio 415, Page 9, GSU roll 87736,
via Ancestry.com accessed 15/06/2021
15.
Markham Ladley (1847) Parish Baptisms,
Lincolnshire Baptisms, West Ashby, 17 Dec 1847, Page 48, Archive held Lincolnshire
Archives, via findmypast.co.uk accessed 09/02/2022
16.
Eliza Ladlow (Ladley) (1841) Census return
for Boston, Lincolnshire, Class HO107, Piece 613, Book 1, Folio 14, Page
21, Line 20, GSU roll 438755, via Ancestry.com accessed 10/02/2022
17.
Sarah Ladley (1829) England Select Deaths and
Burials 1538-1991, Burial Date 1 Dec 1829, Father George Ladley Mother Ann, FHL
Film Number 1541956, Ref ID P.9, via Ancestry.com accessed 10/02/2022
18.
Mary Ann Ladley and William Anderson (1835) England
Select Marriages 1538-1973, 18th May 1835, West Ashby, Lincolnshire,
FHL Film Number 1541956 Ref P18, via Ancestry.com accessed 10/02/2022
19.
Mary Ann Anderson (1841) Census return for West
Ashby, Lincolnshire, Class HO107, Piece 626, Book 22, Folio 10, Page 15, Line
2, GSU roll 438760
20.
William Anderson (1851) Census return for
West Ashby, Lincolnshire, Class HO107, Piece 2107, Folio 419, Page17, GSU roll
87736, via Ancestry.com accessed 10/02/2022
21.
Mary Ann Anderson (1843) England Deaths and
Burials 1538-1991, Parish Burials, Lincolnshire, 31st May 1843, via
findmypast.co.uk accessed 10/02/2022
22.
Genuki (2021) West
Ashby, available at https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LIN/WestAshby) accessed 10/02/2022
23.
Jane Ladley (1851) Census
return for West Ashby, Lincolnshire, Class HO107, Piece 2107, Folio 415, Page
9, GSU roll 87736, via Ancestry.com accessed 15/06/2021
24.
Markham Marshall and
Charlotte Brader (1870) England Select Marriages 1538-1973, Hemingby,
Lincolnshire, Father Charles Marshall, FHL Film Number 1541961, Ref ID
2:3V4KM14, via Ancestry.com accessed 15/06/2021
25.
Jane Marshall (1884) England
& Wales Civil Registration Marriage Index 1837-1915, Jul-Aug-Sep
Horncastle, Volume 7a, Page 805, via Ancestry.com accessed 15/06/2021
26.
Charles Marshall
(1875) Lincolnshire Burials, Parish Burials, 26th Jul 1875, via
findmypast.co.uk accessed 10/02/2022
27.
George Marshall (1881)
Census return for Sotby, Lincolnshire, Class RG11, Piece 3247, Folio 86,
Page 1, GSU roll 1347741 via Ancestry.com accessed 10/02/2022
28.
Elizabeth Marshall (1881)
Census return for Sotby, Lincolnshire, Class RG11, Piece 3247, Folio 87,
Page 4, GSU roll 1341774 via Ancestry.com accessed 10/02/2022
29.
John Marshall (1881)
Census return for Horncastle, Lincolnshire, Class RG11, Piece 3248, Folio 43,
Page 11, GSU roll 1341774 via Ancestry.com accessed 15/06/2021
30.
John Marshall (1891) Census
return for Bourn, Lincolnshire, ClassRG12, Piece 2557, Folio 75, Page 18, GSU
roll 6097667 via Ancestry.com accessed 15/06/2021
31.
Jane Curtis (1899) England Select Deaths and
Burials 1538-1991, Burial date 22 Aug 1899, Baumber, Lincolnshire FHL Film
Number 1541957, via Ancestry.com accessed 15/06/2021
32.
Jame (Jane) Curtis (1891) Census return for
Baumber, Lincolnshire Class RG12, Piece 2597, Folio 107, Page 4, GSU roll
6097707, via Ancestry.com accessed 10/02/2022
33.
Cornish Post and Mining News (1923) Farm and
Garden, Prizes for Big Family, via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk accessed
10/02/2022
34.
Westminster Gazette (1923) Servants Who Stay,
Three Divide an 88 Years Record, Two-Figure Families, via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
accessed 10/02/2022
35.
Lincolnshire Standard and Boston Guardian (1923)
Deaths, Charlotte Marshall, 20th July 1923, via
britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk accessed 10/02/2022
