Great Great Grandmother Lucy Vernon (nee James)

My Great Great Grandmother Lucy (1868 - 1897) was domestic servant, housewife, and mother of four.

Lucy James was born on 23rd March 1868 in Morchard Bishop, Devon, to Henry James (30/31), an agricultural labourer, and Louisa James (nee Edwards) (22), a housewife.

Lucy was the eldest of eight children (four daughters and four sons):

• Lucy  1868 - 1897 (29)
• Bessie  1869 -
• Edwin  1875 -
• Louisa  1878 -
• Emily Maude  1880 - 
• Charles  1883 -
• Francis Robert  1886 - 
• Gilbert  1889 - 

Lucy and her siblings grew up in Morchard Bishop.

In 1871, they lived at Birchenbeer Cottage, Morchard Bishop. 1871 Census:

By 1881, they had moved to Whatcombe, also in Morchard Bishop. I cannot find a place called Whatcombe in or near Morchard Bishop; however, there is a Watcombe Farm today in Morchard Bishop. Was this where Lucy and her family lived? 1881 Census:

Aged only thirteen, Lucy worked as a domestic servant.

On the 6th May 1890, Lucy (22) married Isaac 'Harry' Harwood Vernon (21), an agricultural labourer, in Kennerleigh. The young couple set up home at Turnpike Gate Cottage in Kennerleigh, near Crediton. This may not have been a match made in heaven. My father's family history research from the mid 1990s notes that Lucy's younger sister Emily "always had ill feelings towards Isaac Harwood Vernon - he was a brutal man".

1891 Census:

Lucy and Harry had three children (one daughter and three sons):

• Edith Ellen  1891 - 1971 (79)
• Walter Charles  1892 - 1965 (73)
• William John  1894 - 1895 (1)
• Frank  1896 - 1897 (6 months)

On 27th December 1895, their son William (recorded on his death certificate as John, implying his parents may have called the baby by his middle name) passed away, in Sandford. He had whooping cough, followed by a convulsive attack.

Lucy and Harry's youngest son Frank and Lucy herself were both ill with pulmonary tuberculosis and passed away from the disease.

On 22nd February 1897, Frank passed away, aged only six months, in Langham, Kennerleigh.

One month later, Lucy passed away, aged 29, on 25th March 1897, in Kennerleigh.

Before Lucy passed away, Harry either began an affair with Ellen Tonkin, which resulted in the birth of Fred Tonkin (later known as Fred Vernon) in Apr/May/Jun 1897 in the district of Crediton; or, after marring Ellen on 31st December 1897, eight months after Lucy's death, Harry adopted Fred. Time wise it seems more likely Harry was Fred's biological father. 

These photographs aren't of Lucy, but show a similar 19th century young woman who alas passed away because of tuberculosis. They show how the person wastes away from the disease. "Her clothing is falling from her skeletal frame and her eyes clearly show that death is not far".

Photographs of Charlotte Bronson. The left photograph shows Charlotte as a healthy eighteen year old in 1850; the right shows Charlotte in 1856, aged only twenty-four, in the final months of her life. Might Lucy have looked similar?