Great x3 Grandmother Joanna Brealey (nee Sampson)

My great x3 grandmother Joanna (1820 - 1872) was a domestic and farm servant, housewife, and mother of three.

Joanna Sampson was born around 1820 in Broadwoodkelly, Devon to William Sampson, a farmer, and Mary Sampson (nee ?).

It looks likely Joanna was one of several siblings. Unfortunately there were at least two couples called William and Mary Sampson having children in Broadwoodkelly around 1820, and it seems impossible to work out which children belong to which couple.

When young, Joanna moved about three miles east from Broadwoodkelly to Bondleigh. In her early twenties, Joanna worked there as a farm servant for the Garrow family.

1841 Census:

In the 1840s, in his twenties, Joanna moved about twenty miles south east from Bondleigh to Fore Street, Exeter. There she worked as a domestic servant for the Brock family, who ran Willcocks and Brock Wholesale and Retail (later William Brock & Co).

1851 Census:

Old Photograph of William Brock & Co Store, Exeter

A sign for William Brock & Co that can still be found in Exeter today

An advertisement for Joanna's employers, William Brock & Co, placed in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette on 15th January 1853:

On 20th July 1853, Joanna (33), a domestic servant, married George Brealey (22), a carpenter, in George's native North Tawton.

The couple soon moved back about nineteen miles to Exeter.

There they had three children (one son and two daughters):

• Emma  1855 - 1924  (68 or 69 years old)
• Charles  1857 - 1923  (65 years old)
• Eliza  1859 - 1860  (13 months old)

In 1860, when Joanna was forty, her youngest daughter Eliza passed away, aged only thirteen months old. Eliza was buried on 25th March 1860, in Holy Trinity, Exeter.

1861 Census:

1871 Census:

In 1872, Joanna passed away, aged fifty-three, in Exeter. She was buried on 29th December 1872, in Holy Trinity, Exeter. She left behind her husband George (41) and her teenage children, Emma (17) and Charles (15).