Great x3 Grandmother Mary Edworthy (nee Harris)

My Great x3 Grandmother Mary (1824 - 1886) was a housewife and mother of eleven.

Mary Harris was born around 1824 in Coldridge, Devon, to John Harris (about 30), an agricultural labourer, and Ann Harris (nee Rogers) (about 32).

Mary was baptised on 11th January 1824 in Coldridge.

Mary was the third of  three children (one boy and two girls):

• William  1819 -
• Ann  1822 - 
• Mary  1824 -  

In 1841, aged seventeen, Mary gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, whom she named Ann, likely after her mother and/or sister. Was Mary's future husband William Edworthy the father? William's older brother George certainly lived at the time with the Harris family in Lapford (as shown in the 1841 Census), and would soon marry Mary's older sister Ann, so it seems likely younger siblings Mary and William knew each other. And on the 1851 Census, young Ann is recorded as William's daughter.

In the 1841 Census, Ann and her family can be found living at Cleave Cottage in Lapford:

At the time, Mary's one week old baby was yet named.

On 26th September 1844, Mary (20) married William Edworthy (24), a farm labourer, in Lapford. At the time, Mary was at least seven months pregnant with their son John.

Including Ann, Mary and William had eleven children (four daughters and seven sons):

• Ann  1841 - 1855 (about 14)
• John  1844 -
• Elizabeth  1849 -
• William  1852 -
• George  1854 -
• Samuel  1856 -
• Ellen  1858 -
• Louis/Lewis  1861 -
• Frederick  1863 -
• Frank  1866 - 
• Mary  1869 -

Sometime in the late 1840s, Mary and her young family moved from Lapford to her native Coldridge.

1851 Census:

In the summer of 1855, when Mary was about thirty-one, her eldest daughter Ann passed away, aged about fourteen, in the district of Crediton. Soon after, Mary and her family moved to East Worlington, where Mary would live for the rest of her life.

1861 Census:

The Censuses show Mary's surviving children each left home at a young age to live and work at nearby farms.

1871 Census:

1881 Census:

In late 1886, Mary passed away, aged about sixty-two, in East Worlington. She was buried on 15th December 1886 in East Worlington.