Thursday 17 January 2019

Great x4 Grandmother Mary Havill (nee Parker)

My Great x4 Grandmother Mary (1799 - 1875) was a laundress and mother of nine.


Mary Parker was born around 1799 in Wiveliscombe, Somerset, to John Parker, an innkeeper and maltster (about 28), and Betty Parker (nee Hill) (about 24).

Mary was baptised on 12th May 1799 in Wiveliscombe.

Mary was the eldest of seven children (five daughters and two sons):


  • Mary  1799 -
  • James  1802 -
  • Betty  1804 - 1806  (about 18 months)
  • Betty  1806 -
  • Maria  1809 -
  • Jane  1813 -
  • John  1816 -


In 1806, when Mary was about seven, her younger sister Betty passed away, aged only about eighteen months.

Sometime as a girl or young woman, Mary moved about twenty-six miles south from Wiveliscombe to Aylesbeare, Devon.

On 24th March 1822, Mary (22) married John Havill (23), a farm labourer, in Aylesbeare. On their record of marriage, neither could sign their name.

Also in 1822, Mary's mother Betty passed away, aged about forty-seven, in Wiveliscombe. She was buried on 6th September 1822.

Mary and John had nine children (five sons and four daughters):


  • Jane  1822 -
  • Anna Maria  1826 -
  • Elizabeth  1829 - 1829 (about one week old)
  • George  1830 -
  • James  1833 -
  • William  1836 -
  • Robert  1838 -
  • Henry  1840 -
  • Elizabeth  1843 -


In 1829, when Mary was about thirty, her third daughter, Elizabeth, passed away, aged about only one week, in Aylesbeare.

1841 Census:


1851 Census:


1861 Census:


The Censuses show Mary and John took in Thomas, the illegitimate son of their eldest daughter Jane, and Walter, the illegitimate son of their youngest daughter Elizabeth.

On 1st November 1870, when Mary was seventy-three, her husband John passed away, aged seventy-two, in Exeter Hospital. His death was the result of a road accident. He fell off a wagon that turned a tight corner too quickly. He was buried on 9th November 1870, in Aylesbeare. After her husband's death, Mary moved in with her youngest daughter Elizabeth and her family.

1871 Census:


In 1875, Mary herself passed away, aged seventy-six, in Aylesbeare. She was buried on 13th May 1875, in Aylesbeare.

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