Monday 8 April 2019

Great x4 Grandmother Elizabeth 'Betty' Edworthy (nee Ford)

My Great x4 Grandmother Elizabeth 'Betty' (1783 - 1866) was a housewife and mother of seven.


Elizabeth 'Betty' Ford was born around 1783 in Chawleigh, Devon, to John Ford and Anne Ford (nee Lake).

Elizabeth was baptised 'Betty' on 5th November 1783 in Morchard Bishop, which is about five miles south-east of Chawleigh, where later censuses say she was born. Elizabeth's parents had only married in the April, implying her mother Anne was about three months pregnant when she married.

Elizabeth was the eldest of four children (two daughters and two sons):


  • Betty  1783 -
  • John  1784 -
  • William  1785 -
  • Anne 1793 -


All four children were baptised in Morchard Bishop, though later censuses imply they were all born in nearby Chawleigh.

On 3rd October 1810, Elizabeth (about 26) married William Edworthy (about 24), a husbandman and agricultural labourer, in William's native West Worlington.

Elizabeth and William had seven children (two daughters and five sons):


  • Mary 1811 -
  • John  1814 -
  • George  1817 -
  • William  1820 -
  • Anne  1822 -
  • James  1824 -
  • Samuel  1828 -


Alas the 1841 Census shows Elizabeth and William living in the poorhouse in West Worlington. All of their children, including their youngest aged only thirteen, were out working as servants, apprentices and labourers on different local farms.

1841 Census:


Though they were no longer in the workhouse, age was still unkind to Elizabeth and William. In their mid sixties, in the 1851 Census, Elizabeth is recorded as deaf; whilst William seemingly struggled to find work as a farm labourer, and is recorded as a pauper.

1851 Census:


In Jan/Feb/Mar 1860, Elizabeth's husband William passed away, aged about seventy-four in the district of Crediton. Elizabeth, widowed and elderly, was supported by her adult son Samuel.

1861 Census:


In Jan/Feb/Mar 1866, Elizabeth passed away, aged about eighty-two, in the district of South Molton.

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