Great x3 Uncle Samuel 'Sam' Reuben Vernon

My Great x3 Uncle Sam (1875 - 1918) was a coachman, carman grocer, commercial traveller, father of four, and a younger brother of my Great Great Grandfather Isaac 'Harry' Harwood Vernon (1869 - 1934).

Sam was born in Jul/Aug/Sep 1875, in the district of Okehampton, Devon, to William Vernon (46), an agricultural labourer, and Martha Vernon (nee Dyment) (about 42), a housewife.

Sam was the eleventh of twelve children (five daughters and seven sons:

• Susan  1854 - 1930  (75 years old)
• Thomas  1857 - 1916  (about 59 years old)
• William 'Robert' Robert  1859 - 1939  (about 80 years old)
• Sarah Ann  1860 - 1901  (about 40 years old)
• Silas  1862 - 1933  (71 years old)
• Mary 'Jane' Jane  1864 - 1930  (66 years old)
• Arthur 'John' John  1865 - after 1881  (at least 16 years old)
• Isaac 'Harry' Harwood  1869 - 1934  (65 years old)
• Martha  1870 - 1947  (76 years old)
• Louisa  1872 - 1874  (16 months old)
• Samuel 'Sam' Reuben  1875 - 1918  (43 years old)
• Ernest  1878 - 1903  (25 years old)

Unlike most of his older siblings, who could not write - not even their own name -; Sam - as proved later by his marriage certificate - could sign his name. Young Sam likely benefitted the 'Sandon Act' of 1876, which 'imposed a legal duty on parents to ensure that their children were educated', and the Elementary Education Act of 1880, which 'required school boards to enforce compulsory attendance from 5 to 10 years'. Sam himself would have just turned - or just have been able to turn - five years old, when this second important act came in.

1881 Census:

As a teenager, Sam went to live with and work as a farm servant for the Luxton family at Barton House in Brushford.

1891 Census:

At some point as a young man, Sam made the move from the Devon countryside into the city of Exeter. On 7th October 1897, Sam (22), by then a coachman, married Kate Charlotte Cox (26), a mantle maker, in St Mary Arches, Exeter. 

I ponder which form of 'mantle', Kate made. At the time, her father was a stone mason, so she may have been assisting him in carving stone mantlepieces? Or, as she was recorded as a dressmaker come the 1911 Census, she may have been cutting and sewing ladies' mantles (a cloak or cape-like piece of apparel). If I had to put money on it, I would guess the latter - a more traditional occupation for a woman.

At the time of their marriage, both bride and groom resided at 6 Mary Arches Street, which was the Cox family home. Sam's younger brother Ernest also lived on Mary Arches Street - only three doors down at No. 3. Ernest was the sibling closest in age to Sam. The brothers may well have been close.

Sam's signature, 1897

Sam and Kate had four children:

• Henry James William  1898 -
• Emma Ruby Vera  1904 - 1907  (2 years old)
• Vera Ruby Emma  1908 -
• Cecelia Eunice Olive  1909 -

1901 Census:

In the summer of 1903, tragedy struck Sam and his family. On 10th July, Sam's baby brother Ernest, aged only twenty-five. was killed - struck by a train at Stafford level crossing, a few miles from Exeter. Bless him - Sam himself had to cycle to the site to identify Ernest's body. 

Four years later, in 1907, Sam mourned again, when his second child and only daughter Emma passed away, aged only two. Sam and Kate would name their next born child, another daughter, after Emma, though they reordered the names.

1911 Census:

In Jul/Aug/Sep 1918, Sam passed away, aged 43, in Exeter. Sam was buried on 26th September 1918, in Exeter Cemetery. He left behind a widow, in Kate, and three children, Henry (about 20), Vera (about 10) and Cecilia (about 9).

Electoral Registers show Kate and her children remained living at 6 Mary Arches Street until at least the late 1920's (if not beyond). 

However, by the time of the 1939 Census, Kate, by then in her late sixties, lived with her married youngest daughter Cecilia and her family at 76 Buddle Lane, in St Thomas, Exeter.

1939 Census:

Kate outlived Sam by over forty years. She passed away, aged ninety-one, in Oct/Nov/Dec 1962, in Exeter.