My potential Great x4 Grandmother Mary (c 1783-1787 - 1859), was a housewife, mother of seven, and the potential great grandmother of my great grandfather William Batchelor (c 1882 - 1939).
(Several of my DNA matches on ancestry share the ancestors Mary Enoch and her husband Benjamin Branson. It is most likely I am related to them via my great grandfather William Batchelor (c 1882 - 1939) and his father John Batchelor. Benjamin and Mary's daughter Fanny married a William Batchelor (c 1822 - 1850's) and had children - including a John Batchelor - so it is likely through this line, though I am yet to confirm just how they connect.)
Mary was born around 1783 - 1787, in Priors Marston, Warwickshire.
(Her age was given as 64 on the 1851 Census, imply a birth year of 1786 - 1787, with Priors Marston given as her place of birth on the same census. However, on her 1859 burial record, her age was given as 76, implying a birth year of 1782 - 1783.)
She was very likely baptised on 28th September 1788, in Priors Marston. This baptism record gives her parents names as Robert and Sarah.
Record of 1788 Baptism:
By looking for baptisms of other children born to Robert and Sarah, we see Mary likely had one younger sister called Jenny, who was also baptised in Priors Marston, in 1791.
On 19th November 1809, Mary (about 22 - 26) married widower and father of one Benjamin (about 25), an agricultural labourer of Lower Boddington, Northamptonshire, in her native Priors Marston, Warwickshire.
Record of 1809 Marriage and Banns:
Though from different counties, their villages are only four miles apart.
Mary gained one step-son:
- Samuel 1807 -
Benjamin and Mary had seven children:
- Ann 1811
- Elizabeth 1813
- Frances 'Fanny' 1815
- Jane 1817
- Mary Ann 1821 - 1821 (at least 6 months old)
- James 1823
- John 1825
The couple's eldest daughters, Ann and Elizabeth, were baptised in their mother's native Prior Marston, implying the young family may have been living there around 1809 - 1813.
Their next two daughters, Fanny and Jane, was baptised in their father's native Boddington, implying the family may have been living here around 1814 - 1817.
Interestingly around 1821, Benjamin and Mary seem to have converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism. On 9th May that year, Mary and their daughters were baptised into that faith in Overthorpe, Northamptonshire.
Overthorpe is nine miles south of Boddington. We do not know if the family had moved to Overthorpe or traveled there to go to the Catholic church.
Public Catholic worship had been legalised in Britain, only thirty years earlier, in 1791.
Record of 1821 Catholic baptism of Mary's family:
In late 1821, Mary and Benjamin loss their youngest daughter, Mary Ann. She was buried on 9th December 1821, in the Anglican church in Boddington. She was at least six months old.
In 1823, their next child - a first son called James - they again had baptised into the Catholic Church in Overthorpe.
Yet they baptised their next son John into the Church of England, back in Benjamin's native Boddington.
Their daughter Fanny had two illegitmate children before she married - Owen Bliss Branson in 1833 and John Branson in 1837. Both sons were baptised in Boddington. Owen would live with his grandparents, Benjamin and Mary.
The 1841 and 1851 Census show Mary and her family living in her husband's native Lower Boddington. All of Mary and Benjamin's children had left home to find work or marry by the time of the 1841 Census, apart from their teenage son James.
1841 Census:
In 1847, Mary and Benjamin's grandson Owen was charged with stealing a tame duck and sentenced to a fortnight's imprisionment.
From the Northampton Mercury of 8th January 1848:
1851 Census:
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| On this map you can see the county lines (in red), with Warwickshire on the top left, Northamptonshire on the right, and Oxfordshire on the bottom left. |
