Person:Ann Cain (5)

Ann Cain was baptised on 10th October 1784 at St Paul's Walden in Hertfordshire, daughter of Sarah Cain formerly Archer and her husband John Cain.

In 1802, aged 18, she married a labourer named William Cotton. Ann and William's first known child was not baptised until 1808, although it is worth noting that there was an infant Thomas Cotton buried at St Paul's Walden on 9th June 1803 for whom no obvious baptism can be found; perhaps he was their first child but died before he could be baptised. Ann and William had a daughter, Elizabeth, baptised in 1808.

In 1809, with the Napoleonic Wars underway, William enlisted in the British Army. For the next six years he was away fighting.

In 1813, Ann seems to have had a relationship with a man called James Saunders. She found herself pregnant but with no husband to support her. There was clearly a risk that she may need to claim poor relief from the parish authorities in St Paul's Walden. Although she had been born and brought up in St Paul's Walden, the parish authorities were able to show that her legal place of settlement was actually Wheathampstead, a few miles to the south. Perhaps she or her husband had spent a year working there at some point. In September 1813 Ann was therefore removed from St Paul's Walden with her five year old daughter Elizabeth and sent to Wheathampstead. The removal order describes her as a "rogue and vagabond".

Ann did later return to St Paul's Walden, having her illegitimate son, Thomas, baptised there in July 1815. His baptism record names no father, but against Ann's name has a note "husband beyond sea". When Thomas married in 1846 he gave his father's name as James Saunders.

William seems to have returned to St Paul's Walden by 1816, and Ann and he went on to have four more children baptised at St Paul's Walden between 1817 and 1825: Edward, Mary, Sarah and Maria. The youngest, Maria, was not actually born in St Paul's Walden. Ann was convicted in 1824 of larceny, having stolen two cotton handkerchiefs and two pieces of printed cotton at Hitchin. She was sent to Hertford Gaol for six months, with Maria being born whilst Ann was imprisoned.

William was also sent to prison the following year, being sentenced to three months in St Albans Gaol in April 1825 for an affray. He appears to have died whilst in prison there, aged 43.

Ann appears in each census from 1841 to 1861 living in Whitwell, the main village of St Paul's Walden parish, on each occasion living with at least one of her daughters. The 1841 census describes her as a straw plaiter.

Ann died in 1861, aged 76, and was buried at St Paul's Walden on 20th June 1861.

1. ↑ Church of England. St Paul's Walden Parish Registers. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   1784: Oct[obe]r 10 Ann Daughter of John and Sarah Cain

2.   [[Source:Hertfordshire Examinations (Hertford)|Hertfordshire Examinations (Hertford)]]
   C/P109/13/2.

   COTTON, Ann
   22 Sep 1813
   A rogue and vagabond, she was apprehended in St Pauls Walden. She is pregnant with a bastard. Her last legal settlement was in Wheathampstead. Removal order from St Paul's Walden to Wheathampstead includes a child Elizabeth (5).

3.   County Chronicle (Hertford, Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies)
   Page 3, 10 Feb 1824.

   Commitments to Hertford County Gaol.-...Ann Cotton, charged with having, at Hitchin, stolen two cotton handkerchiefs, the property of Burton Mumford, and also two pieces of printed cotton, the property of John Palmer.

4.   England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892 (The National Archives, Kew / ancestry.co.uk)
   Class HO27; Piece 27; Page 233.

   County of Hertford
   Name: Ann Cotton
   When Tried: 1824 Lent Assizes
   Crimes: Larceny
   Sentence: 6 Months Imprisonment

5. ↑ England. 1841 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class HO107; Piece 438; Book 15; Folio 5; Page 6, 6 Jun 1841.

   Address: Village of Whitwell, Saint Paulswalden, Hertfordshire
   Ann Cotton, female, 55 [1781-6], Straw Plaiter, born in county
   Maria Cotton, female, 15 [1821-6], born in county
   [second household in same house:]
   Mary Cotton, female, 45 [1791-6], Straw Plaiter, born in county
   Sarah Cotton, female, 15 [1821-6], born in county
   Louisa Cotton, female, 13 [1827/8], born in county

6. ↑ England. 1851 Census Returns for England and Wales. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class HO107; Piece 1710; Folio 461; Page 5, 30 Mar 1851.

   Address: Whitewell, Paulswalden, Hertfordshire
   Henry Marshall, head, married, male, 35 [1815/16], Agricultural Labourer, b. Paulswalden, Hertfordshire
   Mary Marshall, wife, married, female, 31 [1819/20], b. Paulswalden, Hertfordshire
   Susannah Marshall, daughter, female, 6 [1844/5], Scholar, b. Paulswalden, Hertfordshire
   Emma Marshall, daughter, female, 2 [1848/9], b. Paulswalden, Hertfordshire
   Sarah Marshall, daughter, female, 9m [1850], b. Paulswalden, Hertfordshire
   Ann Cotton, mother in law, widow, female, 66 [1784/5], b. Paulswalden, Hertfordshire
   Maria Ansell, sister, married, female, 27 [1823/4], b. Hertford Gaol, Hertfordshire
   Eliza Butterfield, niece, female, 11 [1839/40], b. Codicote, Hertfordshire
   Mary Ansell, niece, female, 4 [1846/7], Scholar, b. Paulswalden, Hertfordshire
   George Ansell, nephew, male, 1 [1849/50], b. Paulswalden, Hertfordshire
   George Butterfield, visitor, married, male, 48 [1802/3], Agricultural Labourer, b. Knebworth, Hertfordshire
   Elizabeth Butterfield, visitor, married, female, 45 [1805/6], b. Paulswalden, Hertfordshire
   Fanny Butterfield, visitor, female, 8 [1842/3], Scholar, b. Codicote, Hertfordshire
   Mary Ann Butterfield, visitor, female, 7 [1843/4], Scholar, b. Codicote, Hertfordshire

7. ↑ England. 1861 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG9; Piece 821; Folio 71; Page 4, 7 Apr 1861.

   Address: Whitwell, Paulswalden, Hertfordshire
   Ann Cotton, head, widow, female, 77 [1783/4], b. Paulswalden, Hertfordshire
   Mary Marshall, daughter, married, female, 41 [1819/20], b. Paulswalden, Hertfordshire
   Sarah Marshall, daughter, female, 10 [1850/1], b. Paulswalden, Hertfordshire
   Joseph Marshall, son, male, 8 [1852/3], b. Paulswalden, Hertfordshire
   Charles Marshall, son, male, 7 [1853/4], b. Paulswalden, Hertfordshire
   Mary Ann Marshall, daughter, female, 4 [1856/7], b. Paulswalden, Hertfordshire
   George Marshall, son, male, 2 [1858/9], b. Paulswalden, Hertfordshire

8.   Deaths index, in General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration. (London: General Register Office).

   d. Ann COTTON, June Quarter 1861, Hitchin Registration District, Volume 3a, page 164, aged 77 [1783/4]

9. ↑ Burials register, in Church of England. St Paul's Walden Parish Registers. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   BURIALS in the Parish of St. Paul's Walden in the County of Hertford in the Year 1861
   No. 169
   Name: Ann Cotton
   Abode: Whitewell
   When buried: 20th June
   Age: 77 years [1783/4]
   By whom the Ceremony was performed: Richard H. Neate, Vicar