Person:Ann Draper (3)

Ann Draper's origins have het to be established. The age given when she died implies that she was born around 1748. Her first confirmed sighting is on 2nd October 1777, when she married Underwood Males at Clothall in Hertfordshire. At the time of their marriage she was living in Clothall, whilst Underwood was living in the neighbouring parish of Rushden, where his parents were the tenant farmers of Shaw Green Farm.

Shortly after their marriage, Ann and Underwood moved about eleven miles south-west of Clothall to Codicote. They went on to have seven children baptised at Codicote between 1779 and 1789, although one of them died young. Records from the 1780s and 1790s describe Underwood as being the licensee of the Robin Hood public house in Codicote, which is presumably the same establishment later known as the Robin Hood and Little John at Rabley Heath, a hamlet to the east of the village.

Underwood died in 1817, aged 68. He was buried at Codicote, although his last residence was given as Hitchin. Although it is about eight miles from Codicote village to the town of Hitchin, the parish of Hitchin at that time included a long spur of rural territory coming south from the town itself to just a little way north of Codicote. It seems likely that Ann and Underwood had moved to this southern tip of Hitchin parish but continued to use the church at Codicote.

Ann survived Underwood by five years. She was buried at Codicote on 2nd September 1822. She was said to be 74 years old. Her last abode was given as Shilley Green, which is a farm near Langley in what was then the southern rural part of Hitchin parish.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Burials register, in Church of England. Codicote Parish Registers, 1559-1929. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Codicote in the County of Hertford in the Year 1822
   No.	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   107	Ann Males	Shilley Green Hitchin P[aris]h	Septem[be]r 2d	74 years [1747/8]	T.J. Jaumard