Person:Joseph Filby (1)

Watchers
Joseph Filby
b.Abt 1747
  • HJoseph FilbyAbt 1747 - 1826
  • WAnn LawrenceAbt 1753 - 1827
m. 24 May 1785
  1. Elizabeth Filby1787 - 1849
  2. Ellen Filby1789 - 1864
  3. Ann Filby1792 - 1806
  4. Mary Filby1794 -
  5. Hannah Filby1799 - 1866
Facts and Events
Name Joseph Filby
Gender Male
Birth[2] Abt 1747
Marriage 24 May 1785 Sandridge, Hertfordshire, Englandto Ann Lawrence
Burial[2] 12 Feb 1826 Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England

Joseph Filby's origins have yet to be established. His first sighting is on 24th May 1785 when he married Ann Lawrence at Sandridge in Hertfordshire. Just under two years later they had a daughter Elizabeth baptised at Sandridge. They then moved to the neighbouring parish of Wheathampstead where they had another four daughters baptised between 1789 and 1799: Eleanor, Ann, Mary and Hannah. When their daughter Ann was baptised in 1792 they were described as paupers.

Joseph's daughter Ann died in 1806, aged fourteen. Her burial had to be paid for by the parish, again indicating the family's poverty.

In 1813 Joseph's eldest daughter Elizabeth became pregnant. The father was a labourer named David Ward from Chipping Barnet, and a warrant had to be issued to the Wheathampstead authorities for apprehending him. The baby was baptised in 1814 at Wheathampstead, and Elizabeth finally married David Ward in 1815.

A similar thing happened in 1817; Joseph's daughter Eleanor had a baby with a labourer named Daniel Nicholls, although the baby appears to have died young. In 1819 both Eleanor and Joseph's youngest daughter Hannah were married: Eleanor in the August to a shoemaker named John Fensom from Luton, and Hannah in the December to the same Daniel Nicholls who had previously fathered a child with Eleanor.

In 1821 Joseph appears on a list of inmates of the Wheathampstead Workhouse.

Joseph died in 1826, being buried at Wheathampstead on 11th February 1826. He was said to be 78 years old. He and Ann had been married for forty years. Ann survived him by sixteen months and died in 1827. Thirteen years after his death Joseph's daughter Hannah married again, and her marriage certificate describes Joseph as having been a labourer, which is the only evidence found of his occupation.

References
  1.   Workhouse, in Church of England. Wheathampstead Parish Registers. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

    Inmates c.1821
    FILBY Jos, 66 [c.1755]

  2. 2.0 2.1 Burials register, in Church of England. Wheathampstead Parish Registers. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).
    BURIALS in the Parish of Wheathampstead in the County of Hertford in the Year 1826
    No.NameAbodeWhen buriedAgeBy whom the Ceremony was performed
    350Joseph PhilbyPoor houseFeb[ruar]y 11th78 y[ea]rsJ. Douton, Curate