Person:Lucy Jordan (4)

Lucy Jordan was baptised on 23rd January 1780 at Horley in Surrey, daughter of Ruth Jordan, formerly Holiday, and her husband Edward Jordan, a labourer.

Lucy’s next sighting is on 26th May 1804, aged 24, when she married James Godsmark, a labourer, at Worth in Sussex, the parish immediately south of Horley.

Lucy and James went on to have three children baptised between 1809 and 1816: James in 1809 and Richard in 1811 at Ifield, and Sarah in 1816 at Crawley. The parish boundary between Ifield and Crawley at that time was such that parts of the urban area of Crawley, including the western side of the High Street, were actually in Ifield parish.

Lucy’s brother Leonard Thomas’s will, written in 1864, also refers to Lucy having had a son called Henry Godsmark. No baptism for this Henry Godsmark has been found, nor has any plausible Henry Godsmark been found in the censuses in this area who cannot be linked to other parents.

Lucy’s mother died in 1817. Her burial record gives her last abode as Horley Common, being to the south of the parish of Horley and on the border with Worth. Lucy’s father died in 1832 and was buried at Horley, although his last abode was given as Worth.

Lucy’s son Richard married in 1833, and Lucy’s first known grandchild was born in March 1834.

James died in May 1834. They had been married for just under thirty years.

The 1841 census finds Lucy living on Crawley Street in Ifield parish, which appears to be how the parts of Crawley’s High Street which fell within Ifield parish were described at the time. Her daughter Sarah was living with her.

Lucy died aged 66, being buried at Ifield on 5th July 1846.

1. ↑ Horley, Surrey: Parish Registers (Surrey History Centre, Woking).

   Baptisms 1780 / Lucy, daughter of Edward & Ruth Jordan 23d Jan[uary]

   This baptism has been linked to the “Lucy Jurden” who married James Godsmark on the basis of the will of Sarah Jordan (written in 1860) which referred to “Sarah the daughter of my late sister Lucy Godsmark” and the will of Leonard Thomas Jordan (written in 1864) which referred to “Richard and Henry Godsmark children of my late sister Lucy Godsmark”. Although Lucy’s marriage to James Godsmark clearly records her name as “Jurden”, she marked her name rather than signing it, suggesting that she was illiterate. In the 1871 census Leonard Thomas’s surname is also spelled Jurden, supporting the notion that Jurden and Jordan were pronounced very similarly in this area. Whilst Lucy had indicated in the 1841 that she was born in the county she then lived in (Sussex), whereas Horley is in Surrey, the parish of Horley did immediately adjoin the Sussex border.

2. ↑ 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 1095; Book 13; Folio 18; Page 28, 6 Jun 1841.

   Address: Crawley Street (listed near Tollgate House), Ifield, Sussex
   Lucy Godsmark, female, 60 [1776-81], born in county
   Sarah Godsmark, female, 20 [1816-21], born in county

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

   d. Lucy GOSMARK, September Quarter 1846, East Grinstead Registration District, Volume 7, page 275, aged 68 [1777/8]

4. ↑ Burials register, in Ifield, Sussex: Parish Registers (West Sussex County Council, Chichester).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Ifield in the County of Sussex in the Year 1846
   No	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   494	Lucy Godsmark	Crawley	July 5th	68 y[ea]rs [1777/8]	G.H. Scott