Person:Sarah Hopkins (43)

Sarah Hopkins' origins have yet to be established. If the age quoted when she died was correct, she was born around 1769. In the 1841 census she indicated that she was born in Hertfordshire. Her first confirmed sighting is on 12th October 1795, when she was married at King's Walden in Hertfordshire to an agricultural labourer named William Swallow. One of the witnesses to that marriage was a William Hopkins, who was presumably a relative.

William and Sarah did not stay in King's Walden after their marriage, but moved south to Wheathampstead, where they had eight children between 1799 and 1816, although two of those died as infants and another as a girl of 16. In 1813 the parish registers start recording where each family lived, and thus we know that from at least 1814 onwards the family was living at Hollybush, a 16th or 17th century row of cottages near the hamlet of Mackerye End in the west of Wheathampstead parish. Hollybush still stands today, but the whole row of cottages has now been combined into one house.^[4]

William died in 1835, aged 65. This is the last time the family was listed as having lived at Hollybush. After William's death, Sarah moved to Gustard Wood, a hamlet to the north of Wheathampstead parish, where she appears in the 1841 census living with her son William and his family. Her granddaughter Eliza was living with her - Eliza was Sarah's daughter Hannah's daughter, born before Hannah's marriage to William Thompson.

Sarah stayed at Gustard Wood for the rest of her life. She died in 1848 and was buried at Wheathampstead on 2nd August 1848. She was said to be 79 years old. She had lived to see at least 29 grandchildren born in her lifetime.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 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 442; Book 8; Folio 30; Page 22, 6 Jun 1841.

   Address: Gustardwood, Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire
   William Swallow, male, 30 [1806-11], Ag[ricultural] Lab[ourer], born in county
   Elizabeth Swallow, female, 30 [1806-11], S[traw] Pl[aiter], born in county
   George Swallow, male, 9 [1831/2], born in county
   Mary Swallow, female, 8 [1832/3], born in county
   Thomas Swallow, male, 4 [1836/7], born in county
   Susan Swallow, female, 7 months [1840], born in county
   ~ [second household in same house]
   Sarah Swallow, female, 70 [1766-71], widow, born in county
   Eliza Swallow, female, 8 [1832/3], born in county

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

   d. Sarah SWALLOW, September Quarter 1848, St Albans Registration District, Volume 6, page 321, aged 79 [1768/9]

3. ↑ 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 1848
   No. 1051
   Name: Sarah Swallow
   Abode: Gustard Wood
   When buried: August 2d
   Age: 79 [1768/9]
   By whom the Ceremony was performed: H. Teush Hecker

4. ↑ Details and a picture of Hollybush Cottage, which is a listed building, are available at English Heritage's Images of England website.