Person:Susannah Greenslade (2)

Susannah may well have been the Susannah Greenslade who married William May in 1829 at Cullompton. Certainly, the Susannah baptised in 1801 appears to be the only Susannah Greenslade baptised at Shobrooke around that time, and the Susannah who married William May consistently claimed in the censuses to have been born in Shobrooke about then.

However, there is a burial of a Susannah Greenslade aged 30 on 17th December 1826 at Shobrooke (an age discrepancy of five years is not that unusual for the time). There appear to have been three Susannah Greenslades living in Shobrooke at that time: - Susannah Chase who had married Thomas Greenslade at Shobrooke on 17th July 1809; - Susannah Mare who had married Thomas Greenslade at Shobrooke on 1st November 1825; and - Susannah Greenslade who was baptised 8th February 1801.

Susannah Chase appears to have been baptised at Shobrooke on 6th December 1789, daughter of Robert and Ann Chase; one of the witnesses to her marriage in 1809 was Robert Chase. She is therefore most likely to be the Susannah Greenslade buried at Shobrooke on 14th August 1842 aged 52 - the age is exactly right.

Susannah Greenslade formerly Mare would therefore appear to be the most likely candidate to be the one who died in 1826. However, there is a couple named Thomas Greenslade and Susannah who appear in the 1841 and 1851 census in Crediton with Thomas giving his place of birth as Shobrooke. It is not certain whether they are Thomas and Susannah Mare, or someone else.

There therefore is too much doubt as to whether the Susannah Greenslade who was buried in 1826 was Susannah Greenslade formerly Mare or the Susannah Greenslade baptised in 1801.

1. ↑ Church of England. Shobrooke Parish Registers. (Exeter: Devon Record Office).

   Shobrooke Baptisms 1801
   Feb[ruar]y 8th Susanna D[aughte]r of Richard & Mary Greenslade