Person:Ann Lawrence (14)

Ann Lawrence's origins have yet to be established. Her first sighting is on 24th May 1785 when she married a labourer named Joseph Filby 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.

Ann'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 Ann'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; Ann'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 Ann'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.

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, being buried at Wheathampstead on 7th June 1827. She was said to be 78 years old, but was probably actually in her early 70s given the dates at which she was having children.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 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 1827
   No.	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   390	Ann Philby	Wheathamsted	June 7th	78 y[ea]rs	J. Douton, Curate

   Although the age at death given here implies that Ann was born in 1748 or 1749, she must actually have been a couple of years younger than that in order to have been still having children in 1799.