Person:Ann Wheatley (8)

Ann Wheatley’s origins have yet to be established. When she married she was said to be 21 years old, implying that she was born around 1756, and it was also said that she had lived her whole life to that point in the parish of Pagham, on the Sussex coast. Ann’s first sighting is her marriage on 22nd July 1777 at Pagham to William Hammond, a blacksmith, who was from the neighbouring parish of South Bersted.

After their marriage Ann and William went on to have seven children. Their eldest daughter was baptised at Pagham in 1778, after which they moved to South Bersted, having their other six children baptised there between 1780 and 1791.

Ann died shortly after the birth of her youngest child; he was baptised on 30th September 1791 and she was buried less than three weeks later, on 19th October 1791, at South Bersted. She was probably about 35 years old. William survived her by 42 years and remarried just over a year after her death.

1. ↑ Pagham & Tarring Archbishop’s Peculiar: Marriage Licence (West Sussex County Council, Chichester).

   Transcript on Family page - says Ann was aged 21 years in 1777 and lived "all her time" in Pagham.

2. ↑ Church of England. Parish Church of South Bersted (Sussex). Parish registers of South Bersted, 1564-1904. (Chichester: West Sussex County Council).

   Burials / 1791 / Ann; Wife of William Hammond Oct[obe]r 19th