Person:Edward Stokes (4)

Edward Stokes was baptised on 9th December 1789 at Hitchin in Hertfordshire, son of Elizabeth Stokes, formerly Thrussell, and her husband John Stokes.

On 11th August 1811, when he was 21 years old, Edward married a Frances Everitt at Hitchin. She was 19 at the time. Less than two months after their marriage, they had a daughter, Ann, baptised at Hitchin. Two years later they also had a son, John, baptised at Hitchin, whose baptism records that the family lived at Walsworth, a hamlet to the north-east of Hitchin, then separated from the town by open fields. The baptism also tells us that Edward was a labourer.

Edward died less than four months after John's baptism, being buried on 3rd November 1813 at Hitchin. He was just 24 years old. Frances was therefore left a widow at the age of 22, with a two year old daughter and a baby son to look after. She did remarry, but not until over six years after Edward's death. Both Edward's parents outlived him.

1. ↑ Church of England. Parish Registers of St Mary's Church, Hitchin. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   Baptized 1789
   Dec[embe]r 9th Edward Son of John & Eliz[abet]h Stokes Lab[oure]r

   This baptism has been identified on the basis that when Edward was married in 1811 one of the witnesses was a James Odell - who two years later married a Sarah Stokes. We know from Edward's burial record that he was born about 1789. This is the only baptism for an Edward Stokes located around that time anywhere near Hitchin - and he had a sister Sarah baptised in 1793, strongly matching the age of the "Sarah wife of James Odell" who was buried at Hitchin in 1830. We therefore conclude that Edward and Sarah were brother and sister and that this is the correct baptism.

2. ↑ Burials register, in Church of England. Parish Registers of St Mary's Church, Hitchin. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Hitchin in the County of Hertford in the Year 1813
   No.	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   45	Edward Stokes	Walsworth	Nov[embe]r 3	24 [1788/9]	J. Parsons