Person:Elizabeth Hobbs (19)

Elizabeth Hobbs was baptised on 15th April 1781 at Great Gaddesden in Hertfordshire, daughter of Elizabeth Hobbs, formerly Cook, and her husband John Hobbs. Young Elizabeth was the seventh of their eleven children, although the first two children had died as babies before they could be baptised. The family lived at Ballingdon, which was actually a detached part of the parish of Whipsnade at the time, but on the borders with the neighbouring parishes of Great Gaddesden and Flamstead.

Elizabeth was married at Great Gaddesden on 12th October 1803 to a labourer named James Dean. They would go on to have eleven children between 1804 and 1823, although two died young. They had twins in 1810, a boy and a girl, and the girl died unnamed, whilst the boy lived. Their youngest daughter also died when only five months old in 1823. All their children were baptised at Great Gaddesden apart from the second daughter who was baptised at Whipsnade, but with a note on the baptism saying the family was from Great Gaddesden. It is notable that in what was at the time the detached portion of Whipsnade parish called Ballingdon there are places called Dean Lane, Dean Cottage and Dean Wood. Most of their children's baptisms at Great Gaddesden do not specify where in the parish the family lived, apart from the youngest's, whose baptism records that the family lived at Gaddesden Row.

Elizabeth's father died in 1810, and her mother died in 1815.

Elizabeth's eldest son Thomas was married in 1829 to a Mary Davis, and Elizabeth became a grandmother the following year, aged 49. Also in 1830 Elizabeth's daughter Susan married a James King from Aley Green in Caddington parish, about four miles north of Gaddesden Row, with whom she would have eight children at Caddington.

Elizabeth's son Thomas died in 1837 aged 33, leaving three small children.

Elizabeth's husband James died in 1840, aged 63.

Elizabeth appears in the 1841 census living at Gaddesden Row with her son Joseph and daughter Ann Maria. Elizabeth was working as a straw plaiter.

In 1848 Elizabeth's son Reuben was arrested for stealing straw plait. Early in 1849 he was sentenced to transportation for seven years and sent to Australia.

The 1851 census similarly finds Elizabeth and Ann Maria both living at Gaddesden Row and working as straw plaiters. They were still living together and working as straw plaiters in 1861, although that census does not specify where exactly they were living within the parish of Great Gaddesden.

Elizabeth outlived a number of her adult children. Her son Joseph died in 1863, aged 54. Over in Australia, her son Reuben died in 1864, aged 49. In Caddington, Elizabeth's daughter Susan died in 1865, aged 59.

Elizabeth lived to be 84 years old. She was buried at Great Gaddesden on 1st March 1866. She had outlived James by 26 years, had seen at least 38 grandchildren born in her lifetime and had lived to see great grandchildren.

1. ↑ Church of England. Great Gaddesden Parish Registers. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   April 15th 1781 Baptized at Gaddesden Betty Daughter of John and Elizabeth Hobbs

   This baptism has been identified on the basis that when Elizabeth married in 1803 one of the witnesses was a Richard Hobbs, and this Betty had a brother called Richard Hobbs (baptised in 1775) and it is in the right place and roughly the right time to match the answers Elizabeth gave in the 1851 and 1861 censuses.

2. ↑ 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 441; Book 2; Folio 17; Page 6, 6 Jun 1841.

   Address: Gaddesden Row [listed next to Horse and Jockey public house], Great Gaddesden, Hertfordshire
   Elizabeth Dean, female, 60 [1776-81], Platter, b. Hertfordshire
   Joseph Dean, male, 30 [1806-11], born in county [appears to have been crossed out]
   Ann Dean, female, 20 [1816-21], born in county

3. ↑ England. 1851 Census Returns for England and Wales. (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class HO107; Piece 1715; Folio 449; Page 10, 30 Mar 1851.

   Address: Gaddesden Row, Great Gaddesden, Hertfordshire
   Elizabeth Deane, head, widow, female, 73 [1777/8], Straw Plater, b. Gaddesden, Hertfordshire
   Ann Maria Deane, daughter, unmarried, female, 32 [1818/9], Straw Plater, b. Gaddesden, Hertfordshire

4. ↑ England. 1861 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 RG9; Piece 840; Folio 4; Page 2, 7 Apr 1861.

   Address: Great Gaddesden, Hertfordshire
   Elizabeth Dean, head, widow, female, 84 [1776/7], Straw plaiter, b. Great Gaddesden, Hertfordshire
   Ann Maria Dean, daughter, unmarried, female, 42 [1818/9], Straw plaiter, b. Great Gaddesden, Hertfordshire

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

   d. Elizabeth DEAN, March Quarter 1866, Hemel Hempstead Registration District, Volume 3a, page 259, aged 87 [1778/9]

6. ↑ Burials register, in Church of England. Great Gaddesden Parish Registers. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   BURIALS in the Parish of G[rea]t Gaddesden in the County of Hertford in the Year 1866
   No	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   1042	Elizabeth Dean	Great Gaddesden	March 1st	87 [1778/9]	J.J. Pickford, Curate