Person:Mary Higgins (59)

Mary Higgins’ origins have yet to be established. The age quoted for her when she died suggests she was born around 1836. Her first confirmed sighting is on 26th May 1760, when she married John Keyte at Shipston-on-Stour, which was then in Worcestershire.

Mary and John went on to have ten children baptised at Shipston between 1762 and 1778, including twins in 1767. Sadly, five of their children died young: three as babies, one when three years old and another when eight years old. Two of their children were buried in January 1777.

In 1772 John bought some copyhold property on Chipping Norton Street in Shipston. The conveyance papers describe him as a wheelwright.

John died in 1781, being buried at Shipston on 22nd July 1781. His burial record does not say how old he was. He and Mary had been married for 21 years, and their youngest daughter was only three years old.

In 1788 Mary went on to convey some property in Shipston to a Samuel Keyte, who was presumably a relative of John’s.

Mary survived John by nearly 47 years. Immediately before her death she lived at Husbandman’s End, a street on the northern side of Shipston. She died in 1828 when she was said to be 92 years old. She was buried at Shipston on 6th July 1828.

1.   Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Catalogue
   ER3/5861.

   21 Jul 1788
   Conveyance by Mary, widow of John Keyte, wheelwright to Samuel Keyte, of a tenement in Shipston. Signed and sealed. Witnesses: Elizabeth Dean and John Edkins.

   It seems likely that the Samuel Keyte to whom Mary transferred this property was a relative of her late husband’s. One possibility which requires further investigation is that he may have been the Samuel Keyte of Shipston-on-Stour who left a will which was proved on 11th June 1797. Needs to be confirmed at Worcestershire Record Office.

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Burials register, in Shipston-on-Stour, Worcestershire: Parish Registers (Warwickshire County Record Office, Warwick).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Shipston upon Stour in the County of Worcester in the Year 1828
   No	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   453	Mary Keyte	Husband End	July 6	92 [1735/6]	W. Evans

   Husband End presumably refers to Husbandman’s End, a street on the northern side of the town, which was later renamed Station Road after the railway was built.