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Facts and Events
Mary Sayers’ origins have yet to be established. The age given when she died suggests that she was born around 1805. Her first confirmed sighting is on 3rd May 1824, when she married a carpenter called James Snelling at Ifield in Sussex.
Mary and James went on to have seven children between 1824 and 1840, although one daughter died when just a few days old in 1832.
Mary died from peritonitis shortly after giving birth to her seventh child, on 8th March 1840. She was said to be 34 years old. James survived her by nearly thirty years.
References
- Ifield, Sussex: Parish Registers (West Sussex County Council, Chichester).
1806 / January 5. Baptized Mary, Daug[h]t[e]r of Edward & Sarah Sayers, born Dec[embe]r 5th
Possible baptism. This baptism is in the same parish that Mary married and at about the time implied by the age given when she died. However, it has yet to be established how this Mary daughter of Edward and Sarah was connected to the family of Martha Sayers (widow of Benjamin), who appears to have looked after Mary’s youngest daughter for a time following Mary’s death. It is worth noting that Benjamin appears to have been the son of a Thomas and Ruth Sayers of Newdigate in Surrey, who did not routinely baptise their children as infants – several of their children were baptised as adults. It is therefore possible that Mary was another child of Thomas and Ruth but was not baptised as an infant.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Deaths register, in General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration. (London: General Register Office).
| Superintendent Registrar's District East Grinstead / Registrar's District Worth | | 1840. DEATHS in the District of Worth in the County of Sussex | | No. | When and where died | Name and surname | Sex | Age | Occupation | Cause of death | Signature, description and residence of informant | When registered | Signature of registrar | | 164 | Eighth of March 1840
Crawley | Mary Snelling | Female | 34 years [1805/6] | Wife of James Snelling, Carpenter | Peritonitis | James Moore
Brother
Present at the Death | Tenth of March 1840 | John Hunter, Registrar |
James Moore’s identity has yet to be established – no obvious James Moore living in Crawley at this time has been found. He could have been a half-brother, step-brother or brother-in-law. Mary’s husband James did have a brother-in-law called John Moore (who had been one of the witnesses to Mary and James’s marriage) – it is possible that the name has been recorded incorrectly.
- ↑ Burials register, in Crawley, Sussex: Parish Registers (West Sussex County Council, Chichester).
| BURIALS in the Parish of Crawley in the County of Sussex in the Year 1840 | | No | Name | Abode | When buried | Age | By whom the Ceremony was performed | | 167 | Mary Snelling | Crawley | March 16th | 34 y[ea]rs [1805/6] | A. Nugée |
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