Person:Rebecca Ward (12)

Rebecca Eleanor Ward was baptised on 11th September 1774 at Somerby by Grantham in Lincolnshire, daughter of Sarah Ward, formerly Lister, and her husband William Ward, a labourer. She was the eldest of the couple's three children, with younger brothers called Thomas and Luke. The family appears to have moved about six miles to the village of Belton some time between 1776 and 1779, then moved about seventeen miles to the east to Great Hale some time between 1779 and 1783.

Rebecca's father died aged 37 and was buried in Great Hale in 1783, when Rebecca was nine years old. In 1786 her mother remarried, with a William Burks becoming Rebecca's stepfather. He died in 1792.

On 31st July 1797, aged 22, Rebecca was married to Thomas Hearson at Great Hale. One of the witnesses to the marriage was Rebecca's brother Thomas. They went on to have two daughters baptised at Great Hale in 1801 and 1803. Thomas was described as a gardener on both girls' baptisms.

In 1808 Rebecca's mother Sarah married for a third time, to a carpenter named John Allam, who was father-in-law of Rebecca's youngest brother Luke. Rebecca's mother Sarah died in 1823, aged about 75.

Rebecca and Thomas appear in the 1841 census living at 'Lease' - presumably the road now called Leas Road on the eastern edge of the village.

Rebecca died on 10th January 1848 at Little Hale, in the parish of Great Hale but to the south of the main village, aged 73. She was buried at Great Hale on 13th January 1848. Thomas outlived her by nearly eight years.

1. ↑ Church of England. Parish Church of Somerby (near Grantham, Lincolnshire). Parish registers, 1730-1988. (Lincoln, England: Lincolnshire Archives Office, 1993).

   1774
   Sept[ember] 11 Baptised Rebeca Eleanor the Daughter of W[illia]m & Sarah Ward A.P. [not clear what A.P. means - it appears after several baptisms that year]

   This baptism has been linked to the Rebecca Ward who married Thomas Hearson on the basis that one of the witnesses to her marriage was a Thomas Ward with handwriting of the same style as the Thomas Ward who married in the same year at Great Hale. The ages of both Thomas and Rebecca when they died at Great Hale fit with the ages of baptism for the brother and sister who were children of William Ward and Sarah Lister, plus William Ward and Sarah Lister's other son Luke also appears in Great Hale, and there is a burial record which fits William and remarriage and burial records which fit Sarah, suggesting the whole family moved to Great Hale.

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 619; Book 4; Folio 14; Page 23, 6 Jun 1841.

   Address: Lease[?], Great Hale, Lincolnshire
   Thomas Earson, male, 72 [1768/9], Gardener, born in county
   Rebecca Earson, female, 68 [1772/3], born in county

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

   d. Rebecca ESON, March Quarter 1848, Sleaford Registration District, Volume 14, page 449, aged 73 [1774/5]

4. ↑ Burials register, in Church of England. Parish Church of Great Hale (Lincolnshire). Parish registers for Great Hale, ca.1568-1988. (Lincoln, England: Lincoln Archives Office, 1993-2002).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Hale Magna in the County of Lincoln in the Year 1848
   No.	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   635	Rebecca Earson	Great Hale	January 13th	73 years [1774/5]	C.J. McCormick, Curate

5. ↑ Stamford Mercury, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
   Page 3, 14 Jan 1848.

   DIED.
   At Little Hale... on the 10th, Rebecca Hearson, aged 73.