Person:Susannah Sheffield (3)

Susannah Sheffield's origins have yet to be established. If the age quoted at her burial is correct then she was born around 1757. Her first confirmed sighting is on 11th October 1781, when she was married at Shillington in Bedfordshire to James Bent or Bentman, who was from the neighbouring parish of Hexton. One of the witnesses for the marriage was a Samuel Sheffield who appears to have been a similar age, so may have been related.

Shortly after their marriage Susannah and James moved to Luton, where their first child was baptised in 1782. Their second child's baptism in 1785 notes that the family lived at Ashwell Bridge, part of the rural hamlet of East Hyde at the southern end of Luton parish, on the border with Wheathampstead parish in Hertfordshire. Their third child was baptised at Harpenden, but the family was said to live in Wheathampstead. Another four children followed between 1790 and 1799, all of whom were baptised at Luton.

James died in 1803. Susannah's first grandchild, her daughter Elizabeth's first son, was born the following year and was named James. Susannah lived to see many grandchildren.

Susannah outlived her husband by nearly 19 years. She was buried at Luton on 8th March 1822. She was said to be 64 years old when she died.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Bedfordshire Family History Society. Luton Parish Register Transcript. (Bedford).

   BENTMAN, Susanna, 8 Mar 1822, 64 [1757/8], St Mary