Ellen Smith 1841-1881

Parents: Henry Smith and Mary Ann Whybrow
Born: 1841 in Haverhill.(1)
Baptised: ?
Married: Jesse Whiting, batchelor, shoemaker of Queen Street, Haverhill, son of Joseph Whiting, drabbet weaver, on 28th September 1862 at St Mary's Parish Church, Haverhill. Witnessed by William Poole and Amelia French.(1,2)
Children: Emma Whiting b.1863, Mary Ann Whiting b.1865, Jane Whiting b.1868, Joseph Whiting b.1869, David Whiting b.1872 died in infancy, Alice Whiting b.1873, Benjamin Whiting b.1876, Jabez Balfour Whiting b.1878 and Kate Whiting b.1881
Died: October 1881 in Burton End. Buried on 22nd October 1881 at Haverhill Cemetery.(4,5)

Bio: Ellen's parents Henry and Mary Ann were originally from Halstead, Essex. Henry was a brazier by trade. They married in 1838.(6)They moved to Haverhill in around 1839, and we see them on the 1841 census with their first child Emma (born in Halstead) in Chauntry Croft. Ellen didn't quite make it onto this census, and we see her first on the next one in 1851 where she appears with her family still Chauntry Croft. On the 1861 census Ellen is still living in Chauntry Croft with what is now a large family. She is a cotton weaver on a power loom. Next year she married Jesse Whiting, and they lived in Haverhill with a short spell in Withersfield where their son Joseph was born in 1869. The 1871 census sees them in Burton End, Haverhill. Jesse is a shoemaker, Ellen still works as a cotton weaver, and they have four children.

On the 1881 census, we see the Whiting family with seven children and Ellen is no longer working as a weaver. It seems she had one more child, Kate, in 1881.

Ellen died later that year, at the early age of 40. Possibly her death was a result of complications in childbirth. She was buried at Haverhill Cemetery on 22nd October 1881.(4,5)

Sources:

(1) Birth Register. 3rd Quarter 1841, Risbridge District, Volume 12 Page 382.
(2) Marriage Register. 3rd Quarter 1862, Risbridge District, Volume 4a Page 541.
(3) Suffolk Records Office, Bury St Edmunds, Parish Registers of St Mary's Church, Haverhill. Fiche 578/4/p26 of 37
(4) Death Register. 4th Quarter 1881, Risbridge District, Volume 4a Page 293
(5) Haverhill Cemetery, Ref.1033. http://www.haverhill-uk.com/pages/burial-records-137.htm
(6) Marriage Register. 3rd Quarter 1838, Halstead District, Volume 12 Page 151