Sarah Farecloth c.1786-1856

Parents: John Faircloth and Elizabeth Siggs(4)
Born: c.1786
Baptised: 21st June 1789 at St Mary's Parish Church, Haverhill.(4)
Married: Joseph Whiting, on 25th December 1807 at St Mary's Parish Church, Haverhill. (1)
Children: George Whiting b.1808, Mary Ann Whiting b.1809, Ann Siggs Whiting b.1811, Lucy (Louisa) Whiting b.1813, John Whiting b.1815, Charles Henry Whiting b.1819, Susannah Whiting b.1823, Joseph Whiting b.1825, Sarah Whiting b.1825 and Elizabeth Whiting b.1828 died in infancy.
Died: June 1856. Buried on 5th June 1856 at St Mary's Parish Church, Haverhill.(2,3)

Bio: The spelling of Sarah's surname seems to vary, ranging from 'Farecloth' to 'Fairclough'. Although Sarah's baptism entry does not state her mother's maiden name, the entries of her younger brothers and sisters do.(5) This would also explain why she would later give her own daughter Ann the middle name 'Siggs'. From the baptism entries of her brothers and sisters we can see that Sarah lived in Beggars Row, Haverhill, in the mid 1790's and at Ralphs Farm, Haverhill, around 1800.

On the 1841 census Sarah is living in Burton End, Haverhill, with husband Joseph, three daughters and a grand-daughter. Joseph died after a fall from a wagon in January 1844, and the 1851 census finds her as a widow living nextdoor to her son John, with her grand-daughter Harriet who was the daughter of Louisa Whiting, and Henry Whiting, 1, who listed as another grandchild but in actual fact appears to be Harriet's son.(1) There is a visitor, Thomas Jobson. Could this be the father of Henry? We'll never know for sure.

Sarah died in 1856 at the age of 70 and was buried at St Mary's church.

Sources:

(1) Suffolk Records Office, Bury St Edmunds, Parish Registers of St Mary's Church, Haverhill. Fiche 578/4
(2) Suffolk Records Office, Bury St Edmunds, Parish Registers of St Mary's Church, Haverhill. Fiche 578/4/p35 of 37
(3) Death Register. 2nd Quarter 1856, Risbridge district, Volume 4a Page 249
(4) Suffolk Baptism Transcripts, St Mary's Church, Haverhill.
(5) SFHS, Suffolk Baptism Index, Clare Deanery 1754-1812.