Sarah Whiting c.1803-1884

Parents: Daniel Whiting and Elizabeth Archer (1)
Born: c.1803 in Shudy Camps (1)
Baptised: 29th May 1803 at St Mary's Parish Church, Shudy Camps, Cambridgeshire (1)
Married (1): Uriah Farrant, widower, weaver, on 12th May 1821 at St Mary's Parish Church, Haverhill.(2)
Children: Jacob Farrant b.1822, James Farrant b.1824, Charlotte Farrant b.1827 died in infancy, Henry Farrant b.1831, Harriet Farrant b.1836, Charlotte Farrant b.1835, Eliza Farrant b.1838 and Elizabeth Farrant b.1841
Married (2): Robert Swan, labourer of Withersfield, in 1849 (3)
Children: None
Died: 1884 in Withersfield. Buried on 24th September 1884 at St Mary the Virgin, Withersfield.(6,8)

Bio: Sarah was born in Shudy Camps, which is where her mother Elizabeth came from and where her parents lived for a time after their marriage.

After the family moved back to Haverhill, Sarah married Uriah Farrant on 12th May 1821 at the local church. Uriah was born on 15th December 1799 at Beggars Row, Haverhill, the son of John Farrant, weaver, and Dorothy Hurrey. He was baptised at St Mary's on 19th January 1800.(9)

We see Sarah and Uriah living next to Sarah's brothers and parents in Burton End on the 1841 census. Uriah is a weaver, as is his eldest son James, 15. Children Henry, 10, Harriet, 5, Charlotte, 5, Eliza, 3, and Elizabeth, 4 months old are also present.

Uriah Farrant died aged 44 in Burton End in 1843 and was buried at St Mary's on 10th May(4,8), and Sarah married again at the end of 1849 to Robert Swan of Withersfield. Sarah appears on the 1851 census with Robert living at Button Green, Withersfield. Her birth date and birthplace, Shudy Camps, match up as do the fact that Eliza Farrant is still living with them and is listed as Sarah's daughter.

Robert's children from a previous marriage to Mary Howard(5), John and Stephen, are living with them too.

The 1861 census finds Sarah and Robert still living together in Button Green, with Sarah's stepson Stephen. His father and him work as agricultural labourers.

On the next census, they are living at Barrack row, Withersfield, and Sarah's birthplace is listed as Withersfield, and 'Swan' has become 'Swann', but for the 1881 census her birthplace is correct and she is living with Robert at Church Farm, Withersfield.

Sarah does not appear on any more censuses, so I am certain she is the Sarah Swan who died in Withersfield in 1884(6), having survived her husband by one year(7) and lived to the fair old age of 81.

Sources:

(1) Cambridge Family History Society, Transcriptions of the Parish Registers of Shudy Camps. Baptisms at St Mary's Church.
(2) Suffolk Records Office, Bury St Edmunds, Parish Registers of St Mary's Church, Haverhill. Fiche 578/4
(3) Marriage Register. 4th Quarter 1849, Risbridge District, Volume 12 Page 855
(4) Death Register. 2nd Quarter 1843, Risbridge District, Volume 12 Page 256
(5) http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/tree/1082267/person/-1950548604
(6) Death Register. 4th Quarter 1884, Risbridge District, Volume 4a Page 347
(7) Death Register. 2nd Quarter 1883, Risbridge District, Volume 4a Page 319
(8) SFHS, Suffolk Burial Index, issue 2, 1538-1900
(9) SFHS, Baptism Index, Clare Deanery, 1754-1812