Finally, I have come to the English part of my research, with us going backwards from the time that Jane Sanders stepped from the ship "Osprey" in 1849 and investigating the family that she left behind in Enfield.
Jane was just one of eight children who were born to shoemaker Edward Sanders and his wife Jane Draper, and the eldest of five daughters. The entire family was as follows:
Thomas Sanders baptised April 7, 1828.
Jane Sanders baptised April 7, 1830.
Henry Sanders baptised September 30, 1832.
Susan Sanders baptised October 2, 1835
Elizabeth Sanders baptised July 18, 1841
Emma Sanders baptised August 27, 1843
Sarah Sanders baptised December 5, 1847
Edward Sanders baptised February 17, 1850
All of the Sanders children were baptised in St Andrews, Enfield, and their baptisms from the parish registers will be published in future blog entries.
The census of 1841 reveals 35 year old shoe maker Edward Sanders living at Chase Side with his 30 year old wife Jane and their five children-Thomas 14; Jane 12; Henry 8; Susan 5 and Elizabeth 3 months.
By the time the next census rolled around in 1851, their two eldest children, Thomas and Jane, had emigrated to Victoria, Australia. The Sanders household consisted of 44 year old Edward, who was still working as a shoe maker, his 40 year old wife Jane and their children Elizabeth 10; Emma 7; Sarah 3 and Edward 16 months. Son Henry and daughter Susan had moved out of the family home to take up jobs elsewhere...Henry was a 19 year old labourer living at Chase Side with William Armstrong, a 26 year old journeyman carpenter; and 15 year old Susan was living at 14 High Street, Norston Folgate, working as one of three servants for the family of biscuit baker Joseph Bennett.
The year 1854 saw two of the Sanders children marrying...on June 11, 1854, Susan Sanders married shoemaker William Houlton at St. Peter's, Walworth. Her brother Henry followed suit on October 22 when he married Mary Ann Asher at St. Mary's Church, Haggerston.
On March 7, 1859, at St. Botolph's, Bishopgate, fifth child Elizabeth Sanders married gardener Charles Welch.
The 1861 census is the last one in which I could find Edward and Jane Sanders. Still living at Chase Side, Enfield, Edward was now 56 and his wife Jane 50. Their children who were still living at home were 18 year old Emma, who was employed as a servant, and 11 year old scholar, Edward.
I cannot locate a death for either Edward or Jane Sanders in the Death index, but neither appeared on any census returns after 1861. I am fairly certain that I have found Edward Sanders's burial, registered under 'Sanders'...
" Edward Saunders, abode Enfield; buried February 13, 1863,aged 57 years,St. Andrews, Enfield." Right age, right location, buried in the Sanders' family church yard...I am positive that it is "my" Edward.
What happened to Jane his wife is anyone's guess at the moment. I can't find a death or burial, or even a remarriage after Edward's death. She is not living with any of her children in the 1871 census, and I even checked to see if she had emigrated to Australia for a reunion with children Thomas and Jane...no luck there either. For now, Jane Draper Sanders's story will have to be written without a conclusion.
On August 27, 1866, at Enfield Jesus Chapel, Emma Sanders married Charles Crawley, and her youngest sibling, Edward Sanders, married Elizabeth Dunklin at St. Leonards, Shoreditch, on May 1, 1868.
Whilst I have traced seven out of the eight Sanders children through their marriages, I have not been able to locate seventh child Sarah after she was a witness to her sister Emma's marriage in 1866.
HOLD THE PRESSES!!!!! Whooooo hooo!!!!! I can't believe the rush I am experiencing at the moment...just minutes after writing the previous paragraph about not knowing the fate of Jane Draper Sanders, I decided to check the Sanders children in the 1881 census. When looking at the census return for Edward Junior's family in Chase Side, I noticed that right next door was living a widow by the name of Jane Freeman. She was 70 years old and had been born in Edmonton...just like my Jane Draper Sanders!
With my spider senses tingling, I stepped backwards into the 1871 census...there at Inkerman Street,Luton, Bedfordshire, was 60 year old Jane Freeman of Enfield with her 73 year old husband, Richard Freeman, a retired farmer who was a native of Baldock, Hertfordshire.
Heart pounding, I waited while the 1861 census for Richard Freeman came up....Yes!!! His wife was Lydia Freeman, which meant that, like my Jane, he had lost his spouse some time in the 1860s.The couple were living in Chase Side...just like Edward and Jane Sanders in the 1861. A check revealed that Lydia Freeman of Enfield had been buried in the church yard of St. Andrews, Enfield, on October 31, 1861, aged 62 years. So far, so good!
I knew that Edward Sanders had not died until February 1863, so I finally made my last look up- the one that could blow my theory out of the water or have me turning cartwheels. On Ancestry.com.au, where I have been making all of my fabulous Sanders discoveries, I consulted the new "London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921" index and images for a marriage for a Richard Freeman, bride Jane, between 1863 and 1871.
There were two entries, but one leaped out at me and I knew I had hit pay dirt. Even mis-transcribed, I knew it was my Jane as I read "Richard Freeman, 13 October 1863 to Jane PANDERS at Walworth St. Peter.
The original image of the church register verified my theory...On October 13, 1863, Richard Freeman, full age, widower; Gentleman; of John Street, son of John Freeman(deceased), gentleman; MARRIED Jane Sanders, full age; widow; same address; daughter of David Draper, gentleman. Witnesses: William Houlton (Jane's son-in-law) and Mary Ann Draper.
Oh, how sweet it is to send a brickwall tumbling down! I know that Jane Draper Sanders Freeman died in 1892, and was buried in the St. Andrews, Enfield, church yard, aged 80 years, so I'll just go and see what she was up to in the 1891 census return....
Well!!! Another unexpected discovery...Jane was living with her daughter Susan, at 14 Bolton Street, Lambeth.Susan's surname was no longer 'Houlton', however...she was the wife of Alfred Thomas Sharpe, so her husband William must have predeceased her and she remarried again.Alfred was a 55 year old bricklayer, and living with he and Susan were William Sharpe, his 14 year old son who was a printer; Frederick Houlton, a son from Susan's first marriage who was a 15 year old errand boy; and Jane Freeman, "mother-in-law", who was 80 years old and living on her own means.
I can't find a will for Jane. She must have been left a small allowance in the will of her second husband, Richard Freeman, when he died on July 3, 1872, in Luton. Probate of Richard's will was granted to his son from his first marriage, John Freeman, of Hitchin in Hertfordshire.His effects were noted as being under 450 pounds.
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