Biography:
Samuel Adams
d. 19/07/1854
Samuel Adams
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SAMUEL AND MARY ANN ADAMS
Samuel and Mary Ann were not natives of Berkhamsted, but moved to the town when Samuel became bailiff on the Ashlyn’s estate.
Samuel was born in c.1806 in Thaxted, Essex. It has not been possible to find a baptism record for Samuel, so his family is unknown.
Mary Ann was also born in 1806 in Loughton, Essex. She was the daughter of William and Mary Ann Free and was baptised at Loughton on 28th December 1806. She married William Wilson, a mariner, in 1829 and she and William had one son, William George, born in 1831. Mary Ann’s husband died. Samuel and the widowed Mary Ann married on the 9th of February 1834, at the church of St Mary with Christchurch, in Wanstead. Mary Ann’s son William is always shown as Samuel’s son on census returns, so must have been happily accepted into the family by his stepfather. (This was not always the case in Victorian families.)
They settled in Woodford, and had their first three children. Samuel was employed as an agricultural labourer.
In 1844 they moved to Gilston, a tiny village on the very eastern edge of Hertfordshire, now very close to modern day Harlow. Samuel had been promoted, and was now a bailiff. Eldest son William (Wilson) worked as a gardener. In Gilston they had three further children, the youngest, Ann, in 1848.
Samuel died in Berkhamsted in 1854 and was buried in Plot 130 in Rectory Lane Cemetery. The address given on his death Certificate was Ashlyns and his occupation farm bailiff, so it appears that at some date after 1848 Samuel had become bailiff on the Ashlyn’s estate and the family moved to Berkhamsted. Since Mary Ann’s son William married Emma Whitby in Berkhamsted in 1852 it is likely the move to Berkhamsted had been made by then. William’s wife, Emma, was born in Sawbridgeworth in 1834. They lived in Berkhamsted until about 1857. Their first child, Emma, was baptised on 1st October 1854 in Berkhamsted.
By 1861, William and Emma had moved to Theobalds in Cheshunt, having lived briefly in Enfield, where their third and fourth children were born. They had four more children, and stayed in Cheshunt until the 1890’s, when they moved to Enfield. Emma died in 1903, and William sadly ended his life in the Enfield Workhouse. He is recorded there as an “inmate” in the 1911 census.
1861 found the widowed Mary Ann living in St Johns Well Lane in Berkhamsted, with her eldest son George, and youngest daughter Ann. Also living with them were an aged maiden aunt (Rebecca Adams, 83, presumably Samuel’s aunt), and a “nurse child” Laura P. Sharman, born in Northchurch in 1860. Research into “nurse child”, has revealed a rather dark history. These children were placed into the care of widows, in exchange for money, but if the funds dried up, the children sometimes “disappeared”, and met very unfortunate fates. The children were usually illegitimate, and sometimes from aristocratic families. No records exist for Laura apart from the one entry in the 1861 census.
By 1871 Mary Ann had moved to Villiers Road in Bushey. She is in receipt of a pension of some kind, described as “annuitant”. She had another nurse child, George Owen Jones, 2 years old, and born in Berkhamsted. No further trace of George can be found.
In 1881 Mary Ann was still living in Villiers Road, and had two elderly lodgers who were in receipt of “parish allowance”. George East (born Hemel Hempstead), and his wife Elizabeth, from St Albans. The Easts were a prominent Berkhamsted family, and George may be part of the same family.
By 1891 Mary Ann, now aged 84, was living in London Road, Bushey with her daughter Mary Ann, her husband John Jeffs (a plumber and painter), and their family. Mary Ann died later the same year, on the 15th of December, and was buried with Samuel in Plot 130.
An interesting footnote to Samuel and Mary Ann’s lives is the fate of their children. William died in the Enfield Workhouse in 1916, aged 85, but three of his half brothers did rather well for themselves. The three middle brothers all went into service, and by 1871 were working in some prestigious houses. David was a hall porter in the London home of Alexander B B Hope, MP, in Connaught Place. Samuel was an Under Butler at the Wakefield Lodge estate of the Dukes of Grafton, at Passenham in Northamptonshire, and Henry was the butler to HRH The Duchess of Cambridge. She was the mother of Queen Mary (wife of George V).
View this burial in the cemetery
SAMUEL AND MARY ANN ADAMS
Samuel and Mary Ann were not natives of Berkhamsted, but moved to the town when Samuel became bailiff on the Ashlyn’s estate.
Samuel was born in c.1806 in Thaxted, Essex. It has not been possible to find a baptism record for Samuel, so his family is unknown.
Mary Ann was also born in 1806 in Loughton, Essex. She was the daughter of William and Mary Ann Free and was baptised at Loughton on 28th December 1806. She married William Wilson, a mariner, in 1829 and she and William had one son, William George, born in 1831. Mary Ann’s husband died. Samuel and the widowed Mary Ann married on the 9th of February 1834, at the church of St Mary with Christchurch, in Wanstead. Mary Ann’s son William is always shown as Samuel’s son on census returns, so must have been happily accepted into the family by his stepfather. (This was not always the case in Victorian families.)
They settled in Woodford, and had their first three children. Samuel was employed as an agricultural labourer.
In 1844 they moved to Gilston, a tiny village on the very eastern edge of Hertfordshire, now very close to modern day Harlow. Samuel had been promoted, and was now a bailiff. Eldest son William (Wilson) worked as a gardener. In Gilston they had three further children, the youngest, Ann, in 1848.
Samuel died in Berkhamsted in 1854 and was buried in Plot 130 in Rectory Lane Cemetery. The address given on his death Certificate was Ashlyns and his occupation farm bailiff, so it appears that at some date after 1848 Samuel had become bailiff on the Ashlyn’s estate and the family moved to Berkhamsted. Since Mary Ann’s son William married Emma Whitby in Berkhamsted in 1852 it is likely the move to Berkhamsted had been made by then. William’s wife, Emma, was born in Sawbridgeworth in 1834. They lived in Berkhamsted until about 1857. Their first child, Emma, was baptised on 1st October 1854 in Berkhamsted.
By 1861, William and Emma had moved to Theobalds in Cheshunt, having lived briefly in Enfield, where their third and fourth children were born. They had four more children, and stayed in Cheshunt until the 1890’s, when they moved to Enfield. Emma died in 1903, and William sadly ended his life in the Enfield Workhouse. He is recorded there as an “inmate” in the 1911 census.
1861 found the widowed Mary Ann living in St Johns Well Lane in Berkhamsted, with her eldest son George, and youngest daughter Ann. Also living with them were an aged maiden aunt (Rebecca Adams, 83, presumably Samuel’s aunt), and a “nurse child” Laura P. Sharman, born in Northchurch in 1860. Research into “nurse child”, has revealed a rather dark history. These children were placed into the care of widows, in exchange for money, but if the funds dried up, the children sometimes “disappeared”, and met very unfortunate fates. The children were usually illegitimate, and sometimes from aristocratic families. No records exist for Laura apart from the one entry in the 1861 census.
By 1871 Mary Ann had moved to Villiers Road in Bushey. She is in receipt of a pension of some kind, described as “annuitant”. She had another nurse child, George Owen Jones, 2 years old, and born in Berkhamsted. No further trace of George can be found.
In 1881 Mary Ann was still living in Villiers Road, and had two elderly lodgers who were in receipt of “parish allowance”. George East (born Hemel Hempstead), and his wife Elizabeth, from St Albans. The Easts were a prominent Berkhamsted family, and George may be part of the same family.
By 1891 Mary Ann, now aged 84, was living in London Road, Bushey with her daughter Mary Ann, her husband John Jeffs (a plumber and painter), and their family. Mary Ann died later the same year, on the 15th of December, and was buried with Samuel in Plot 130.
An interesting footnote to Samuel and Mary Ann’s lives is the fate of their children. William died in the Enfield Workhouse in 1916, aged 85, but three of his half brothers did rather well for themselves. The three middle brothers all went into service, and by 1871 were working in some prestigious houses. David was a hall porter in the London home of Alexander B B Hope, MP, in Connaught Place. Samuel was an Under Butler at the Wakefield Lodge estate of the Dukes of Grafton, at Passenham in Northamptonshire, and Henry was the butler to HRH The Duchess of Cambridge. She was the mother of Queen Mary (wife of George V).
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