Martha Alford's life back to 1841...

Over the past few weeks, I have been looking at the life of Martha Alford and her two marriages, first to John Mead and then to George Groves, and her three children, starting from when she was living at 1 The Crescent, Taunton, Somerset, when the 1881 England Census was taken. This update will consider the information that we already have about Martha and trace her history backwards through the England Census' to 1841. 

So, what details can we gleam from the documents that we already have? From the 1881 England Census [1] ,Martha's age is given as 50 years, so was born in about 1831, and her place of birth is given as Sherborne, Dorset. On the 1871 England Census [2], her age is 40 years and her place of birth was still given as Sherborne, Dorset. We know from the documents relating to her two marriages [3] [4] that her father was Thomas Alford, a Hotel Keeper, and was deceased before 10 September 1861. The witnesses of her two marriages, Thomas Alford, Mary Ann Alford and Clara Alford, were likely relatives as they all share the same surname. We also know that her mother was 'Mrs Mary Ann Alford of the George Hotel in Shepton Mallet' from the notice announcing her first marriage in the Wells Journal [5]. We therefore have a great deal of information relating to Martha to begin the next stage of research. 

I started with a search of the 1861 England Census on the Ancestry website with her name, Martha Alford, born in Sherborne, Dorset, with a +/- 2 years of birth of around 1831. This returned only one result as below [6]

So, we can established that on the night of 7 April, when the 1861 England Census was taken, that Martha was living at the George Hotel, Market Place, Shepton Mallet, Somerset, with her widowed mother, 1 brother, 2 sisters, 3 servants and 1 boarder. 

Going back 10 years to the 1851 England Census, using the same criteria as was used for the 1861 England Census search, we again only get 1 result returned as below [7]

So, we have now discovered, that on the night of 30 March when the 1851 England Census was taken, that Martha was living on the Hight Street, Shepton Mallet, Somerset, with her widowed mother, 2 brothers, 3 sisters and 3 servants. 

There is one more census that we can trace back to, which was taken on the night on 6 June, 1841. For this I needed to change the search criteria as place of birth is not recorded on this Census. So I searched for Martha Alford, living in Shepton Mallet, with a +/- 2 years of birth of around 1831. Again, only one search result was returned as below [8]

So, we have found Martha was living at Market Place, Shepton Mallet, Somerset with her father and mother, 2 brothers and 3 sisters at the time of the 1841 England Census. 

With all the information that we have discovered from the England Census' taken in 1841, 1851 and 1861 relating to the Alford Family, we can create a basic family tree.

On my next update, I will look at the births and baptisms of the Alford children and investigate when Thomas Alford married Mary Ann and establish her maiden name. In the meantime, I hope that you have enjoyed reading this blog much as I have enjoyed researching this family for my One Place Study. It would be wonderful to hear from you via the comments section on this blog or via my facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/lucythecrescentops/ - If you would like to see the tree that I have been building for my One Place Study of 1 The Crescent, it is on ancestry.co.uk under 1 The Crescent Taunton One Place Study. 


[1] "England and Wales Census, 1881," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q276-3GKL : 13 December 2017), Martha Groves, Taunton St Mary Magdalen, Somerset, England; from "1881 England, Scotland and Wales Census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing p. 37, Piece/Folio 2366/34, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey; FHL microfilm 101,774,716
[2] Ancestry.com 1871 England Census - The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1871 England Census; Class: RG10; Piece: 2370; Folio: 15; Page: 2; GSU roll: 835103
[3] Ancestry.com Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 Somerset Heritage Service; Taunton, Somerset, England; Somerset Parish Records, 1538-1914; Reference Number: D\P\she/2/1/21 page 5
[4] Ancestry.com Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 Somerset Heritage Service; Taunton, Somerset, England; Somerset Parish Records, 1538-1914; Reference Number: D\P\she/2/1/21 page 74
[5] Britishnewspaperarchvie.co.uk, Wells Journal, Saturday 14 September 1861 - Image (c) The British Library Board - All Rights Reserved.
[6] Ancestry.com 1861 England Census - The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1861 England Census; Class: RG 9; Piece: 1661; Folio: 80; Page: 14; GSU roll: 542847
[7] Ancestry.com 1851 England Census - The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1851 England Census; Class: HO107; Piece: 1933; Folio: 470; Page: 6; GSU roll: 221092
[8] Ancestry.com 1841 England Census - The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1841 England Census; Class: HO107; Piece: 963; Book: 11; Civil Parish: Shepton Mallet; County: Somerset; Enumeration District: 2; Folio: 23; Page: 5; Line: 1; GSU roll: 474606