myroots
The Ephgraves: A family that died young
posted Wednesday, 2 August 2006
Thomas EPHGRAVE and Elizabeth nee KILBY were parents of at least four children, as mentioned in their wills. Three were still alive when Elizabeth died in 1855. A WorldConnectTree entry online suggests that they had more children, and this would not be unlikely given the gaps in birth years of the four mentioned in the wills and found in censuses and/or birth/burial data. The others died either in infancy or fairly young. Thomas and Elizabeth had eight children in all; I am descended from the youngest, Frederick.
The litany of christenings and burials of infant EPHGRAVES makes sobering reading. Twins Mary and Susannah, for example, were born on the same day in January 1818 and were buried on the same day in April that year. Even those children surviving infancy did not live very long. Ann Elizabeth died aged 17, John aged 28, Frederick aged 32. Only Sarah and Charles lived beyond their 40s. Apart from her older brother John, who died in 1847, Ann Elizabeth is the only one of the children who died young whose death happened after the beginning of civil registration in 1837. Her death certificate of 1839 shows she died of 'inflammation' on 31 January 1839, aged 17. At the time of her death she was working as a servant. Her death was registered by John ARCHER, husband of her sister Sarah. The 1855 Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Kent, etc records John ARCHER and his wife as traders in Harpenden, as Boot and Shoemaker and Milliner respectively.
The litany of christenings and burials of infant EPHGRAVES makes sobering reading. Twins Mary and Susannah, for example, were born on the same day in January 1818 and were buried on the same day in April that year. Even those children surviving infancy did not live very long. Ann Elizabeth died aged 17, John aged 28, Frederick aged 32. Only Sarah and Charles lived beyond their 40s. Apart from her older brother John, who died in 1847, Ann Elizabeth is the only one of the children who died young whose death happened after the beginning of civil registration in 1837. Her death certificate of 1839 shows she died of 'inflammation' on 31 January 1839, aged 17. At the time of her death she was working as a servant. Her death was registered by John ARCHER, husband of her sister Sarah. The 1855 Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Kent, etc records John ARCHER and his wife as traders in Harpenden, as Boot and Shoemaker and Milliner respectively.
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