I've had a very quick and satisfactory response to another request for help I made about this selfsame HAWES family in Haverhill last night.
However, I was wondering whether I could ask for one further piece of assistance. In the 1861 Census there William HAWES is a 17-year-old single man living with his widowed mother Charlotte, 58. By 1871 he is described as a widower himself, with a 6-year-old daughter Charlotte and a 5 year old son Alfred. I think the June quarter 1871 marriage of a William HAWES to a Sarah Ann TURNER is him remarrying for a second time, as Sarah Ann appears with him in the subsequent 1881 Census.
So, it would appear that he probably married someone else for the first time between 1861 and 1871, and that she must have died prematurely, also some time between 1861 and 1871.
Is there any evidence of this in the Haverhill PR's, a marriage for a William HAWES and a further burial for a HAWES woman? Of course he might have gone somewhere nearby for his first bride, though the two children's birthplaces are given as Haverhill.
I would be most grateful again if someone could have a look for me this weekend, giving the Easter egg/bunny hunt a pause for a while…
Many thanks, Keith