COMPLETED Lookup - memorial inscription Yeovil TAYLOR

[LizO]

Hi
I'm looking for an inscription for a Jane or Elizabeth Jane TAYLOR (nee SAMWAYS), born about 1816, and buried between 1841 and 1844, probably at Yeovil or possibly Stoke-under-Ham.  I'm trying to find out if a daughter, Mary TAYLOR, shown on the 1841 census as born about 1837, died as a child and is listed on the same stone. Mary does not appear in any later census records with the family. Jane's husband, Thomas TAYLOR, moved away and remarried. He is buried in Taunton with his second wife. 

Any help with this would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
LizO

[Jo Harding]

Hello LizO,

There is a burial of Elizabeth Taylor, aged 25, on 7 March 1844 in St Mary the Virgin, Stoke sub Hamdon.

There are two burials for Mary Taylor at that church. Firstly on 11 September 1842, aged 2 months. Abode: Stoke. Then Mary Jane Taylor, aged 4, on 6 August 1843. Abode: Stoke.

There are a number of burials for Taylor infants etc at that church around those years.

http://www.freereg.org.uk/

I am unsure whether Stoke under Ham and Stoke Sub Hamdon are the same place, excuse my ignorance.

Jo.

[LizO]

Hi Jo
Thanks for that information. I'm pretty sure that burial for Elizabeth Taylor is the correct one, as she is about the right age and Thomas remarried at the end of 1844. I've now had a look at the baptism records on freeREG and found one for the child, full name given as Mary Anne TAYLOR, born 13 June 1837 and baptised five days later, and also for her older brother and younger sister, both of whom I know quite a bit about. It shows they did live in Stoke-sub-Hamdon. (This is the old name for Stoke-under-Ham -- the Roman version I think.)

None of the burials for Taylors are for children of the right age, so Mary Anne could have grown up and married. I'm trying to establish whether she could have been the mother of three girls named in Thomas Taylor's will as his granddaughters. He had six other legitimate children, but the three granddaughters named in his will do not seem to fit in any of the other family groups, and they all have different surnames (presumably their married names) and seem to be treated in the will as separate from the other family groups. Quite a challenge!

Thanks for your help.

LizO

[LizO]

A relative with a family bible tells me now that Mary Ann did indeed live to grow up. She died in 1881, aged 43, just days before the census (unfortunately). At this stage, we don't know where she was buried. The bible does not record a marriage for her. FreeBMD shows a woman of that name and age died about then in Barton Regis. It's still possible she could be remembered on her mother's headstone, so I'm still hunting for an inscription.

LizO
   

[LizO]

Mystery solved - a census search for "Mary Ann" without a surname but with one of her daughters' names in the household found the family - definitely the one as the three granddaughters are all there. The three granddaughters were all named in the will by their married names, but a check of marriages shows maiden name joins up with married name. So yes, Mary Ann did grow up, marry and have a pile of kids, three of whom were still alive many years later when their grandfather died and left them some property. Happily ever after.

LizO

[Jo Harding]

Hello LizO,

Thanks for giving the concluding information. Nice to have a happy ending! 

Jo