Mary Hales died Guernsey

[bagpuss]

Hello there,

Could anyone help or at least point me in the right direction?  I am looking for the death of Mary Hales, she was born in West Somerton, Norfolk in 1811 and was the sister of the "Norfolk Giant", she herself measured 7ft 2" and toured fairgrounds and shows alongside her brother as curiosities.  She is proported to have died of pneumonia at a "young age" on Guernsey.  I'm trying to verify this story.

Any help greatly appreciated.

All the best
Sue   

[anpefa1]

hi sue,
this might be useful!!

google (fairground curiosity) "the norfolk giant" and you will see a reference to an essay written about robert hales. who knows, it may lead you in the right direction.

tony

[bagpuss]

Hi Tony,

Yes I had seen that information, but thank-you for the link.  In fact that is where I got the information that Mary died in Guernsey, although I have yet to find any proof of this.

I have since found out that she married Joseph Laskey in 1838.  He was a traveller with an exhibition acording to their marriage record, and if Mary was an 'exhibit' that would explain how they met.

Mary died 3 August 1841 according to her gravestone and is buried in her home village in Norfolk.  I can find no death certificate for her so may'be she did die in Guernsey as reported.  Could the travelling show have visited Guernsey at this time?  I wouldn't know where to start with researching this in Guernsey so if anyone with inside knowledge could help it would be much apprciated.

All the very best
Sue

[anpefa1]

hi sue,

this is slightly off topic but i found a reference to robert laskey jnr married isabella bartrum (barnum?) in 1852.

tony

[gomez1943]

Have you seen the newspaper article on www.thetallestman.com by the Sherbourne Journal? Go to that web site and do a ctrl F search for Mary Laskey.
The article states she died Tuesday last (from Aug 21, which would be Aug 10th. Interment.net also shows her tombstone inscription as d. Aug 10, 1841.
It futher states that her remains would be removed to Southampton. I think that was the closest port where it where it was then removed to West Somerton.

[bagpuss]

Thank-you Gomez,

No I had not seen these articles, thanks for pointing them out to me.

There are plenty of secondary references to her "death in Guernsey" and no entry in the England & Wales death index, which pointed to it being true, but I had never found definitive proof or been able to pinpoint a date.

Thank-you very much for taking the time to contact me, it completes the story on Mary Hales.

All the very best,
Sue

 

[herrings]

Hi there

Mary Laskey did die in the CI, she was showing with her brother Robert and her husband Joseph.  Robert and Joseph brought her body back and it was buried in West Somerton.  The grave next to hers is her sister who married Laskey.  In the graveyard the two sisters, both wife of Joseph Laskey sit side by side.  I contacted the museum and library on CI but apart from confirming the death and cause, they could offer no other information.

Hope this helps.  My husband is a direct ancestor of the giants younger brother Thomas and I have been researching this family for some years.

Hope this helps

[bagpuss]

Hello Herrings,

I am actually researching for my daughter-in-law, who is descended from the Dyball family (through Humphrey Dyball and Christiana Read), but we both got side-tracked on the Hales family as they are so interesting!

Since my original posting I have discovered that both sisters married the same man.  Do you have any more information on Joseph Laskey, he seems to disappear after Ann's death, but as he is a traveller there's probably no wonder.  We only live in Norwich but have not yet visited the churchyard in West Somerton, I found the MI's on familysearch though.

Thanks for getting in touch - Danielle will be thrilled!

Best Wishes,
Sue

[herrings]

Hello Sue

Yes, Joseph Laskey was a showman and he and Robert Hales joined up with Laskey as some sort of manager.  They were at a Norfolk fair when the Hales family came to see Robert, Joseph (who I think must have been a cad) took one look at Mary and the dollar signs hit his eyes.  He married her and off the 3 went untill the two men brought her back to be buried.  It is then he spies the younger sister and marries her (against church law) and off they go but Robert breaks with Laskey at this point.  Then Robert gets the P T Barnum offer and off he goes.  PT knew that Laskey had made a very fair return on the brother and sister giants and had hoped that Robert had another one.  The story then gets a bit confused as PT arranged a marriage for Robert to a Quaker giantess and this couple pulled in the money.  When he returned home Robert said that the giantess was in fact a big man (even though a marriage did take place) that PT found.

Robert then married and on 1861 census in Sheffield, besides him and Maria there is a boy, given relationship, son, named General Hales (after general Tom Thumb who Robert showed with).  His age would have had being born before Robert and Maria married.  I cannot find a birth that fits and I do not think Maria had him out of wedlock.  My thoughts are that it was just a pot boy who worked in the inn and Robert was having a joke, or the lad came back from USA with Robert and was a product of the marriage, which may not have been the sham Robert said it was.
Regards