Brick Wall: Jane Foster b 1821 in Witham, Essex

[peakoverload]

I have hit a seemingly impassible brick wall in trying to trace my 3x Great Aunt. This is what I know:

Jane Foster born 1821 in Witham, Essex to parents John and Martha Foster. She was 1 of 9 children. She was baptised in St. Nicholas Church, Witham on 21/01/1821

In 1841 she appears on the census in Rayleigh, Essex with her father who was a shoe maker/cordwainer.

After that there is nothing. I can't find a marriage, another census, a death or any migration/immigration. She just seems to disappear.

I have done extensive research into her and have found numerous leads but none that are very reliable. This is what I've found and apologies in advance for the length and complexity of it:

A Marriage between a Jane Sewell Foster and one of the following William Willet, Samson Rowland, Robert Claydon, Charles Girdlestone) in the 2nd quarter of 1843 in Witham.
Name    Jane Sewell Foster
Event Type    Marriage
Registration Quarter    Apr-May-Jun
Registration Year    1843
Registration District    Witham
County    Essex
Event Place    Witham, Essex, England
Volume    12
Page    387
Line Number    162

However I can't find the marriage in the Parish Records for Witham at the ERO online to confirm who her father was and his occupation. Also as she was in Rayleigh in 1841 I would have assumed she would have married there instead. I've also checked the Rayleigh Parish Records and can't find the marriage.


Working through each of her possible husbands, if I search for a Jane Willet the only thing I can find is another marriage:
Name    Jane Willet
Event Type    Marriage
Registration Quarter    Apr-May-Jun
Registration Year    1849
Registration District    Witham
County    Essex
Event Place    Witham, Essex, England
Volume    12
Page    429
Line Number    15

This time to either Elijah Osborn or Jonah Threadkell

Searching for Jane Rowland does find her living with Samson Roland on the 1861 census in Great Coggeshall and it says she was born in Coggeshall.

Searching for Jane Claydon finds her with a Robert Claydon on the 1851 census in Earls Colne, this says she was born in 1826 so within 5 years.

Searching for Jane Girdlestone finds no suitable match

Searching for the other marriage of a Jane Willet only finds 1 possible match that being a Jane Willet Threadkell living with Jonah and their son, also called Jonah, in 1851 in Chesterton, Cambridgeshire. This census gives her place of birth as Coggeshall, Essex which is near Witham.

So it looks possible that the Jane Sewell Foster who marries in 1843, remarries in 1849 and becomes Jane Willet Threadkell. But I cannot find a way of telling if this Jane Sewell Foster is my Jane Foster. Certainly the baptism record I have for her doesn't give a middle name.

The only other even vaguer thing I've found is a marriage in 1870 to a Thomas Hendry in Woolwich and the marriage banns for that do say that her father is John Foster and that he is a Shoe Maker. However her father would have died the month before and there is no mention on the banns that he is deceased (although that's not unusual). The banns also say she was a widow.

In tracing that Jane Foster I find her in 1871 in Woolwich but the census says she was born in Bury St. Edmunds and also has another child born before the marriage to Thomas Hendry by the name of Mary Ann Jane Foster who was born in 1858 in Ceylon. In 1861 this same Jane Foster is living in Plumstead with Mary Ann Jane and two other children, William born 1855 in Poplar & Joseph in 1861 in Plumstead. The census says that she is married but there is no sign of the father nor can I find any baptism records for any of these children to confirm who the father is. Nor can I find any other marriage for this Jane to anyone with the surname Foster.

I've no reason to believe that this Jane Foster is my Jane Foster other than I can't really identify her to rule her out and her fathers name and occupation match. But with such a common name and profession it's a very, very weak link.

I don't know what else to try in order to locate my Jane Foster after 1841 in Rayleigh.

[KGarrad]

A Parish Register entry will only exist if she married in an Anglicvan parish?

If the marriage was non-Conformist (i.e Methodist, Catholic, and the like) you'll need the appropriate register?
She could also have married in the Register Office

[lizdb]

Is she a witness to any of her 8 siblings marriages?   If so, if still as Foster, then still single, or if an unknown Jane is a witness then worth following up to see if it is her?

[MaureeninNY]

Not of much help but just to eliminate-I think Jane Sewell FOSTER probably married Sampson ROWLAND. Going by this child's birth:
ROWLAND, SEWELL  FOSTER     mmn FOSTER     
GRO Reference: 1844  J Quarter in WITHAM  Volume 12  Page 309   

Maureen
 

[lizdb]

Sampson and Jane ROwland are on 1861 in Coggleshall,  Jane age 41 bn Coggleshall

Jane Rowland also bn Coggleshall on 1851 and 1871

[Annette7]

I'm struggling to find the whole family (other than 1841 census when John's wife a Patty not Martha) - can you tell us her siblings (as Witham baptism not freely available online), where they ended up, etc. so we can follow the family rather then looking for Jane in isolation.

All kinds of possibilities - she could have gone to work in London (as many from Essex did), possibly died there or married there and dead before 1851 census.   This is why it's often good to 'follow' the whole family to gain possible leads.

Annette 

[peakoverload]

Her whole family where Church of England and I get the impression where fairly religious. Certainly he brother, William Foster (who grew to be extremely wealthy) commissioned two stained glass windows in St. Clements Church, Leigh-On-Sea dedicated to his late wife (one of which remains today). Therefore I don't believe she was a non conformist and would have thought it unlikely to have married in a registry office.

Good thought about being a witness to her siblings marriages. There is one where she may have been the witness but it's very feint. It was the marriage of her sister Elizabeth Foster in 1845 to John William Cooper in Holborn (for some reason almost everyone got married somewhere in London despite living in Essex). The christian name of the witness is short (around 4 letters) but the first letter looks like an L not a J (the witness above her is John Burks and the J is very pronounced) but the 2nd letter does look like an a and possible an n and e follow. Jane is the only person with a name that even remotely looks like it could fit and the surname is definitely Foster.

[olleym]

(for some reason almost everyone got married somewhere in London despite living in Essex). 

That would make me think that they are not the same family


Mark

[peakoverload]

I'm struggling to find the whole family (other than 1841 census when John's wife a Patty not Martha) - can you tell us her siblings (as Witham baptism not freely available online), where they ended up, etc. so we can follow the family rather then looking for Jane in isolation.

All kinds of possibilities - she could have gone to work in London (as many from Essex did), possibly died there or married there and dead before 1851 census.   This is why it's often good to 'follow' the whole family to gain possible leads.

Annette

It's quite a long story but the total brothers and sisters are:

Eliza Ann Foster b1807 in Witham d1811 Witham

Sarah Eleanor Foster b1808 Witham d1851 South Weald worked as a victualler. Married twice Henry Quy in 1828 Witham, Richard Phillips in 1838 in Bloomsbury

John Trew Foster b1810 in Witham d 1862 in Billericay started as a butcher in Hadleigh then became a butcher and victualler before becoming a farmer in South Weald. Married Elizabeth Greenham in Tower Hamlets in 1841. Had 2 children Ellen Foster b1842 in South Benfleet, d1865 in Witham,

Elizabeth Foster b1849 in Hadleigh d?

Mary Foster b 1813 in Witham d1846 in Witham

William Foster b1816 in Witham d1900 in Leigh-On-Sea. Became one of the biggest land owners in Essex. Started off as a victualler then add coal merchant, then adding farmer. Married twice Elizabeth Shaw in Stepney in 1839 and Mary Susannah Rush in Rayleigh in 1870 Only had 1 child an adopted son by the name of Francis Harrod (Frank Foster)b1871 d 1948

Elizabeth Foster b 1818 Witham d1878 in West Ham. married John William Cooper in Holborn in 1845. Had 1 daughter Elizabeth Kate Cooper b 1851

Jane Foster b 1821 Witham

Henry Osborne Foster b1827 in Witham d1907 New Zealand was a butcher in Essex but went out of business when he went to New Zealand and ended up a gardener. Married Charlotte Allard in Orsett 1852. Had three children Annie L Foster b 1854 in Australia d? Ada Emily Foster b 1859 Australia d1924 New Zealand, William Henry Leader Foster b 1866 New Zealand d?

Robert Foster b 1830 Witham, d1847 Rayleigh

Now the confusing thing is that their mothers name keeps changing on the baptisms. Sometimes is Martha other times it's Patty. For example On William Fosters baptism his mother is given as Martha whereas for Henry Osborne Fosters baptism the mothers name is given as Patty. But I have William Fosters will and in it he leaves money to his brother Henry Osborne Foster and some of his children (there is also another child mentioned that I so far haven't been able to trace). I have read elsewhere that Martha & Patty are 'known variations' albeit not one I'd ever heard of. Either way they must be the same person.