GR(E)AVES family biographies 5 14 August 2006

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Dr G.M.W.Mann. Baytrees Burnhams Rd, Lt.Bookham Surrey, U.K. KT23 3AU geoff.mann@btinternet.com

5 Eliza GREAVES 1805-??

m William CRANWELL 1828

Eliza was baptised in the Essex village of Langley in 1805. When she was 23 she married William CRANWELL at nearby Newport in Essex.

William was an agricultural labourer from Gt Hormead, Hertfordshire, and Eliza and William lived and baptised six children there between 1828 and 1839.

Eliza registered the birth of her last child, John, at nearby Buntingford on 18 December 1838 when she was 33 years old, but no further records of her life or death have been found. She was not with her family in the census of 1841 or 1851, but instead, William and her children were living with a housekeeper Keziah Lawrence whom he married in 1855.

Eliza probably died between 1838 and 1841 but she was not buried at Gt Hormead, and no death certificate seems to have been issued. The long delay before William married Keziah hints that perhaps her death could not be assumed. Did she simply disappear - or did something more sinister happen!?

EVENTS

C=Christened

age DATE EG WC

EVENT

6Oct1805 22Jan1828 22 20 1828 22 20 25Oct1829 24 21 12Sep1831 25 23 8Jul1832 26 24 28Apr1833 27 25 4Feb1835 29 27 6Nov1836 31 28 26Feb1837 31 29 16Dec1838 33 30 ? 6Jun1841 34 30Mar1851 44 20Jan1855 47 3Jun1886 78

Eliza baptised at Langley, Essex, dau of Thomas & Catherine GREAVES William & Eliza GRAVES m at Newport, Essex son William born? son Thomas baptised at Hormead; W a labourer dau Mary baptised at Hormead; W a labourer; dau Mary buried age 11m son Benjamin baptised at Hormead; W a labourer dau Sarah baptised at Hormead; W a labourer son Benjamin buried age 3 son George baptised at Hormead; W a labourer son John born at Hormead; registered by Eliza at Buntingford on 18Dec and baptised at Hormead on 24Dec Eliza died? census: William at Gt Hormead with 4 children and Keziah; no Eliza census: William a widower, at Gt Hormead with 3 children, his mother Sarah, and Keziah a housekeeper Willam married Keziah LAWRENCE widow at Gt.Hormead William buried at Hormead

PRINCIPAL RECORDS

b=born m=married d=died

C=Christened B=Buried

BIRTH

Eliza was of Langley, Essex, when she married in 1828; there is a suitable baptism there in 1805, and the relatively uncommon name leaves little doubt that this is the correct baptism:

C 6Oct1805 Eliza d Thomas & Catherine GREAVES at Langley

MARRIAGE

From the CRANWELL family records it is known that Eliza GREAVES was married at Newport ESS:

m 22Jan1828 William CRANWELL & Eliza GRAVES of Langley

DESCENDANTS

William CRANWELL was from Gt Hormead, and their children were baptised there except for the William who was with William senior in the 1841 census aged 12, and is probably their eldest son:

Bc1828 William; [1841 census has William age 12 with William sen; not C at Hormead but probably eldest son]

from Gt.Hormead register:

C 25Oct1829 Thomas s William & Eliza CRANWELL, labourer; m 5Mar1853 Thomas CRANWELL bch 22 & Mary BRETT spr 20

C 12Sep1831 Mary d William & Eliza CRANWELL, labourer; B 8Jul1832 Mary CRANWELL 11m [b1831]

C 28Apr1833 Benjamin s William & Eliza CRANWELL, labourer; B 6Nov1836 Benjamin CRANWELL 3 [b1833]

C 4Feb1835 Sarah d William & Eliza CRANWELL, labourer

C 26Feb1837 George s William & Eliza CRANWELL, labourer

C 24Dec1838 John s William & Eliza CRANWELL, labourer

certificate:

b 16Dec1838 [no name] boy at Great Hormead fa: William CRANVAL, labourer; mo: Eliza CRANVAL formerly GRAVES

r 18Dec1838 at Buntingford, Bishops Stortford, HRT by Eliza X CRANVAL mother, of Great Hormead

DEATH

Eliza registered the birth of her last child, John, at Buntingford on 16Dec1838, but she was not with her family in the 1841 census. At this time, William and his family were living in Gt Hormead with a Keziah LAWRENCE. In the 1851 census, William was described as a widower and Keziah was still there as his housekeeper. Four years later, William married Keziah at Gt Hormead:

m 20Jan1855 William CRANWELL wdr 48 & Keziah LAWRENCE wid 50

It seems likely therefore that Eliza died between December 1838 and April 1841 and ceretainly before April 1851. However her death has not been found in the GRO indexes nor at the Hertfordshire Record Office, and there is no suitable burial at Gt.Hormead in this period. This creates an air of mystery about her death; the burials of Keziah and William's third wife are both found at Gt Hormead so why not Eliza? And why was Keziah installed as a housekeeper as early as 1841 but not married to William until 1855? After the death of the mother of a young family it was commonplace for the father to remarry within a year or so. Was there a reason that William and Keziah could not marry in this case? Did Eliza simply disappear?

CENSUS

1841 Gt Hormead HO107/443 f10

William CRANVILL 30 1810 ag lab y

William CRANVILL 12 1828 n

Thomas CRANVILL 10 1830 y

Sarah CRANVILL 4 1836 y

George CRANVILL 3 1837 y

Keziah LAWRENCE 40 1800 y

Stephen LAWRENCE 20 1820 ag lab y

1851 Gt Hormead, the village HO107/1707 f15

William CRANVILL he wdr 44 1806 ag lab Gt Hormead

Thomas CRANVILL so unm 22 1828 ag lab Gt Hormead

Sarah CRANVILL da unm 17 1833 Gt Hormead

George CRANVILL so unm 15 1835 ag lab Gt Hormead

Sarah CRANVILL mo wid 80 1770 pauper Clavering ESS

Keziah LAWRENCE ho wid 57 1793 [ho=housekeeper] Halesworth NFK

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