Mary West [Vanson]  1794 – 1873

Corrections: Mary West married John Vanson 1815 Barham. John Vanson died 1825. Mary West/Vanson remarried 1828 Tilmanstone

http://www.barham-kent.org.uk/Genealogy_MIs.htm has Barham baptisms from 1700 to 1837, and some marriages.

Details of how I proved that Elizabeth Rousell's ,1838, mother was born as Mary West and not as the Mary Vanson given on Elizabeth's 1838 b.c. are given at end of this section.

1794. Mary West baptised 21/12/1794 to Thomas West & Catherine[Whitnall] West. Barham

1815. Mary West marries John Vanson on 3/9/1815 Barham -FMP . John Vanson b.1790 Woodnesborough : details of his provenance at end of this page.

1816. 25/02/1816 Sarah Vanson baptised to John & Mary Vanson .Barham

1817. 16/11/1817 Robert Vanson baptised to John & Mary Vanson. Barham

1825. 30/01/1825 Mary Ann baptised to John & Mary Anne Vanson, Barham.. Baptised again Tilmanstone on 26/6/1826 to Mary, widow She was buried 1/6/1825 - FMP

1824. John Vanson, aged 35, was buried 24/10/1824 Barham _ East Kent Burial Index, FMP. . Thus Mary Ann could be his daughter.

1828 Mary Vanson married James Rowsell in Tilmanstone on 17/9/1828- FMP .

From here her life merges with that of James Rousell: more info., like census images, on his page

1828 – 1834   3 children born. The eldest, Ellen, was born in Tilmanstone, 6m. east of Barham, the next two in Barham.

1838. Elizabeth Anne Rousell born, seemingly as a twin, 7/02/1838. Father a labourer, mother, Mary, formerly Vanson, seemingly could write; birth registered 2/3/1838. Have Elizabeth's b.c. which has a time of birth on it. No b.c.or d.c for the twin, so assume he/she died at birth. Her baptism was 25/6/1838 in Barham

1841 Jemima Rousell born .Registered Mar 1841 Rousell Jemima Bridge 5 40. Baptised 4/04/1841.

1841 Census. Mary Rowsell , 43, living in Dissington Street, Barham. [page 9 of District 3, only found through trawling all Barham entries: no seeming transcription in any spurious name!]. All born Kent.

This Robert Vanson married Charlotte Sutton 19/02/1843 in Bishopsbourne. He is of full age, labourer servant, Barham, with father, John Vanson, labourer[ not given as deceased!]. Charlotte is 19. Her father Davidson - odd! Witnesses were Mary Ann Rousell, her mark,- likely his mother, but nowhere else called MaryAnn and she could seemingly - but suspect not! - write in 1838 when she registered Elizabeth's birth!!, but it could be his sister,Mary Ann Vanson born 1825 who had taken her step-father's name- & David Sutton, his mark.. Both Robert & Charlotte signed with their mark.

Her mother Catherine West 65 is still alive and living in Barham with a married sister, Caroline[Gibbens], her husband Edward and son John 9 mths.

1842.  Jemima Rousell probably died 'Jun', Bridge, 5.29, down as Jemima Ronsell. No burial on East Kent Burial Index, FMP

1851C. Mary Rousell, 54, living in Deringstone, Barham. [page 7 of District 6b.]

 1861C.   Still in Barham  as Mary Roussell, married, b. Barham, 65, living at Derringston as head of household with 4 lodgers, ag.labourer's wife but no James! [Barham District 7, p. 15 of 21]

      James Rousel is a servant, married, at Shilinger?[ nr.Ropers Sole], Barham, shepherd, aged 56, b.Caple-le-Ferne, Kent [Barham District 6 p. 8 of 27]

1871C.    Mary found mistranscribed as Bourell !!. Living at Derringstone, Barham.  Aged 77, mar., formerly laundress, with daughter, Elizabeth Robinson, 29. [Barham District 7. p. 15 of 20] . And very close by is another daughter, Ellen Gale, and 2 grandchildren, whose mother Susannah had died in 1864

. . . . . . . .James Rousell, aged 67, mar., servant, shepherd, at Shibinger?,[next to Ropers Sole Farm], Barham. [Barham District 6. p.2 of 24]

1872.  Husband, James Rousell dies, age given as 66, 23/8/1872, farm labourer, in the Union Workhouse, Bridge. Buried on 24/8/1872 . Have his d.c.

1873. Mary Rowsell died 5/12/1873, age given as 79, [suggesting birth c1794], widow of James Rowsell, farm labourer, in Derringstone, Barham. Cause of death 'Serans Apoplexy 2 days', informant Sarah West, same[vague] address. .Have d.c. This Sarah West [Page] was the widow of Mary's second cousin, Edward West 1806-1869 [see above tree] . Buried 11/12/1873 Barham- FMP

History of how I determined that the Mary Vanson who was the stated mother of my gggrandmother, Elizabeth Rousell 1838, was not born as Mary Vanson.

Thought I was looking for a Mary Vanson born about 1796 in Barham. Her death cert. implies a 1794/5 birth.[this would have her giving birth to twins at age 43 and at 46 for Jemima]. But no baptism found on IGI [or above Barham site - only discovered Nov.2008]. Having searched IGI & censuses, I got 3 certs.-Feb2008- to help search, but was still baffled.

A breakthrough came from the purchase of Mary Rousell's 1873 d.c. The fact that a Sarah West was the informant on it led me to track this neighbour in the 1871C back through the censuses,1861,1851,1841, and she would have married Edward 1805 probably 1832/3. I then obtained her maiden name from the 1839 birth of her daughter , Sarah- Dec 1839 West Sarah Bridge 5 33.: her maiden was Sarah A. Page , so she was thus not the daughter, Sarah Vanson1816, of Mary Rousell/Vanson as I suspected. At this stage I realized that it could be instead Edward West who was related to Mary ! In my Rousell folder[on paper!] I have noted all these census results for West and also have all the IGI findings on Vanson.

I had always been sure that Mary, c1794/5, was related to Robert Vanson,1817, since he was living with her family in 1841C. But,….how? This Robert Vanson married Charlotte Sutton 19/02/1843 in Bishopsbourne. He was of full age, labourer servant, Barham, with fathe ,John Vanson, labourer. Charlotte is 19. One of the witnesses was Mary Ann Rousell, her mark.[although Elizabeth Rousell's 1838 b.c. indicated that Mary could write!] One possibility was that Robert was a very much younger brother[and he was not an illegitimate son as his father is given as a John Vanson]. Another possibility was that she was his mother: thus a Mary[Ann] X would have married a John Vanson c1815 and then he died and the widowed MaryAnn Vanson remarried James Rousell 1825-1828. I then found on Ancestry, Moore-Boss family file, a marriage, no date given, of a John Vanson,1793, to Mary West, 1794. And on the Barham site is a 1794 baptism of a Mary West..

Eureka! - this confirmed that my ggggrandmother was indeed Mary West, b.1794, Barham

.[ Still need to find the parish records of both marriages of Mary West in Canterbury/Maidstone Archives.. Think the Barham site marriage list could just be marriages by licence].

Earlier Wests.- shown on tree at top of page.

Quote from Rich West email contact - descended from Wilfred West 1874-1972.

 Richard 1639 being my namesake. Back then the family still had the old version of the name  
the PRs indicate-this being "de Weste" but it was in the process of being simplified to just 
"West" so there is no new information on Richard 1639. In fact I have been stuck on him for 
many years..the PR for his marriage gives no information that could act as a clue to anyone 
further back. Its a shame because at the time of his birth earlier that century there are 
Wests about 17 miles away that are related way back through the Norman conquest to the 
Angevin kings of France in the first millenium AD! 

 

Vansons.

All this info. is no longer really relevant to my tree, as the Vanson name was just adopted by marriage of Mary West to John Vanson. .

All this info. is no longer really relevant to my tree, as the Vanson name was just adopted by marriage of Mary West to John Vanson. .

.George and Sarah Vanson's children were:
(George who married Sarah Uden - 1753 in Shepherdswell, Kent)
(Sarah having died, George married a second time - 1767 in Staple - no issue)

Ann (1753) - Sarah (1756) - Elisabeth (1758) - John (1760) -
George (1762/1752?? mistake somewhere, prob. on my tree) - Mary (1765) when Sarah died in childbirth

George and Sarah Vanson's children were:
(George who married Sarah Curling - 13th October 1787 at Woodnesborough)

George (1788) - John (1790) - Robert (1793), all b. in Woodnesborough.
Joseph (1795) - William (1797) - Stephen (1799), all b. in Goodnestone.
Richard (1802) - Henry (1805), both born in Barham…… (8 sons!!)

.http://www.barham-kent.org.uk/Genealogy_MIs.htm

Think I sent a message to Ancestry Moore-Boss family tree 1/12/2008. Now in contact with Mike Boss, who also has a Genes tree.

MartinDodson family tree on Ancestry: sent him a message 3/12/2008.

Details, also a photo on Jean Laing's genes tree, found on Genes tree- Brian Bradley - of Edward West 1806-1869, whose widow Sarah was the informant on Mary Rousell's death 1873.

 

James Rousell

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