• Sarah Maria (Jacob*), Maria Ann (Plattin), Jane (Dew), Naomi (later Naomi Bond)
• James Collins of Strood, Kent
• John Thompson of Blakeney, Mariner
• John Norman of St Catherines Middlesex, Ship Agent
• Henry Ramm, Clay (sic), Mariner

Sarah Maria's married surname was written as "Jacob" in this document, but in the probate of her son, Jacob Jacobs (available from the same site) it is written, and she signed, as "Jacobs."

18th September 1813
Jane Dew and Naomi Cozens two of the within named Executrix's were sworn in due form of Law before the Rev'd John Burrell clk ("clk" scored through) Sure:

At Runcton 21st Sept'r 1813
Sarah Maria Jacob and Maria Ann Plattin two other Executrixes within named were sworn in due form of Law before the Rev'd P. Johnson clk ("clk" scored through) Surr: to the Affl.?
Effects under £100
(Power reserved for James Collins the Executor within named to act hc?)
Ex'd Robt Powley, Jr (signature)

Source:

Norfolk Record Office. Probate 1800-1857. Archdeaconry of Norwich Court, 1813; Probate of John Murrell, William Cozens. Microfilm. Image online: Norfolk Sources Images GS_0173389/17964.jpg and GS_0173389/17965.jpg

Update 20 May 2010: A new version of the image & PDF file is available. Thanks go to Robert Price for pointing out that I had incorrect marriage information for Edward Murrell Baines (son of Edward Baley Baines). The new image & PDF file have the correct information for his marriage, as well as that of his cousin, Edward Murrell Baines (son of Murrell Baines).

The post about the 1841 Blakeney census led me to revisit the 1837 marriage of Jacob Jary (son of Lane & Anne Southgate Jary)[1] and Sarah Baines, which was witnessed by John Baines and Deborah Baines.[2] Jacob & Sarah Jary had a daughter the following year and named her Deborah,[3] so I figured the name was significant in the Baines family.

We have some of the Blakeney parish registers on microfilm, so I started looking for Baines baptisms. I soon found the record of the birth and christening of Sarah Claxson Baines, daughter of "Wm & Mary Baines late Claxson" in 1817.[3] I also found several other baptisms and christenings of children of this couple, including that of a son, John, in 1812,[5] and a daughter, Deborah, in 1819,[3] who were probably the wedding witnesses.

I also found several records of the children of another Baines couple, John & Sarah (Murrell) Baines. I kept looking, and soon found the baptism record for William, son of "John & Sarah Banes late Murrel" in August 1792.[4] This couple also christened two daughters with the name Deborah, both of whom died in childhood.[4]

It became apparent that I was looking at multiple generations of the Baines family, and it didn't take long to get confusing. I decided to start a chart to help me visualise all the connections. (Click the image for a larger version; a zoomable PDF is available for download here.)

Descendants of John Baines & Sarah Murrell

The chart contains two generations of the descendants of John and Sarah Murrell Baines. The information in it was taken from parish registers and the 1841, 1851, and 1861 England censuses. It is by no means complete or definitive, and we welcome corrections and/or additions. (We're also happy to furnish complete source citations to researchers of this family; just drop us an email.)

Going back to the name Deborah, what this chart does not show is that William and Deborah Warnes, late Baines, named a son Frederic DeRidder Warnes in Feb 1812.[5]

In December of that year, Fradrik and Mary Baines DeRidder baptised a daughter, Maria.[5]

Naming their child Frederic DeRidder Warnes suggests that William and Deborah Baines Warnes had a close relationship with Fradrik and Mary Baines DeRidder. I suspect that Deborah and Mary were sisters, and that John Baines, husband of Sarah Murrell, may have been their brother.

Estimating his year of birth from the 1841 census, John Baines would have been born around 1765. I have looked back into the mid-1700s in the Blakeney registers, but the earliest Baines baptism I have found (so far) has been the one mentioned earlier of William Baines, son of John & Sarah Murrell Baines, in 1792. As our microfilm collection grows (hint to Santa), we may find them in one of the surrounding parishes.

Sources:

• [1] Morston Parish Registers Baptisms 1813-1900. NRO. PD478. MF1000/11
• [2] Blakeney Parish Registers Marriages 1813-1837. NRO. PD619. MF692/4
• [3] Blakeney Parish Registers: Baptisms 1813-1840. NRO. PD619 MF691/30
• [4] Blakeney General Register 1789-1809. NRO. PD619. MF691/28
• [5] Blakeney Parish Registers Baptisms & Burials 1807 - 1812. NRO. PD619. MF691/29

The census was to be a list of all persons who spent the night of 6 June 1841 in the house, not necessarily of all persons who lived in that house. If a man was at sea overnight, he was probably not listed in his household with the rest of his family.

Page numbers are as printed on the images. In the interest of readability, long comments are noted below the main table.

This will be an ongoing project, and I'll update it as our research catches up.

Comments

*Great page on enumerators' instructions here

Sources

• [1] Stiffkey Register Index. NRO. PD492. HMN6-364: F-L
• [2] Blakeney Parish Registers Marriages 1813-1837. NRO. PD619. MF692/4
• [3] Blakeney Parish Registers Baptisms & Burials 1807 - 1812. NRO. PD619. MF691/29
• [4] Morston Parish Registers. NRO PD478. 1700-1812: Registration of Baptisms 1700-1811; Registration of Marriages 1701-1754; Burials 1700-1812. (Microfiche)
• [5] Blakeney Parish Registers: Baptisms 1813-1840 PD619 MF691/30
• [6] Marriage certificate: Thomas Dew & Jemima Jary. GRO. 1858 Mar Erpingham. Vol 4b, Page 85, Entry no. 127.
• [7] NRO. Probate 1800-1857. Archdeaconry of Norwich Court, 1813; Probate of William Cozens. Microfilm.
• [8] Norfolk Marriages. Hamlin, Philip. Norfolk Family History Society. 2002. CD-ROM.
• [9] Morston Parish Registers Baptisms 1813-1900. NRO. PD478.  MF1000/11
• [10] Cley-Next-the-Sea Parish Registers: Baptisms 1813-1841 PD270 MF694/22

The image below is a timeline of the all the events in Jemima Jary Dew's life which we have been able to document to date. Seventeen events. That's not much to go on in trying to reconstruct a lifetime.

Documented events in Jemima Jary's life

Still, these seventeen lines give us a glimpse of Jemima's life. She was thirty-three when she married Thomas Dew, who was 41 at the time. According to their marriage certificate, Thomas was a bachelor, and Jemima was a spinster. Thomas's occupation was given as "Mariner" and there was a ditto mark below that for Jemima's occupation. Presumably, then, they were both mariners when they got married. (Image excerpt & discussion of Jemima's occupation here.)

There are so many questions hidden in these seventeen lines.

Why hadn't either of them married earlier? There could have been any number of reasons. I like to think it was because they were waiting for each other.*

What caused the deaths of their infant sons? They were both buried on the same day; did they both die on the same day? What happened? Was it illness? A fire? Were both Thomas and Jemima there when they died, or was Thomas at sea and did Jemima have to endure it alone, then break the horrible news to Thomas when he came back into port?

It appears that Jemima and Thomas moved to Blakeney between the time of the 1861 census and the birth of their son, Jacob Jary Dew, in 1864. Her mother died in 1863 in Cley-next-the-Sea, so the move could have been after that. What prompted the move?

Jemima died when their son was only five years old. The cause of death was tuberculosis, so she was most likely ill for some time before her death. What must that time have been like for the family? Who took care of her? Did she know she was probably going to die and leave a young son? Was she part of the decision that Jacob should live with his aunt, Mary Taylor Dew Irland, or did Thomas decide that after her death?

And what became of Thomas after Jemima's death? Did he remarry? We have been unable to find him so far  in documents between Jemima's death in 1869 and his own death in late December 1880 at the Union Workhouse and burial at Blakeney in January 1881.

Jemima and Thomas had about eleven years of marriage together before her death. It's probably safe to assume that for at least part of that time, Thomas was at sea, hence Jemima's enumeration in the 1861 census in her mother's household. Presumably, then, there were some lonely days and nights for both Jemima and Thomas. In that respect, their lives probably weren't much different from those of their neighbours.

We know they endured tragedy with the deaths of their sons, and there had to have been sadness and fear as Jemima fell ill and it became evident that she was going to die.  I hope they had times of great joy during those eleven years as well.

Sources:

• 1851 England Census. The National Archives, Kew. District 5b, Cley-next-the-Sea. Household 52.  [Class:  HO107; Piece: 1809; Folio: 709; Page: 13; GSU roll: 207461-207462.] (Image from Ancestry.com)
• 1861 England Census. The National Archives, Kew. District 12, Cley-next-the-Sea. Household 156. [RG9; Piece:  1203; Folio:  166; Page:  22; GSU roll:  542774.] (Image from Ancestry.com)
• 1871 England Census The National Archives, Kew. [Class: RG10; Piece: 1854; Folio: 23; Page: 20; GSU roll: 838814.] (Image from Ancestry.com)
• Marriage certificate: Thomas Dew & Jemima Jary. GRO. 1858 Mar Erpingham. Vol 4b, Page 85, Entry no. 127.
• Marriage certificate: Samuel Jarvis & Adelaide Jary. GRO. 1854 Mar Erpingham Vol 4b, Page 97
• Cley Next the Sea Parish Registers: Burials 1855–1908. PD270 MF695/5. P10: No 80 & P11: No 81
• Death certificate: Jemima Dew. GRO. 1869 Dec Walsingham. Vol 4b, Page 197.
• Cley Next the Sea Parish Registers: Burials 1855–1908. NRO PD270 MF695/5 P 20, No 159
• Death certficate: Thomas Dew. GRO. 1881 Mar Walsingham. Vol 4b, Page 211.
• Blakeney Parish Register: Burials 1855 - 1900. NRO. PD619 MF692/7. Page 41 and Page 67; 1880-1.

*(It should probably be noted that the engineer half of this blog - the direct descendant of Thomas and Jemima - cringed at the mushiness of that sentence. But it's staying.)

Or does it mean "Wife of Thomas Dew" and "Mariner," meaning that she was the wife of Thomas Dew and also a mariner herself?

Excerpt from Jemima Dew's death certificate

I suspect it means her occupation was being Thomas Dew's wife. At the time of her death, Jemima and Thomas had a five-year-old son, Jacob Jary Dew. When she was enumerated in the 1861 census, her occupation had been given as "Mariners Wife."

Still, I wonder why Thomas's occupation was listed in column 5 at all. He was the informant; his occupation could have been given in column 7, as his description.

I think I probably have a soft spot for Jemima. She had, reading between the lines, a rough life; both she and Thomas did, and that will be the subject of a later post. I just think it's a little sad that even on her own death certificate, her husband's occupation was listed rather than her own.

UPDATE! 29 October 2009: While preparing a post about Jemima's life this morning, I took a closer look at their marriage certificate. If ditto marks meant the same thing then as they do now, then Jemima WAS a mariner!

Excerpt from Thomas Dew & Jemima Jary's marriage certificate

I feel better for Jemima now. Maybe her own occupation was, indeed, listed on her death certificate.

(Not only that, this blog is already doing one of the things I had hoped it would do: clarifying our research. We've had this certificate for almost three years, and have looked at it no telling how many times. Neither of us noticed this before. There's always something new. Isn't genealogy fun?)

Sources:

• Death certificate: Jemima Dew. General Register Office, UK. 1869 Dec Walsingham. Vol 4b, Page 197.
• 1861 England Census. District 12, Cley-next-the-Sea. Household 156. RG9; Piece:  1203; Folio:  166; Page:  22; GSU roll:  542774.
• Marriage certificate: Thomas Dew and Jemima Jary. GRO. 1858 Mar Erpingham. Vol 4b, Page 85, Entry no. 127.

First page of the Blakeney Parish Register of Baptisms 1813-1840

1. William Dew, christened 27 January 1813 (first entry in this register)
2. John Dew, christened 30 October 1814
3. Thomas Dew, born 21 June 1816, christened 23 June 1816
4. George Dew, born 28 October 1818, christened 1 November 1818 (there is a mark in the christening entry indicating " dead")
5. Edmund Dew, born 29 October 1818, christened 1 November 1818 (Presumably George and Edmund were twins; George born on the 28th October, and Edmund born after midnight on the 29th. However, the parish register does not say they were twins.)
6. George Dew, born 31 October 1820, christened 5 November 1820
7. Henry Dew, born 24 August 1822, christened 25 August 1822
8. Mary Taylor Dew, born 22 November 1823, christened 4 December 1823 (Presumably died in infancy; note the baptism two years later of a child with the same name. We have not found this Mary Taylor's burial record yet.)
9. Mary Taylor Dew, baptised 25 May 1825
10. Charles Dew, born 21 January 1826, baptised 15 June 1828

Sources:
CD-ROM: Norfolk Marriages 1801 - 1837. Philip Hamlin. Norfolk Family History Society, 2002.

Blakeney Parish Register, Baptisms 1813-1840. NRO. PD619, MF691/30.

Jacob Jary Dew

Jacob's parents, according to his birth certificate, were Thomas Dew (occupation Mariner) and Jemima Dew, formerly Jary. Jemima was the informant, and her residence as given as Blakeney.

Jacob was enumerated in the 1871 census in Blakeney, living in the household of Mary T. Irland, 47, widow. Jacob J Dew (7) is listed as Mary's nephew. The other household occupants were Mary's daughters Mary J (14) and Sarah (8), her sons Charles D (14) and Edmund D (12), and her brother, John Dew (56, unmarried, Fisherman). Blakeney was listed as the birthplace of all occupants.

Of course, our first thought on seeing Jacob enumerated in his aunt's household was, "Where were his parents?" We eventually found out that Jemima died in 1869, of "Phthisis" (Tuberculosis). Thomas was still living, and was most likely at sea, having obtained his Master's Certificate in the Coasting & Foreign Trades in 1858. We have been unable to locate Thomas in the 1871 census.

Jacob next appeared in the 1881 England Census as an "O Seaman" on the vessel Palmer in London (at anchor in N. Woolwich). Others on board were William Bowles, 40, Master; William Starling, 38, Mate, and Loda Thompson, 29, A.B. All were born in Blakeney.

The next place we have found Jacob was in Glamorgan, Wales in 1893, when he married Mary Louisa Harris. We have found no other documentation for Jacob until his death in 1947, at age 83, in Penarth, East Glamorgan, Wales. We assume this is because he was at sea, as Mary Louisa and their children were enumerated in the 1901 census in Penarth. Jacob's occupation as described on his death certificate was "a Retired able Bodied Seaman."

Sources:

• Birth Certificate - Jacob Jary Dew [1864 Dec Walsingham. Vol 4b, Page 299, Entry No. 355.]
• Death Certificate - Jemima Dew [1869 Dec Walsingham. Vol 4b, Page 197.]
• Marriage Certificate - Jacob Jary Dew & Mary Louisa Harris [1893 Jun Cardiff. Vol 11a, Page 487.]
• Death Certificate - Jacob Jary Dew [1947 Dec E. Glamorgan. Vol 8b, Page 289, Entry no. 25]
• 1871 England Census [Class: RG10; Piece: 1854; Folio: 23; Page: 20; GSU roll: 838814.]
• 1881 England Census [Class: RG11; Piece: 748; Folio: 175; Page: -8; GSU roll: 1341175.]
• Master's Certificate of Service - Thomas Dew [No. 73.566; 6 March 1858] (Copy courtesy of Pamela Peake.)