Spouse(s)
Joseph Jacobs

Child(ren)
Joseph Jacobs
Anna Jacobs
James Jacobs
Mary Jacobs
Martha Jacobs Thomas Jacobs

Biography

Mary Jacobs married William Scott on August 8, 1856. On the marriage record we see that her father is Joseph Jacobs. The marriage takes place at Westbourne Sussex. The Westbourne church has one christening of a Mary Jacobs with the right time for it to be the christening of 'our' Mary Jacobs, namely that of June 1st, 1834. This christening record identifies Mary's mother as 'Ann'. (note: this birthdate is before the onset of central registry of births in England, however the two younger children were born after that date and it will be possible to get their births certificates -- such certificates will allow confirmation that Ann's maiden name is White).

Searching the IGI for a marriage record for a Joseph Jacobs with an 'Ann' in the appropriate time period, and in that part of England, only reveals one such match. That of Ann White and Joseph Jacobs at Petersfield, Hants (just a few miles to the west of Harting and about 12 miles north of Portsmouth) on April 19, 1824.

Searching the christening records in that area and census returns, reveals the list of children shown in the leftmost column, the first of whom, Joseph Jacobs, Jr., was born in 1824-25, according to his information on the 1861 census.

The 1881 census of Great Britain provides the following information on Ann Jacobs. She was 77 at that time, giving a birth date between March 2 1803 and March 1 1804. She is listed as being the head of a household of six people, two of whom are sons, Joseph and James, and three of whom are grandchildren, the children of James (since Joseph is listed as being unmarried). She is a widow and a general labourer. She gives her place of birth as Harting, Sussex. She is living in Westbourne, Sussex, where she lived from about 1828 onwards.

Looking for a christening record for an Ann White in that time period we find only one such match in the IGI. She was christened at Harting Sussex on March 18, 1804. This record identifies her parents as Thomas White and his wife Ann.

Of her several children (listed in the left column) my direct ancestor is her daughter Mary who was born about 1830 and married William Scott in August 1856. Mary pre-deceased her mother and William in 1873. Interetingly, another daughter Martha, married William's brother John on Dec. 26, 1856.

Westbourne, just outside of Portsmouth and just across the county border, in Sussex, was a rural farm community at that time and it is possible that she was a field worker on the farms. It was about a three mile walk from the area in which William and John were working.

We have two photos taken probably in the 1860's of ladies who are identified as the parents of William Scott and Mary Jacobs, daughter of Ann. It is not clear which photo is that of Ann so I include both here, hoping to be able to make a positive identification at later date.

According to Lillian Scott, her great granddaughter, Ann lived to be 100 years of age and so her death would have occured after 1903. This should allow us to obtain her death certificate at some future date.

We need to obtain the following additional information on Ann through records that will be available:

Sources

1. marriage reference in Buriton, Hants
2. mentioned in Christening records of her children
3. 1881 census of Britain
4. personal notes of great grandaughter Lillian (Scott) (Fry)
5. photos courtesy of great great granddaughter Iris Gourtage

Is this she

or is this?