Sarah Jane Venn/Addicott/Taylor of Somerset and California: 1843 - 1914
Sarah Jane Venn was the eldest daughter of William and Elizabeth Venn, born 26 June 1843. It may just be coincidence, however, Sarah was also the name of William's mother and Jane his sister; this would follow other naming conventions within the family.
Sarah Jane was baptised in Bishops Lydeard 16 July 1843. There is anectodotal evidence that she was born at Hoccombe House in Lydeard St. Lawrence, however, it is difficult to understand why that would have been.
She grew up at Middle Tarr, Lydeard St. Lawrence and married James Addicott at Lydeard St. Lawrence Parish Church on 7 September 1864, when she was aged 21. James was a farmer's son, his family had farmed in the Huish Champflower/Clatworthy area.
Official Wedding Photograph of James and Sarah Jane Addicott, September 1864.
courtesy of Kenneth K. Addicott, 1998
After their marriage to some time in early 1868, James and Sarah Jane lived in Skilgate. There is very little hard evidence of their time there. According to information passed through her family, four children were born in this time; John, Annie, Lydia and Lilley. (This would be possible if at least some were twins; Sarah Jane had twins later on) However, John and Annie did not survive. Only Lilley's birth has been found formally recorded, in 1865.
Between 1868 and 1871, James and Sarah Jane were farming Luddery Hill in Churchstanton. This farm was next door to Beer Hill, the famr being farmed by Sarah Jane's brother, Esau. Whilst they were there, their fifth child, James, was born, in the farmhouse on 23 Feb 1868
Luddery Hill Farm, Churchstanton
In 1871, James, Sarah Jane and their three surviving chidren, Lilley, Lydia and James, emigrated to the US. This seems to have been part of a major emigration by members of the Venn and Langdon family to the US. I hope that one day we will discover more about this emmigration: how it came about, who else went and why they chose Ohio as the place for them all to initially settle. At this stage I am not even sure if they all went together or whether some family members went first and others followed later.
The next recorded event is the death of Sarah Jane's husband in Chico, California in 1874. He was aged 34. Sarah Jane gave birth to a baby girl the following July, Emma. Emma was born in Warren, Ohio. This would suggest that either Sarah Jane had made the 2500 mile journey back to Ohio after the death of her husband or James had not been in Chico very long at the time of his death. The railroad had come to California by this time but it was still a long distance.
It would be very interesting to know why James was in Chico. Its possible that he had gone in search of land. Alternatively, there is a story that Noah Venn, Sarah Jane's younger brother, made a significant sum of money through finding gold in California - even though the Gold Rush was over by this time. Perhaps James went with Noah.
Sarah Jane married again, to the Rev. David Taylor. Very little is known about this marriage except that it produced twin girls, Helen and Eva. This means that Sarah had eight children in total, six of which survived to adulthood.
Sarah Jane died in Felton, California on 4th September 1914 when she was just 62. We are missing a lot of information about her life, which sounds incredibly interesting. May be one day, may be through this website, one of her descendants can help us piece the rest of her life together.
Sarah Jane Taylor (seated) and Helen Venn Addicott (eldest daughter of Sarah Jane's son, James). Photo taken in 1913 when Helen was 13 and Sarah Jane 60.
Photo courtesy of Kenneth K. Addicott, 1998
We know that this US branch of the family was in contact with the original Somerset branch for some years. Photos have been found of a visit made by Sarah Jane and James´s daughter, Emma Addicott, now married and called Emma Painton, to Somerset in 1925. Her elder sister, Lydia - now called Lydia Cauch - took the photos. There is a possibility that their Amercian cousin, Elva Venn, accompanied them on part of this trip as a photo has been found.
In July 1932 another visit was made. This time photos record Emma and her husband (Dr. Harry Painton) visiting Job Venn and family at Ham House, West Buckland. After that, there is no more evidence of any visits.
Grave marker for Sarah Jane and her husband, Rev. David Taylor, in Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, San Mateo County, Colma, California.
Photo courtesy of Larry White, Findagrave.com