Events
Date of Birth: in the 1770s.
Place of Birth: Eccleshall, Staffordshire.
Eccleshall is given as Sarah’s place of birth in the 1851 census. Her age in that census and the age given at burial suggest that she was born in the early 1770s, but the two Sarah Peakes who were baptized in Eccleshall in the period were baptized in 1777 and 1778.
Date of Death: 3 December 1851.
Place of Death: Rome Street, Stoke upon Trent.
The date and place are recorded in the death registration.
Date of Burial: 8 December 1851.
Place of Burial: St Peter ad Vincula, Stoke upon Trent, Staffordshire.
The burial is recorded in the parish register.
Relationships
Father: uncertain.
Mother: uncertain.
A Sarah Peake was baptized in Eccleshall in January 1777, mother Eleanor Peake. Another Sarah was baptized in Eccleshall 21 August 1778, parents Richard Peake and Frances Underwood. Eleanor and Richard were siblings, children of John Peake and Eleanor Ward. It is also conceivable that Sarah was the Sarah Peake baptized in Madeley in 1774.
Spouse: William Harper. Married 8 January 1797, or shortly after. Banns read at Eccleshall, Staffordshire.
The banns were read in Eccleshall, Staffordshire on 25 December 1796, and 1 January and 8 January 1797. Both were "of this parish".
Children:
(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)
(Probably) Abraham Harper (buried 9 August 1871 in Madeley) married (1) Ann Harding 22 January 1818 in Madeley; married (2) Jane Steele 11 August 1845 in Wolstanton, Staffordshire.
William Harper (baptized 10 June 1802 in Whitmore, Staffordshire - buried 14 March 1878 in Fenton, Staffordshire) married (1) Sarah Bradshaw 22 February 1829 in Fulford, Staffordshire; married (2) Ellen Alcock in 1840.
Thomas Harper (baptized 20 April 1806 in Whitmore - died 1878) married Elizabeth Cope 19 July 1829 in Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire.
Sarah Harper (born 28 February 1808, baptized 9 March 1808 in Madeley, Staffordshire - buried 22 August 1860 in Stoke-upon-Trent) probably married Thomas Vernon.
John Harper (baptized 21 June 1810 in Whitmore).
Elizabeth Harper (possibly born about 1810 and buried 10 December 1832 in Stoke upon Trent) married Richard Woodfield 20 July 1830 in Stoke upon Trent, Staffordshire. Elizabeth had a daughter Ann, possibly with Richard, in 1824.
Jane Harper (or Ann) (born about 1817 or 1819 in Stoke upon Trent) married George Dawson 31 May 1846 in Bucknall, St Mary, Staffordshire. (Jane’s father is recorded as William in her marriage record.) The name on the marriage record and in the 1841 census is "Jane". "Ann" is recorded in the the 1851 census and probably as a witness to her brother William's 1829 marriage.
Evidence
1841 Census
Stoke upon Trent, Penkhull
Welch Street
James Poole, 50, Labourer, Y
Mary [Poole], 40, Y
John [Poole], 15, Y
Samuel [Poole], 12, Y
Sarah Harper, 65, N
Jane [Harper], 20, Potter, Y
William Woodfi[ield], 15, [Potter], Y
1851 Census
Stoke upon Trent, 7 Rome Street
George Dawson, Head, Mar., 26, Fruit Dealer, [born] Stoke on Trent
Ann [Dawson], wife, Mar., 33, [born] Stoke on Trent
Sarah Harper, Mother in Law, Widow, 80, [born] Eccleshall
William Woodfield, Nephew, Mar, 19, Potters Oven Man, [born] Stoke on Trent
Ann [Woodfield], Niece, Mar, 26, House Servant, [born] Stoke on Trent
Death Registration
no 21
Third December 1851 Rome Street Stoke upon Trent
Sarah Harper
Female
79 years
Widow of John Harper Labourer
Old age, Not Certified
Thomas Vernon present at the Death Wharf Street, Shelton
Fifth December 1851
Jno. James Registrar
Burial (Stoke upon Trent, St Peter ad Vincula, 1851):
Name: Sarah Harper
Abode: Stoke
When Buried: Dec 8
Age: 79 years
Commentary
The evidence concerning this family is a little incomplete and confusing, so there may be errors here. The main issue is whether there is a man who is sometimes referred to as John Harper and sometimes as William Harper, or whether these are two different people. I think they are probably identical. The main relevant evidence is this:
In the 1841 census, Sarah Harper, 65, is living in Welch Street in Penkhull with Jane Harper, 20, and William Woodf[ield], potter, 15.
In the 1851 census, George Dawson, aged 26, is living in Rome Street, Penkhull, with:
his wife, Ann, 33;
his mother-in-law Sarah Harper, 80
his nephew William Woodfield, 19
his niece Ann Woodfield, 26.
The December 1851 death registration of Sarah Harper, aged 79, of Rome Street, Penkhull, records that her husband was John Harper, labourer. The informant was one Thomas Vernon of Wharf Street, Shelton. The 1851 census shows that Thomas Vernon, 41, of Wharf Street, was married to Sarah, 41, born in Madeley, Staffordshire.
The Bucknall parish register records the marriage in 1846 of George Dawson, aged 22 and Jane Harper, aged 27, father William Harper, labourer.
It seems likely that the Jane Harper in the 1841 census and the 1846 marriage, and the Ann Dawson in the 1851 census, are the same person. It also seems likely that the William Harper who was recorded as Jane Harper’s father in her 1846 marriage registration is identical with the John Harper who was recorded as Sarah Harper’s late husband in Sarah’s death registration.
The informant Thomas Vernon was probably married to the Sarah Harper who was baptized in Madeley in 1808, the daughter of William Harper, labourer, and his wife Sarah. The 1851 census shows that Thomas’s wife Sarah was aged 41 and born in Madeley. The birth registration for Thomas and Sarah’s son John records that Sarah’s maiden name was Elson, but I think this is probably some kind of error. John gave the middle name Harper to one of his children.
It seems pretty clear that the Sarah Harper in the censuses is the Sarah who married William Harper in 1797 in Eccleshall. Her birthplace in 1851 is recorded as Eccleshall. The father of the Jane Harper who married George Dawson, and who it seems clear was Sarah’s daughter, is recorded as William Harper. The William Harper who was baptized in Whitmore in 1802, the son of William Harper and Sarah, was living in Penkhull in 1831. The Sarah Harper who was baptized in Madeley in 1808, the daughter of William Harper and Sarah, apparently married the Thomas Vernon who was the informant for Sarah’s death registration.
It could be that Thomas Vernon simply got the name wrong when he gave Sarah’s late husband’s name as John Harper instead of William, but I think it is also possible that William was also known as John. An Abraham Harper was born in Podmore, in the parish of Eccleshall, in about 1794-7, was married in Madeley in 1818; and was living in Penkhull in 1841 and in Madeley in 1851, 1861, and 1871. In the marriage registration for Abraham’s second marriage, his father is recorded as John Harper, joiner. Perhaps Abraham was William/John and Sarah’s eldest son.
References
George Dawson household, 1851 census of England. Staffordshire, Stoke upon Trent,, ED 1b, piece 2006, folio 38, page 4, in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1851; digital image Ancestry.com (accessed 7 November 2015).
James Poole household, 1841 census of England. Staffordshire, Stoke upon Trent, Fenton, Stoke upon Trent; HO107, piece 991, book 13, folio 33, page 39, in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1841; digital image Ancestry.com (accessed 12 April 2014).
Staffordshire, parish registers. [Digital images on Findmypast.co.uk, accessed 7 November 2015]