Thomas Worden and Jane Huntington
According to a parish register entry transcription obtained from the Devon Family History Society, a Thomas Worden and a Jane Huntington were married at St Andrew's, Plymouth, on 1/10/1833. I believe that these people are the Thomas and Jane Worden appearing in the following census records from 1841, 1851 and 1861 respectively.
| Poltreworgey, Endellion Parish: | |||||
| Name | Sex | Age | Occupation | Birthplace | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Worden | M | 45 | Farmer | Cornwall | |
| Jane Worden | F | 30 | Cornwall | ||
| Thomas Worden | M | 5 | Cornwall | ||
| Isaac Worden | M | 3 | Cornwall | ||
| Elizabeth Huntington | F | 60 | Ind | Cornwall | |
| Mary Bate | F | 12 | Female Servant | Cornwall | |
| Tresungars, Endellion Parish: | |||||
| Name | Rel | Status | Age | Occupation | Birthplace |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Worden | Head | M | 56 | Farmer Of 120 Acres | Endellion, Cornwall |
| Jane Worden | Wife | M | 44 | St Germans, Cornwall | |
| Thomas Worden | Son | U | 15 | Plymouth, Devon | |
| Isaac Worden | Son | U | 13 | Endellion, Cornwall | |
| Elizabeth J. Worden | Dau | U | 9 | Endellion, Cornwall | |
| Amelia Huntington | Visitor | U | 47 | Annuitant | St Germans, Cornwall |
| Cordelia W. Guy | Visitor | U | 29 | Farmers Daughter | Endellion, Cornwall |
| Lancuia Tabb | Servant | U | 18 | House Servant | St Mabyn, Cornwall |
| Elizabeth Steer | Servant | U | 16 | House Servant | St Blazey, Cornwall |
| Charles Prout | Servant | U | 16 | Servant | Endellion, Cornwall |
| William Bescombe | Servant | U | 11 | Servant | St Kew, Cornwall |
| Trelights, Endellion Parish: | ||||||
| Name | Rel | Status | Sex | Age | Occupation | Birthplace |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Worden | Head | M | M | 65 | Retired Farmer | Endellion, Cornwall |
| Jane Worden | Wife | M | F | 51 | Retired Farmers Wife | St Germans, Cornwall |
| Isaac Worden | Son | U | M | 23 | Retired Farmers Son | Endellion, Cornwall |
| Elizabeth Worden | Dau | U | F | 15 | Retired Farmers Daur | Endellion, Cornwall |
These are surely the same Wordens each time, since there is no other family in the census records that matches, and it is also clear that the son Thomas is the Thomas Worden who married Ann Eva and went to Australia, because the census records show no other Thomas Worden of the right age. It is worth noting that this Thomas Worden had a son who was named Thomas Samuel Huntington Worden, which supports the theory that Jane Worden's maiden name was Huntington. Moreover, the fact that Thomas (son of John and Jane) was apparently born in Plymouth ties in with the theory that his parents were married in Plymouth.
Tresungers (photo by bob&anne powell,
 Share Alike Licence) |
Tresungers, Thomas' home in 1851, had in 1841 been in the occupation of Thomas' father Samuel; evidently Thomas took it over after Samuel's death in 1843. Thomas probably retired when the lease expired in 1858 (by which time he would have been 64).
The ages given for Elizabeth in 1851 and 1861 are inconsistent with each other. I believe the the 1851 record is incorrect: either the age was recorded incorrectly in the first place or else a transcription error has occurred. Searching FreeBMD for Eliz Worden births registered in Bodmin between September 1837 and December 1846 turned up three, as follows:
- Eliza (2nd quarter 1843). She was the daughter of William and Prudence, twin of Julia, and we know that she died aged 15 months.
- Elizabeth Jane (3rd quarter 1843). I believe that this was the daughter of Richard and Ann baptized on 20/8/1843; she is found in her mother's household in 1851, age given as 8.
- Elizabeth Jane (2nd quarter 1845). This must be the above daughter of Thomas and Jane. Additional confirmation is provided by a birth notice that appeared in the West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser on 23/5/1845: "At Tresungers, in the parish of Endellion, the wife of Mr Thomas WORDEN, of a daughter."
See the Samuel Worden and Jane Calloway page for more details on Eliza and the other Elizabeth Jane.
An obituary published at the time of his death (in 1821) records that Thomas Worden junior was born on 27/6/1835. See the Thomas Worden and Ann Eva page for more details. Although born in Plymouth, he was baptized in Endellion on 27/2/1837, aged 20 months (as noted in the parish register). His brother Isaac was baptized in Endellion on 24/8/1840, almost three years old. The birth of an Isaac Wordon was registered in the last quarter of 1837.
From Endellion and St Kew parish records we discover that Thomas Worden (snr) was baptized on 29/4/1794 at Endellion, the son of Samuel Worden and Jane Calloway. His siblings were Mary (baptized 19/1780, St Kew), John (baptized 27/12/1781, St Kew), Jennifer (baptized 14/1/1783, St Kew), Samuel (baptized May 1784, St Kew), William (baptized 25/9/1785, St Kew), Grace (baptized 11/4/1787, Endellion), Richard (baptized 31/8/1788, Endellion), Betsey (baptized 11/7/1790, Endellion), Cordelia (baptized 19/7/1792, Endellion), Joseph (baptized 20/10/1795, Endellion), Martha (baptized 12/4/1797, Endellion) and Carolina Ann (baptized 19/5/1803, Endellion). Jennifer was sometimes called Jane; she is the Jane Guy (wife of Mark Guy) referred to below.
I believe that the Cordelia W. Guy in the 1851 census record above was the daughter of Warwick and Cordelia Guy, this latter Cordelia Guy being the sister of Thomas Worden born in 1792. Cordelia W. Guy's second name was "Worden": her full name is given in the 1861 census records, when her age is given as 36 and her occupation as "governess". At the census of 1881 Cordelia Worden Guy was a visitor in the household of Amelia Huntington (discussed below), while in 1871 and 1891 she was in the household of her sister Jane and brother-in-law William Hodge, at Okehampton, Devon. She died in Okehampton in the March quarter of 1896.
It seems clear that the Elizabeth Huntington in the 1841 census record above was Jane Worden's mother, and the Amelia Huntington in the 1851 record was Jane Worden's sister. There are baptism records from St Germans for Amelia Huntington and Jane Huntington, daughters of John and Elizabeth Huntington, from 20/2/1802 and 8/4/1805 respectively, and an 1881 census record says that an Elizabeth J. Worden of the right age to be Jane Worden's daughter is Amelia Huntington's niece. Nevertheless, there is a problem with this theory: the recorded age of Jane Worden at her death in 1867, and her recorded ages at the censuses of 1841, 1851 and 1861, are not consistent with the baptism date of 8/4/1805. They are also not consistent with each other, but they do all indicate a later birth date. The age 30 recorded in 1841 implies a birth date between 7/6/1806 and 6/6/1811, the age 44 recorded in 1851 implies a birth date between 1/4/1806 and 30/3/1807, the age 51 recorded in 1861 implies a birth date between 8/4/1809 and 7/4/1810, and the age 60 at her death on 2/12/1867 implies a birth date between 3/12/1806 and 2/12/1807. A conceivable explanation might be that the Jane Huntington baptized in 1805 died in infancy, and in 1807 her parents had another daughter they also named Jane. But I can find no baptism record for any second Jane, and, moreover, I think that Jane had a sister (Elizabeth Ann) born in late 1806. So probably Jane just habitually understated her age.
At the time of the 1841 census Amelia Huntington is found in the same household as Mark Guy (age 60), Jane Guy (age 55), Warwick Guy (age 20) and Jonathan Guy (age 15); this Jane Guy was another sister of Thomas Worden. Mark Guy was a brother of the Warwick Guy mentioned previously; these brothers married the sisters Jane and Cordelia Worden. (Moreover, their sister Catherine married Samuel Worden, brother of Jane and Cordelia.) At the 1861 census we find a household consisting of Warwick Guy (age 45, son of the first Warwick Guy above and double cousin of the other), Cordelia Guy (age 65, Warwick's widowed mother) and Amelia Huntington. The close connection between Amelia Huntington and these two Guy households makes me wonder if she was related to them in some way, rather than merely being the sister of the wife of the brother of Jane and Cordelia. I have not been able to find any such relationship.
At the 1881 census Amelia Huntington is living in Egloshayle. She is listed as the head of a household, the two other occupants of which are Elizabeth J. Worden (35, Amelia's niece) and Cordelia W. Guy (61, relationship given as cousin). Note that Cordelia Guy's mother was the sister of Elizabeth Worden's father; so Cordelia was certainly Elizabeth's cousin, and perhaps that is what the census form entry was attempting to indicate. However, I believe that it is also true that Cordelia and Amelia were distantly related. The parents of Amelia's mother were first cousins, their respective mothers being sisters of Cordelia Worden's great grandfather Samuel Worden. Thus Cordelia and Amelia were double third cousins. So I suppose that it is possible, with this as justification, that they called themselves cousins. See the John Huntington and Elizabeth Pinch page for more details of this genealogy.
Amelia Huntington died on 5/11/1884, buried on 8/11/1884 at St Kew; a photograph of her gravestone is shown. The last line of the inscription reads "I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord", which is Genesis 49-18 (King James Bible). I am told that the inscription on the top part of the stone is illegible, but presumably Amelia's mother is buried in the same place. Note, however, that her father was buried at Plymouth (on 2/6/1837).
It seems that Elizabeth Jane Worden never married; the death of a 59 year old Elizabeth Jane Worden occurred in the Bodmin district in the September quarter of 1905, and there is a matching St Kew burial record from 17/7/1905.
A 60 year old Jane Worden died in the Bodmin district in the December quarter of 1867 (although I think that she was actually 62). A death notice from the Liverpool Mercury of 11/12/1867 provides the information that her death occurred on 2/12/1867. The fact that this notice was placed in a Liverpool paper suggests strongly that Jane had lived in Liverpool at some stage; see the John Huntington and Elizabeth Pinch page for further information on this point.
Liverpool
Mercury, 11/12/1867 |
Royal
Cornwall Gazette, 27/8/1868 |
Jane Worden is buried at St Kew. Thomas Worden died on 14/8/1868 and was buried on 17/8/1868 in Endellion. I have not found any English records for their son Isaac Worden after the 1861 census. However, a 62 year old Isaac Worden of Williamstown, South Australia, died in Adelaide on 4/9/1899. The age is right, and since Isaac's elder brother Thomas certainly settled in Williamstown, it seems clear that Isaac did the same. I presume that he came to Australia some time in the 1860's, but I have yet to find any immigration record. It appears that he never married.