Mary Ann Chapman

LIFE GOES ON: AN INTRODUCTION

MY GRANDPARENTS - I - MY GREAT-GRANDPARENTS - I - MY GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS - I - MY GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS

THE SIXTEEN FAMILIES

KNOTT - I - BOWLES - I - WATERS - I - HARRALL - I - PAGE - I - WISEMAN - I - CROSS - I - CARTER

CORNWELL - I - HUCKLE - I - MORTLOCK - I - MANSFIELD - I - REYNOLDS - I - CARTER - I - ANABLE - I - STEARN

CHRONOLOGY - I - DRAMATIS PERSONAE - I - WHERE PEOPLE CAME FROM - I - CALENDAR

MAP OF ELY - I - MAP OF MEDWAY
MAP OF CAMBRIDGE AND DISTRICT

THE WORKHOUSE

WORLD WAR I - I - WORLD WAR II

simonknott.co.uk I home I e-mail

LIFE GOES ON

Mary Ann Chapman
born Ely, Cambridgeshire, 1831
died Ely, Cambridgeshire, 1899

on the Page family tree
part of the Cross family story

married to Thomas Cross

mother of Thomas Chapman Cross

daughter of
Henry Chapman
and Rose Reeve

Mary Ann Chapman (1831-1899). My Father's Mother's Mother's Father's Mother. My Great-Great-Great-Grandmother.

The Chapmans were an agricultural labouring family from Ely St Mary, the other half of Ely to the Ely Holy Trinity of most of my Ely Ancestors. Once married, though, Mary Annn and her family are fairly easy to trace thanks to the meticulously-kept Ely Holy Trinity parish registers of the time. Even so, the 1861 census for Ely is lost, and at other census times Mary Ann's husband Thomas seems to have had a somewhat wayward attitude to the ages of himself, his wife and his children. Generally, my ancestral Ely families stayed very close to Holy Trinity parish, but Thomas and Mary Ann present us with the intriguing detail that two of their children appear to have been born in London in the 1860s. Did Thomas take his family there to try and seek a new life? The family were certainly back in Ely by 1871, and did not apparently leave it again.

1831: Mary Ann was born in St Mary's parish, Ely.

1841 census:

Mary Ann (Mary on the census) was ten years old at the time of the 1841 census. The Chapman family were living in the house of Sarah Nicholas, a laundress of Church Lane, Ely, Cambridgeshire.

Mary Ann's father Henry Chapman was 40 years old. He also gave his occupation as Agricultural Labourer. Mary Ann's mother Rose was 35 years old.

There were two other children in the house on the night of the census. Henry was 15 and James was 3. Everyone in the household was born in Cambridgeshire.

1851 census:

Mary Ann was nineteen years old at the time of the 1851 census. Her occupation was recorded as Laundress. The Chapman family were living in Church Lane, Ely, Cambridgeshire.

Mary Ann's father Henry was 50 years old. He is shown as head of the household and an Agricultural Labourer. Mary Ann's mother Rose (Rosey on the census) was 48 years old. Her occupation was shown as Laundress. Altogether, there were fourteen people living in the household. Mary Ann's siblings were Henry aged 29, James aged 12, Elizabeth aged 8, and Rebecca Bidwell, listed as a widow, aged 27. Rebecca's children, Henry and Rose's grandchildren, were John aged 7, Sarah aged 4 and Ann aged 3. The others in the household were widowed brother-in-law James East aged 27, lodgers Thomas Chapman aged 32 and Eliza Chapman aged 17, and Mary Ann Nicholas aged 11, who was a visitor.

Everyone in the household was born in Ely, Cambridgeshire.

1854: on 20th January, Mary Ann married Thomas Cross in the Lady Chapel of Ely Cathedral.

1861 census:

The 1861 census returns for Ely are lost. Mary Ann would have been about thirty years old at the time of the 1861 census. Intriguingly, her son Richard, who would be ten years old on the 1871 census, was born in London, as was 6 year old Alice. If the family were in London for the 1861 census though, I have not found them.

1871 census:

Mary Ann was forty years old at the time of the 1871 census. The Cross family were living in Water Side, Ely, Cambridgeshire.

Her husband Thomas was 43. He gave his occupation as Labourer (Water). There were seven children in the houshold on the night of the census.Thomas was 19, Martha was 19 (were she and Thomas twins? but it is only 17 years since Thomas and Mary Ann were married, so these and subsequent ages may not be correct - see entry for 1881), Mary Ann was 16, Emily was 14, Richard was 10, Alais (Alice) was 6 and Harriett was 4.

Mary Ann was shown as born in Ely, Cambridgeshire, as were her husband and her children except for Richard and Alais, who were born in London. The transcript for their entry is here. Interestingly, the Carter family lived next door, and in 1881 the younger Thomas would marry Sarah Carter, who was 11 at the time of the 1871 census.

1881 census:

The Cross family were living at New Barnes Road, Ely, Cambridgeshire at the time of the 1881 census, and their entry is most curious.

Thomas is shown as a labourer. Thomas and Ann (not Mary Ann) give their ages as forty - that is to say, Mary Ann was the same age as she was in 1871! And yet it is clearly the same family, because the children have the names in the right order and with the right birth places - but their ages are equally odd. Martha is 23 (19 in 1871) Richard is 16 (10 in 1871) Alice is 14 (6 in 1881) and Harriet is 12 (4 in 1871). There is another child, Robert, aged 7.

All the family were born in Ely, Cambridgeshire, except for Richard and Alice who are born in London. This matches the places given in 1871. The transcript for their entry is here.

1891 census:

Mary Ann (Ann on the census) was sixty years old at the 1891 census. The Cross family were living in a cottage on Newnham Street, Ely, Cambridgeshire.

Her husband Thomas was also 60. He was an agricultural labourer. Two of Thomas and Mary Ann's children were in the house on the night of the census, Martha aged 34 and Robert 17. There is also a grandchild, William Cross aged 16.