Our nearest Meadows connection is Sarah Ann Meadows , who married Robert Drabble and came to New Zealand as assisted immigrants with their three children on the Viscount Canning, in January, 1865. Their daughter Annie Rebecca Drabble married Frank Barker, whose son Walter Henry (Jack) married Dorothy Baucke who are my generation's grandparents. Simple.
Sarah Ann Meadows was born some time before mid-1832 in Tickhill, a small town and civil parish in South Yorkshire, near the border of Nottinghamshire. Her parents were John Meadows and Elizabeth Meadows - born Hill, who married in Tickhill on 6th March, 1832. Sarah was baptised on the 24th of June 1832 at Tickhill, York, England. Do the maths!
Subsequent children born to John and Elizabeth Meadows were:
Susannah baptised September 7th, 1834
Arthur baptised March 6th, 1836
George baptised March 10th, 1838
Henry baptised April 19, 1840
and possibly
and possibly
Edward baptised March 6th, 1842
William baptised June 15th, 1845
Joseph baptised July 7th, 1846
and all were baptised at Tickhill.
and all were baptised at Tickhill.
There was a significant age difference between John Meadows and Elizabeth Hill. Acccording to details from the 1841, 1851, and 1861 censuses, John was born in Stanningfield, Suffolk. He was baptised on August 2, 1778. Elizabeth's birth year is estimated at 1811, but her birth place is given as Shropshire in the 1851 census and Newbury, Staffordshire in the 1861 census. There is no confirmed evidence of her birth or baptism as there are too many baptisms of the same name and districts to be certain which is her. There are some incorrect details on other family trees found online.
In the 1841 Census, John and Elizabeth are recorded as living in "Part of House with Laughton", in the parish of Tickhill. It has "ditto" for the next few pages, so I doubt it's a shared house situation. Laughton is another village in the vicinity of Tickhill, and Laughton was also the surname of a local family. John Meadows is recorded as age 60, and his occupation is an agricultural labourer. Elizabeth is listed as age 27. Neither were born in the county. Children living with John and Elizabeth at the time were (our ancestress) Sarah, age 9, Arthur, age 5, George, age 3, and Henry age 1. It appears that Susannah has died by 1841, but I can find no evidence of a burial.
In the 1841 Census, John and Elizabeth are recorded as living in "Part of House with Laughton", in the parish of Tickhill. It has "ditto" for the next few pages, so I doubt it's a shared house situation. Laughton is another village in the vicinity of Tickhill, and Laughton was also the surname of a local family. John Meadows is recorded as age 60, and his occupation is an agricultural labourer. Elizabeth is listed as age 27. Neither were born in the county. Children living with John and Elizabeth at the time were (our ancestress) Sarah, age 9, Arthur, age 5, George, age 3, and Henry age 1. It appears that Susannah has died by 1841, but I can find no evidence of a burial.
John Meadows had been married previously - to Ann Webster on February 13, 1815, at Rotherham Parish church. John and Ann had at least 5 children (recorded as Medows) and all baptised at Firbeck in Yorkshire, before Ann died in 1831 (buried February 10, 1831, Firbeck Church records):
William baptised September 17, 1815
George baptised February 16, 1817
John baptised March 28, 1819
Sarah baptised February 3, 1821 (buried November 11, 1821, aged 10 months - Firbeck Church records)
Joseph Paul baptised January 15, 1823
It could be assumed that John and Ann's children, William (1815), George (1817) and Joseph (1823) may have died in infancy because their names were reassigned to John's second family with Elizabeth Hill:(George, 1838), William (1845), and Joseph (1846). Further research will clarify this, although there is no record of their burials in the Firbeck Church records. Neither do they appear in any of their father's households from the 1841 census onwards, but by then they could have been old enough to be living independently.
That makes John Meadows the father of at 13 children with an age range between the youngest and oldest of 31 years.
Note: There was, confusingly, a John and Elizabeth Meadow of Tickhill who had the following children:
It could be assumed that John and Ann's children, William (1815), George (1817) and Joseph (1823) may have died in infancy because their names were reassigned to John's second family with Elizabeth Hill:(George, 1838), William (1845), and Joseph (1846). Further research will clarify this, although there is no record of their burials in the Firbeck Church records. Neither do they appear in any of their father's households from the 1841 census onwards, but by then they could have been old enough to be living independently.
That makes John Meadows the father of at 13 children with an age range between the youngest and oldest of 31 years.
Note: There was, confusingly, a John and Elizabeth Meadow of Tickhill who had the following children:
Elizabeth baptised Ocitber 31, 1847
Frances baptised March 22, 1852 (probably the Fanny who appears in their family's 1851 census records) This census - and a possible 's' or no 's' on the Meadow name are the only evidence to prove these two children did not belong to our John and Elizabeth Meadows. Oh for more imaginative names back in those days!
