Thomas Prior married Harriet Rachel Laysell on 20 October 1839, at the age of 21, and worked as an Agricultural Labourer like his father William, as noted on census records for each decade, while Harriet was a Straw Plaiter.
Prior Family Tree diagram drawn by Ernest Henry Prior c.1985
In the 1841 UK census taken on 6 June, Thomas & Harriet were residing at Rushley Green in the parish of Castle Hedingham, about 5 miles only from the village of Toppesfield. Also staying at Rushley Green were their children Eliza age 2 and John age 1, Sarah Prior age 40 (mother?) and Mary Laysell age 17, potentially a relative of Harriet.
Cottage in Rushley Green Wood - off Rosemary Lane
© Copyright Lee Holmes and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
The Laysell's ... Harriet Rachel Laysell was born in 1819 in Great Yeldam Essex, the eldest of 6 children born to Joseph & Phoebe Laysell. A year or so later it appears her family moved to Toppesfield, likely her father was seeking work as he was an Agricultural Labourer also, as her sibling Charlotte was born in Toppesfield in 1823, and later married Joseph Kemp of Toppesfield in 1844. Harriet's other siblings were Samuel b.1820, John b.1830, Sarah b.1833, and Eliza b.1838. Harriet would name her first born Eliza the following year.
Over the next 40 years Thomas & Harriet lived out their lives with their children & grandchildren in the village of Toppesfield.
Thomas & Harriet had 11 children:
- Eliza Prior b.1839, m. Edward Argent in 1865, d.1920 in Toppesfield
- John Prior b.1841, m. Sarah Ruggles in 1860
- Henry Prior b.1843, m. Mary Ann Newman in 1874, d.1906
- Mary Ann Prior b.1844, m. Joseph Hardy, d.1922
- Emma Prior b. & d. January 1847
- Emma Prior b.1849, spinster, d.1891
- Charles Lewis b.1853, d.1853
- Ellen Prior b.1854, m. James Twitchett in 1874, d.1887
- Charles Prior b.1855, m. Elizabeth Bonner in 1901
- Emily Prior b.1857, d.1887 (see below)
- Lewis Prior b.1859, m. Louisa Elsdon 1865, d.1926
Thomas Prior died at age 64 in 1882 and Harriet age 65 in April 1883.
Caring for their grandsons ...
Frederick Prior was born in 1880 in London Middlesex UK. In the 1881 census he resided with his grandparents Thomas & Harriet Prior in Toppesfield, along with their children Emma Prior & Lewis Prior, and another grandson Albert Prior age 19 (our great great grandfather, see later post).
In the 1891 census Frederick, now age 11, was a scholar living with his aunt Emma Prior in Toppesfield. Emma was age 42 and 'living on the parish'. Her parents Thomas & Harriet Prior had passed away in the last decade, as had her sister Emily, and she had taken on the responsibility of caring for her nephew. However, Emma also passed away soon after the census was taken.
Twig Talk - after the 1891 census it is possible that Frederick went to live with his cousin Albert Prior. Albert had moved to Hockley Essex to work on the Great Eastern Railway, and was now married with children. In the 1901 census there was a Frederick W Prior boarding with a family in London and working as a milkman who gave his birth place as Hockley, and in the 1911 census a Frederick William Prior born & living in London, married to Hettie with son Frederick, working as a Railway Labourer.
... was Emily Prior Frederick's mother? In the 1871 census Emily was age 15, residing and working with Alfred Hardy as General Servants at Green Man in The Street Toppesfield for Charles & Martha Seaman, farmers with 50 acres & 2 daughters. It is unclear what became of Emily after this, although we believe she died in 1890 at the age of 34; did she have a son called Frederick in 1880 at the age of 24, and is she the same Emily that married John Thurley in 1883?
