William Thomas Jarvis married Sarah Ann Wilton (b. 1842), daughter of Joseph Wilton and Ann Thurlbourn, in Great Dunmow, on 17 Jan 1866. On the marriage record, William Thomas Jarvis is listed as the son of John Jarvis, a Grocer, but I've been unable to find a grocer called John Jarvis. Those born illegitimately will often "invent" a father for the marriage certificate and, along with Sarah Ann working for a grocer, has all the feel of that being done here.
Neither have I found a record of a birth or baptism of William Thomas Jarvis that I could identify relates to this man. Just because he marries in Dunmow to a girl working in Thaxted, doesn't guarantee that he was local. With no death record - I cannot locate him even trying any male Jarvis who died in the area between 1866 and 1871 - we do not know when he was born. He does not appear on any census in this period either to get clues to verify when or where.
Whoever he was, nevertheless, the couple had two children:
- Kate Jarvis b. 1867 M Quarter in DUNMOW UNION Vol 04A Page 392
- William Thomas Jarvis b. 1868 M Quarter in DUNMOW UNION Volume 04A Page 387
But by 1871, Sarah Jarvis (28), Dressmaker, was widowed - although I've been unable to find a record of William Thomas Jarvis' death either - and living with her two children and her sister Clara Jane in High Street, Great Dunmow.
Sarah Ann Jarvis then died, aged just 31, in 1874 M Quarter in DUNMOW UNION Volume 04A Page 271.
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| There were two girls called Kate Jarvis born 1867 in Dunmow |
However, there were two people called Kate Jarvis, both born in the March quarter of 1867 and both registered in Dunmow Union. One of the births lists the mother's maiden name as Wilton - thus she was daughter of William Thomas Jarvis and Sarah Ann Wilton - while the other birth lists the mother's maiden name as Patient - she was the daughter of
John Jarvis and Ann Patient. What I cannot [yet] determine is what,
if any, relation they are to one another.
Therefore, while it would be tempting to think that the Kate Jarvis who is working for Susan Sprent in 1881 would be the daughter of Sarah Ann Jarvis (née Wilton) who had worked for Alfred Sprent 20 years earlier, in reality, and especially if they are related, it's impossible to tell which one this was.
The
Kate Jarvis who married William Hockley, in Dunmow, in 1890 was the daughter of John Jarvis. She
definitely wasn't the daughter of Sarah Ann Wilton, as
this erroneous listing suggests. (Neither can I find how this William Hockley is related - if he is - to
the rest of my Dunmow Hockleys.)
The family were living in Thaxted, in 1901. Then
this William Hockley died, aged 36, in 1902.
In 1911 the widowed Kate Hockley (44) was in Thaxted with her two children and then
on 2 Mar 1912, unbelievably, the widowed Kate Hockley married a John Jarvis (was he her relation?) and, once again, became Kate Jarvis.
There are, actually, no further verifiable records of the Kate Jarvis who was the daughter of William Thomas Jarvis and Sarah Ann Wilton beyond the 1871 Census. There is a death of a William Thomas Jarvis, aged 17 - born 1868 - on 4 Oct 1885, buried on 9 Oct 1885, in Chelmsford, with father listed as Thomas Jarvis. My feeling is this is another person, so likewise, we have no verifiable record of son William Thomas Jarvis after the 1871 Census either. Neither have I found these children with other family members. They could both have gone into the workhouse and died. They could have been taken in and unofficially adopted and be using different names. Both appear to be dead ends.
