Mary Burch
d. 14 Oct 1855
Derrick's great-great-great-grandmother. Another surname this archive had never held. She married into Aldenham in 1814 from somewhere her baptism has not been found.
Family
Mary Burchd. 1855generation 5
banns 1814Robert Larkina record read here11 children
Sarah Larkinb. 1814a record read here
Mary Larkinb. 1815a record read here
Elizabeth Larkinb. 1818a record read here
Joseph Larkinb. 1820a record read here
Robert William Larkinb. 1821a record read here
Emma Larkinb. 1822a record read hereAmy Larkinb. 1823a record read here
James Larkinb. 1824a record read here
John Larkinb. 1828a record read here
Joseph Larkinb. 1828a record read here
Thomas Larkinb. 1833a record read here
Each person is marked by where that line came from, in words as well as colour.
On the individual lines:
- Robert Larkin (spouse): banns read
- Mary Larkin (child): married William Bilby, 1843
- Robert William Larkin (child): probably the other couple's
- Joseph Larkin (child): probably the other couple's
- Thomas Larkin (child): probably the other couple's
What the record says
Probable Her maiden name rests on one banns entry; her own baptism has not been found.
Born about 1782 (census and burial ages) · died 14 October 1855, buried at Aldenham aged 72 (matched by name, age and abode)
| When | What | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Jan and 6 Feb 1814 | Banns, then marriage, with Robert Larkin | Banns were read on 16 January 1814 and they were married by banns at Aldenham on 6 February, both of the parish, he a bachelor and she a spinster, with Wm Larkins and Wm Nicholls as witnesses. The bride's name is transcribed Barch in the marriage entry. It is the only Robert-and-Mary pair among 30 Larkin marriage entries. Their first child on the register was born on 30 March, 52 days after the wedding. | Documented |
| 1811 onward | No Burch baptism of her generation at Aldenham | All 7 Burch baptisms there are of 1811 or later, so none can be hers. The 1851 census says she was born at Aldenham about 1781 or 1782. If that is right her baptism is not under Burch in the Aldenham register, and no Mary Birch was baptised there in the 1770s or 1780s in either free index or Findmypast. | Read with care |
| 30 Mar 1851 | Wife of Robert Larkin, aged 69 | In the household at HO107 piece 1714, folio 13, schedule 75: Mary, born Aldenham, with Robert, 72, and their daughters Mary and Elizabeth. That she is the Mary Burch of the 1814 banns is an inference from the two daughters' baptisms and from the banns being the only Robert-and-Mary marriage at Aldenham. | Read with care |
| 14 Oct 1855 | Buried at Aldenham, aged 72 | From Round Bush. A Mary Larkin of that age and hamlet, and the 1851 household was at Round Bush: matched, and the entry does not name a husband. She would be the first of the couple to die, four years before Robert. | Read with care |
Where this comes from
Each line of the table above names the record it rests on in its third column, and the grade at the top says how well the whole is evidenced. What is not established is said under its own heading below. How the grades and the labels on the chart are decided, and every source this archive holds.
What is not established
- Her own baptism has not been found. A surname-only search of Hertfordshire Baptisms on Findmypast returned 236 Burch entries and no Mary baptised Burch between 1738 and 1856. Her ages (69 in 1851, 72 at burial) put her birth at 1782 or 1783. Two Mary Birch baptisms fit within a year or two: Abbots Langley on 13 January 1782 (father Adam), which fits the census, and Watford, born 27 December 1782 (Charles and Mary), which fits the burial and whose sister Trothy was entered as Burch in 1784. None is chosen. A Burch family was at Aldenham from 1810, and her own parents are not in its registers. Neither candidate is secure: a Mary Birch aged 16 was buried at Abbots Langley in May 1796, who may be the girl of January 1782, and a Mary Birch married James Beech at Watford in February 1804, who may be the Watford girl of December 1782. Either would exclude the candidate, and neither is proved.
- Her parents are unknown, and no document says where she was born.