Critty (Gooch) Farthing (abt. 1801 - 1876)

Born about 1801 in Cavenham, Suffolk, England

Wife of Robert Farthing — married 11 Oct 1826 in West Stow, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom

Descendants

Died 1876 at about age 75 in Hadleigh, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom

Biography

Critty (Gooch) Farthing (b 1801 Cavenham) and Mary (Gooch) Farthing (b 1801 Cavenham) are believed to be the same person, although this is not yet proven, and the possibility remains that it will be proven not to be the case. (See Research Notes).

Mary (Gooch) Farthing was born in Cavenham, Suffolk, England.

Birth: Critty "Mary" Gooch was born in about 1801 in Cavenham, Suffolk, England and was baptised with the name Critty on 10 Jan 1802 at Cavenham. She was the fifth of nine children of Thomas Gooch and his wife Mary Bonnet to be baptised there.^[1] Her parents had just two daughters, of whom Critty was the younger, and she is thought to have been known by her mother's name of Mary.

Marriage: Critty Gooch married Robert Farthing on 11 Oct 1826 in the parish of West Stow, about 5 miles from Cavenham.^[2]

The family had seven known children, of whom one died in infancy and another in childhood.

• Robert 1828, West Stow
• William 1830, n/k; DIED 1839 Aldham
• Eleanor (Ellen) 1832, Icklingham
• Jane 1834 Hadleigh
• Henry 1838 Aldham
• Mary Ann 1841 Aldham; DIED 1841 Aldham
• Mary Ann 1846 Aldham

The first three children were born in the area along the River Lack, close to West Stow and Cavenham, but in about 1833 Robert and his family moved south, to the village of Aldham, close to Hadleigh in Suffolk, an area he would have known from his childhood. From this point his wife's name appears as Mary (see Research Notes).

Robert Farthing worked as an agricultural labourer, and over the next thirty years they and their family lived in the rural parishes of Aldham and its neighbour Elmsett.

1841 census: Aldham, Cosford RD, Suffolk, England

Robert Farthing, 30-35, b Suffolk

Mary Farthing, 30-35, b Suffolk

Robert Farthing, 13, b Suffolk

Ellen Farthing, 9, b Suffolk

Jane Farthing, 6, b Suffolk

Henry Farthing, 3, b Suffolk^[3]

1851 census: Farm House, Aldham, Cosford RD, Suffolk, England

Robert Farthing, 48, b Nedging, Suffolk, farm labourer

Mary Farthing, 48, wife, b Cavenham, Suffolk

Robert Farthing, 23, son, b West Stow, Suffolk, farm labourer

Henry Farthing, 12, son, b Aldham, Suffolk, farm labourer

Mary Ann Farthing, 4, daughter, b Aldham, Suffolk^[4]

1861 census: Street, Elmsett, Cosford RD, Suffolk

Robert Farthing, 56, head, b Suffolk, agricultural labourer

Mary Farthing, 56, wife, b Cainham (sic) Suffolk

Jane Farthing, 26, daughter, single, b Hadleigh Suffolk

Henry Farthing, 21, son, single, b Aldham Suffolk, agricultural labourer

Maryann Farthing, 15, daughter, single, b Aldham Suffolk

William Farthing, 1, grandson, b Aldham Suffolk^[5]

Their daughter Jane died in 1862, leaving a three year old son, William, who appears to have been brought up by Mary after this.

Widowed: Mary's husband Robert died in the first quarter of 1866,^[6] and was buried at Aldham.^[7] Following his death, Mary, her youngest daughter and grandson moved the short distance into the small market town of Hadleigh, where they were living in when the 1871 census was taken.

1871 census: Angel Street, Hadleigh, Suffolk, England

Mary Farthing, 67, head, widow, b Cenham Suffolk, annuitant

Mary A Farthing, 24, daughter, b Aldham Suffolk, seamstress

William Farthing, 12, grandson, b Aldham Suffolk, scholar^[8]

Death: Mary's death was registered in the final quarter of 1876, in the registration district of Cosford. Her age was given as 75,^[9] and she was buried, like her husband, at Aldham.^[10]

Research Notes

Maiden name for Mary is listed on the birth registrations of Henry (1838) and Mary Ann (1841 and 1846) as Gooch. There was another Mary Ann Farthing b 1846 in Cosford, but that mother's maiden name is linked to a series of children born after that, and none before, which identifies that birth as a different family.

Did Robert Farthing have one wife or two?

At first sight, Robert Farthing appears to have married Critty Gooch and later been married (formally or informally) to Mary Gooch, who was born in the same village as Critty and therefore might have been her relative. In this scenario, the move to Aldham might have made particular sense if the second marriage had met with disapproval from his in-laws or neighbours.

However, searches for earlier records relating to Mary, and for later records relating to Critty have drawn a blank on both counts. In particular, Mary is not the Mary Gooch who married William Partridge in Flempton in the same year Critty married Robert Farthing, as she remained with her husband. Likewise, searches for Critty's burial, or for people of that first name and any last name (assuming a subsequent common-law marriage) have not found anything, although records for this period are, of course, incomplete. (She is not, for example the Critty Sparke who appears on the 1841 census, whose formal name was Christian, and who was named on the 1828 baptism of her son Thomas in Bury St Edmunds).

If we take Mary's death registration as the most accurate estimate of her age, then she was the same age as Critty, and born in the same place. Cavenham was a small parish at this time with a population of a couple of hundred. (Source http://www.cavenham-parish.co.uk website. Access to this website is a bit unpredictable). Findmypast has between 9 and 15 baptisms a year for this parish, and they show a small number of resident families, of which Critty's parents are one. There is no evidence in the parish registers of anyone else with the name Gooch in the parish, which is perhaps not surprising given that Critty's father was born some distance away. Unless Mary was a sister of Critty for whom there is no baptismal record, or from a family who remained completely absent from parish registers (including burials and marriages), then she does not seem to have been a separate person born in Cavenham.

Critty's parents had no daughter carrying the name of her mother, which may have been a reason for her to later adopt this name. It might also have symbolised her ties to her own family after they moved to a new area. However, it's also possible that she had been known to her family by the name Mary for many years before this.

A wife called Catherine? A further complication is that the baptism record for Eleanor "Ellen" in 1832 in Cavenham names her mother as Catherine. If Mary and Critty were two different people, then this could be a third wife of Robert. If not, then this is simply an error: perhaps a clergyman's mistaken formalising of Critty (or even a mis-heard Kitty). Eleanor is shown to be the same person as Ellen by her place of birth, which is (incorrectly) given on census returns as Aldham, where she grew up, later in her life.

Sources

1. ↑ Baptism: England Births & Baptisms 1538-1975 findmypast 1802 baptism Cavenham daughter of Thomas and Mary (FS: "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J77L-7FC : 4 February 2023), Critty Gooch, 1802.) 10 Jan 1802
2. ↑ Marriage: "England Marriages, 1538–1973", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N21Q-CQR : 12 March 2020), Critty Gooch in entry for Robert Farthing, 1826.
3. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1841," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M733-W1R : 25 May 2019), Robert Farthing in household of Robert Farthing, Aldham, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom; from "1841 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.
4. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1851," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SGR6-3K2 : 12 September 2019), Mary Farthing in household of Robert Farthing, Aldham, Suffolk, England; citing Aldham, Suffolk, England, p. 14, from "1851 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
5. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1861," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M7ZS-J49 : 3 March 2021), Mary Farthing in household of Robert Farthing, Elmsett, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom; from "1861 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 9, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.
6. ↑ Death Registration: England & Wales General Register Office, GRO Online Index - Death (https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content : accessed 14 Feb 2023), database entry for FARTHING, ROBERT (Age at death: 64).GRO Reference: 1866  S Quarter in COSFORD  Volume 04A  Page 305
7. ↑ Burial: National Burial Index For England & Wales database at FindmyPast. Entry for Robert Farthing, born 1802, buried 1866, at Aldham. (Paywall: full transcription not seen).
8. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1871", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VFN7-CVL : 29 June 2022), Mary Farthing, 1871. (Note: street address from Rootspoint transcription)
9. ↑ Death Registration: England & Wales General Register Office, GRO Online Index - Death (https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content : accessed 11 Feb 2023), database entry for FARTHING, MARY (Age at death: 75 ).GRO Reference: 1876  D Quarter in COSFORD  Volume 04A  Page 298
10. ↑ Burial: National Burial Index For England & Wales database at FindmyPast. Entry for Mary Farthing, born 1801, buried 1876, at Aldham, Suffolk. (Paywall: full transcription not seen).

Acknowledgements

Farthing-53 was created by Andrea Steed through the import of Andrea Tree June 2011 edited.GED on Jun 4, 2011.