Charity (Pearson) Verrall (1861 - 1915)

Born 31 Dec 1861 in Brenchley, Kent, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Wife of Frederick William Verrall — married 26 Jun 1880 in Marden, Kent, England, United Kingdom

Descendants

Died 7 Feb 1915 at age 53 in Montana, United States

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Biography

Charity Pearson (sometimes spelled Pierson) was born on December 31, 1859, in Brenchley, Tonbridge Wells Burrough, Kent (about 40 miles southeast of London), and baptized on January 29, 1860. She was the eighth of 9 children born to Kitty (Brankham) and Stephen Pierson, although 2 sisters (Jane Elizabeth and Harriet) died before reaching adulthood. The 1871 England Census listed Charity, her parents, older brothers (Stephen and George), younger sister Annie, and 2-year-old nephew Arthur W. Hicks, the son of her sister Caroline. Charity’s father, Stephen, was an agricultural laborer; her mother, Kitty (birth name Kezia) died when Charity was 15 years old.

Charity married Frederick William Verrall on June 26, 1880, in Marden, Kent, England; like Charity’s father, her husband Frederick worked as an agricultural laborer. The 1881 England Census showed the young couple living with Charity’s father, Stephen, and her 16-year-old sister Annie. Charity gave birth to 7 sons over the next 19 years, of whom all but the last were born in England.

During the second half of 1893 or 1894, Charity and her sons joined Frederick and son Fred in North America; I have not been able to locate information about their passage from England. An 1895 Minnesota state census showed a 35-year-old Charity living with Frederick and 6 sons in Jamestown Township, Blue Earth County, Minnesota, southwest of Minneapolis.

By 1899, the family had moved west and lived in Anacortes, Washington, where son Ralph Emery Verrall was born on December 7, 1899. The 1900 U.S. Federal Census showed Charity, Frederick, and 7 sons living together in a rented house on 7th Street in Ship Harbor, Skagit County, Washington. Both Frederick (listed as Wm. F.) and his son Fred (listed as Steven) were working as day laborers. Sadly, their son Charles died a short time later, at age 15 on July 27, 1902; I have not been able to determine how or why.

Over the next few years, Frederick and Charity moved to Montana; Fred claimed land there in 1912. According to her death certificate, Charity became afflicted with stomach cancer at about the same time that Frederick claimed his Montana property and she died on February 7, 1915, in Conrad, Montana. She was buried at Grand View Cemetery in Anacortes, Washington.

Sources

• "England, Kent, Parish Registers, 1538-1911," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJDK-19TZ : 8 December 2017), Charity Pearson, 29 Jan 1860; citing Christening, Brenchley, Kent, England, Kent Archives Office, Maidstone; FHL microfilm 992,457.
• Ancestry.com. England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. England, Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. FHL Film Number: 0992456, 0992457
• Kent, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1538-1914, Ancestry.com, Lehi, Utah, 2018; Kent Archives Office; Maidstone, Kent, England; England, Kent, Parish Registers, 1538-1911
• 1861 England Census; Class: RG 9; Piece: 496; Folio: 53; Page: 10; GSU roll: 542649, Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1861.
• "England and Wales Census, 1871", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VF6G-G56 : 15 July 2021), Charity Pearson in entry for Stephen Pearson, 1871.
• "England and Wales Census, 1881," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q27W-88NC : 11 December 2017), Charity Verrall in household of Frederick Verrall, Horsemonden, Kent, England; from "1881 England, Scotland and Wales Census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing p. 23, Piece/Folio 923/75, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey; FHL microfilm 101,774,435.
• Ancestry.com. Minnesota, Territorial and State Censuses, 1849-1905 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Minnesota Historical Society. Minnesota State Population Census Schedules, 1865-1905. St. Paul, MN, USA: Minnesota Historical Society, 1977. Microfilm. Reels 1-47 and 107-164.
• "Washington Birth Records, 1869-1950", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q237-3JTJ : 8 March 2021), Charity Pearson in entry for Ralph Emery Verrall, 1899.
• "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMP5-JFW : accessed 2 January 2022), Charity Verrall in household of Wm F Verrall, Cypress, Fidalgo City, Fidalgo, Guemes, Sinclair, and Ship Harbor Precincts Anacortes city War, Skagit, Washington, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 204, sheet 10B, family 203, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,749.
• Montana Death Index, 1907-2007;
• Ancestry.com. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112557066