Agnes Annie Vousden (1881-1947)

In November 2008 I received an enquiry from a Vousden descendant in New Zealand about her great uncle Hillary Charles Vousden. We sorted him out and I learnt that my enquirer is the grand daughter of his sister Agnes Annie, born in Goudhurst on 28 November 1881 who emigrated to New Zealand with her husband (or husband to be?) Ralph. They had two children in Christchurch, where she died in 1947, three years after Ralph.

Earlier this month I received an enquiry from a Vousden descendant in Australia. She had just discovered her father's birth certificate, upon which his mother is listed as Agnes Annie Vousden. It turns out that my two enquirers are first cousins who had lost touch with each other over the years. I have put them back in contact now.

Our common ancestors are my 5 times great grandparents Thomas Vousden and Sarah Borman, me through their son Thomas, they through their son William and his wife Mercy Hyder, amongst whose children were George Thomas, father of Agnes Annie.

Agnes Annie was one of twelve children of George Thomas (1851-1939) and Martha (née Lovell) (1859-1927) Vousden. In birth order they were: John William, Hillary Charles, Agnes Annie, Winifred Maude, George Thomas, Mabel Victoria, Edith Lucy, Sidney Edward, Gertrude Beatrice, Fred James, Alice Minnie Kathleen and Daisy Rose Violet. They are all my 3rd cousins 3 times removed.

Their great grandfather George was in turn one of the twelve children of John (1817-1895) and Jane (née Dadson) (1820-1870) Vousden. They were Mary Jane, John William, Mary Anne, Samuel Hilary, George Thomas, Edward Alfred, Mary Anne (a second), Anne Elizabeth, Frederick Charles, Sarah Anne, Edwin Pryor and Jack. Jane Dadson's father was Hilary Dadson, hence the name of one of Agnes Annie's brothers and one of her father's too. John was widowed by Jane's death in 1870 and in the same year he re-married to Annie Clouty.

John was one of eight children of William (1777-1857) and Mercy (née Hyder) Vousden: Sarah, William, Thomas, Mary Ann, Richard, Liberty, John and James Hyder. William's brother Thomas was my 4 x great grandfather.

Mary Ann Vousden - more on Sister Marian

Since my first posting on Mary Ann Vousden less than a fortnight ago I have pursued her from London to New Zealand and back to Hastings, Kent. Whilst I have not yet found a civil record of her birth, or a baptism record, nevertheless I have conclusively identified her.

I obtained a copy of the book 'Community of the Sacred Name, A Centennial History' by Ruth Fry, an account of life in the Anglican religious order in Christchurch in which Mary Ann spent her years in New Zealand. From this book I gleaned one or two more facts about her life, and a photograph that includes her.

I also obtained Mary Ann's death certificate from which I learnt that she died on 2 July 1920 at 19 Brook Street, Hastings, Kent of cancer and bronchitis. Her death certificate provides two vital clues as to her family origins. Firstly, she was described as "Spinster Deaconess. Formerly Hospital Nurse. Daughter of James Vousden a Timber-hewer (deceased)." It is very rare indeed to find a father's name on a UK death certificate, especially for a 75 year old woman, but this was not the decisive piece of evidence.

The second clue was that the registrar was informed of her death by "E.H. Woodyer, sister". At first I thought this person might be a nursing sister but I checked the UK national marriage index and found a Vousden-Woodyer marriage between an Elizabeth Hider Vousden and William Woodyer, in Lambeth, Surrey (now south London) in the April-June quarter of 1870. Elizabeth Hider is known to me, she had a sister Mary Ann, and their parents were James Hider Vousden and Elizabeth nee Waghorn.

I then found James and Elizabeth and their children in the 1851 census, in Goudhurst, including daughter Mary Ann, aged 6. This age is an exact match for the Mary Ann Vousden already identified in the 1871 and 1881 censuses. Clearly, the 1851/1871/1881 census ages and the age given on her death certificate all point to a birth year of 1844/5.

Mary Ann Vousden's grandparents were William and Mercy Vousden, the same couple who feature in an earlier blog: Walter Vousden and the Town Crier of Niagara Falls. Her great grandparents, Thomas and Sarah (nee Borman) Vousden were my 5 x great grandparents, making us second cousins 4 times removed, and so yet another "stray" Vousden is re-located into Goudhurst.