kezia kenway
Kezia was born in Wootton Fitzpaine, Dorset and baptised at the parish church on 6 April 1840. She was the illegitimate daughter of Sarah Kenway but her father is not known as he was not listed on her baptismal record. It does not appear that her parents ever married and Kezia was raised by her maternal grandparents, William and Sarah.
william kenway + sarah butcher
William Kenway was born in Wootton Fitzpaine, Dorset about 1783 and married Sarah Butcher about 1808. They had nine children and their first daughter, Ann, was baptised on 2 April 1809 followed by William on 4 August 1811, Elizabeth on 10 April 1814, James Butcher on 12 May 1816, Sarah on 11 April 1819, Kezia on 12 March 1821, Jemima 17 December 1823, Rebecca on 23 September 1826 and Eli on 14 September 1829.
Daughter Kezia, died aged fourteen years, and was buried in the parish church yard on 25 January 1835. Later that year, their son William married Jane Pryor and they settled in a cottage on Wooton Farm where William worked as an agricultural labourer. Two years later, Elizabeth left home to marry Joseph Taylor who was also an agricultural labourer and the family celebrated a third marriage when son James married Elizabeth Williams in 1839.
William and Sarah appear in the 1841 Census living in a cottage on Wootton Street along with their three youngest children, Jemima, Rebecca and Eli, as well as their young granddaughter, Kezia. Fifty eight year old William was employed as an Agricultural Labourer and their older children, William, Elizabeth and James, were still living and farming in Wooton along with their families.
Their daughter Sarah was working as a servant at nearby Westover Farm in Wootton Fitzpaine but it was very unlikely that she would have been able to keep her young daughter with her. Four months after the census was taken, Sarah married Thomas Coombs, an agricultural labourer from nearby Thorncombe, and moved to Winsham in Somerset but for reasons unknown, Sarah left Kezia with her parents and started a new life with Thomas. They had nine children together and lived in Winsham for many years before moving to Bradford Abbas in Dorset in 1861.
Jemima left home in 1846 when she married Uriah Gordge in Charmouth. They had one son, Henry, in 1850 and were living in a cottage on Charmouth Street when the census was taken. Uriah was born in Charmouth and there were two other Gordge families living in the same street.
By 1851, William and Sarah had moved to the nearby village of Whitchurch Canonicorum along with Kezia, Eli and Rebecca. The family’s situation had deteriorated over the years as William was no longer able to work and was listed as a Pauper in the census return. To support the family, Sarah and Rebecca worked as Washerwomen and Eli as a Labourer. The following year, Rebecca married George Taylor and moved to Charmouth and it is possible that Kezia went with them. Eli died in 1853, aged only 24 years, and was buried in the church yard in Wootton Fitzpaine on 26 February.
William died in early 1861 and was buried in Wooton Fitzpaine on 20 January. Following his death, Sarah remained in Whitchurch living in the Turnpike Cottage with her granddaughter Mary and continued to support herself as a Washerwoman. Her daughter Jemina and son-in-law Uriah Gordge lived next door with their three children, Henry, Sarah and Elizabeth.
Three of Sarah's children were still living in Wooton. William and his wife Jane Pryor had moved to Kennel Cottage along with their three youngest children, Charles, Elizabeth and Cora, and William was working as a Carter. Elizabeth and her husband Joseph Taylor were still living on Wootton Street along with their seven children and they were both listed as Agricultural Labourers. Son James was living at Napp Cottage with his family and he too worked as an Agricultural Labourer.
Their daugther, Sarah, died in Bradford Abbis in 1866; she was only 47 years old. By 1871, Sarah had moved to Charmouth with her daughter Jemima and her family but she died two years later and was buried in Charmouth on 10 March. Her daughter Jemima died in Charmouth in 1880, aged 57, followed by William in 1892 who, hortly before his death, moved to Combpyne in Devon to live with his daughter Cora. His brother James remained in Wootton until his death in 1904.