JEFFERSON Family of Whitehaven Henry Jefferson (1750-1827) had many children all with his wife Ann (Tweedie) Jefferson. Ten were mentioned by name in his will. The three not mentioned were Elizabeth, Sarah, and Harriot. That was not quite accurate, that is a Sarah was mentioned in the will, but the Holy Trinity records show a Sarah baptised in 1787, another Sarah along with a sister Elizabeth baptised in 1793. Harriot was the 1791 born child. It is important to remember that parish records show only the child's name, the father's and date of baptism, as 14 Sep Sarah dau. of Henry Jefferson. (The year is at the top of the page.) I am currently going with an explanation (a theory) that Sarah '87 died young. Either for the memory of the child or the memory of child's namesake another daughter in '93 was baptised with the same name -- also possibly a godparent's decision. This would mean that Sarah's sisters Elizabeth and Harriot also died young. All of these names are found repeatedly in the family (with the spelling of Harriet more conventional). Since only the father's name and not the mother's is listed in the parish records, another possibility is that the '93 sisters belong to another Henry Jefferson. I am not aware of another Henry Jefferson in that parish at that time. This family was blessed with good health and longevity. I have just added an observation to my other notes that this Henry father (born 1750) and his son Henry (still alive at the 1891 census) may have had a combined life span of 150 years (141 appears to be documented). Still infant mortality can strike and looking at the ages of those buried at Holy Trinity it appeared to be a real problem at the beginning of the 19th century in Whitehaven. Any thoughts on these 2 Sarahs??? _____________________ Tim Anderson Gaithersburg, Maryland

Tim Anderson writes: <snip> >I am currently going with an explanation (a theory) that Sarah '87 died young. Either for the memory of the child or the memory of child's namesake another daughter in '93 was baptised with the same name -- also possibly a godparent's decision. This would mean that Sarah's sisters Elizabeth and Harriot also died young. <snip> >Any thoughts on these 2 Sarahs??? Some people write in to lists such as this to say that they have examples of parents naming two living children with the same name (not just Mary Ann & Mary Jane). I confess that I have never found an example, but I'd be interested if anyone here has any. I would automatically assume that a reused name meant that the first instance died. I wouldn't automatically assume that the lack of mention of a daughter's name in a will meant that she had died - another common reason was that she had already married. Unless you consider that marriage is close to death :-) I don't know that the choice of name was so much a godparent's decision - I've rather assumed that a child was named after a godparent???? Chris chris@dickinson.uk.net