Thomas DAWS was Born in Sussex, not Kent

In my original post at the beginning of this blog I stated that the earliest Thomas DAWS was born in Linton, Kent. This is because the earliest Thomas that I could match with a birth year around 1768 was one I found on the IGI in Kent. I accepted this because the family had been in Kent in the early part of the nineteenth century. Thomas DAWS and Elizabeth WHITEBREAD were married in Tudley & Capel, Kent in 1804. I believe that he was born about 1868 because his death registration from 1843 states his age as 75 years old putting his birth year about 1868. This assumes that he or the people around him knew his real age.



The reason for this update is to correct his birth location. In working on the Ardingly DAWES families I had a look at my census copies and noticed that Thomas reported that he was born in Sussex. The 1841 enumerators asked only if you were born in the county in which you were being counted and he answered "YES" for Uckfield, Sussex. In contrast, his wife answered "NO" because she was born in Kent. See the census at left where Thomas DAWS, aged 70, is about half way down the page.

For those of you who are sharp and notice that subtracting his age from 1841 gives a birth year of 1771 as opposed to 1768 you are wrong. In 1841, anyone over fifteen had their age rounded down to the next five so Thomas could be anywhere between 70 and 74. It's too bad that neither Thomas or Elizabeth lived until the next census where they would have reported their proper age and birth parish.

To put icing on the cake, I have a Poor Law Removal Order dated 09 Aug 1809 from Hadlow, Kent ordering the family back to Uckfield. Listed on the order are Thomas, Elizabeth (wife), William (5), Jane Ann (3) and Susan (2). They weren't very obident because my 2nd great-grandfather, Thomas (the bricklayer), was born in Hadlow in 1809 followed by Sarah in 1811. Then they moved to East Peckham where another four children were born between 1814 and 1821. They finally arrived in Uckfield by 1829 when Harriett was born. The only reason they would have been ordered out of Hadlow was because they were and burden on the parish and were being sent back where they came from so his origin must have been Uckfield.