18.2 5xgreat grandmother Mary Beck (1774-1860): Base born, long lived

Mary Beck was the mother of my 4xgreat grandmother Margaret Sporne, and wife of Thomas Sporne, ‘Carrier from Burnham to Norwich and Lynn’. Her husband died in 1827 and was buried in Burnham Sutton, Norfolk, that November, aged 59. They had baptised at least eight children between their marriage in 1796 and his death, with seven surviving to adulthood.

Mary Beck outlived her husband by some 30 years, dying in 1860. She therefore appears in the 1841 and 1851 censuses. In the former (found on FindMyPast) she is living with her son William Sporne, a ‘Conv.& Carrier’, in Burnham Sutton and is working as a Laundress, presumably to help the family finances.

Their ages are rounded down to the nearest five years. William was her youngest son, actually born in 1816, so he would have been about 25 years old.

Ten years later, at the time of the 1851 census, she is living with another son, Thomas Sporne, Schoolmaster at the National School, Wormegay. He is 57, unmarried, and gives his birthplace as Burnham Westgate. His mother is widowed, aged 78, born in Burnham Overy. She is described as ‘housekeeper’.

She died on 3 May 1860 at Wormegay, Norfolk. Her death certificate shows that she was 91 years old, the widow of Thomas Sporne, and that the cause of death was ‘Old age, certified’. The informant was William Chesson, ‘in attendance’. Wormegay is about 25 miles from the Burnhams, so Mary Beck had quite a journey to move there to live with her son Thomas when in her eighties.

The birth years for Mary Sporne (née Beck) in the censuses and on her death certificate vary: in 1841 she is said to be 65 (b1776); in 1851, she is 78 (b1773) and in May 1860, at death, her age was 91 (b1769). A search for a baptism between 1769-1776 within ten miles of Burnham Overy finds a likely record at Ancestry:

·       Mary, base born daughter of Mary Beck, Nov. 6 1774, Burnham Overy

There is another possible baptism for Mary Beck, at King’s Lynn, on 31 August 1774, base born daughter of Sarah Beck, which is less likely. The place (Burnham Overy) and rough timescale of the record extracted above match other information, and there does not appear to be a burial for this child or other marriage, so on balance I believe it likely to be my Mary Beck.

For the sources mentioned in bold, see blogpost: MyRoots: Lesly's family history: Sources and resources: A quick view