Catherine Garner (MMMMFM)

[Mary from Italy]

Name - "official" name and what they were known as
Catherine Garner

Date and place of birth
c. 1753-1755, probably at Fillongley, Warwickshire

Names of parents
UPDATE: William Garner and Sarah Kimberley

Date and place of baptism - if applicable
UPDATE: No baptism found, but William Garner's will confirms that Catherine was his daughter. Probably baptised in Fillongley, Warwickshire, c. 1753-1755.

Details of each of his or her marriages - if any
Married Thomas Sparkes on 11th February 1779 at St. Mary and All Saints, Fillongley, Warwickshire, aged "24 years and upwards". She was a spinster, of the parish of Fillongley.

Occupation(s) - if any
Farmer's wife.

Addresses where they lived (including county if in UK) - and please list which censuses you have or haven't found him/her on (if s/he lived in census times!).
1779: Fillongley, Warwickshire
1781-1800: Whittington, Staffordshire
1806: Fillongley, Warwickshire

Date, place and cause of death
Possibly 1825 in Mancetter, Warwickshire

Date and place of burial
Possible burial: 10th January 1825 in Mancetter, Warwickshire, aged 72.
This is the only likely burial found so far. Mancetter is only about 10 miles from Fillongley, but the Sparkes and Garner families had no connections there that I know of.
EDIT: Have now found out that one of Catherine's daughters married in Mancetter in 1823, so this burial now seems more likely.

Details of will / administration of their estate - if applicable
None found

Memorial inscription - if any
None found

Possible clues to Catherine's birth:

Her husband's brother George Sparkes married a Mary Garner at Fillongley on 28th October 1779 (just a few months after Catherine Garner married Thomas Sparkes). A William Garner witnessed both marriages. I would guess that Catherine was Mary's sister or cousin, and William perhaps the brother of one of them.

There's a baptism for a Mary Garner in Fillongley in 1761, parents William and Sarah. Probable marriage: William Garner to Sarah Kimberley, Fillongley, 1753. William and Sarah had several other children, baptised in Fillongley, but no Catherine.

There's also a marriage in Fillongley in 1748 between Thomas Garner of Berkswell, Warks and Mary Walters of Great Packington, Warks.


UPDATE: The will of William Garner (1799) refers to "my Daughter Katherine the Wife of Thomas SPARKES of
Whittington", which confirms that she was the sister of the Mary Garner who married George Sparkes.

For Catherine's son Thomas Sparkes, see http://genealogistsforum.co.uk/forum...thomas+sparkes

[Mary from Italy]

This family has turned out to be a bit more interesting than I expected.

I'm 99% certain that Mary Garner's brother was the George Garner who married Ann Pearson, aunt of Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot), who inspired the character of Aunt Deane in the Mill on the Floss.

[kiterunner]

Wow!

[Mary from Italy]

And funnily enough, I'm distantly related through an entirely different line to John Chapman, publisher of the Westminster Review, which George Eliot edited before she became famous.

[Mary from Italy]

Excellent breakthrough here; I still haven't found a baptism for Catherine, but a contact has sent me a copy of her father's will, which refers to her as the wife of Thomas Sparkes of Whittington, so there's no doubt that it's the right person.

Will update the first post to add her parents.