In the 1851 census, Sarah's age is given as 59 and her place of birth as Battisford, while her burial in March 1860 states her age is 67. These give a date of birth around 1792/3, making her 22 in 1814 and suggesting she could have been married a few years earlier. The fiche of parish registers for Battisford is very hard to read, but I am fairly sure that it contains no baptisms of Sarahs between 1790 and 1800. It may be significant that one of their sons (and one of their grandsons) was called "Harmen". The use of the mother's surname as Christian name for one of the children, usually a son, is fairly common and so this may be Sarah's surname. However I have not found any baptisms of a Sarah Harmen anywhere in the approximate place or time period so far.

Whenever Jonathan's profession is mentioned, he was described as a "labourer", "farm labourer" or "agricultural labourer" and there is no evidence that he moved away from Ringshall throughout his life. He does not seem to have been an enthusiastic church-goer, because some of his children were not baptised for several years. His eldest daughter, Sarah Ann, was baptised in 1814 and then, on Christmas Day 1825, there was a mass baptism of the next four children - the eldest being 8 years old. The next 3 children were presumably baptised in infancy and then the youngest, Eliza, was 16 years old when she was baptised.

In the 1841 census, their two eldest children, (Sarah Ann aged 27 and Jonathan aged 24) had left home and Jonathan was married in Battisford in May 1841. The rest of the family was recorded as living at home and Jonathan himself was described as an "agricultural labourer". His sons were probably also working as agricultural labourers, but this was not recorded.

In the 1851 census, two of his adult children (Elizabeth and James) were living at home, but the youngest, Eliza (who was only 14) was not there and was probably staying with her elder sister Sarh Ann Wicks. Sarah Laflin, aged 67, was buried at Ringshall in March 1860 and was probably Jonathan's wife since he appears as a widower in the 1861 census. Elizabeth and James were still living at home and were now joined by their sister Hannah (a servant aged 26) and her daughter Helen.

In the 1871 census, Jonathan - now widowed and aged 84 - was head of the family with his daughter Hannah and her four children living with him. Jonathan was buried December 1878 at Ringshall at the age of 97. Hannah may have continued to live in the same cottage with her children.

THEIR CHILDREN.

1. SARAH ANN LAFLIN was the eldest daughter of Jonathan Laflin (labourer) and Sarah and was baptised at Ringshall on 25th December 1814. Her age was not specified, but I assume she was born earlier the same year. In 1841, Sarah Loflin was working as a female servant in the Mill House, Stowupland and Henry Wicks was living there and working as a miller. It sems obvious that this was how they met. In this case, she was 33 in 1847 when a Sarah Ann Laflin, daughter of Jonathan married Henry Wicks at Combs on 19th November.
In the 1851 census Henry and Sarah Wicks were living in Combs and Henry was described as “miller in water mill”. Elizabeth Laflin (aged 14) was staying with them as a visitor and was probably Sarah's youngest sister.
By 1861 Henry and Sarah Wickes had moved to Water Hall House,Badley near Battisford and Henry was working as a miller. They were accompanied by Henry's elder brother Robert Wicks and Sarah's niece Emma Laflin (aged 15, daughter of Abraham, a flour dealer, and Letitia) as well as Harriet Miles (a servant).
In 1871, Henry and Sarah Wicks were living in the Farm House, Badley near Battisford and Henry was both a miller employing 2 men and a farmer employing 2 men and 2 boys. Robert and Emma were still with them and also a nephew Henry Fairweather (a miller aged 18) and a servant William Sheldrach (a carter aged 20).
They have not been found in 1881 and their deaths have yet to be found.

2. JONATHAN LAFLIN married Elizabeth Stockings and moved to Battisford, where their seven children were born.

3. ELIZABETH LAFLIN was born some time in 1819. She was baptised on 25 December 1825, at the age of 6 years. In both 1851 and 1861, she was unmarried and probably keeping house for her father.

4. ABRAHAM LAFLIN married Letitia Garrod and worked as a flour trader. They had six daughters.

5. BENJAMIN LAFLIN married Charlotte Ellen Mullet and their 10 children were born in Ringshall. Both Benjamin and his wife were buried in Ringshall churchyard, where their gravestones may still be seen.

6. JAMES LAFLIN was baptised 25 December 1827. He was living at home with his parents in 1851 and with his father in 1861, when he was described as a "farm labourer".

7. HARMEN LAFLIN was baptised on 31 August 1831. He does not appear again in the records.

8. HANNAH LAFLIN was unmarried and lived in Ringshall all her life. She had seven children by the "local squire Robert Makens".

9. ELIZA LAFLIN was baptised on 3 July 1853, aged 16 years. This suggests she was born some time in 1837. In 1851 she was living with her sister Sarah Ann Wickes. She was probably the Eliza Laflin, daughter of Jonathan, who married George Hammond in Combs in February 1862. The marriage was witnessed by a Sarah Ann Laflin, who may have been the eldest daughter of her brother Abraham.

Sources for this section

Parish registers for Ringshall and Combs - available in Ipswich Record Office.
Civil Regsitration Indexes available online from FreeBMD
Civil Registration Indexes and Census Data available online from Findmypast

Page maintained by Susan Laflin. Last updated in December 2007.