Sarah Sherman (1840-1875)

Reproduced by the permission of the National Library of Scotland

In 1841, Sarah lived in the cottage circled in blue with her parents Richard and Sarah. The cottage first appears as a single cottage and orchard, leased to John Sherman by Earl Berkeley, in the Berkeley Map of 1762. Eighty years later, the Earl’s title seems to have been lost, and the land that the cottage stands on is listed as waste. The cottage,in 1847, is divided in 2. The northern half was inhabited by Sarah and her parents, Richard and Sarah, and Richard’s parents, George and Eleanor, and Richard’s siblings.

All sign of the cottage has now vanished.

Although Richard is recorded as being a labourer in the ’41 Census, he later appears as a basket maker. Sarah was living at home until the ’71 census, and also appears as a basket maker, though her sisters, Susannah and Mary Ann, are listed as dressmakers.

Sarah died in 1875, aged 35 and was buried in St Martins churchyard. Her married sister, Mary Ann, died a month later and her child, Eleanor Till, was living with Richard and Sarah, until her marriage in 1897. Her father remarried a year after her mother’s death, and went on to have a large family.