Family Vignette--Grace Wharton

 

You may recall the name of Grace Wharton.  She was the wife of Ernest James Martin, who died in 1916 in Picardie, France during World War I.  Although Grace and Ernest had two children during their marriage, Grace also had a third child. 

Cissie Rose Martin was born in Lowestoft on April 1, 1918, two years after the death of Grace’s husband.  Unfortunately, Grace Wharton died on December 2, 1918 at the Workhouse Infirmiry at Oulton, Suffolk, England.  She suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis.   Cissie was then adopted by Edward Victor Field and his wife Florence Elizabeth Walpole.  On December 16, 1921, Cissie and her adopted mother emigrated to Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada to join Edward Victor Field who had previously emigrated to Canada and was living in Toronto.  Cissie married Gordon Melville Spiers in 1938 and they had three children.  On her marriage certificate in Canada, the claimed father of Cissie Rose was John Martin.  It may well be that Cissie did not remember that her mother’s first husband’s name was James Edward or it was a fiction created, whereas, her father was unknown. Gordon died in 1977 and Cissie died in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on February 7, 2012 at the age of 93.

Grace Wharton was born on August 30, 1894 in Lowestoft, Suffolk, England the daughter of Anna Maria Meen 1852-1919 and William John Flegg 1859-1915.  One may immediately question how Grace was named Wharton if her mother’s maiden name was Meen and her father’s name was Flegg.  This led to an interesting investigation into the life of Anna Maria Meen.

Anna Maria Meen was born on March 25, 1852 in Stradbroke, Suffolk, England to William Meen 1824-1902 and Sarah Covell 1824-1853.  In October 1871, she married John Wharton in Hoxne, Suffolk, England.  John and Anna had two children.

1.      Ellen Kate Wharton 1872-1911

2.      Arthur John Wharton 1873-1940

On October 10, 1875. John Wharton was admitted to the asylum (likely for tuberculosis).  He remained at the asylum until his death on April 1895.  It isn’t certain in what year Anna Maria Meen gave up her two children, but by 1881, both children were living as paupers at the Union District School in Wortham Ling.  By 1891, Ellen Kate was working as a servant for the Saunders family in the South Norfolk parish of Shelfanger and then as a servant in 1901 for Robert Parke in Wortham.  She continued working for the Parke family as a servant until her death in 1911 at the age of 38.  Arthur was much luckier than his sister.  In 1891 he was lodging and working as a farm servant.  At the time of his father’s death, Arthur was left the grand total of £30 after probate.  By the time he was 27, in 1901, Arthur was working for the railway as an engine stoker.  In April 1901, Arthur married Louisa Hurst in Newark, Nottinghamshire.  Arthur and Louisa had six children, one of whom died at the age of three years old.  By 1911, he continued working for the Midland Railway as a locomotive fireman.  Arthur died at the Rotherham Hospital, Doncaster Gate on August 27, 1940.

After abandoning her two children from her husband, John Wharton, Anna Maria Wharton nee Meen began an affair with an agricultural labourer named Charles Warren sometime in 1877.  In 1881, she is listed as the housekeeper for Charles Warren and living with him in Darsham together with their illegitimate son Frederick William Wharton.  By 1884, she abandoned Charles Warren and her son and in 1891, Charles and his son were living with his parents who helped him raise his child.

In 1891, Anna Maria Wharton was living as a boarder with a dock laborourer, William Flegg.  In addition, their two illegitimate children Mabel Wharton and Thomas Wharton were listed on the census, as well.  In 1892, their son Frederick Edward Wharton was born followed by Grace Wharton in 1894.

After her husband John Wharton died in 1895, Anna Maria Wharton married William Flegg in December 1902.

Grace Wharton didn’t have much of a role model for motherhood and her life was cut too short to offer much of a chance to improve.  But life was so much different for our ancestors.  We can only hope that our own children grow up to be the role models we have strived to be in our own lifetime.