Introduction
Samuel Reynolds was born and raised at Coker Hill, Hardington. He began his career as a carpenter in Yeovil, but returned to Hardington following his father’s death. After April 1881, there is no record of him.
Birth
Samuel was born at Hardington in 1849, the youngest of three children born to Joel and Maria Reynolds. His father worked as a farm labourer.
Maria had two sons from her first marriage to Thomas Cooper. Following his death in 1838, she remained a widow for seven years. The 1841 census shows Maria and her son James living at Coker Hill next door to Joel and his brother Joseph.[1] Maria and Joel married in 1845 when she was about 28, and he was about 40.
Life in Yeovil
In 1862, Samuel’s sister Mary married John Pike of East Chinnock and settled in Yeovil. By April 1871, Samuel was living with them in Brunswick Street and working as a carpenter.
Return to Hardington
Following the death of his father, Joel, in 1877, Samuel probably returned home to live with his widowed mother, Maria. In April 1881, he was a cabinet joiner living with his mother at Coker Hill.
Maria died in 1881 at the age of 64.
Disappearance from records
Samuel has not been found after April 1881.
References
[1] Maria’s other son by her first marriage, Francis Cooper, has not been found on the 1841 census but lived with his mother and stepfather at the time of the 1851 census.