In April 1861, Charles Chapman, aged 18, was a railway packer living in Hardington village.

Birth

Charles, the fifth child of William and Elizabeth Chapman, was born at Hardington in about 1842. His father, William, was a weaver. Charles was a brother of Edwin, Walter and William.

Occupation

In April 1861, Charles was a railway packer.

Marriage

In 1865, Charles married Hannah Pike of East Chinnock. Hannah was one of three illegitimate children born to Jane Pike.[1]

Daughter

Charles and Hannah had one daughter, Jane Hannah, born in 1866. Sadly, she was mentally disabled and spent most of her life in institutions. When she was fourteen, she was an inmate at Yeovil’s workhouse. Ten years later, she was a patient at Wells Lunatic Asylum, and ten years after that, she was a patient at the Lunatic Asylum at Codford, Bishops Lydeard. She died in 1910, aged 43.

Disappearance

Charles Chapman disappears from the records after 1866, which suggests he abandoned his wife and daughter.

Hannah’s later life

By April 1871, Hannah lived at East Chinnock with her mother, Jane, and stepfather, Joseph Cooper.

On 12 November 1883, Hannah married John Payne at West Coker. Hannah signed with a mark.

John Payne was a farm labourer who had worked on his brother’s dairy at Middle Chinnock since at least 1871.

John and Hannah lived at Coker Hill, where John probably worked for Samuel George Bartlett.

John and Hannah had one child, Mary Ann, born in 1886.

John died in late 1906/early 1907, aged 77. Hannah died in 1920, aged about 78.[2]

References

[1] When Hannah married John Payne in 1883, she named “John Adams, Labourer” as her father.

[2] The Civil Registration Death Index records her age at death as 71.