In April 1881, Jonah Delamont, aged 58, was a haulier living at Hardington Moor.

Birth

Jonah was born at Hardington in about 1828. His father, Jonas Delamont, was a shoemaker, and his mother, Sarah, was a shoe binder.

Sickness in the family

The 1841 census recorded Jonah and his sister, Charlotte, in Michael Apsey’s household at Oil Moor. They may have been staying with this neighbour because their eighteen-year-old half-sister, Sarah, was seriously ill. She died two months later.

Death of his elderly father

Jonah and his sister, Charlotte, were the children of Jonas Delamont by his second wife, who he married in 1826 when he was in his mid-fifties. When Jonah reached his teens, his father was over seventy. His father died in July or August 1850, aged 80.

After Jonas’s death, his widow lived with the gardener, George White, and his wife at Barry Lane; Charlotte spent time at Taunton Hospital, where she died in March 1851; and Jonah moved to West Coker.[1]

Move to West Coker

In March 1851, Jonah was a weaver living at West Coker with Elizabeth Sartin, a widow, as his housekeeper. Her husband, Richard Sartin, had died nine years earlier, leaving her with one child, Mary Ann, who also lived with Jonah.

First Marriage

On 12 October 1851, Jonah and Elizabeth married at West Coker. He was about 23, and she was about 32.

Criminal allegations

On 2 January 1852, Jonah was committed for trial for breaking and entering the home of Alfred Bartlett of Hardington on the previous day and stealing one counterpane and other articles.^[2] At the sessions, the case was thrown out.^[3] On 23 March 1852, Jonah again appeared before the magistrates charged with the same offence.^[4] At the assizes, he was acquitted.^[5]

Children

Jonah and Sarah’s first child, Charlotte, was born in Yeovil in late 1852 or early 1853. Their next, Sarah Ann, was born at Hardington in late 1855 or early 1856. Three sons, Edwin, Albert and John, followed.

Life at Hardington Moor

Jonah lived at Oil Moor for  the rest of his life, probably in his parents’ former home.

The census returns recorded him as a canvas weaver in 1861, a farm labourer in 1871, a haulier in 1881, and a labourer in 1891.

First wife’s death

Sarah died in 1884, aged 64.

Second marriage

In 1887, Jonah married Elizabeth Eastment. She was twenty-seven years younger than Jonah and had three illegitimate children under ten. Over the next four years, she and Jonah had a son and daughter.

Death

Jonah died in 1892, aged 63. Elizabeth died the following year, aged 36.

Children’s lives

John and Sarah had three sons and two daughters.

Their son, Edwin, stayed at Hardington Moor where he worked as a carter and later a roadman. Albert went on to own a cab business in Sutton Coldfield, and John emigrated to Canada in 1909.

Their daughter, Charlotte, married John Wethey Partridge, a Hardington labourer; their daughter, Sarah Ann, married Austin Chick, a Pendomer farmer.

John and Elizabeth had one son and one daughter. Their son, Frank, ran a business making poultry appliances at Martock. Their daughter died in infancy.

References

[1] Taunton St Mary burial register; Civil Registration Death Index.

[2] Sherborne Mercury 6 January 1852 p. 3.

[3] Sherborne Mercury 20 January 1852 p.3.

[4] Sherborne Mercury 30 March 1852 p. 2.

[5] Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser 7 April 1852 p.4.