Introduction

Reuben Eastment lived at Hardington Marsh for virtually his entire life and is recorded in eight censuses. He outlived his wife by thirty years, during which time he shared his home with his daughter, Emma, and her three illegitimate children. He died in 1912 at the age of 80.

Childhood

Reuben was born at Hardington in about 1832, the seventh of ten children born to Robert and Amy Eastment.[1] His father was a sailcloth weaver until the 1850s, when he pursued other occupations, including higgler and fish seller.

In October 1846, when Reuben was fourteen, his oldest brother, Job, developed a fever, from which he died three and a half months later at the age of 23.[2] His other siblings included Esau and James.

Occupation

Reuben was a farm labourer throughout his working life.[3] The 1861 census specifically describes him as a carter.

Marriage

On 14 November 1859, Reuben married Jane Higgins at Hardington. She was the daughter of William and Hannah Higgins. Her father had died in December 1857, but he had previously worked as a farm labourer.

Married life

In April 1861, Reuben and Jane were living at Kingswood Cottage. Over the next seven years, they had five children. By April 1871, the family had moved to Hardington Marsh.

By April 1881, three of their children were still living at home, while the other two, Mary and Emma, were working as dairymaids at Lansdown Farm. Jane’s widowed mother also lived with them.

Jane’s death

Jane died in 1882, at the age of 54. Her mother died the following year.

Reuben’s later life

Reuben continued living at Hardington Marsh. The 1891 census shows him living in a four-room house at 361 Farm Lane with his daughter, Emma, and her six-year-old son, George.

The household grew when Emma had two more children: a son in 1899 and a daughter in 1900. This arrangement remained until 1911, when Emma married a widower named Edward Marsh, who lived in the High Street.[4] Emma probably moved in with Edward and his children, and Reuben may have gone with her.

Reuben’s death

By 1910, all of Robert’s siblings had passed away, except for Hester Marsh, a widow, who lived at Hardington Moor.[5]

Reuben died in 1912 at the age of 80.

Children

Reuben and Jane had five children:

1861-Martha (married Walter Haggett, a railway platelayer, in 1882; resided at Hardington and later Yeovil; died in about 1940);

1863-Mary (married Robert Mullins, a bricklayer, in 1888; resided at Yeovil; died in 1938);

1864-Emma (resided at Hardington; had three illegitimate children; married Edward Marsh in 1911; died in 1917);

1866-Reuben James (married Emily Eastment in 1896; became a coachman in Surrey; died in 1944);

1868-Rhoda (married Frederick Abbott, a bricklayer, in 1888; resided in Leeds, Willesden, and Andover; died in about 1945).

Their only son, Reuben James, used his knowledge of horses to obtain employment some distance from Hardington.[6] He moved to Holdenhurst near Bournemouth, where he worked as a domestic groom in 1891, and later to Frensham, Surrey, as a non-domestic coachman in 1901. By June 1921, he was a hall porter at Morland’s Hotel, Hinehead. He died at Weybridge on 11 March 1944 at the age of 77.

References

[1] Two of the children died in infancy before Reuben was born.

[2] Death certificate of Job Eastment.

[3] The 1901 census describes Reuben as a general labourer.

[4] Edward Marsh was the first cousin of Albert Marsh, who married Reuben’s sister, Hester.

[5] Hester Marsh died in about 1921 at the age of 86.

[6] Bournemouth Guardian, 31 January 1885, p.4; Western Gazette, 23 January 1891, p.4; Exeter Flying Post, 31 January 1891, p.4.