I do! When I finally found my 4X great grandparents' marriage in 1804 - somewhere I didn't expect - I had to really make myself be quiet. I was happy dancing in my chair at 2AM. A few minutes later I was weeping when I found he had died leaving her with 2 small children and pregnant with the 3rd. In England that often meant the Poor House (work house) and certain misery. Boy children usually lived in one part, girls in another, and adults in another.
I have no records that Martha Palding Winter and children lived in the poor house. They may have had other options but it was before the 1841 census which wasn't particularly helpful anyway. John Winter died in 1808 but Martha didn't remarry until 1816 when Martha was 37 years old. She had a daughter with him 1817 and sometime between 1841-1851, William Lank died widowing her a second time. In 1851 she was listed as a pauper, so she must have been in the poor house or at least under parish care. In 1861 she was living in the church yard, so I'm thinking alms houses. Mary died there in 1865. It was a frighteningly hard life for unmarried women, only just beginning to change by the middle of the 19th century.
I boo-hoo'd for hours as I researched her. I just can't imagine...
I have no records that Martha Palding Winter and children lived in the poor house. They may have had other options but it was before the 1841 census which wasn't particularly helpful anyway. John Winter died in 1808 but Martha didn't remarry until 1816 when Martha was 37 years old. She had a daughter with him 1817 and sometime between 1841-1851, William Lank died widowing her a second time. In 1851 she was listed as a pauper, so she must have been in the poor house or at least under parish care. In 1861 she was living in the church yard, so I'm thinking alms houses. Mary died there in 1865. It was a frighteningly hard life for unmarried women, only just beginning to change by the middle of the 19th century.
I boo-hoo'd for hours as I researched her. I just can't imagine...