Rowney Family Tree

Edith was born around 1801. She was christened in the village of Goldington, in Bedfordshire, England. Her father died just a few months after she was born in 1801, and although the exact circumstances of their family after this time are not known, it seems that her mother never remarried and they remained living around Goldington.

Edith was married to Thomas YARRELL in 1820, in Goldington. She would have been around 19 years old at that time, and it is thought that Thomas was approximately the same age, but this has not been proven.

The next information we have on Edith and Thomas YARRELL is the christening of some children in the village of Colmworth, located a few miles north of Bedford. Their earliest known child is Samuel, who was born around 1826 in Colmworth. Their next child was Betsy, who was christened in Colmworth in 1827, and their only other known child, Mary, was also christened there, in 1831. The large gap between the timing of their marriage and the births of their known children, raises the distinct possibility that there may be other children as yet undiscovered, and that the family possibly lived elsewhere over the years. There was a John YERRALL, and his wife Ann, living and raising a family at Eaton Socon, in Bedfordshire, around the same time as Thomas and Edith were living at Colmworth. John is believed to have been related to Thomas, but the exact relationship has not yet been determined.

Edith appears to have died in 1838, when she was just 38 years old. She was buried at Colmworth. Her name was recorded as Editha YERRELL in both the death and burial registration records. It is not known exactly what happened to the family after her death, except that their daughter, Mary, is known to have gone to live with Edith's sister, Mary, and her family at Goldington. Their son Samuel appears to have remained around Colmworth. He may have stayed with his father, or perhaps he could have spent some time with John and Ann YERRALL around Eaton Socon, as he seems to have had a connection to Eaton in later years. Betsy's fate has not yet been determined.

In the 1841 census, Edith and Thomas' daughter, Mary (aged 11), was recorded at the home of her aunt, Mary CHAPMAN (aged 45), in the village of Goldington, near Bedford, in Bedfordshire. No other members of the YARRELL family were in Goldington at that time. Edith's elderly mother, Susan ROWNEY (aged 70), was also living with Mary in Goldington in 1841.

A Thomas YARRELL (aged 45) was married in the Bedford parish of St Paul, near Goldington, in Bedfordshire, in 1849. His young bride was Mary Ann Hull KIDD (aged 26). The disparate ages of the bride and groom, suggest that this may have been Edith's husband remarrying after Edith's death, but this has not been confirmed. It does not appear that any of the children were still living with Thomas by that time.

The fates of Thomas and Mary Ann YARRELL have not been determined.