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Comfort Woodhouse / Woodhurst was born around 1818 to parents John (10) Woodhurst and his wife Sarah (nee) Morley. He was christened at Smeeth, Kent on November 1st 1818 [Smeeth Parish Register]. The original register correctly gives his sex as male, but the corresponding Bishop's Transcripts mistakenly give it as female.
The 1841 Census finds him at (rounded) age "20" living in Mersham Street, Mersham in Kent, just two miles west of Smeeth, with a Finn family and occupied as journeyman shoe maker. His surname is here spelt clearly as Woodhurst.
He married in 1848 to his cousin Mary (3) Woodhurst. The GRO reference [Marriage Index: Ashford E. 5 17, 1848 (Dec)] spells both their surnames as Woodhouse.
The 1851 Census finds him at age 32, again in Mersham Street, occupied as a master cordwainer (shoe maker). His wife Mary (3) is correctly indicated as having been born at Ore in Sussex around 1827. Living with them were their children John Andrew and Walter, together with a lodger apprentice Humphrey Philpott. The census record spells their surname as Woodhouse, and the family appears thereafter to have retained that spelling. Humphrey was probably related closely to the Thomas Philpott who in 1841 was living at Smeeth in the same household as Comfort's presumed sister Constance.
The 1861 Census finds the family living in Gravel Walk, Ashford where Comfort was occupied as a shoe maker. Mary (3)'s birthplace is given here as Fairlight.
The 1871 Census finds the family living at 35, Gravel Walk where Comfort was occupied as a boot maker. Mary (3)'s birthplace is given correctly here as Ore.
Comfort died aged "63" in early 1881. The GRO reference [Death Index: W. Ashford 2a 454, 1881 (March)] spells his surname as Woodhouse.
The 1881 Census finds Mary (3) at age "52", widowed and living at 35, Engineer Place in Ashford, Kent. She was occupied as a mangler. Her birthplace is given here as Hastings. With her were three of her children - Sarah Emma, Frederick William and Charles Arthur, all born in Ashford.
The 1861 Census finds John Andrew, then aged 11 and born in Mersham, living in Smeeth with his grandparents John (10) and Sarah. He married in London in 1877 [Marriage Index: London C. 1c 31, 1877 (Dec)]. The 1881 Census finds him living at age 31 with his wife Emily at 43, Birkbeck Road in Islington and occupied as a solicitor's general clerk. His birthplace is again given as Mersham. Emily was born in Lambeth around 1855.
Sarah Emma may have married in 1874 [Marriage Index: Manchester 8d 461, 1874 (Dec)].
James Spencer may have married in 1887 [Marriage Index: Battle 2b 85, 1887 (Dec)].