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Effield Woodhurst was born around 1830 to parents Edward (1) Woodhurst and his wife Frances. She was christened at Milton-next-Sittingbourne on September 26th 1830, her father then being occupied as a miller [Milton Parish Register].
In 1837 she resided for two months with her mother in the Union Workhouse in Faversham while her father was in prison.
The 1841 Census finds her at age 11 living with her mother at Water Lane in Milton.
By 1851 she appears to have been disinclined to be known as "Effield" and had adopted instead the name "Mary". Under this name she married in 1851 to John (1) Warren. The marriage certificate [Marriage Index: Edmonton III 103, 1851 (March)] states that they married at the St. James Parish Church in Enfield, Middlesex on January 19th 1851. He is described as a bachelor and labourer aged 23 residing at Enfield Highway (now lying in central Enfield), and she as a spinster aged 21 residing at Ponders End (then a village immediately south of Enfield Highway). John (1)'s father is named as a labourer Richard Warren and hers as a brick-maker Edward Woodhurst. The witnesses were Charles Dalton and Mary Ann Dalton. Their connections are unknown, but they may have been the Charles Dalton and Mary Ann Ballard who had married at St. Andrew's Church in Enfield on December 1st 1842 [IGI: Batch M067861].
The 1851 Census finds her as "Mary" living with her husband in Enfield Highway, describing her as aged 21 and born in Milton. John (1), born in Enfield, was occupied as a labourer. Living next to them was the family of a Charles Dalton, now with a wife Jane, who was probably the person who had witnessed their marriage.
By 1861 Effield had adopted yet another proxy name, this time "Esther". She may have chosen this name because her brother William (7) had a sister-in-law Esther (nee Newcombe, born about 1844). The 1861 Census finds her as "Esther" with John (1) and the first four children listed below living in the same property as her parents in High Road, Ponders End. Her birthplace is given as Milton in Kent and her occupation as "employed in fields". John (1) was occupied as a carter.
Neither Effield nor John (1) has yet been found persuasively in any subsequent census. Effield may have died as "Mary" Warren in 1862 [Death Index: Edmonton 3a 95, 1862 (June)] and John (1) may have died in 1863 [Death Index: Edmonton 3a 123, 1863 (Dec)].
The 1881 Census apparently finds John (2) Warren at age "29" lodging in Edmonton with Effield's brother William (7).
The 1871 Census possibly finds Jane Warren at age "18" working as a servant for an Archer household at 5, Culford Grove, Kingsland in West Hackney.
Richard Francis Joseph married Elizabeth Jane Stirrup in 1880 [Marriage Index: Bethnal Green 1c 470, 1880 (Dec)]. She was born in 1858 [Birth Index: St. Geo. H. Sq. 1a 177, 1858 (June)]. The 1881 Census finds him as "Joseph" at age "23" living with Elizabeth at 108, Pembroke Street, Islington and occupied as a coal porter. Also present were Elizabeth's sister and niece. The 1891 Census finds them living with one child and Elizabeth's niece in Gifford Street, Islington where he was occupied as a carman. The 1901 Census finds them living with three children at 26A, Sutterton Street, Islington where he was occupied once again as a coal porter. Richard Francis Joseph died aged "50" in 1905 [Death Index: Islington 1b 141, 1905 (Dec)].
Elizabeth Warren may have died in childhood [Death Index: Edmonton 3a 117, 1863 (June)].
The presumption that the "Mary Woodhurst" who married John (1) Warren was indeed Effield rather than some other daughter of Edward (1) is supported by the following considerations. No GRO reference has been found to the death or marriage of an "Effield Woodhurst". No christening record for a child "Mary" of Edward (1) has been found, whilst almost all his known children were christened. The family contained no "Mary" in 1837 at the Faversham Workhouse, nor in 1841 at Water Lane in Milton. The Eastling Parish Overseers' Accounts for 1835 refer to Edward (1) as having 3 children chargeable to Eastling Parish, whereas the inclusion of a further child "Mary" would have brought the count to 4.