Elizabeth was the second of the six children of William and Sarah Siddall, and the first one to be born, I think, in their own home. Her elder sister Mary was born at Cartledge, where her grandparents lived, and I suspect at their home. All the rest of the children were born in Dronfield, where their father William was a farmer.
On her marriage I think it probable that she exchanged one farm for another: though we have no evidence of her husband’s job, he came from a family of farmers and landowners in the area. He would probably have continued to help out at his father’s farm after the marriage and they may well have lived there.
Elizabeth had a traumatic time in 1806: she gave birth in April to her daughter Rebecca and when the baby was less than six weeks old, her son William died. He was two years old. Sadly the death of a child was not an uncommon event, but to cope with the stress of birth and death so close together must have had an effect on the new mother.
Elizabeth had four more children; Samuel, John (our ancestor), Thomas and Mary. In 1838 she was widowed and by the time of the 1851 census she was living with her son Thomas and his family. Thomas was a farmer. In 1851 he had 100 acres, in 1861 this had increased to 120.
Elizabeth lived to the good old age of 83, surviving her husband by a quarter of a century.
Mother of John Ward Jnr, daughter of William and Sarah Siddall
Baptised Elizabeth Siddall on 23 December 1781 at Dronfield, Derbyshire
Married John Ward Snr on 17 February 1803
Buried 13 July 1864