Sarah was the wife of John EDWARDS and mother to seven children including Enoch EDWARDS. She was widowed in 1844 when her husband John died of consumption (tuberculosis).
The best fit from the available genealogical records is that Sarah was Sarah REYNOLDS, born in Kinlet in 1807. The various censuses suggest a birth date between 1801 and 1814, and a birth place of Kinlet, Shropshire.
A John EDWARDS married a Sarah REYNOLDS in St Martin, Birmingham in January 1827 and Maria EDWARDS was christened at the same parish in December that year.
Sarah was illiterate and marked her husband's death certificate with an X. She also acted as witness for her daughter Maria in 1850, again marking her name with an x.
In 1851 she was working as a mangler, but by 1861 had work as a confectioner.
Sarah has not been found in the 1871 census either in Birmingham or with a birthplace of Kinlet, Shropshire, so perhaps she had died by then.
There were 9 parish burial records for a Sarah EDWARDS between 1861 and 1871 in Birmingham:
- 16 Feb 1862 St. Bartholomew's - in Edgbaston, quite some distance from Canal Street, Bishop Ryder Church
- 1866 Key Hill Cemetery - Burial no: 19319 Catacombs Corridor 5 - no inscription (170 interments in this corridor)
- 1866 Witton Cemetery
- 1869 Witton Cemetery
- 1870 Warstone Lane Cemetery - Burial no:14394 Grave: H 1431 - no inscription (19 interments in this grave)
- 1870 Witton Cemetery
- 1871 Warstone Lane Cemetery - Burial no:15027 Grave: O 1188 - wife of Joseph
- 1871 Witton Cemetery
Prior to 1866 (i.e. before ages were published) there were only 5 civil registered deaths of a Sarah EDWARDS in Birmingham/Aston, but none of them fit:
Q2 1861 - 6D 25 Birmingham - aged 66 (vs 54 expected based on birth, or 48 based on 1861 census)Q1 1862 - 6D 79 Birmingham - Possible match to Edgbaston burial - young girlQ1 1862 - 6D 143 Birmingham - Possible match to Edgbaston burial - 58 year old wife of John EDWARDS, "Boat Builder". She was in Dudley Road Workhouse. The informant worked at the workhouse so she might not have known John's correct profession...but would be called "Widow of" rather than "Wife of" and age is too old.Q1 1862 - 6D 159 Aston - aged 0Q3 1863 - 6D 87 Birmingham - aged 66 (vs 50-56 expected)
From 1871 there was only fit:
- Q2 1879 Birmingham 6D 84 - aged 67 (vs 66-72 expected)
In 1881 there is a Sarah EDWARDS, 70 born in Kinver, Shropshire, living with her daughter Sarah DAVIES, 34/36 born Stourbridge, in Aston. We only have Kinlet in a single record (1861 census), and Kinver is not so different. However there is no known daughter called Sarah. Or was she "Louisa" who disappeared from the record after 1841?