on Martha SAUNDERS LECHEVALIER ALEXANDER
Written by Eileen Cox
August 4, 2003
Revised Feb 13, 2004
I have been fascinated with Martha, my 4th great-grandmother, ever since I began research eight years ago. When I went to England in April 2008, I was able to be in Tetbury where she lived with her first husband Peter. I was also able to be in Little Washbourne and go into the small church where she had her two daughters christened. The church remains today as it was in the 1820s when she was there.
BIRTH:
I looked on www.FamilySearch.org and found a Martha SAUNDERS, christened in Tetbury, Gloucester, England, 17 Jan 1790. This record was extracted and the Baptism, Endowment and Sealing to Parents was completed in the Provo Temple. Parents are listed as “Jno Saunders and Mary”. From this above account, I assumed that this was our Martha SAUNDERS. I remained under that assumption for almost a year.
Then I found another Martha SAUNDERS on www.familysearch.org in June 2003. This Martha SAUNDERS was christened in Saint Sampson, Cricklade, Wiltshire, England, parents given as William SAUNDERS and Mary. This christening place made more sense to me based at what I already knew:
1-Martha was married to Peter LECHEVALIER in Crudwell, Wiltshire 28 Aug 1803.
2-From the Tetbury 1735 census, I knew Martha had her first child out of wedlock before she was married to Peter, and the child was born in Stratton St. Margaret, near Swindon, Wiltshire, England. I found the original christening record of Martha’s daughter Martha. The film was too light to copy.
When I began this report in Aug 2003, I received a prompting to look further for our Martha Saunders christening record. The Cricklade-St. Mary Martha didn’t fit together with the other information I had on her.
1-In the 1851 British Census, she was listed as 69 years old. If she was born in 1789, she would have been only 62 years old. She would need to have been born in 1783 to be 69 years old in 1851.
2-In the same census, her birthplace was listed as Stratton, Wiltshire.
I felt a strong prompting to look in the records for Stratton-St. Margaret, Wiltshire.
I had a chance to go to Salt Lake again the very next week, but I had my 4 ½ year old daughter Emmy with me. I didn’t know if she would cooperate and let me do some research at the FHL. I decided to try it; I knew I needed to search that record. Emmy cooperated wonderfully and I was able to search the film and I found a Martha born in 1783.
“Martha Daughter of Robert & Elizabeth Sanders was Baptized June 10, 1783"
I also found 3 siblings.
Sarah, dau of Robert & Betty Saunders, was baptized Aug 2nd, 1772
Robert, son of Robert & Elizabeth Saunders baptized Jan 5, 1780
Anne, dau of Robert & Elizabeth Saunders baptized Aug 29, 1781
I plan to search the entire film to find Robert & Elizabeth Saunders’ marriage record and any other Saunders entries.
I believe that this is our Martha Saunders, christened in Stratton-St. Margaret, Wiltshire, England 10 June 1783, the daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Saunders.
BIRTH of FIRST CHILD
From the 1735 Tetbury census, I knew that Martha’s first child was born before she was married. I found her christening record.
Parish of Stratton-St. Margaret, Baptisms 1801 “Martha daughter of Martha Saunders, base born, April 11"
Martha (the mother) and Martha (the daughter) were both christened in the parish of Stratton-St. Margaret, Wiltshire, England.
Martha would have been not quite 18 years old when she gave birth in 1801. Was this unusual to have a baby before a woman was married. According to Daniel Pool, “ Elsewhere in the working class premarital sex was generally winked at as long as the couple got married. Indeed, in 1800, about a third of the brides were pregnant on their wedding day.” “It was common in earlier centuries for a couple to marry only after a girl became pregnant (or even after she had borne a child).
MARRIAGE
Martha married Peter LeChevalier in Crudwell, Wiltshire, England, about 18 miles from her birthplace. The date was 28 Aug 1803.
BIRTH of 5 more CHILDREN
Her second daughter was christened in Crudwell, Wiltshire 8 April 1805. In the birth record her name is given as “Ann”. In family records, she was called Hannah Mariah.
“1805 April 8 Ann Daug. Of Peter & Martha Chevalier”
Her third daughter was also christened in Crudwell, Wiltshire 28 Sep 1806. Her name was given as “Jane”.
“1806 Sept 28 Jane Daug. Of Peter & Martha Le Chevalier”
Sometime between Sept 1806 and June 1808, Peter, Martha, and their three daughters moved to Tetbury.
Parish Church in Tetbury, April 2008
On 26 June 1808, Martha and Peter had twin daughters christened in Tetbury, Gloucester, England. “Catherine and Hannah Maria”.
HUSBAND LEAVES TETBURY
At Michaelmas (Sept. 25) in 1809, Peter took a farm in Little Washbourne, Gloucester, in the northernmost part of Gloucester County, 26 miles away. (Little Washbourne was actually part of Worcester County for a while).
This leaves unanswered questions. Why didn’t take he take his wife and children with him? He resided in Little Washbourne until his death 26 Dec 1809, just three short months later. How did he die? Where was he buried? Little Washbourne did not become a parish until 1813. Their dead were buried in surrounding parishes. I have searched many of these and have not found Peter’s burial record. There is no burial record for him in Tetbury either.
DEATH of HER HUSBAND
Martha was pregnant with her sixth child when her husband died.
BIRTH of SIXTH CHILD:
In the Settlement Examination dated 30 May 1810, this son was listed as an “infant male unbaptised aged 20 days.” Using this information, he would have been born 10 May 1810, over four months after his father died. On 3 Jun 1810, Martha had her sixth child and first son christened in Tetbury.
“Peter son of Peter LeChevalier and Martha his wife, June 3, 1810"
REMOVAL TO LITTLE WASHBOURNE
After Peter’s death, the Tetbury Overseers of the Poor held a settlement examination on 30 May 1810. They ordered the removal of Martha, the mother, and her five youngest children to Little Washbourne, and Martha, her daughter aged 8, to Stratton-St. Margaret, Wiltshire.
Why? I found the answer in Herber's "Ancestral Trails"
This family was not entitled to relief from Tetbury parish because they did not fit any of the qualifications as established by the Settlement Act of 1662 in which “a person was only entitled to relief from a parish if that person was:
a. someone who held public office in the parish, or paid the parish rate
b. someone who rented property in the parish worth over 10 pounds per annum
c. an unmarried person who had worked in the parish for one year
d. a woman who had married a man of the parish
e. a legitimate child, aged under 7, whose father lived in the parish
f. a child who was illegitimate and born in the parish
g. apprenticed to a master in the parish, or
h. a person resident in the parish for 40 days after having given the parish authorities prior written notice of his intention to do so
“The rules were often strictly enforced. People might be forcibly ejected from a parish if they were not legally settled there and they became (or were likely to become) a liability to the parish.”
Because Peter, the father, had rented land in Little Washbourne at 30 pounds a year, he qualified for relief from that parish because of reason “b” above.
So Martha, the mother, and her five younger children were to be sent to Little Washbourne. Her youngest child, a boy, was only 20 days old. He was christened 4 days after the settlement examination. It was also decided that Martha Saunders aged 8 would be sent to Stratton, Wiltshire. I wondered why an 8-year-old child would be separated from her mother. Her mother certainly could have used her help in caring for the 5 younger children. I think I found two possible answers in Herber.
1-“...from 1601 parish officers...were also empowered to arrange apprenticeships for orphans and for paupers’ children, since this relieved the parish of the cost of supporting the child. The children were usually apprenticed to masters, such as farmers, tradesmen or factory owners, in the parish, but in some cases the masters lived miles from a child’s home. Children were apprenticed from the age of seven and often against the will of their parents... Most apprenticeships were for a term of seven years, but parish apprenticeships usually continued until the child was aged 21...Overseers often looked for masters in neighbouring parishes since, after forty days of apprenticeship, the child obtained a right of settlement in that new parish and thus relieved his home parish of liability to relieve him in the future.”
Obviously, this family was poor. How did they travel to their new home? Again, I found the answer in Herber.
“The family would be escorted by the constable to the parish boundary. The Justices also issued passes, which recorded a pauper’s parish of legal settlement and required the constables of parishes on the route to conduct the pauper towards that parish. The family would be passed to the constable of the neighboring parish, who would in turn take them to the next boundary (and so on until the family reached their destination).”
Where did they live? Peter had been renting a house, but if his widow could not pay the rent, where would they live? Even 41 years later, Little Washbourne was a small hamlet, consisting of only 3 homes and the Hobnail’s Inn. I hope to be able to find the parish chest for the parish of Little Washbourne which might include notes of poor relief given to Martha, etc.
WIDOWHOOD
Martha was now 27 years old with six children. Her oldest, aged 8, had been separated from the rest of the family. Martha was left with 5 children: Ann aged 5, Jane aged 3, Catherine and Anna Maria, twins, aged 2, and a month-old baby. How did they exist? Was there a nearby parish that was responsible for the poor people of Little Washbourne before it became a parish in 1813? Did Martha have to work? It was a farming community. Did she have to do farm labour, or did she work in the local inn?
BIRTH of TWO MORE CHILDREN
In making a general search for the Surname “LeChevalier”, I found these two entries in the Ordinance Index from extracted birth/christening record for the locality of Little Washbourne.
“BAPTISMS solemnized in the Parish of Little Washbourne in the County of Worcester in the Year 1819-1822.”
Elizabeth LACHERSHIRE, christening: 14 Apr 1822
Mother: Martha LACHERSHIRE
Priscilla CHEUALIERE, christening 02 Jan 1824
Mother: Martha CHEUALIERE
Photo of Carol inside the church in Little Washbourne. The christening font is behind her. The box pews, the flooring are as they were in 1800. This is where Martha brought her two infant daughters to be christened. We were able to walk on the same ground that she walked on. It was an awesome feeling.
Clearly, these were two more daughters of Martha Saunders LeChevalier. But no father was listed. So I found the original record.
Martha is listed as a “single woman”. Was she taken advantage of as a young widow? Was she having an affair without a marriage? On the page of the original record, there are 8 children christened. 3 of the 8 have only the mother listed. So who is the father of these two children? It is very interesting to note that in a Marriage Entry for Sealings, submitted by Thelma Hill, date unknown, Priscilla’s father is listed as Peter LeChevalier. Going on this information and the Spirit, I had these girls sealed to Peter LeChevalier and Martha Saunders in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple on Dec. 26, 2003.
DEATH of SON in 1824:
In the St. George Temple records for baptisms (or endowments), Peter LeChevalier, the son, was listed as having died at age 14. Being born in 1810, he would have died in 1824, the same year that Priscilla was born in Little Washbourne.
SECOND MARRIAGE:
In Ancestral File, I found a Martha Saunders (AFN:1RWD-WLF) married about 1800 in Cheltenham, Gloucester, to William Alexander (ANF:1RWD-WLF).
In a marriage index of Gloucester, I found this marriage. I also found the original marriage record.
“MARRIAGES solemnized in the Parish of Hempstead in the County of Gloucester in the Year 1825".This marriage record states that William was “of the extraparochial Hamlet of Littleworth” and that Martha was “of the same Hamlet”.
But Littleworth was not a parish. In the “Imperial Gazeteer of England”, there are 3 Littleworths listed in Gloucester. They probably lived in the Littleworth adjacent to Gloucester city.
BIRTH of SECOND SON in 1827
Again in the Ancestral File, I found this entry.
"John Saunders Alexander (AFN:1RWD-0JC) born 17 Jan 1827 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. Died 22 Sep 1900 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah"
I searched for John Saunders Alexander’s birth record in the Bishop’s Transcripts for Cheltenham, Gloucester for the year 1827. I did not find the record. I searched the BTs for Hempstead (where William and Martha were married) for 1827 and did not find him. I found John’s christening record in Cheltenham. The date is 2 Jul 1830. I don’t know if the birth date given in Ancestral File is correct. Maybe he was 3 years old when he was christened. Further searching is necessary in the parish of Rodborough, Gloucester and in the parish of Minchinhampton, Gloucester.
WITNESS at MARRIAGE of DAUGHTER ELIZABETH in 1837
Martha Alexander is listed as a witness at the marriage of “Thomas Read of the parish of St Catherine, Gloucester and Elizabeth LeChevalier of the same parish” on 26 June 1837. In the parish of Churchdown.
I have proven that Elizabeth is Martha’s daughter. It is very probable that Martha, her mother, would be a witness at her daughter’s marriage. This proves to me that Martha LeChevalier did indeed marry again.
1841 CENSUS of Gloucestershire, England
In the 1841 British Census, (as seen on ancestry.com by Eileen Cox) in the Cheltenham Borough, St. Mary's Parish, Elm St. we find Martha and 3 youth, who may or may not be her children. In the 1841 census, no relationship was given.
Martha ALEXANDER, 50Y
Matilda ALEXANDER, 16Y
John ALEXANDER, 12Y
Henry ALEXANDER, 10Y
Matilda may or may not be Priscilla born in 1824. Henry may be another son born after John to Martha and William Alexander. Further research needs to be done to find who these children are.
DEATH of 2nd HUSBAND
Martha’s 2nd husband, William Alexander, died sometime before 1851, because in the 1851 census, she is listed as a widow. He may have died before 1841.
1851 CENSUS
I found Martha Alexander in the 1851 Census, living with her grandson Henry Read (the son of her daughter Elizabeth LeChevalier who married Thomas Read in 1837.)
“Parish of Cheltenham, Eccesiastical Districit of St. Peters, City of Cheltenham”IMMIGRATION of 2nd DAUGHTER, HANNAH MARIA LECHEVALIER COOK in 1854
“#89/3 St. Peters Place/Martha Alexander/Head/Widow/age 69/Parish Relief/Wilts Stratton
Henry Read/ Grandson/ Male age 8/ Glostershire Cheltenham”
Martha’s second daughter, Hannah Maria, had married Joseph Peter Cook and had 6 children by him. He died sometime in 1851. Hannah Maria was baptized into the LDS Church 28 Jan 1854 and later that month, she and her 3 surviving children (Hannah Maria Cook, Catherine Mansell Cook, and Joseph Peter Cook) immigrated to the USA. (Her two daughters had been baptized in the LDS Church, her son had not.)
IMMIGRATION of 2nd SON, JOHN SAUNDERS ALEXANDER, sometime between 1861-1870. More research needs to be done on this family, when/where they joined the church, and when they immigrated.
DEATH of MARTHA
Martha died two years later, at the age of 73. She was buried “in the Parish of Cheltenham in New Burial Ground in the County of Gloucester in the Year 1856".
WRITTEN REPORT with SOURCES is available from me upon request.
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