The Norman and Marshall Families - Paupers and Peasants
Ann Norman of Holton, Somerset
Our earliest known Norman ancestor is Ann, my great great great great great grandmother. Ann was living in the Somerset parish of Holton in the 1770-1790s. It is unfortunate that there is a gap in the Holton registers between 1734-1777. However there are no other Norman families resident in the village either before 1734 or after 1777 so it does not appear that she came from Holton. A search of surrounding parishes has not revealed any Norman families either so for the time being Ann's background remains a mystery. The name Norman was fairly common in Somerset but the main concentrations of the name are found further to the north of the county.
It does not do to speculate too deeply on Ann's lifestyle and circumstances but we know from Parish Registers and Poor Books that she bore 6 illegitimate sons in the seven-year period 1775-1782. Attempts by the village Overseers of the Poor to identify the fathers seem to have failed.
Ann's sons were as follows:
- Richard:He was probably born around 1774-5.
- John: Our direct ancestor. He was probably born around 1775-6
- James: Holton 1778
- Thomas: Holton 1779. Buried 1779
- Joseph: Holton 1781
- Charles: Holton 1782
The surviving Holton Poor books tell us a little about the family's life, in particular that of John and Richard who were sent out to work at an age when modern children would just be starting out at school. It would appear from these entries that John was officially indentured at the age of 5 or 6, but prior to that had been sent to work for, or live with, a Mary Aishford, and that by 1781 Richard had already been indentured to a Mr Plunkett. One of the main responsibilities of the parish Overseers was to find indentures or 'apprenticeships' for pauper's children as soon as they were old enough to work, in order to relieve the parish of the burden of supporting these children. The ''apprenticeship' would almost certainly not have been an apprenticeship into a trade, more a fancy word for labouring or work as a house servant. Indeed it could be argued that an apprenticeship for a pauper's child was an apprenticeship as a slave as only the lucky were few were valued or cared for by their new employer. A pauper's apprenticeship could last until he or she was 21 years old.
The fact that the parish of Holton supported Ann and her children cannot be taken as evidence that Ann herself was born in the parish. or that she had a settlement claim there. Illegitimate children whose fathers were not known were the responsibility of the birth parish. The fist entry in the Poor book suggests that questions about Richard's paternity went unanswered. Ann's situation was not unique or even uncommon; studies of Poor Books for other parishes suggest that every village had its 'Ann'.