JAMES HICKINGBOTHAM (1822-1890)
James HICKINGBOTHAM was baptised in Bracebridge in Lincolnshire on 26th December 1822. He was the son of George HICKINGBOTHAM and his wife, Ann GULL who had married in Ann's parish of Whaplode on 19th April 1813. After the birth of their third child in 1818 they settled in Bracebridge where George had been baptised on 3rd July 1788.
By 1851 James was working as a labourer in Heighington, near Washingborough where he went by the surname HIGGINS (possibly because it was easier to spell and James couldn't write). At the time of the census he was a lodger in the household of James ROOK and his wife Ann (BELLAMY?). The ROOKs had a daughter, Mary, who had been born in Walcot and baptised in Billinghay on 9th September 1827. She and James HIGGINS were married in Washingborough on 17th April 1851 - just two weeks after the census . Their first child, a son named George, was baptised in Heighington on 1st April 1852.
As a labourer James would presumably have needed to move around in search of work. By the following year the family had moved to the village of Potterhanworth where their first daughter, Mary Ann Elizabeth, was baptised on 11th September 1853. By the time their youngest daughter, Eliza Harriet, was baptised on 6th January 1856 the family were living in Stainfield. Throughout this time James was still using the name HIGGINS.
By 1861 the family had moved back to Bracebridge and were living at NO 3 Wheatley Buildings close to other members of James's family. His older brother, George, was living at Parish Cottage while his parents and two younger brothers were living at Saley Cottages.
By 1871 their daughter, Mary Ann, had left home and was working as a domestic servant for the publican John BINGHAM who owned the 'White Swan' at 274 High Street. The rest of the family were still living in Bracebridge. By this time James's parents had died but his brothers George and Isaac were still living nearby with their families.
On 18th March 1872 Mary Ann married the boiler maker Henry HERRICK in the Independant Chapel at St Botolph in Lincoln. Henry, born on 9th October 1851, was a son of George HERRICK and Elizabeth FOSTER who had married in Loughborough in Leicestershire on 15th May 1837. The marriage of Henry and Mary Ann was witnessed by Mary Ann's brother, George and Henry's sister Eliza. Henry and Mary Ann settled on Newark Road in Bracebridge close to her parents and younger sister.
Around 1875 James's son, George, married Annie EL(I)SON who had been born in Fillingham. By 1881 he was working as a stone mason and he and Annie were living at 53 Cross Street at St Peter at Gowts in Lincoln with their two children Henry (5) and Emma (4).
James and Mary were still living in Bracebridge with their youngest daughter, Eliza. A little further away, in Bracebridge, were Mary Ann and Henry with three children; Eliza Frances (known as Frances) (7), Mary Alice (6) and Louisa Ann (3). By this time they had already had seven children but four of these had died as infants.
James died in 1890 and was buried in Bracebridge on 15th January. Mary Ann and Henry HERRICK moved in with with Mary. Their household was now quite large and included seven of their own children (Frances had left home). By now they had had fourteen children of which only eight were surviving.
Mary Ann's brother George and family were living on the High Street at St Swithin's in Lincoln with Annie's widowed mother and two of her brothers.
Mary lived with her daughter's family until her death on the 15th December 1907.
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