Mary Vernon of Sparrowpit, Derbyshire, 1819-1885
Mary Vernon was born in Sparrowpit, Derbyshire in 1819. Her family had resided in this small hamlet for nearly two-hundred years, and she was born into a large family network. Following in the footsteps of many generations of her ancestors, she was baptised in the church of St Charles King and Martyr in Peak Forest, on Sunday 31 October 1819.
She grew up with her father Joseph Vernon and her mother Ann née Jowle at Knowl Top Farm, next to the inn in Sparrowpit, as part of a very large family of 13 children.
On Tuesday 21 May 1839 Mary married John Hallam, the village blacksmith. The Hallams were another long-established family in the hamlet, and in such a small village Mary and John had undoubtedly known each other well since childhood, their two families regularly coming into contact with each other and perhaps regularly socialising together in the place's only inn, the Three Tuns (now known as the Wanted Inn).
John and Mary had six children born between 1840 and 1852. Their eldest son Joseph Hallam, named after Mary's father, was born in 1843 and continued in his father's footsteps as the village blacksmith. Between the years 1871 and 1876 Joseph left the village of Sparrowpit and moved to nearby Chapel-en-le-Frith, then Chapel Milton. In so doing he was the first of his family to reside outside the village of Sparrowpit for over 200 years.
Mary predeceased her husband by four years, dying in October 1885 in Sparrowpit at the age of 66. She was laid to rest on Wednesday 14 October 1885 in the churchyard of St Thomas Becket parish church, Chapel-en-le-Frith, where she had married over 45 years previously.
She grew up with her father Joseph Vernon and her mother Ann née Jowle at Knowl Top Farm, next to the inn in Sparrowpit, as part of a very large family of 13 children.
On Tuesday 21 May 1839 Mary married John Hallam, the village blacksmith. The Hallams were another long-established family in the hamlet, and in such a small village Mary and John had undoubtedly known each other well since childhood, their two families regularly coming into contact with each other and perhaps regularly socialising together in the place's only inn, the Three Tuns (now known as the Wanted Inn).
John and Mary had six children born between 1840 and 1852. Their eldest son Joseph Hallam, named after Mary's father, was born in 1843 and continued in his father's footsteps as the village blacksmith. Between the years 1871 and 1876 Joseph left the village of Sparrowpit and moved to nearby Chapel-en-le-Frith, then Chapel Milton. In so doing he was the first of his family to reside outside the village of Sparrowpit for over 200 years.
Mary predeceased her husband by four years, dying in October 1885 in Sparrowpit at the age of 66. She was laid to rest on Wednesday 14 October 1885 in the churchyard of St Thomas Becket parish church, Chapel-en-le-Frith, where she had married over 45 years previously.