Sarah Dewey
(1837-1896)

Sarah Dewey (later Sarah Gooby) was the oldest of the seven child of William Dewey and his first wife Mary Tabraham of Witchford, Cambridgeshire, England.

When she was 18 years old in 1856, she gave birth to her illegitimate son, John Freeman Dewey. The identity of his father remains a mystery.

Just eighteen months after her son's birth, Sarah emigrated to Australia without him, on board the ship 'Hornet', which left Liverpool in 1858. Her younger sister Rebecca Dewey followed her in 1859. Whilst Rebecca remained there, Sarah returned to England in 1861, and took work as a General Servant in Aldgate, London.

After reuniting with her elderly parents, and her five year old son in Witchford, she eventually settled down again and married John Gooby, a groom from Witchford, who already had at least two children from his first marriage.

Sarah appears on the 1881 census with her husband and his two children - George Gooby and Annie Gooby, and also her father-in-law, Robert Gooby, a gardener.

By the time of her final census in 1891, she's living with her grandson Arthur Robert Dewey.

Life Events

Born

  • 1837 at Witchford, Cambridgeshire, England.

Baptised

  • 30th November 1837 at St. Andrew's Church, Witchford, Cambridgeshire, England.

Married

  • John Gooby (1841-1903) on 6th June 1879 at St. Andrew's Church, Witchford, Cambridgeshire, England.

Children

Census and Residence

  • 1841: 3yrs, Witchford Street, Witchford, Cambridgeshire, England.
  • 1851: 13yrs, George IV Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England.
  • 1861: 25yrs, 2 Aldgate, London, England.
  • 1871: 33yrs, Witchford, Cambridgeshire, England.
  • 1881: 43yrs, Witchford, Cambridgeshire, England.
  • 1891: 52yrs, Main Street, Witchford, Cambridgeshire, England.

Employment

  • 1861: General Servant for Edward Firth (Woolen Draper) in Aldgate.

Death

  • March 1896 at Witchford, Cambridgeshire, England, aged 57 years.

Burial

  • 18th March 1896 at St. Andrew's Church, Witchford, Cambridgeshire, England.

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