Joseph Biggs, originally of Dinton Bucks, moved to Spittal Street Great Marlow in the very late 1850s or 1860.
He was a middle aged widower with a much younger "servant" Sarah Bristow in tow, by whom he had had 3 children - Ellen, Joseph and Alfred. The children were referred to as both Bristows and Biggs at different times. Sarah had worked for him since at least 1851.
Joseph was a corn dealer and baker with a shop in Spittal Street. After his death not that long after the couple arrived in the town Sarah, as Sarah Biggs and calling herself a widow, ran the business herself.
In 1890 she was fined 10 shillings for selling bread without weighing it first, a very common offence.
By then Sarah's children were no longer at home. On the 1891 census she had a ten year old servant Nellie Edwards living with her to assist. She may also have had daily staff that didn't live in.
Sarah's son Joseph junior with two of his friends had been hailed as "romantic" and "gallant" heroes for diving into the Thames to rescue an exhausted and capsized rower following a competitive race at Marlow in 1874.
One of those friends, John Langley junior, went on to marry Joseph junior's sister Ellen in 1877. Both Joseph junior and his younger brother Alfred were successful young rowers at Marlow themselves. Women did row competitively at this time but I have found no evidence of Ellen Biggs competing. You can see the grave of Ellen Biggs/Langley at Holy Trinity church, Marlow here.
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Written and researched by Charlotte Day. ©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use my research for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog and link here.
Some Sources:
"England and Wales Census, 1871", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KXS5-G47 : 26 June 2022), Ellen Biggs in entry for Sarah Biggs, 1871.
"England and Wales Census, 1891," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4GGB-V6Z : 22 February 2021), Sarah Biggs, Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom; from "1891 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 12, Buckinghamshire county, subdistrict, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
1881 census Great Marlow, my transcription from microfilm.
Bucks Herald 15th August 1874. British Library Archives.
Reading Mercury 26th July 1890. British Library Archives.
Great Marlow Parish Registers, original.
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