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![Sarah WOOD, [Parents?]](img/female.jpg)
Sarah WOOD, [Parents?]
Abt 1763 - 1858 (~ 95 years)
Has 6 ancestors and one descendant in this family tree.
Set As Default Person 
-
Name Sarah WOOD Suffix [ONS gp] [Parents?] Relationship 
with Teresa Ann GOATHAM Born Abt 1763 (probably near) Cudham, Kent, England 
- Birthplace uncertain. 1841 census shows 'Y'[es] to query whether born in the county, but 1851 shows Surrey Gurlford[sp?]. This would seem likely to mean Guildford, over 30 miles from Cudham, but there could have been somewhere nearer with a name like this (Cudham parish lies the Kent side of the Kent - Surrey border, so there is a potential for a birth in Surrey to be just yards from Cudham). Age given as 75 in 1841 census, suggesting born 1761-66, 82 in 1851, suggesting born 1768-9, 94 at death, suggesting born 1763-4.
** I have yet to see any documentary evidence that Sarah is the daughter of RIchard Whitehead, but have seen this on several trees. **
Whilst it seems to me over 90% of Ancestry trees have lots of errors, and I don't generally add people just becauset I've seen them on another tree, Ancestry or otherwise, this link is of a different sort. It would probably be easy to find the wrong Sarah WOOD daughter of a married WOOD couple or even a single woman, but harder by superficial research to light on the father as Richard WHITEHEAD.
AND I have a DNA match with someone descended from Sarah WOOD by her husband Richard LEWIS.
With known WHITEHEAD ancestry in the area, I could easily be related to the DNA match in some other way, especially as his ancestors remained in the area down to his grandmother, so plenty of opportunity for one to have married some sort of cousin of mine. Also, the match does not have a tree on Ancestry, so this link could be a co-incidence, and the DNA match through a different part of my tree.
However, whilst I do think it could be a co-incidence I think it may well be that Sarah is Richard's daughter, so am attempting to explore this.
Gender Female Residence From 1841 to 1851 Old Harrom, Cudham, Kent, England - In the 1841 census shows as 'Sorrrah Lewiss', (rounded down) age 45, with her son Thomas Tapsell, aged 45 and William Tapsell age 15 in the same house.
Occupation 1851 Dealer in poultry - No occupation had been given for Sarah in the 1841 census
Died Mar Q 1858 Bromley Reg Dist, Kent, England - GRO ref: LEWIS, Sarah q1 1858 Bromley RD 2a 162; GRO online index shows age at death as 94
Buried 11 Mar 1858 St. Peter and St. Pauls’ Church, Cudham, Kent, England - From the NBI (data transcribed by the North West Kent FHS), viewed on FMP 17 Dec 2022 (original source, i.e. PR or BT, not given)
Shows Sarah LEWIS, aged 94
Half-siblings1 half sister (family of Richard WHITEHEAD and Ann STOCKWELL) Half-siblings5 half brothers and 6 half sisters (family of Richard WHITEHEAD and Mary GRIGSBY) Patriarch & Matriarch 
Thomas WHITEHEAD, b. Est 1677, d. Aug 1732 (Age ~ 55 years) (Great Grandfather)
Rachael WOOD, b. Abt 1741, d. Yes, date unknown (Mother)Person ID I35470 All | The descendants (and other halves) of Richard Whitehead and Mary née Grigsby Last Modified 10 Sep 2024
Father Richard WHITEHEAD, b. Abt 1739, d. Sep 1830, Stockbury, Kent, England (Age ~ 91 years)
Other Partners: Ann STOCKWELL; Mary GRIGSBY m. 20 Feb 1776Mother Rachael WOOD, b. Abt 1741, d. Yes, date unknown
Other Partners: Thomas ARRATAR m. 28 May 1769Married? Not married or evidence to suggest they didn't marry Notes - Sarah WOOD appears on a number of trees as the daughter of Richard WHITEHEAD and Rachael WOOD; I have no other evidence of a link between Richard and Rachael.
As I have not spotted a tree with any good evidence for this I would not usually add something like this to my tree, but in this case there are two things that make it worth considering:
1. If you find an ancestor with a fairly common name like Sarah WOOD it can be hard to determine the right one. Most baptism PR entries don't name the father of an illegitimate child, so you may well find Sarah's mother or the wrong Sarah. Occasionally the father is named, that maybe the case here (since I have not see a baptism for Sarah) but most likely Richard's name as father was from more in-dept research. So whilst it is not on any tree I have seen it looks like some research might have been done linking Richard to Rachael (the most likely place would seem to be Hayes, Kent poor law records, which I hope to see in the future).
2. The Kentish part (quarter) of my ancestry is mostly from East Kent. Even Stockbury is further West than most. Yet I have two DNA matches who it appears are descended from Sarah WOOD, one by each of her marriages - from her daughter Ann TAPSELL and her son Robert LEWIS.
I share just 11cM with each of these matches, not surprising if the source of the shared DNA is as it seems likely Richard Whitehead; I am half 5th cousin once removed to one match, half 5th cousin to the other.
I do have shared matches to each of these (identified by Ancestry, who only show shared matches who have at least 20cM matching the subject of the match so I am lucky to have them - they wouldn't see me as a match). However, in one case the shared match shares all of my Kentish ancestry, and in the other I have two matches, two siblings, who share half of my Kentish ancestry, so these matches really only more-or-less confirm that the link is via my Kentish great grandfather's side of my tree. I would have hoped that I might have had link(s) that limited it a bit furthur - to the eighth of my Goatham great grandfather's ancestry, i.e. to descendants of other children of Richard and his wife Mary GRIGSBY, or to descendants of his siblings. Even if less than 20cM they could be useful; I may look for links on other sites or ask Ancestry DNA matches who I believe match through Richard or his parents if they too have matches with descendants of Sarah WOOD.
Family ID F3289 Family Group Page | Family Chart
Family 1 George TAPSELL, bur. 4 Mar 1800, St. Leonard’s Church, Chelsham, Surrey, England Married 27 Oct 1783 St. Peter and St. Pauls’ Church, Cudham, Kent, England - From PR entry (transcribed data on FS)
Shows George Tapsell married Sarah Wood
(no other info. transcribed)
It does seem clear that the same Sarah married first George TAPSELL and then Richard LEWIS.
Assuming there was a Sarah WOOD, daughter of Richard WHITEHEAD and Rachael WOOD I still can't be sure that it was that Sarah who married George and Richard, there were others of a similar age nearby and I have NOT done the research to rule others out or to find convincing evidence it was this Sarah.
(Most noticably, there was a Sarah Wood who married in Hayes in 1787. Given that Hayes appears to have been the birthplace of Rachael, Sarah's mother, it is a particularly likely place for her to marry.)
However, the fact I appear to have DNA match with a descendant of both the marriage of Sarah to George TAPSELL and of the same Sarah's marriage to Richard LEWIS adds weight to it being the daughter of my ancestor Richard WHITEHEAD who married first George and then RIchard. (This is especially likely as this is not a part of Kent where I have ancestors other than Richard and his forebears, so far as I am aware, so it is not likely that I am related to Sarah's descendants through another line, as could easily be the case in some small areas of England).
Children 1. Ann TAPSELL, b. Abt 1798, d. Yes, date unknown Last Modified 22 Jun 2024 Family ID F3290 Family Group Page | Family Chart
Family 2 Richard LEWIS, d. Yes, date unknown Married 11 Jul 1801 St. Peter and St. Pauls’ Church, Cudham, Kent, England - From West Kent marriage index, shows Ric. Lewis married Sar. Tapsell, Sarah a widow.
Last Modified 19 Oct 2022 Family ID F3291 Family Group Page | Family Chart
- Birthplace uncertain. 1841 census shows 'Y'[es] to query whether born in the county, but 1851 shows Surrey Gurlford[sp?]. This would seem likely to mean Guildford, over 30 miles from Cudham, but there could have been somewhere nearer with a name like this (Cudham parish lies the Kent side of the Kent - Surrey border, so there is a potential for a birth in Surrey to be just yards from Cudham). Age given as 75 in 1841 census, suggesting born 1761-66, 82 in 1851, suggesting born 1768-9, 94 at death, suggesting born 1763-4.