Joseph and Sarah Miller were working class people who lived in the village of Elmdon, in rural Essex. They may well have been among the last generation to live a traditional life as rural workers, before the industrial revolution completely disrupted the rural way of life.
Joseph was born in Elmdon in 1755. His future bride, Sarah Burgess was born on 1859, also in Elmdon. I have traced parts of Joseph and Sarah's family back to the mid 1500s, almost always within Elmdon or the surrounding parishes. This is not unusual, because working class people had little need to travel further than the nearest market town, which was usually within walking distance, 10 km or so.
None of the records I have been able to uncover tell us what Joseph and Sarah did for a living, but it most likely that they were agricultural labourers. They would have been on a small retainer to work for a local farmer, but they were able to supplement their meagre wages by growing their own vegetables and foraging the commons and laneways for game (rabbits), fruit and berries. The women were also allowed to 'glean' during the grain harvest. This involved picking up loose grain that had fallen to the earth during harvest. A diligent gleaner could get enough grain to last the family many months.
Agricultural workers were the most numerous class in rural England, just one step above the paupers who relied on the church for charity. Children would get little education and would start work by the age of 12. Some boys were expected to work from the age of 8! They would keep working while they were physically able, after which they could only hope they had children to care for them. It was a good day if the child of a rural worker was apprenticed into a trade, or even better, got a job as a servant.
Tradesmen were are step above the labourers in the social hierarchy. They included the blacksmith, carpenter, butcher and baker, but there were many trades that are lost today such as the wheelwright, gamekeeper and woodwright (cared for the woodland). School teachers and doctors were also considered tradesmen and they learned their trade as apprentices.
Personal servants were a class above the trades, because they were trusted to live and work in the homes of the wealthier members of the society.
Next were the farmers. Some owned their own land, but many rented their land from the Squire, who often owned a large estate. The small area farmers were called Yeomen. While the farmers were not the top of the hierarchy, they had a tremendous influence on the operation of the local area. The farmers were the main members of the Parish Council that managed the administration and affairs of the village. The Parish council appointed the Church Wardens, the constable, the teacher and the road workers. The Church Wardens were responsible for charity to the very poor and often took responsibility for orphans and other homeless children. Many of these children were sold into so-called 'apprenticeships' which were little more than slave labour.
In most villages, the professional class was limited to the Clergy. The Vicar and possibly a Curate, were the only people likely to have had a good education.
The Squire usually lived in the big manor house overlooking the village. They were not always aristocrats, but had their own rigid social structure. The Squire would rarely, if ever, interact with the farm workers, and I assume that many spent a good part of their time enjoying the social life of the city.
Joseph and Sarah married in 1786. Sarah was 27 and Joseph 31.They had six children born between 1786 and 1799 and all seem to have lived to adulthood. There may have been more who did not survive, but we rely on baptism records for information. Births deaths and marriages would not be officially recorded until the mid 1830s, and the first census if England would be taken in 1841.
Joseph died in 1810, aged 54. he did not live to see his children marry and have children of their own. Sarah survived her husband and two of her daughters. Both of her sons married and had families in Elmdon, so Sarah would have known her grandchildren. The two surviving daughters married and moved away, one to Royston and the other to London.
Sarah died in in 1839 aged 79.
Joseph and Sarah's whole life can be read in the parish register f St Nicholas Church in Elmdon. They were baptised there, married there, baptised their children there and were buried in that church.
Joseph and Sarah were not the last of their family to live in the Elmdon area, but the storm clouds were gathering for the changes that would change rural England forever. The Miller and Burgess names and the names of their ancestral families such as Freeman, Pitty, Mead and Hagar appear regularly in the Parish Registers right back to the first Parish records were created in the reign of Henry VIII. The industrial revolution changed that and many of the working class were forced to leave their ancestral homes to seek work elsewhere. The change sflowed on to most of the population, so none of the old families remain in Elmdon today!
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