Sarah Jane WALTON
Early years in Somerset
Sarah was born in 1835 or early 1836 in Somerton, Somerset. She was the illegitimate daughter of Jane Cary according to her baptism record.
She was adopted by a local farmer and landowner, John Jennings of Midney. She appears in the 1841 and 1851 censuses as his daughter, Sarah Jennings.
Marriage
In April 1859, Sarah married George Walton, another local farmer. The marriage was announced in the Wells Journal as between “G Walton and Sharah (sic) Jennings” but on the marriage register she is recorded as Sarah Cary, with no entry for the father’s name.
There were no children from the marriage. George and Sarah are together in the 1861 census (in Somerton) and the 1871 census (in Charlton Adam) by which time George had become a “retired farmer” at the age of 43.
We are not sure what happened to George after 1871 but it seems likely that he died in the 1870s.
Battersea
Our next sighting of Sarah is in the 1881 census: she is in London, a boarder in the household of widower John Kanngeisser at 43 Rollo Street, Battersea. She is a widow and a needlewoman. Ten years later, in 1891, she is still in Rollo Street with John Kanngeisser, but her status is now “Housekeeper”. More about John Kanngeisser at the end of this story.
Insanity
On 17 September 1896, Sarah was admitted to the Wandsworth & Clapham Infirmary where she was found to be of unsound mind (this was the first time that we have found her name recorded as Sarah Jane):
“She is demented, mind and memory enfeebled, quite incapable of giving a rational account of herself. Statements contradictory and varying very minute, labours under delusions and hallucinations, declares that she has been to a funeral this morning at Walworth cemetery and that she has been visited by her relatives but such is not the case: has no idea of time, fancies the present month is April and that she has been in the Infirmary for a week whereas she was admitted yesterday”.
The supposed cause of her insanity was “intemperance”. She was ordered to be admitted to the private asylum at Fisherton House in Wiltshire, the London asylums being full at the time.
(Sarah’s next of kin was recorded on the Reception Order as ” Brother William Jenning, Midney House, Somerton, Taunton, Somerset”. This was the key piece of information that enabled us to identify Sarah and trace her family history: we were able to find the Jennings family at Midney House, and locate Sarah and William together in the 1841 and 1851 censuses.)
Sarah remained at Fisherton House for three years until she was transferred to the new Manor asylum in 1899. She died there from pancreatic cancer on 15 September 1904 and was buried at Horton cemetery on 20 September. She was 69 years old.
During Sarah’s time at Manor she was visited very regularly ( around 70 times) by John Kanngeisser who also attended her funeral. They must have been very close.
She was also visited twice by a cousin, William Hewson, from Somerton.