Hard times for Ann Edwards
Ann Edwards was born at Oddington in 1825, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Edwards. She clearly fell on hard times as the records of the Bicester Union Workhouse show that she was an inmate there in January 1844. She was a single mother and was granted the sum of 4s for two coffins for her children.
Life improved for Ann in that on 22 September 1850 she married Richard Coggins at Noke. Richard’s first wife, Jane West, had died in 1849. The 1851 census shows the couple living at Noke, where Richard was an agricultural labourer. With them was William, age 7, the son of Richard and Jane, and Elizabeth, age 3 months.
In 1861 the census records the family at Charlton-on-Otmoor. In addition to William and Elizabeth there were now other children, George, age 7, Hannah, age 5 and Martha, age 1.
Little is known about what happened to the children, other than that Hannah died in 1869. Martha married Thomas Harris, of Oddington, at Charlton on 14 December 1880. Elizabeth married Jacob Haynes, of Fencott, at Charlton on 30 October 1884.
Richard Coggins died at Charlton in 1888. It seems likely that following his death Ann went to live with her daughter Elizabeth in France. She died at Somme, Picardie in 1899.
St Andrew's Church 