In his 1930's book about Kent Windmills and their Millers, William Coles Finch interviewed an 81 year old miller called John James Freeman who recounted stories about his Freeman 'Miller' ancestors and particularly mentioned his grandmother Sarah Freeman whom he recalled was a "veritable amazon", had 21 children and lived to be 101, a masterful woman of wonderful personality." The author also said that he gleaned so much information about Chatham windmills from John J. Freeman and that he never saw eighty-one years set more happily on a man than they did upon him - active, robust and with a memory far more ready than his own in recalling the past.
John J. Freeman's grandmother was my 4 x great grandmother and through historical research I have indeed confirmed that she lived to the grand old age of 101, she was born in 1771 and died on the 13th February 1873 leaving a last Will and Testament which I will later discuss.
As yet I haven't been able to find all her 21 children, 13 children where born and baptised in the Frinsdbury, Strood area where her husband William worked as a Miller, but considering the fact that she would have been 28 when the eldest of these was born then I am sure that she would have had more children before this time, probably born in another location.
As I said Sarah was born in 1771 probably in Southwark, London, which lies south of the river. On the 1851 census though, her birth place was given as Strood in Kent, her age was given as 79 and she was residing with Thomas Godden and his wife Martha in Frindsbury, Kent, I am still trying to find a connection between Thomas Godden and Sarah as he was also one of the Executors in Sarah's Will.
In both the 1861 and 1871 census her birth place is given as London, and the 1861 census is more specific in mentioning Tooley Street, Southwark which is also the area known as Bermondsey. In 1861 Sarah was a lodger by Ebenezer Moulton and his family together with her Grandaughter Mary Ann Freeman in Chatham, Kent.
In 1871, aged 99 she is residing with her daughter Hester Duly in Rochester, Kent.
I have surmised and changed Sarah's maiden name many times during my research, for a long time I thought that it was Sarah Lester as the name Lester is used many times within the Freeman family, but I have been unable to find a marriage between a William Freeman and a Sarah Lester. I now believe that Sarah's birth name was Sarah Walker who was born in Bermondsey on the 26th July 1771 to Thomas Walker and Sarah Richards. I have also found a marriage of a Sarah Walker to a William Freeman on the 3rd May 1787 also in Bermondsey, Southwark. Sarah would only have been 15 at the time of this marriage and William is recorded as being a widower so until I find further proof this is still a surmise.
What I do know about Sarah, my 4th great grandmother is that she married a Miller, William Freeman, and that for a large portion of their married life they lived in Frindsbury, Kent, which is a small village on the banks of the Medway opposite the lovely town of Rochester. William was probably the miller of the House Mill which was built in 1819.
A very sad occasion in Sarah and William's life was reported in the 1813 edition of the local newspaper when their young son George Edward Freeman a toddler of two and a half years wandered away from home and was struck by the turning sails of the Windmill. This must have been a very traumatic time in Sarah's life, as well as the other times when her children died before her.
Sarah's husband William passed away in 1841 when she was 69, Sarah outlived him for another 32 years and when she eventually died only five of her many children where still alive.
As I mentioned Sarah left a Will which she made on the 18th April 1868 when she was 96 years old and still sound of mind. Her daughter Hester Duly and good friend Thomas Godden were her Executors. All her household furniture, books, plates, wearing apparel, linen, china, prints and other articles were left to her daughter Hester Duly as well as 300 pounds. Her two surviving sons Thomas and James Freeman also inherited 300 pounds each and her dear daughters Maria Dunham and Sarah Orwin inherited 50 pounds each.
Sarah Orwin was my 3x great grandmother who had been living in the North of England in Hull since 1840, I wonder how often she was able to travel down to Kent to visit her Mother.
Sarah also left 100 pounds to her Grandson James Duly, 30 pounds to her friend Martha Godden and 10 pounds to Thomas Godden. She also requested to be buried at Frindsbury Parish Church and that a head stone would be placed on her grave.
Even though Sarah was a widow for more than thirty years she was an independent woman of sufficient means and as her Grandson described her a masterful woman with a strong personality, a "veritable Amazon".
