Ayliffe, Eleanor Jane (nee Lessiter) (abt1832-1906)
Transcription of Obituary in the Christian Messenger
Mrs. Mordecai Ayliffe. – Our Somerford Magna Church in the Malmesbury Circuit has had many losses through death during the last twelve months, but none greater than that caused by the passing away of Sister Ayliffe, wife of the late Mordecai Ayliffe, on November 26th, aged seventy four years. Converted when fourteen, she began work for the Lord at eighteen, and practically belonged to Primitive Methodism all he days. The home at Somerford was always open for all the preachers. It would be impossible to say too much in relation to the help rendered to our cause by herself, her husband and daughters. What a joy it was to them when the trust debt was liquidated! “A mother in Israel” has gone. Her own children – nine daughters – “rise up and call her blessed.” There was general agreement when one of them remarked, in relation to the numerous and beautiful wreaths placed on the coffin: “The flowers are like her life, pure and beautiful,” and “Nothing is too good for mother.” “That there should not be any gap in her family at last” was her latest prayer. May that be fully answered!
Family and other information
Eleanor was born abt 1832 at Corston, Wiltshire, to parents Henry and Sarah. Henry worked the land. She was baptised on 26 January 1834 at Malmesbury, Wiltshire.
In 1851, Eleanor was a house servant to John W Handy, a farmer of 121 acres, at Rodbourne, Burton Hill, Wiltshire. In 1861, she was a housemaid at Rodbourne House, the home of Richard H Pollen, a landed gentleman and J.P.
Eleanor married Mordecai Ayliffe (abt 1833-1905) in late 1862 in the Malmesbury Registration District. Mordecai was a grocer at Great Somerford, Wiltshire. Census returns identify nine children.
- Lydia (1863-1925) – married Arthur Young, a butler and later a shopkeeper, in 1887
- Rebecca (1864-1943) -married Henry Charles Day, a carpenter, in 1884
- Martha (abt1866-1933) – married John Wooding, a coachman, in 1891
- Miriam (b1868) – a housemaid (1891)
- Rachel (1869-1948) – married Richard Chaffe, a domestic butler, in 1898
- Ruth (1870-1935) – married James John Small, a mechanical engineer, in 1907
- Elizabeth Lessiter (1871-1948) – a domestic cook; married Alfred Steel, a butler, in 1901
- Sarah Jemima (1874-1951) – married William Frederick Keyton, an indoor servant (1911), in 1896
- Eleanor Jane (b1876) – married George Lewis Barnes in 1906
Eleanor died on 26 November 1906 at Great Somerford, Wiltshire.
References
Christian Messenger 1907/189
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
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