Sarah Jane ( Grandma Hall)
*It would look like Sarah Jane’s mother was living with her parents at the time of the birth of her new infant. If you recall Francis Thorneloe was enumerated in Burton-Extra for the 1841 census.

Note: Bond End is another name for Burton-Extra township in the parish of Burton on Trent. Other townships are Burton, Branston(e), Horninglow, Stretton, Winshill and part of Stapenhill. The last two were on the east side of the river Trent and fell in Derbyshire. Bond End is very near Branstone and Burton on Trent.

1841 Census for Burton Extra Lichfield Street
Francis Thorneloe age 60 and a male Sherriffs Office; Sarah age 70;
Oliver Brown 15; Sarah Brown 10; William Brown 8; Augusta Brown age 6.

My English researcher concerning exact date of birth “Don’t worry about the discrepancy in birth date; it constantly surprises me that in the early period of registration any except the most educated of parents knew the date of birth. It was one thing for a parish clerk to record the baptism on the day but quite another for parents to remember or even have known the date of birth at the time. Remember we are dealing here with a rural society in an England which didn’t even have standard time until the spread of railways made it necessary (i.e. 10.15 am in Burton was not necessarily the same as 10.15 even in the next village and certainly not the same as on the east or west coasts - even this little island has a 15 or 20 minute time difference if measured by a sundial!) You cam imagine the clerk saying, ‘ What was his date of birth’ and the parents saying, ‘Well, it was about three days before we harvested the lower field and the day after we’d been to church for Sunday service’ or something like that.....”

Before we were married Richard told me how old he was and when he was born. When we went to get our marriage license he gave a different age and date. I asked him why it was different and he said “I looked at my driver’s license and saw I was wrong.” So would be easy to not remember a date right, if no record handy to check. I don’t think dates were as important back in the 1800s as we have made them today.

The Census of 1851 has her age as eleven and born in Branstone. She is not found in the 1841 census. Found a listing for her possibile christening. A Sarah Jane Higgott Brown is listed as christened 8 Dec 1840 at St. Phillips, Birmingham, Warwick, England. Mother is Sarah Brown. of Bond End. (near Burton on Trent and Branstone) Date of birth listed as 3 November 1840. (Have a copy of this record) No birth certificate found.

Possible found in the 1861 census. If so she is going by the earlier age.
Fo.71, p 27 Market Street, Lichfied, St. Mary
Family Smith, wine merchant, one of the servants was Sarah Brown, aged 24, housemaid, born in Sattfordshire (no town given). Researcher checked for the name of Sarah Higgott also in Lichfield.

Nearby family Garratt, hairdresser and perfumer. One of the servants was Sarah Hall, unmarried, 16, house servant, born Lichfield. Most likely sister of Thomas Hall.
Maybe Thomas Hall met Sarah Jane Higgott Brown, through his sister Sarah Hall.

1870 census, Schuyker County, MO, Greenwood township list Thomas Hall and family p 325a and 326
Thomas Hall, age 35, male, day laborer, born England, could not read or write; Sarah Jane , age 30, female, keeping house, born England, can not write; Anne, age 4, female, born England; Emma, age 2, female, born England. (Sarah Jane’s date of birth would be 1840.)

1880 Census, Decatur County, Iowa, Hamilton Township p324a
Thomas Hall, male, age 44, farmer, can not read or write, born England; Sarah Jane, female, age 41, wife, keeping house, can read and write, born England; Anne, female, age 14, daughter, attending school, born England; Emma, female, age 12, daughter, attending school, born England; Elizabeth, female, age 9, daughter, attending school, born Iowa; Clara M., female, age 7, daughter, attending school, born Iowa; John, male, age 1, son, born Iowa.
From this census Sarah Jane would have been born ca 1839.

The 1900 Decatur County, Iowa census has her date of birth as October 1835 and she is 64 years old.

The Special Iowa Census of 1905 has her age as 68 and when you calculate that she would have been born in 1837.

The 1925 Special Iowa Census record says she is 89 years old, born in Birmingham, Staffordshire, England and lists her mother as S. J. Higgott and does not list a father.

Her death certificate and probate says born 1837. Her death certificate lists her father as Humphrey Higgott and her mother as Sarah Thornalow. Have copies of both.