Jane Hart, Centenarian (Longevity)
This week’s prompt for 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks is Longevity. Whilst we have several long-lived people in our lines, the person who immediately popped into my head was my great-great-grandmother, Jane Hart.
Jane Hart is probably the longest-lived person in our tree, living to a grand age of 101 years old. She was born on the 16th of May 18612 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, the fourth daughter of George Hart who farmed at Bourne Hall in Wherstead for many years.3
On the 22nd of October 1885, she married Frederick George Cox, at Turret Green Chapel in Ipswich.4 Together, they had four sons – Frederick George Leonard, Wilfred Arthur, Clarence Alfred, and Reginald Archibald Cox.5 However, after only nine short years of marriage, at age 34, Jane was left a widow with four young boys to raise.6
As a young woman, Jane Hart had been considered quite delicate and suffered a good deal of ill health,7 yet this delicate girl managed her own house, raised her four boys as a single mother, and live to be a centenarian.
Her 100th birthday celebration was held at Mary’s Hospital, in Tattingstone, Suffolk, where Jane had been living for the last 18 months since she broke her leg. She received many letters, telegrams and flowers for her centenary celebration, including a traditional congratulations telegram from the Queen, and visits from two of her three surviving children, the third of whom was living overseas.9
Jane passed away at St Mary’s the following year on the 2nd of October 1962, at 101 years of age.10
Jane Hart is my great-great-grandmother. Our ancestral line:
- 5. Jane Hart (1861-1962)
- 4. Clarence Alfred Cox (1892-1981)
- 3. Edna Joan Cox (1919-2016)
- 2. My mother (living)
- 1. Me (living)
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is a blogging prompt started by Amy Johnson Crow. My stories will include both sides of our family, including collateral lines.
Jane (Hart) Cox and children photograph, ca. 1900, photographer H. Walters, Ipswich; digital image 1 September 2014, privately held by Chriss Coleman [address for private use], York, Ontario, Canada; original privately held by Mrs P. Fort, [address for private use], South Stormont, Ontario, Canada, 2014. Photograph on self-framed photographic card. Inscribed on reverse “Mother, Len, Rex, Clare” ↩
Mrs. Jane Cox 100th birthday celebration, 17 May 1961, East Anglian Daily Times, in Cox Family Archive box; digital copy created by Chriss Coleman, York, Canada, 17 Sep 2014; original privately held by Mrs P. Fort, South Stormont, Ontario, Canada. ↩
Article “Marriages”, The Ipswich Journal, Ipswich, Suffolk, England, 7 November 1885, p5. [online image, TheBritishNewspaperArchives.co.uk, accessed 11 Jul 2014] ↩
Article “Marriages”, The Ipswich Journal, 7 November 1885, p5. ↩
“1901 England Census”, database and digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 Feb 2014), entry for household of Jane Cox, Ipswich, Suffolk; citing class RG 13, piece 1775, folio 19, page 29, Ipswich registration district, Ipswich sub-district, ED 16, household 184. ↩
“Deaths”, obituary for Frederick George Cox, The Ipswich Journal, Ipswich, Suffolk, England, 30 Mar1895, page 8., column 2; digital image, British Newspaper Archive (http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk : accessed 12 Jul 2014), Historical Newspaper Collection. ↩
Mrs. Jane Cox 100th birthday celebration, 17 May 1961, East Anglian Daily Times. ↩
Jane (Hart) Cox and children photograph, ca. 1894, photographer G. Anthony Beales, Ipswich; digital image 1 September 2014, privately held by Chriss Coleman York, Ontario, Canada; original privately held by Mrs. P Fort, South Stormont, Ontario, Canada, 2014. Cabinet card. Inscribed on front “Clare, Rex, Mother” ↩
Mrs. Jane Cox 100th birthday celebration, 17 May 1961, East Anglian Daily Times. ↩
“England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966”, index and digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 Jul 2015), for Jane Cox, 14 Nov 1962, Ipswich; citing Principle Probate Registry, London, “Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England”. ↩
Copyright ©2018, Chriss Coleman