Kerenhappuch

Kerenhappuch Loveridge was a daughter of Henry Loveridge and Anne Halford, baptised in Buckinghamshire and forming a union with William Smith. She can be traced, as a widow, ‘aged 70 years,’ in the 1871 census in a caravan at Eastcotts, Bedfordshire, where she is described as a cousin of the couple she is lodging with, John and Ann Smith, and their children, Sophia, 21, Synderilla/Cinderella, 18, and James, 17.

It might be supposed that she is related to John Smith through her own marriage into the Smiths, or that the term is being used very loosely, but, in fact, her presence here and her relationship with the family may be a connection through Ann Smith. It seems a hopeless task to trace an Ann Smith, but the indication of a cousin link and the census records where John’s wife claims birth – Wootton, Bedfordshire – in about 1825, identifies her exactly.

An Ann Loveridge was baptised on 11th August 1822 at Wootton, the daughter of Solomon and Mary Loveridge (formerly Pearce), and this child is indeed a cousin of Kerenhappuch’s.

Solomon, Ann’s father, was the son of William and Margaret Loveridge, and his brother, Henry, partnered Anne Halford. Henry and Anne’s first child was Kerenhappuch. She is therefore a cousin, but of Ann’s, who was formerly a Loveridge.

Such references in census records can often confuse – but they can also prove some fascinating family connections.