Susanna Ward

1686 – 1753

✓ Validated against records · 2026-07-02

Susanna Ward married Thomas Brock at Haxey, in the Isle of Axholme, on 1 May 1716; their first son, Robert, was baptised there just ten weeks later. She was, in all probability, the Susanna Ward christened at Epworth — the parish immediately next to Haxey — on 27 June 1686, which would make her about thirty at her marriage: a little older, but well within the ordinary run of the day.

By that reading she was the youngest child of Arthur Ward and Susanna Hewettson, who had married at Owston Ferry in 1671 and settled at Epworth; her elder brothers and sisters — Isabel, Helen and John — were christened there through the 1670s and 1680s. She came to Haxey on her marriage, and it is through her son Robert, a Haxey victualler, that this line descends.

She outlived Thomas by twelve years, and was buried at Haxey on 4 January 1753, set down in the register as “Susanna Brock, widow.”

Composed from validated records · 2026-07-02

Family

Parents

AWFatherArthur Ward SHMotherSusanna Hewettson

The children of Arthur & Susanna

· · · · · Susanna Ward b. 1686this page

Marriage

TBSpouseThomas Brock1692–1741

Children

RBChild · the line continuesRobert Brockmain line1716–1791

Life

Confirmed — anchored to a recordEstimated — inferred

1686

Baptised

27 June 1686 at Epworth

Susanna, daughter of Arthur Ward, christened 27 June 1686 at Epworth.— Christening, Epworth (1686)

Confirmed in index record Evidence

Found in an index or transcript — the original page not yet read:

Christening, Epworth (1686) — Susanna, daughter of Arthur Ward, christened 27 June 1686 at Epworth, Lincolnshire — England Births & Christenings 1538–1975 (FamilySearch, ark:/61903/1:1:J3QQ-RLB). Not held by findmypast. index entry — original not yet seen

1716

Married Thomas Brock

1 May 1716 at St Nicholas Church

Tho: Brock & Susanna Ward was married.— Marriage register, Haxey (1716)

Mum’s record Evidence

From Janet Brock’s research, cited — not yet re-verified at the image:

Marriage register, Haxey (1716) — Haxey (St Nicholas) — Lincolnshire Archives. from Mum’s research

1753

Buried

1753 at Haxey

Susanna Brock, widow — buried at Haxey, 4 January 1753.— Burial register, Haxey (1753)

Mum’s record Evidence

From Janet Brock’s research, cited — not yet re-verified at the image:

Burial register, Haxey (1753) — Susanna Brock, widow, buried at Haxey, 4 January 1753 — Lincolnshire Archives; recorded by Janet Brock. from Mum’s research

Our research

Susanna's origins took some finding. No Susanna Ward baptism appears in findmypast within fifty miles of Haxey — a gap in its 1690s Lincolnshire coverage — but a cross-check on FamilySearch turned up several in the Isle of Axholme. The strongest by far is a Susanna Ward christened at Epworth, the parish next to Haxey, on 27 June 1686, a daughter of Arthur Ward: the adjacent parish, and a marriage age of about thirty (the norm for the period, not the exception), both point to her. A second candidate — a Susanna Ward of Bottesford, some ten miles off, baptised 1694 to an Anthony Ward — is a poorer fit: younger, and further away. The Bottesford girl, for her part, seems to be accounted for elsewhere: a Susanna Ward married John Shaw at Messingham — the parish beside Bottesford — in 1717, which fits her marrying at home rather than away at Haxey. Each Susanna, in other words, married in her own corner of the county. Neither our Susanna's 1716 marriage nor her 1753 burial records her age or father, and the name was common in these parts, so the identification is one of high probability rather than proof. On that reading the generation behind her is now recovered: her father Arthur Ward married Susanna Hewettson at Owston Ferry in 1671, and their children — Isabel, Helen, John and Susanna — were christened at Epworth (their pages carry the detail, and the walls behind them). Everything there inherits this same “very probably.” A surviving will, or a marriage allegation naming her parish, would put the identification itself beyond doubt.