Samuel Backler was baptised in Haverhill on 4th October 1778 and he appears to have passed away in 1855.  He married Elizabeth Hurry, who was born in Bourton on the Water, Gloucestershire in 1775.  She lived until 1859, reaching the age of 84.  In both the 1841 and 1851 censuses they were living at 10 Type Street in London and Samuel was occupied as a labourer.

Living with them in 1851 was daughter and widow Mary Wilkinson, born Fairford, Gloucestershire aged 48 and grandaughter Sarah Elizabeth Wilkinson, born at St Lukes, Middlesex (in London) aged 21.  Mary was a grocer & general dealer, whilst Sarah was a straw bonnet maker.  Mary married Adam Wilkinson (1791- buried 14th October 1831) on 28th July 1829 in Finsbury, London, just three months before she gave birth.

Sarah Elizabeth was baptised 1st November 1829 at St Luke’s, Finsbury.  She married a cooper, William Davis in the second quarter of 1856 in London.  William was baptised on 3rd March 1833 and this record shows his father as William and his mother as Mary.  In the 1861 census, William (aged 25) was shown as living with his father William Davis aged 51, a widower, at 2 Acton Street, Shoreditch, London.  Also living with William senior at this address was daughter in law Sarah Elizabeth (aged 25), with his daughters, Louisa Davis (aged 20, born Hackney), Eliza Davis (aged 17, born Shoreditch) and son Richard Davis (aged 7, born Shoreditch).

It is often hard to trace daughters when they marry, because of the change of surname.  Luckily, the presence of the Wilkinsons in Type Street in the censuses made it easier to trace the marriage of Mary Backler to Adam Wilkinson, find his early death, and then locate the subsequent marriage of their daughter Sarah Elizabeth Backler to William Davis.

What is interesting about this piece of work is that my 4 x grandfather Henry and, the subject of this blog page, his brother Samuel (my 4 x great uncle), both left Haverhill for Gloucestershire.  Mary Backler was born in Fairford not far from where her mother was born in Bourton on the Water.  After that their family moved to London, whereas his brother Henry stayed in Bristol.  Maybe Henry and Samuel travelled together on their West Country sojourn.  We will probably never know why they both left Haverhill.

UPDATE 9th AUGUST 2023:  See the recently published blog page “Edward Edwards”.  This means that there is no Backler connection from me to this blog page due to the DNA results proving that Edward Edwards is my great grandfather and not William Backler.  Nevertheless, this research is valid for others, so the blog page will remain and it was formerly known as “Henry’s Brother – Samuel Backler”.