Abigail Gasson
Born: c.1813
Died: 7th February 1885
Author: Linda Martin
ABIGAIL. WHO WAS SHE?
The only document I found to begin telling Abigail’s story was a burial record. Last abode Brighton, aged 73.
Abigail is not recorded in the Lunacy Register on Ancestry, nor could I find her in the Sussex Asylum admission book. Sadly, her death certificate describes her as being “unknown” from Brighton.
The Census reveals that there was an Abigail Gasson working in Brighton Workhouse in 1881. She was a widow and domestic housekeeper from Uckfield, East Sussex.
This record was the clue I needed, as she was the only Abigail Gasson listed. I am assuming she is the correct person, whose story I hope to tell correctly. However, this finding does contradict some family trees online. So perhaps when more records are added online, I may be proved wrong.
MARRIAGE
I started by searching for the marriage of a Gasson to an Abigail. Only one record was found:
John Gasson to Abigail Moon. This took place at the parish church in Clapham on 22nd November 1843.
The bride and groom were both of full age. John was a servant, son of a labourer with the same name. Abigail was also the daughter of a labourer, whose name was William. The marriage was witnessed by John’s brother William and his sister Kezia, who both lived in the Clapham area at the time.
ABIGAIL MOON’S STORY
Abigail’s baptism was recorded in Uckfield on 6th June 1813 by her parents: William Moon and Elizabeth. I am unable to verify Elizabeth’s maiden name or their marriage.
Searching through Uckfield parish baptism records, the first child I found born to the couple was Jesse Moon. Jesse was baptised on 19th February 1809 in Uckfield. He was followed by Abigail and Thomas in 1813, and by Ann on 7th December 1817. Just four children found.
The next available record is the 1841 Census.
In Uckfield we find Abigail’s mother Elizabeth, aged 71, living on her own with two young children: George Moon, aged nine, and Louisa Moon, aged three.
I believe Abigail’s father William died before the Census; there was a death registered for a William Moon in Uckfield in 1839.
Abigail was listed in the Census as a female servant, aged 25. The ‘Head of House’ was A. Wilford, aged 80, an ‘Independent Person, a term referring to someone with an income of their own. There were also two females and several servants living with them in Regency Square, Brighton.
Regency Square was a prestigious, high-class development built between 1818 and 1832. It has a central garden and faces the sea. After World War One, most of the houses were turned into hotels, but it is now a residential area and most of the buildings have been refurbished into apartments.
There is a 1841 Census record that is very likely to refer to Abigail’s husband, John Gasson. He is listed as being aged 20, and residing just under a mile away in Crown Gardens. At this time he was working as a brewer, not a trade given on his marriage register. However, a Sarah Carles, aged 60, was listed at the same address. Sarah was an upholsteress, a trade which both John and Abigail gave on future Census returns.
There is a possible death record in 1842 for Abigail’s mother Elizabeth in Uckfield.
In 1843, Abigail and John Gasson were married in Clapham, London, where John’s siblings lived.
John is listed as the son of John Gasson, a labourer, and Sophia Shoebridge from Tonbridge, Kent.
The 1851 Census reveals John working as an upholsterer, aged 31, and records him being from Tonbridge, Kent. Abigail’s age is incorrectly listed as 31, as she would be about 38 by this time. The Census states she is from Uckfield. A daughter Louisa is listed, aged 13, born in London. As is James, aged 7, born in Brighton.
The family share their accommodation with three other families at 10, Suffolk Terrace, Brighton.
Louisa’s age of 13 reveals that she was born before the marriage of John and Abigail. Looking back at the 1841 Census, she coincides with Louisa Moon, who is with her grandmother. No birth certificate or baptism can be found. Her birth was around 1838-1839 in London. However, George (who was also listed in the 1841 Census with Abigail’s mother) was baptised in Uckfield on 19th April 1835. He is recorded as George Nathaniel, the son of Abigail Moon, a single woman.
Where is George in 1851? I found a Royal Navy record for a boy sailor with 10 years’ service, which may have finished in 1856. Details can be found below, at the end of Abigail’s story.
DEATH OF JOHN GASSON
The 1861 Census describes Abigail as a widow. I was unable to find a local death record for John, so I looked further afield and found a record for his death in Portsea on 29th August 1858. Why was he in Portsea? Was he looking for work? Or had he left Abigail? We do not know.
John’s death was registered by Jemima Frost of 5 Union Street, where John died. The 1851 and 1861 Censuses show Jemima was the wife of William Frost, a sailor, and their family had lodgers. I am not sure what caused John’s death. The record entry looks like “malaria” (spelt incorrectly).
If John did die of malaria how was he infected? Malaria is a bacterial disease transmitted by a parasite, usually a mosquito not normally found in the UK. There was a disease spread by mosquitoes in the UK when John died, but this was not the same type of mosquito found in the tropics.
This mosquito was mainly found in the marshy regions of Southern England, and the illness it caused was known as “Marsh Fever” or “ague”. Portsea was not a hotspot, but it is close to an area named Farlington Marshes. Google AI tells us:
“malaria was endemic to the coastal marshes of Southern England, including Hampshire and the areas surrounding Farlington Marshes, until the early 20th century.”
I checked the local newspapers in 1858 and found there was a reported case of “malaria” at Portswood in Southampton. So, it is possible that John died of malaria.
By 1861, Abigail is sharing accommodation with John and Jane Penton at 6 Upper Russell Street, Brighton. John’s occupation is listed as carpenter and Jane’s as charwoman.
Abigail’s age is recorded incorrectly again, listed as 44. (She would have been about 48). According to the Census, she is a widow by this time and an upholstress, living with her son James. James was fifteen and working as a labourer.
Louisa A. Gasson, aged 22, was recorded as an upholsteress lodging at 15 William Street, Brighton. The Head of House was Caroline Logan, aged 55, a dressmaker. Given Louisa’s occupation, this could be Abigail’s daughter.
In 1871 Abigail was living without her family, a lodger and charwoman at 8 Regent Row, Brighton. She was sixty years’ old.
THE WORKHOUSE AND THE ASYLUM
Sadly, the 1881 Census reveals that Abigail had moved into the Race Hill Workhouse Brighton (which opened in 1865). She is recorded as a housekeeper, aged 71.
It was probably from here that Abigail was sent to Sussex Asylum; her admission date still to be found. On 7th February 1885, Abigail died, and her death was registered two days later.
There is no mention of her mental state on her death certificate, and the cause of death is listed as “vascular disease of the heart”. Like thousands of others, Abigail was laid to rest in an unmarked pauper’s grave in Sussex Asylum burial ground.
ABIGAIL’S CHILDREN.
George Nathaniel
As previously mentioned, I found two potential Royal Navy records relating to the service of a George Nathaniel Moon. The records are misleading, but a search of the National Archives makes it clearer, confirming that this is our George Nathaniel, born in Uckfield.
George volunteered on 1st July 1853 at the age of 18, and his date of birth was given as 18th February 1838. We know this is incorrect as George was baptised in 1835.
I also found an 1851 Census return which shows a George Moon from Uckfield, aged 15, working as a porter in Kings Road, Brighton. Perhaps this was where he worked prior to signing up?
When George signed up to join the Royal Navy In 1853, he gave 18th February 1838 as his date of birth. But the correct year was 1835. This means the Navy thought he was fifteen, when in fact he was eighteen. (Whether this was an error on the Navy’s part or on George’s, we will never know.)
The certificate section of the signup document was divided into two sections: one to be signed by men (defined as those aged 18 or over) and the other to be signed by boys (defined as those aged 14-16). As can be seen from his record, George signed the CERTIFICATE FOR BOYS. He joined the Navy for ten years, which meant the ten-year clock did not start until his eighteenth birthday in 1856.
HMS Neptune launched in 1832 and was built in Portsmouth. I am unable to determine what happened to George after he signed up, but we do know his ship was stationed in the Baltic in 1854, during the war with Russia. If he served his full ten years he would have been free to leave the Navy in 1866, aged around 31.
Louisa Ann
After the 1861 Census, I found a marriage record for Louisa Ann Moon, whose father was John Moon, an Upholsterer. Louise married Henry Edward Payne, aged 22, a traveller. Henry’s father was an accountant named Richard. The marriage took place in Brighton on 8th June 1862. I haven’t been able to confirm any records relating to the couple after this date.
James William
James WIlliam married Sophia Sammons from Oxfordshire on 6th March 1869 in Brighton. Sophia was a single mother with a daughter named Alice Heaver Elizabeth Sammons.
The couple is missing from the 1871 Census. However, I did find a James Gaston living at the address listed on their marriage record: 37 Tidy Street. James is recorded as a married lodger, but no wife is listed with him. He is close to the right age, and has the correct birthplace, but his occupation is recorded as a bricklayer.
Sophia and Alice
Sophia and Alice are missing from the records. I have searched in the workhouse and hospital for them. Maybe they were visiting and missed the Census. Or perhaps they were transcribed under the surname of the Head of House where they were staying. They were not recorded with their parents in Oxfordshire.
1881
In the 1881 Census the family is back together, sharing accommodation with another family at 10 Elder Place, Brighton. James is listed as a plasterer, aged 34, alongside Sophia, aged 33 from Oxford. Sophia’s daughter Alice, aged 14, is also recorded, under the surname Gasson.
1885
Sadly, only 5 weeks after Abigail’s death, her son James is admitted to Sussex Asylum on 13th March 1885, moving there from Steyning Union House. His mental disorder is listed as “Dementia of Poss Paralysis” and the cause of insanity is “Drink”.
Only eight months later, on 26th November, James died. The cause of death was recorded as “General Paralysis of the Insane”. His burial record incorrectly lists him as John William Gatton. He was laid to rest on 30th November in a pauper’s grave in Sussex County Asylum burial ground, hopefully close to his mother.
James’s wife Sophia and her daughter Alice emigrated to New Zealand. There are family trees on Ancestry with this information.
Abigail’s siblings.
Ann Moon, Abigail’s sister, died young. She was single and just 22 when she died, residing in Uckfield.
Abigail’s brother, Jesse Moon, got married, had a family, emigrated, and settled in Canada.
Her brother Thomas was baptised on the same day as Abigail. I found a Thomas Moon in the 1841
Census, recorded as an agricultural labourer. He died in 1843 and was buried in Uckfield.
AUTHOR’S THOUGHTS
I really thought I was going to be up against a brick wall with this story when I saw Abigail listed as UNKNOWN of Brighton.
Thankfully the Christian name Abigail was not widely used in the area, unlike her married name of Gasson. This was often transcribed incorrectly as Gaston, Gatton, or Casson.
Finding the workhouse entry of 1881 was a blessing, and from there Abigail’s story began.
Unfortunately, the name Moon was widespread across east and west Sussex, Surrey, and Kent, as was Gasson. When many children in the same family are baptised with the same name, it can be hard to locate the right person when relying on parish records.
Abigail worked hard and was widowed young without any financial support. I should imagine George was enlisted into the Royal Navy as a boy due to her situation. She was not in the workhouse until her later years, most likely suffering from some kind of dementia, which eventually led to her being admitted to Sussex County Asylum.
Until the admission entry is found, we cannot know how long Abigail spent institutionalised. Sadly, her son James was to follow her into the asylum with progressive GPI, late stages of syphilis. As they died the same year, I can only hope that their bodies are buried close to each other.
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