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Sarah Frances Bateman

I love this portrait of Beatrice Townsend by John Singer Sargent.  The young lady in question is so pert, so alive, and this is how I see Sarah Frances Bateman.  It is dated 1882, so slightly too late to be truly representative of my husband’s ancestor - she died in 1882, but in spite of finding other possible portraits to use, I found myself returning to this one.

 

I actually know next to nothing about her or her short life, just a few salient facts, but the little we do know, from her daughter’s memoirs and a couple of documents suggest somebody very like the portrait above.

Sarah Frances Bateman

born ca. 1849

m John William Washington Nason 

August, 1871 Monkstown, Dublin

m Edwin Sandys Jackson 1880 Rathdown, Dublin

d 1882 Great Sankey, Lancashire

Children

? (1872-1872)

Ethel F. Maude (1873-?)

Kate Evelyn (1875-1933)?

?Lizzie Annie (1882-1882)

 

Documentation

1st Marriage record

2nd Marriage reference in IGI

Transcriptions from Great Sankey parish

1881 census

Burial record

References from Kate’s book Secrets of the 43 Club

Sarah 

origins

Hebrew meaning ‘princess.  Abraham’s wife was Sarah, but it has been a popular name for generations.

variations

Sara, Zara

abbreviations

Sally, Sadie, Sal

Frances

origins

From the Latin meaning free and later coming to mean a Frenchman.  It is the female version of Francis of course.

variations

Francesca, Francine, Franke

Françoise

abbreviations

Fanny, Franny, Fran, Frank, Frankie

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