Headstone for Sarah Lucas

Image: © John Lucas Taken: 31 Mar 2005

"Sarah Lucas, died 11th Mo 13th 1771, aged 24 years" Sarah (née Redman) was born to Quaker parents in Earith in Huntingdonshire in 1747. She married the Quaker William Lucas in St Ives Meeting House in 1767, and the couple settled in Hitchin where he continued to work in the family brewing business. Sarah sadly died a few months after the birth of her 3rd child. Sarah and William are my 4x great-grandparents. The somewhat unusual location of the headstone arose because of the contraction of Friends' membership into the mid-20th century. The then meeting house had become a liability - far too large (and expensive) for the reduced number of Hitchin members. That building and land were sold and a more modest one was constructed in the old burial ground. This entailed relocating a small number of the burials, one of which was Sarah's. The headstones of those burials are now set into the new meeting house walls. A full view of the meeting house and surrounding burial ground is shown in Image

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