Dorcas Jeffery
(1821-1907)

Dorcas Jeffery (later Dorcas Pooley) was the ninth child of Dean Jeffery and the second of the six children with his second wife Eleanor Jeffery of Market Street, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.

When she was about 20 years old, Dorcas takes work as a Servant in Cambridge, for a William Booth, an army HP.

Four years later she married labourer Edward Pooley, and the couple soon settled down to raise a family. They appear to have had six children in all, but sadly only three of them survived into adulthood.

In 1876, Dorcas became a widow when Edward died aged 55 years.

By 1881 she is noted as a Monthly Nurse - SMS at The Fountain Inn (Public House) for Alfred Smith (Publican). 'SMS' stands for Subsidiary Medical Services, and would most commonly mean that Dorcas was a 'confinement nurse', caring for an expectant mother.

Ten years later she turns up on the census noted as a Nurse at the house of Frederick Quantrill, a bricklayer in Ely.

By the time she's 80 in 1901, she has moved in with her daughter Dorcas, her husband James Cross, and their children.

Life Events

Born

• 1821 in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.

Baptised

• 13th February 1821 at Holy Trinity Church in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.

Married

• Edward Pooley (1821-1876) on 31st August 1845 at Holy Trinity Church in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.

Children

• Dean Jeffery Pooley (1846-?)
• Eleanor Pooley (1848-1855)
• Edward Pooley (1850-1853)
• Dorcas Pooley (1854-1916) married James Cross (1852-1916)
• Eleanor Pooley (1856-1859)
• Edward Pooley (1858-?)

Census and Residence

• 1841: 20yrs, 24 Maid's Causeway, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England.
• 1851: 30yrs, Bray's Lane, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
• 1861: Ely census destroyed
• 1871: 50yrs, Victoria Street, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
• 1881: 60yrs, The Fountain Inn (Public House), Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
• 1891: 70yrs, Waterside, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
• 1901: 80yrs, Back Hill, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.

Employment

• 1841: Servant for William Booth (Army HP)
• 1871: Farm Labourer
• 1881: Monthly Nurse for Alfred Smith (Publican) at The Fountain Inn (Public House)
• 1891: Nurse for Frederick Quantrill (Bricklayer)

Death

• June 1907 at Victoria Square, Broad Street, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, aged 86 years.

Burial

• 19th June 1907 in grave G749[C] at Ely City Cemetery, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.