Eliza Jane Moden
(1858-1923)

Eliza Jane Moden (later Eliza Jane Brown) was the oldest of the six children of labourer Edward Moden and his wife Mary Ann Freeman of Coveney, Cambridgeshire, England.

Eliza was baptised less than two months after her parents married in May 1858, but within nine years, her father was dead, and her mother was heavily pregnant with their final child.

By the time of the 1871 census, Eliza was working as a 12 year old Domestic Servant for farmer William Heaney in the nearby village of Haddenham, whilst her mother had re-married and taken the rest of her family to Ely.

Eliza spent most of her life working in domestic service - with her final job working as a Parlour Maid for barrister Carver W James of London. Whilst living here, she marries Joseph Brown, the widower of her late aunt Rebekah Freeman.

The couple had no children, but Eliza would have found herself playing step-mother (and already cousin) to Joseph's 13 surviving children.

Joseph pre-deceased Eliza in 1915, and she remained living in Preston, Suffolk, until at least 1916, when that year's edition of Kelly's Directory lists her as a Farmer at The Hall.

By 1923 she has returned to Ely and is living close to her brothers in St. John's Road, where she dies. She names her brother John Freeman Moden as one of the executors of her estate.

Life Events

Born

• 1857 at Coveney, Cambridgeshire, England.

Baptised

• 18th July 1858 at St. Peter-ad-Vincula Church, Coveney, Cambridgeshire, England.

Married

• Joseph Brown (1854-1915) 1st April 1905 at St. John's Church, Paddington, London, England.

Census and Residence

• 1861: 2yrs, Wardy Hill, Cambridgeshire, England.
• 1871: 12yrs, Fen Farm, Haddenham, Cambridgeshire, England.
• 1881: 22yrs, 114 Maida Vale, Marylebone, London, England.
• 1891: 32yrs, 16 Pancras Street, St. Pancras, London, England.
• 1901: 42yrs, 3 Oxford Square, London, London, England.
• 1905: 46yrs, 3 Oxford Square, London, London, England.
• 1911: 52yrs, Preston Hall, Preston, Suffolk, England.
• 1915: 57yrs, Hall Farm, Preston, Suffolk, England.
• 1916: 58yrs, Preston Hall, Preston, Suffolk, England.
• 1923: 65yrs, 6 St. John's Road, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.

Employment

• 1871: Domestic Servant for William Heaney (Farmer)
• 1881: Housemaid for Elizabeth Howland
• 1891: Inn Domestic Servant for Charles H Calthorpe (Eating House Keeper)
• 1901: Parlour Maid for Carver W James (Barrister)
• 1916: Farmer

Death

• 3rd May 1923 at 6 St. John's Road, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, aged 65 years.

Burial

• 7th May 1923 in Grave G244(C) at City of Ely Cemetery, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.