Susan Jane Moden
(1896-1981)

Susan Jane Moden (later Susan Jane Dewey) was the fifth of the seven children of labourer Edward Moden and his wife Mary Ann Cross of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.

Susan was named after her mother's late sister Susan Cross who had died as an infant, and also after her maternal great grandmother Susan Taylor - both of whom died long before she was born.

At the time of the 1901 census, Susan and her parents were living at the now demolished The Eagle and Lamb public house on Cambridge Road, Ely. At this time, her grandmother Sabina 'Vine' Cross was the landlord.

Susan married Ernest Edward Thomas Dewey after a long courtship, not least due to Ernest's active service in the First World War, and they settled down to raise four sons. When her second son, Frederick, was born in 1932, Susan and Ernest informally allowed her childless married sister Vine Elizabeth Moden and her husband Frederick Herbert Henry Newell, to raise him as if he was their own.

During March 1947, the family were living in the fenland village of Haddenham, when huge floods claimed miles of fenland. The family home was heavily damaged by floodwater, during which they received rations from the Red Cross and Susan lost her wedding ring as mud and water overwhelmed their farmhouse.

Sadly, two of Susan's sons predeceased her - Gordon of a brain haemorrhage when he was 20yrs old in 1954, and Frederick from cancer in 1979.

Susan and her husband Ernest celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary in 1975 with a surprise party at Witchford, held for them by over 60 members of family.

Life Events

Born:

• 7th April 1896 at Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.

Married:

• Ernest Edward Thomas Dewey (1896-1991) on 24th November 1925 at St. Mary's Church, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.

Children:

• John Edward Dewey (1931-1991)
• Frederick Francis Dewey (1932-1979)
• Ernest George Dewey (1933-2018)
• Gordon Dewey (1934-1954)

Census and Residence

• 1901: 4yrs, The Eagle and Lamb Public House, Cambridge Road, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
• 1911: 14yrs, Cambridge Road, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.

Employment

• 1911: Domestic Servant

Death

• 5th August 1981 at Tower Hospital, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, aged 85 years.

Burial

• 12th August 1981 with her husband Ernest and youngest son Gordon, at Haddenham Cemetery, Haddenham, Cambridgeshire, England. View Grave.