Sarah Butler

  Noted events in her life were:

• source. & Pat Spence & Elizabeth Bagley who writes:
SARAH BUTLER 1850-1933

Sarah Butler was the ninth child born to Richard and Rhoda Butler on the 14^th day of April, 1850 in Fringford, Oxfordshire, England. Sarah's father Richard was a Master Cordwainer. We do not know much about Sarah's early life but those years we hope were happy ones. In 1854, there were 35 children at daily schools in the Rector's barn and Sarah would have been taught to read and write when she was old enough to attend school. At some point Sarah left Fringford to work in London as a cook in the household of George F.Whittingstall.
In 1873 Sarah gave birth to a daughter, Helen Rennison Butler, known to us as Nellie, who was born in Marylebone, Middlesex, England. In 1874, a son William Rennison Butler was born in Greater London, London, Middlesex, England. His death was recorded in 1876 in the Kensington district, London. At the time Sarah was in London a young man had left his home in Upton, Worcestershire to work in London in a house in St. James, London. This young man was William Valentine Rennison, born in 1754 not in London as he had given as his birth place on the 1881 census but in Worcestershire. Because Sarah had named her two children who carry her maiden name with the middle name of Rennison, the feeling is that perhaps she and William were living a common law marriage. On July 20^th1882 Sarah and William were married in St Luke's Church, Westminster, London and on the 17^th of September, 1882 William Victor Rennison was born. On the 1901 census his birth place is listed as Fringford, Oxfordshire, England.
Sarah returned to Fringford sometime between 1882 and 1890. Sarah's mother passed away in December 1890 and Sarah is listed on the 1891 census as the head of the household although she has herself as being married. We have not been able to find information about William her husband anywhere including a death certificate. Sarah earned a living as a dressmaker and on the 1901 census her occupation is as a Post Office Letter Carrier, a job she kept for many years. Sarah left Fringford in 1932 to live the final year of her life with her son, William Victor Rennison in Somerford Heynes, Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Sarah was a woman who lived a difficult life with dignity and took care of herself right up to the last year of her life. She was fiercely independent and did not want anyone to fuss over her including doctors. She had a great love for her children, Nellie and William or Bill as she refers to him and her grandchildren. I am her great-grand niece and I would love to have known her and I look forward to meeting her someday.
HELEN RENNISON BUTLER DEAN

Helen Rennison Butler Dean or Nellie as she was called was born in 1873 to Sarah Butler in Marylebone, Middlesex, England and her father was probably William Valentine Rennison. As far as we can tell Nellie spent time with her maternal Grandmother as she is listed as living in Fringford, Oxfordshire with her grandmother Rhoda Butler in the 1881 census. Helen Rennison Butler was married in 1895 to Henry Osborne Dean in the Wandsworth Burrough. Helen/Nellie gave birth to a daughter Ivy in 1897 and a second daughter Holly in 1901. I wonder if anyone sang "The Holly and the Ivy" to them. A son Osborne was born on December 13, 1902. All three children were born in London, Battersea. Sarah Butler in a letter to her brother in Australia mentions that her daughter Nellie was having a difficult time. Her eldest daughter Ivy was very ill probably with influenza and they came and took her away. Ivy died in 1915 in Croydon.She also mentions Nellie's husband who was suffering from depression and he was taken away as well. Holly, Sarah's second daughter married in 1925 to a William H. Gardiner both from Wandsworth.
Sarah's son William Victor at the age of 18 was still living with Sarah according to the 1901 census and is listed as a gardener. William married Beatrice Maud Chambers in 1909. Beatrice was born in Barton Hartshorn, Buckinghamshire in 1892. I have found a William V. Rennison's death, age 79, listed in the district of Wycombe. I think this may be the right one but I am not totally sure. So far this ends the story of Sarah Butler Rennison, but I do feel there should be decendants still living in the UK. Maybe I will find them someday.

Sarah married William Valentine Rennison Snr on 20 Jul 1882 in St Lukes, Westminster, Middlesex England. (William Valentine Rennison Snr was born circa 1850.)