JOHN OFFEN was born circa 1818
in Smarden, Kent (source : 1871 census).
He married MARY ? (source : Collette Kendall). She was born circa 1818 in
Stockbury (source : Collette Kendall). There is a marriage listed for a JOHN OFFEN in September quarter 1840,
possibly to MARY ANN CLINCH (source : Ancestry England and Wales, Civil Registration Index, county Kent,
volume 5, page 313).
Judging by the fact that his children were born in Boughton Malherbe, Kent, he is presumably the JOHN OFFEN, farmer,
listed at Park House in the 1850 Directory for Maidstone & its Environs. This farm stayed in the OFFEN family
for several decades, as it appears in the 1881 census, inhabited by the widow and new family
of WINIFRED OFFEN .
Mary died before 1871, because John shows up as a widower (53)
on the 1871 census with his son John and family at ?, Smarden, Kent.
John died in 1879 (source : Collette Kendall).
The Children of JOHN OFFEN and MARY ?:
WILLIAM OFFEN was born circa 1840
in Boughton Malherbe, Kent (source : 1871 and 1881 censuses).
He married ELLEN HARRIET FREEMAN
(born circa 1842 in Hooe, Sussex) in 1863 in Hastings, Sussex (source : Collette Kendall).
On the 1871 census, at 7 Garden Cottages, Epsom, Surrey, we find WILLIAM (30, railway porter ),
wife ELLEN HARRIETT (29, born Hooe Sussex ), and
children ELLEN ELIZABETH (5, scholar, born St Leonards on sea Sussex ), EDWARD JOHN (3, scholar,
born Glynde Sussex ) and ALBERT SAMUEL (1, born Epsom Surrey ), along with lodger DANIEL CRISP.
On the 1881 census,
William (40, labourer gas house), his wife and five of their children are listed at Vines Square No 11,
Willingdon, Sussex. On the 1891 census, William (50, gasworks - fitter (employee), wife Ellen H
(49, born Sussex Hove = mistranscription of Hooe?), and their four children Edward J (22, unmarried, draper
(notem = not employed?), born Sussex Glynde), Rose Edith (11, Scholar, born Surrey - Balham ),
Lilley Maud (9 , Scholar, born Sussex - Willingdon ) and Daisy Agnes (5, Scholar, Sussex - Eastbourne)
are all at 69 Cavendish Place, Eastbourne (Ecclesiastical Parish: All Souls ), Sussex.
On the 1901 census,
William (60, gas worker foreman), his wife and two of their children, (Daisy (15) and Lilly (19, unmarried,
mantle maker) are listed in Eastbourne, Sussex (source : 1901 census index, household needs checking)..
They had eight children,
ELLEN ELIZABETH OFFEN (born circa 1862, married
CHARLES HOBDEN in 1886 in Eastbourne, Sussex),
EDWARD JOHN OFFEN (born circa 1868 in Glynde, Sussex,
an errand boy on the 1881 census, married
LUCRETIA DAWS in 1894 in Eastbourne, Sussex),
ALBERT SAMUEL OFFEN (born circa 1870 in Epsom, Surrey),
WILLIAM THOMAS OFFEN (born circa 1873 in Epsom, Surrey),
FREDERICK JAMES OFFEN (born circa 1876 in Epsom, Surrey, married
EMILY WATSON in 1907 in Ashford, Kent ),
ROSE EDITH OFFEN (born circa 1880 in Balham, Surrey, married
CHARLES JAMES PAYNE in 1899 in Eastbourne, Sussex ),
LILY MAUD OFFEN (born circa 1881 in Eastbourne, Sussex, married
ALBERT VICTOR CLIFFORD in 1911 in Eastbourne, Sussex ), and
DAISY AGNES OFFEN (baptised in 1886 in Eastbourne, Sussex,
married JOHN HUBERT GRINYER in 1913 in Eastbourne, Sussex)
(source : Collette Kendall).
JOHN OFFEN was born circa 1842
in Boughton Malherbe, Kent (source : Collette Kendall) or 1846 in Smarden, Kent (source : 1871 and 1891 censuses).
He married ANN ? (born circa 1846 in Smarden, Kent)
before 1871 (source : 1871 census). They had a son,
WILLIAM OFFEN circa 1865 in Smarden, Kent (source : 1871 census).
On the 1871 census, John, a 25-year-old farmer, his wife ANN (25), their son
WILLIAM (6) and John's widowed father are all at ?, Smarden, Kent.
On the 1881 census, he is listed as a 38-year-old married ag lab,
all alone at East Den in Headcorn, Kent. On the 1891 census, John, a 45-year-old farmer, wife
Ann (45) and son William (26, farmer's son) are all at Skinners in Smarden, Kent.
On the 1901 census, son William (36, farmer, born Smarden Kent),
his wife Eleanor (31, born Ulcombe Kent), daughter Hilda (5), son William (3)
and an as-yet-unnamed 1-month-old son (all born in Ulcombe Kent), are all listed,
along with servant ROSE STACET, at Mansion House,
Ulcombe, Kent.
ALFRED OFFEN was born circa 1843
in Boughton Malherbe, Kent (source : Collette Kendall).
He may have died before 1881 since he does not appear on the 1881 census.
ANN OFFEN was born circa 1845
in Boughton Malherbe, Kent (source : Collette Kendall). There is a birth registered in
December quarter 1845, which may be her (source : Ancestry England and Wales, Civil
Registration Index, county Kent, volume 5, page 276).
ELIZABETH ANN OFFEN was baptised in 1848
in Boughton Malherbe, Kent (source : Collette Kendall).
CHARLES OFFEN was baptised in 1849
in Boughton Malherbe, Kent (source : Collette Kendall). There is a birth registered in March quarter 1849,
which may be him (source : Ancestry England and Wales, Civil Registration Index , county Kent, volume 5, page 310).
He could be the Charles Offen (24, soldier, born Boreton Kent) in The Kings Own Royal Regiment 1st Battalion
and Depot 38 Regiment in Aldershot, Hampshire, in the 1871 census.
He may have died before 1881 since he does not appear on the 1881 census.
HARRIET OFFEN was baptised in 1852
in Boughton Malherbe, Kent (source : Collette Kendall). She married
STEPHEN BURTON (born circa 1847 in Westwell, Kent)
in 1874 in Boughton Malherbe, Kent (source : Collette Kendall). They had two children,
WILLIAM BURTON (born circa 1876 in Boughton Malherbe, Kent), and
SARAH A BURTON (born circa 1879 in Ulcomb, Kent)
(source : Collette Kendall). On the 1881 census, Harriet (29), Stephen (34, ag lab) and their two children are all listed at
Swifts Cottage in Smarden, Kent. Four houses in the immediate vicinity are also inhabited by OFFENs (to be identified).
SARAH ANN OFFEN was baptised in 1853
in Boughton Malherbe, Kent (source : Collette Kendall).