General Notes

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Martha Hendra was born at St Cleer in Cornwall 5th June 1869. She was the daughter of  John Hendra and Mary Jane Rowe and was the eldest surviving of 15 children. No doubt, being the eldest girl in a large family put heavy work on young shoulders. It is said that she had to knit up an ounce of wool before she went to school as her Mother knitted fishermens sweaters to get extra money. If she was unable to finishl the ounce she would put the little ball that was left down the toilet so that no one would know. This would explain why she was such a fast knitter. The needles would fairly fly up and down. After she left school she went into domestic service. She met Albion George Jennings and they married at Tremar Coombe chapel, St Cleer 15 Apr 1895. They made their home in Plymouth, Devon and had 8 children but only four survived into adulthood.   There is a story of a baby girl being born prematurely but who lived for several hours.  With todays technology she would probably have survived but with no help her demise was inevitable. It is said that she was so small that she was buried in a cigar box (or more likely a shoe box?) She was never registered or christened so it is just as if she never existed.  As Martha's husband was often off from work because of ill health Martha had to go out and scrub floors to keep the family fed. In 1940 she had a stroke and was paralysed down one side and was bedridden for just over a year and then died 13 sep 1942.She is buried at Efford Cemetery Plymouth,