Haggers of Bourn
Although I refer to this family as the Haggers of Bourn, they really originate from outside of Bourn. The first person we have managed to find in this family is William Hagger born about 1745 in East Hatley, Bedfordshire, which is about midway between Bourn, Cambridgeshire and Wrestingworth, Bedfordshire.
William married Susannah Armer in 1770 at East Hatley. They then appear to have
moved to Wrestingworth and had two children baptised there -
Thomas (born 1774) was the person who started the Bourn connection when he married Maria Bell in 1798 in Long Stanton, Cambridgeshire. They went on to have 12 children between 1799 and 1823, the first three were baptised at Long Stanton and the other nine at Bourn.
However, these were not the first Haggers of Bourn, in a book the People from Bourn History by Margaret Greenwood, published in 1999, she reports that the Hagar family came to Bourn in the 16th century. A John Hagger married Francis Peyton of Isleham. Arms were granted to him in 1605 and he built Bourn Hall. There are certainly a number of Hagger entries in the Bourn Parish Registers before Thomas and Maria arrived and started having their children baptised.
Returning to Thomas and his descendents, we have managed to place about 300 of them into a family tree. Unfortunately, although they are only a few miles away from Therfield where many other Haggers come from, we have no proof of any connection either through documentation or DNA testing. So far we have not been able to get a living male Hagger descendent of Thomas to agree to undertake a DNA test.
Many of this branch of Haggers were farmers, unlike those from Therfield who were predominately agricultural labourers. In the 1881 census, nine of this family described themselves as farmers and all of them except one were in Cambridgeshire, the odd one being just over the border in Huntingdonshire at Eynesbury. However, only one was still in Bourn and this was Edward, son of Thomas and born in 1813. In 1891 and 1901 Edward’s son Thomas born in 1851 is shown as a farmer in Bourn, he died in 1925 and may well have lived in Bourn throughout his life. Currently there is just one Hagger listed in the telephone book for Bourn.
This family did have other occupations other than farmers, but few were shown as labourers. They were mainly people in a commercial trade, e.g. publican or tradesman like wheelwrights or harness makers.
One of the publicans was Frederick who in the 1881 and 1891 census was at The Bell on the Great North Road at Southoe, Huntingdonshire (less than 2 miles from where I live). The Bell is no more although the building still stands on the edge of the A1. Frederick was born in Bourn in 1850 and was the son of Thomas (born 1810 and son of the original Thomas) and Letitia Saunders. In addition to being a publican Frederick was also a farmer of 21 acres. After he died in 1901 his wife continued to run The Bell and farm. A descendent of Frederick still lives locally and runs an electricians business in the St Neots area.