Sarah Hare CARTER and the RETTER family

I recently updated my GenesReunited tree, and have had a rush of contacts since, including two about the CASELEY family, and one about Sarah Hare CARTER. Seeing as how there are several Sarah Hare CARTER names, even more just plain Sarah CARTER, and quite a few Sarah Hare SOMETHING-ELSE, it was lucky that the contact also included Sarah PILE in his query. It was Sarah Hare CARTER, born about 1837, (twin of Anna/Hannah?) daughter of James CARTER and Sarah PILE, who married William RETTER, son of Thomas RETTER and Ann PILE. (And what's the betting that Sarah and Ann PILE are very close relatives?)

Anyhow, looking into this RETTER family has been enlightening. First, I discovered more details about Louisa PAVER, born 1821, daughter of James PAVER and Hannah GOODING. William's sister, Fanny RETTER, married late in life to Hermon HAM, a blacksmith, who had earlier been married to Louisa PAVER. Louisa had been, for a while before her death, the keeper of the Golden Lion Inn, at Aylesbeare. (If you go looking for this marriage in FreeBMD, it is registered as the marriage of Humon HAM and Louisa PAVIER just to make life complicated for us unfortunate researchers.)

In a typical Otter Valley twist, Hermon and Louisa's daughter, Rosina HAM, married her future step-mum's brother, David RETTER. Fancy having a sister-in-law for 22 years and then she becomes your stepmother!

I have also discovered that James CARTER and Sarah PILE decamped from Devon sometime between 1861 and 1871 with the younger children, ending up in Wales. See, when doing a Census search, it sometimes pays to include all the Census for that year, and not assume a family stayed in the one county, or even the one country.

PS. Diane reports that there is a Retter family currently living in Newton Poppleford.