William was a carpenter, aged 44. He had been married twice
before and had nine children, eight of whom were still living,
aged four to sixteen. His second wife had only been dead six
months when he married the nineteen year old Elizabeth. No doubt
he needed to provide a stepmother for his brood but Elizabeth
clearly had her own attractions. William went on to have a
further eight children with her, the youngest born when he was
aged 65. William died in 1857, aged 80, and Elizabeth only
survived him by a decade. She died at Dean on 14 August 1868,
aged 66. Raising sixteen children clearly wore her out a lot
faster than fathering seventeen of them did him! Sadly, the
surname Panther has nothing to do with big cats. It is a variant
of Panter, which is an occupational surname. The panter was an
officer in a medieval household, who supplied the bread and had
charge of the pantry. The panter in a monastery also distributed
loaves to the poor. The word is derived from the Old French
panieter, via Anglo-French panet