Clarissa Mockford 4th great aunt on RootsMagic tree.
Clarissa was born in 1847 in Cornwall, England. In 1860 Clarissa received a graduation certificate, praising her work “very attentive and industrious”. This Victorian era certificate could have been from Sunday School or a public school. In most families -not landowning and not wealthy- kids older than 10 worked and didn’t go to school.

The certificate has these quotes running along the edge:

Honor all men, fear God, honor the King, love the brotherhood.
Love not sleep lest thou come to poverty.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Open thine eyes and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.
Enter not in to the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men.  Better is little with the fear of the lord than great treasure and trouble therewith.
Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life.

Clarissa lived in Cornwall until she was 19 and in 1866 with her parents and younger siblings she sailed to America and joined older brothers Henry, great grandpa of Elizabeth Speedy, and William. Henry and William had been in America for about 10 years. In 1870 Clarissa was living in Monroe County, New York and was a dressmaker. Clarissa married James A. Edmonds, a carpenter, around 1872 and they had their first child Lena in 1874 and second child Lewis in 1877.  Clarissa and James stayed in Monroe County, NY and lived 10 miles South of Lake Ontario, 40 miles east of Niagara Falls. Lena, Clarissa and James’s daughter married William Spies at Niagara Falls on May 18, 1902. Son James Edmunds married Ada Patitillo in Los Angeles on May 24, 1918. At James’s death in 1954 their home was at 1847 S La Brea Ave about 10 miles west of the Pacific Ocean. Clarissa died in 1920, James in 1922. Both are buried at High Street Cemetery in Brockport,  Monroe County, New York.

Sources

• England, Cornwall Parish Registers, 1538-2010 at FamilySearch
• California, County Marriages, 1850-1952
• Ontario Marriages, 1869-1927
• California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-19941870
• US census at FamilySearch
• Certificate, Public Ancestry photo, ” JoAnna Messing originally shared this on 12 jul 2014”