Born of a domineering but remote father, who was periodically imprisoned for debt; but an exceptional mother who devoted as much time to her daughters as to her sons; hatred of the family by the parishioners of her childhood village; intimidation by the residents of Epworth; a documented poltergeist in the rectory which was her childhood home; two homes destroyed by arson; an uncle who made a fortune in India and then lost it and who came into contact with a Cornish pirate; the early death of half her siblings and the near death by fire of her youngest brother; the disability from birth of one sister; a lack of food; insufficient clothing and warmth; a fabled family fortune; elopement and abandonment; ejection from the family home and ostracism by the family; an unhappy, forced, marriage; the early deaths of all her children, an exceptional poetic ability; ill health and an early death.