Jane austen's close friend martha lloyd lived with her for many years. From 1805 to 1809, jane, martha, jane's mother and sister shared a house with her brother frank, and his first wife. Frank's wife, mary, was just 16. Jane was 30, cassandra and martha 34. Frank's first wife died, in 1823, at 33 or 34 years old, shortly after giving birth to her eleventh(!) child. From 1823 to 1828 he relied on his eldest daughter who could not have been more than 17 years old, to raise her ten younger siblings. However, when she married in 1828, he married martha. Accounts say both martha and her younger sister, also named mary, were left with disfiguring smallpox scars on their faces. Frank was buried next to martha. His pretty young first wife seems to have been forgotten. Date: circa 1840.
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