Gosh, I never expected so many replies so quickly!
Heywood - I had looked at the various David Slater census records and was confused by the differing dates and places of births for him, as well as the David/Daniel thing - and my aunt who told me about him did not know that he was from Derbyshire nor any of his family's names, so could not confirm any details. However, despite David Slater sounding like a common name, and Slater being common in Derbyshire, I can only find one David Slater born in the Clay Cross/ Pilsley area during the right time, so my hunch is that they are the same person. Also there is a David Slater, born in Pilsley, married to a Sarah, in Leicester on the 1901 Census (Class: RG13; Piece: 3000; Folio: 76; Page: 18).
My aunt told me about David Slater's various wives (her grandmother {Mary Ann Berry}; one in Banbury - she seems to think that her uncle visited this one; and an affair with a woman in Leicester who owned a shop - probably the Sarah on the 1901 Census). She remembers her mother saying that they used to go to this shop and pinch things! She also thinks that David Slater had children with one of his other wives. She says that the Banbury wife died before 1906, when David Slater and Mary Ann Berry's last child was born. Mary Ann insisted on marrying him again, so that her children would be legitimate; unfortunately they split up shortly afterwards.
Currently I only have the birth certificate for my grandmother, Eva Slater who was born in Sheffield. It does have her father as David Slater, an engine tenter, and her mother as Mary Ann Slater, formerly Berry. I have sent away for some of the others, particularly the eldest son, Harold, who was born in Buckingham.
Thank you for your time and finding David/ Daniel interesting. Even if you only confirm my hunches, I shall be very grateful. By the way what is a revivalist leader?
grlune - I had tried to look up Mary Ann Berry before her marriage on various census's, but found rather a lot of them, but none seemed quite right. Part the problem is I do not know that area of the country, therefore am not certain where to look. The one that you have could be her, but Coventry is quite a long way from Ratley; would they have muddled up the place of birth quite so much?
I hope that answers some of your questions. I am really looking for advice from people who know more than me about these things. So far its very interesting.
Chilibear
