Can anyone help me please? I have very little information about my Great Grandmother born Annie or Ann Dark in Buckland, Devon around 1864.
I do have a copy of her marriage to my Great Grandfather, George Spiller, at the Parish Church, North Curry, Somerset, on 3 May 1892. On the Certificate, Annie's father is named as Joseph, a gardener. I obtained a copy of the Marriage Certificate of a Joseph Dark to Mary Pooley, who were married at Bideford Register Office on 5 October 1861, both residing at Woolfardisworthy. Joseph's father is named Thomas Dark, a farmer. I also have copies of the following:-
A Birth Certificate of Annie Dark born on 22 November 1864 at Bideford Union Workhouse. Her mother's name is Ellen, but the father is not named;
A copy of the 1841 Census for Parkham, Devon, which includes Thomas and Miriam Dark and Family, including son Joseph, aged 7;
A copy of the 1861 Census for Woolfardisworthy, Devon, which includes Thomas and Miriam Dark and family, including son Joseph, aged 26;
A copy of the 1871 Census for Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel, which includes Joseph Dark, aged 35, and wife Mary and children, but no Annie/Ann;
A copy of the 1881 Census for St. Erme?, Truro, Cornwall, which shows an Ann Dark, aged 20, a general servant, born in Devon (with a Thomas Dark, aged 15), living with Richard and Mary Cleave and family. Not sure that this is my Annie.
A copy of the 1901 Census for Wiveliscombe Without, Somerset, on which Annie is aged 36 living with her husband George and children, including my grandmother, Gertrude. Annie's birthplace is named as 'Devonshire, Buckland'.
There are so many families with the surname 'Dark' in Devon and I have obtained so many Certificates that have not related.
Please could somebody help me find out exactly when and where Annie/Ann was born and give me some information about her family? I have spent so long on this subject, without much success. I can find so little about her and am beginning to wonder if she was, in fact, the baby born in Bideford Workhouse, and that her father's real name was not Joseph!
Many thanks.
Millymollymandy
