Hi Webbley
Just read your post re William Hardy. Like you, I have tried to find out about his mother, Ann, but without much success. Apart from what seems to be her baptism in Usworth, Co Durham at the beginning of 1837, and being mentioned on William’s birth certificate, the only other references I can find to her are on three census returns:
• 1841 – 4 years old living with her parents and siblings in Washington, Co Durham.
• 1851 – 14 years old living with her mother, step-father and various siblings in Hetton Le Hole, Co Durham.
• 1861 – 24 years old (unmarried) living in Usworth, Co Durham with her mother, step-father and others, including her 3-year-old son, William Hardy, and 9-month-old Elizabeth Hardy – her daughter perhaps?
She seems to disappear from later censuses but I haven’t been able to ascertain whether this was due to death or a change of surname as a result of marriage. As the family was living in the Chester Le Street area of Co Durham at the time of the 1861 census, I tried searching for her death in that region between 1861 and 1871. This yielded two Ann Hardy deaths registered in Chester Le Street but the death certificates are those of a 9-year-old and a baby of a few months – so, not our Ann Hardy!