Mary Ann KNIGHT was born in about 1822/1823. Her father James KNIGHT was an engineer. Mary (Ann) KNIGHT is identified as the mother of Henry (John) PARKS on his birth certificate.
No christening record has been found, despite her three earlier siblings having records in Burslem Parish Church, and her younger sister(?) Thomasine's baptism being in Hanley. It's possible that the family were away temporarily, but the only baptismal records have father James as a tailor, butcher or bargeman which seem unlikely.
She was working as a painter, probably of china or pottery, when she married John PARKS on 27 Nov 1843 in Bagnall in the Parish of Bucknall.
Mary Ann died in November 1875, aged 52, in Hepworth, Yorkshire where the family had been living while John worked as a terracotta maker there. She was buried on 21 Nov 1875 in Hepworth.
Mary Ann's birth year is hard to pin down.
Recorded ages include:
- Marriage - 21 => 1822/1823
- 1841 census - 18 => 1822/23
- 1851 - not found
- 1861 census - 27 => 1823/24
- 1871 census - 48 => 1822/23
- Death - 52 => 1822/23.
A baptismal record for a Mary Ann KNIGHT baptized at St Luke, Endon on 24 Nov 1822 would be a good fit except that the parents were Samuel and Ann KNIGHT, likely to have been Mary Ann's uncle and aunt. There's a Mary KNIGHT of the right age who is a female servant in the 1841 census and a Mary KNIGHT with a father whose name is Samuel also married in 1843. It's odd that the two cousins were born at about the same time, given the same name and both married in the same year.
