My Great-Great Grandparents, Edward Dewhurst and Mary Ann Driver married in 1868. Mary Ann's parents were Samuel and Mary (nee Wadworth) Driver. Samuel was a shoemaker (sometimes reported as a Cordwainer), and he was born in 1801 in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, which was an important centre for shoemaking in the 18th and 19th Centuries.

Samuel's wife, Mary Wadsworth, was born in Rainow and christened December 6th 1807 in the Chapelry of Rainow in the parish of Prestbury. The couple probably married around 1827, as their first child, Elizabeth was born in 1828. I haven't found any marriage records for them, but they would have been married before civil registration, which makes it more difficult. For a while, I thought their next two children, John and Maria, were twins as they were christened on the same day (June 29th 1837), but actually John was born in 1832 and Maria in 1837. I have come across several instances where more than one child was christened on the same day, so this was not an uncommon practice. George was born in 1838, Mary Ann in 1842, and Samuel in 1845.

The Drivers were another family I had difficulty in tracking for quite a while, mostly because the first time I found Mary Ann Driver was in the 1881 Census, where her birthplace was listed as "Rasin? Cheshire". It took some time before I found out that Rasin was Rainow. After that it became easier because Rainow was such a small village.

Samuel's wife Mary died January 13th 1849 at the age of 41. The cause of death was "Phthisis 10 Weeks Certified", which was another name for Tuberculosis. There is an excellent site that lists the archaic medical terms and explains them at:

Archaic Medical Terms

In the 1851 Census** Samuel was, by this time, a widower. His address at that time was 6 Wash Pool, and living at home were John, Maria, George, Mary Ann and Samuel. Elizabeth, the eldest would have been 23 and presumably was married by this time. Confusingly, Samuel Senior's birthplace was recorded as being Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, rather than Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, as was reported in the 1861 Census**.  Also, his age was reported as 46 in the 1851 Census, 60 in the 1861, and 65 on his death certificate in 1863. So Samuel was born either in 1798, 1801, or 1804! There was one rather interesting fact on the 1851 Census, which was that there was a checkmark in the column noting whether the person was blind, deaf or dumb. It's possible Samuel wasn't sure how old he was, or that he had difficulty in communicating.

By 1861, only Mary Ann and Samuel were living at home. Only two years later, their father was found drowned on December 3rd 1863. Samuel's death certificate says that the reported cause of death was based on information from William R. Dunstan, the Coroner for Cheshire, Northwich, and that an inquest had been held December 5th 1863. I have tried to find if old Coroners' records are available, but it seems that most of them would have been destroyed.

I was very lucky to contact the Macclesfield Library and received this information:

"Macclesfield Courier & Herald Saturday 12th 1863 (page 4)

5 December 1863 Man found drowned in Rainow.
Mr. Dunstan, Coroner, held an inquest on Saturday last, on the body of an old man, aged 65, named Samuel Driver, shoemaker, who was found drowned in the Mill Pool, Rainow. Deceased was seen returning towards home, in liquor, on Monday night, the 30th November, but he was neither seen or heard of until his body was found in the Mill Pool, on Thursday morning week. There were no marks of violence on his body and the supposition is, that he must have fallen into the Pool, which he would have to pass on his way home.
Verdict "Found drowned"

Mary Ann presumably lived with her brother Samuel for the next five years before her marriage to Edward Dewhurst and Samuel was one of the witnesses at their wedding. I assume Mary Ann and Samuel moved to Burnley during that time to look for work, as both were reported as being Cotton Piecers in the 1861 Census**, and she would have met Edward in Burnley. Ominously, her brother Samuel does not appear in the 1871 or subsequent Censi and there is a death record of a Samuel Driver in Burnley in the September 1870 Quarter, aged just 22, which would have been Samuel's age at the time.

As if all this were not enough, Mary Ann and Edward were only married for twelve years before he died from T.B. leaving her with two young sons. I knew that life wasn't easy for the working classes in the UK, but I never fully appreciated what hard and sad lives people had until it was brought home to me on a more personal level. There is more information on Mary Ann and Edward on the DEWHURST-DRIVER PAGE.

Mary Driver (Wadsworth's) parents were George and Betty (nee Goodwin) Wadsworth. I don't know much about them, except that George was born in Rainow in 1783 and christened in Rainow Chapelry  June 15th 1873. His wife was Betty Goodwin. I think George's parents were Joseph Wadsworth and Mary Pott, but this needs more checking.

**Used with permission of Ancestry.com