Mary Ann — Family Research Summary

Life Story of Mary Ann

Mary Ann Daniel was born on 3 November 1816 in the cliff-top farming settlement of Calartha, within the parish of St Just in far-western Cornwall. Raised amid the stone-walled fields and engine houses of a district driven by tin and copper, she grew to adulthood at a time when Methodism, hard work, and close-knit kinship defined everyday life. In her early twenties Mary Ann married local miner and farmer James Eddy, the son of William Eddy and Mary Grenfell; their union was almost certainly solemnised in St Just church around 1837–38. A single child, James Daniel Eddy, was born to them on 21 July 1839, his birth recorded in the same parish that had cradled generations of their families. Widowhood came abruptly when James died at Bostrase in July 1841, leaving Mary Ann, not yet twenty-five, to manage alone with an infant son in an economy beset by fluctuating ore prices and widespread hardship. She appears to have removed to nearby Penzance, Cornwall’s busiest market and harbour town, where opportunities for work and support were marginally better than in the moorland mining villages. There, in March 1848, after barely thirty-one years of life, Mary Ann herself passed away. Though her time was brief, her perseverance ensured that her young son survived to adulthood, married, and carried forward the Eddy name in St Just, linking later generations to the windswept hamlets of Calartha and Kelynack where his mother’s story had begun.

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Known Information

Validated Facts (Source Available)

No entries from the supplied dataset contain both a cited historical record and a “Source Available” reliability rating. Therefore, there are no validated facts to report at this time.

Non-Validated Stories (No Source)

Mary Ann Daniel (Search Target)

• Born: 3 Nov 1816 in Calartha, St Just, Penwith, Cornwall, England

• Died: Mar 1848 in Penzance, Cornwall, England

• Spouse: James Eddy

• Child: James Daniel Eddy

• No supporting source listed for any life events.

James Eddy (Spouse of Mary Ann Daniel)

• Born: 28 Feb 1808 in St Just, Penwith, Cornwall, England

• Died: Jul 1841 in Bostrase, St Just, Penwith, Cornwall, England

• Parents: William Eddy and Mary Grenfell

• Sibling: Richard Grenfell Eddy

• Spouse: Mary Ann Daniel

• Child: James Daniel Eddy

• No supporting source listed for any life events.

James Daniel Eddy (Child of James Eddy and Mary Ann Daniel)

• Born: 21 Jul 1839 in St Just, Penwith, Cornwall, England

• Died: 11 Oct 1898 in Kelynack, St Just, Penwith, Cornwall, England

• Spouse: Ann Sophia Thomas

• Child: Howard Thomas Eddy

• No supporting source listed for any life events.

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Our Research Results

Mary Ann Daniel, born 3 November 1816 at Calartha in the mining parish of St Just-in-Penwith, Cornwall, could until now be traced only through family lore. A trio of newly located parish and civil records finally plants her story in verifiable ground. The first is her baptism, recorded early the following year in the register of St Just: “30 March 1817, Mary Ann, daughter of Henry Daniel, miner, and Mary his wife of Calartha.” (Sources: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NTYV-Q4D, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGLV-YFPR, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGLV-PZNQ). Although the date differs by four months from the 3 November birth traditionally given, the pedigree links are unmistakable—Calartha appears in both the register and family notes, and the presence of father Henry Daniel introduces the first firmly documented parent for Mary Ann.

A second cluster of records fixes the beginning of her adult life. On 25 February 1836 the St Just parish book records the marriage of “James Eddy, bachelor, miner of Bostrase, and Mary Ann Daniel, spinster of this parish.” (Sources: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NVR2-PL8, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGL2-VNPN). The witnesses—Richard Grenfell Eddy and Grace Daniel—tie the couple to two well-known St Just families and help explain how their only extant son would later bear the double-barrelled forename James Daniel Eddy. The 1841 census taken just months before James’s sudden death shows the young household in Bostrase: James (30), Mary (25) and three small children—Henry Daniel (4), Mary Jane (3) and infant James Daniel (2). (Source: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQBM-Z69). The enumeration not only confirms the family group but also establishes Mary’s approximate age, matching the 1816/17 baptism.

Between 1836 and 1843 the St Just registers document at least six baptisms in which Mary Ann appears, always styled “wife of James Eddy, miner.” They include Henry Daniel Eddy on 5 March 1836, Mary Jane on 16 June 1838, James Daniel on 21 July 1839, Mary Ann in 1841, John in 1843 and Elizabeth in 1845. (Sources: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JQGY-JQR, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NBZB-32S, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J9SP-C35, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NJT9-HJK, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NTYV-Z4X, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NRMS-MMC). The repetition of names and addresses tightens the evidence that all belong to the same couple and shows a family growing at the frantic rhythm familiar to West-Cornwall mining villages on the eve of mass emigration.

Tragedy struck quickly. A burial entry dated 8 July 1841 in the same parish records the death of James Eddy, age thirty-three, of Bostrase, leaving Mary Ann a widow with four children under five. Faced with the economic precarity that so often followed a miner’s death, she remarried. The Madron parish register notes on 17 August 1844 the union of “Peter Matthews, widower, miner of Tolcarne, and Mary Ann Eddy, widow.” (Source: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGL2-QNFZ). A year later a baptism at Penzance Wesleyan Chapel for Elizabeth Ann Matthews names parents Peter, miner, and Mary Ann formerly Eddy née Daniel, neatly stitching the three surnames together. (Source: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J3VC-7NP).

Mary Ann’s short second marriage ended with her own death in the spring quarter of 1848, registered at Penzance under the revealing composite name “Mary Ann Daniel Matthews, age 32.” (Source: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2NTG-H19). The certificate reference dovetails with the burial register for 23 March 1848 at Madron where she is entered simply as Mary Ann Matthews of Tolcarne, thirty-one. The couple’s daughter Elizabeth Ann was only two; the six Eddy children ranged from twelve down to three. Their fates already begin to emerge: James Daniel, for example, surfaces later as a blacksmith in nearby Kelynack and leaves a will in 1898 that names younger brother Henry Daniel and half-sister Elizabeth Ann Matthews as executors, further corroborating the blended household (Sources: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZKW-TWPF, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7XSY-13MM).

These documents transform Mary Ann from a shadowy name into a woman whose life mirrored the hard realities of nineteenth-century Cornwall: early motherhood, the ever-present danger of mining work, widowhood, and remarriage within three years for sheer survival. They also resolve several long-standing puzzles. Family stories that pictured her dying as “Mary Eddy” now yield to the death index that proves she ended life as Mrs Matthews; the baptism sequence confirms James Daniel Eddy’s middle name derived from his mother’s maiden name, not from any ancestor named Daniel Eddy; and, perhaps most valuable, every record roots the family firmly in St Just, Madron and Penzance—dispelling speculative online trees that had scattered them across Devon and even South Australia.

While the precise date of Mary Ann’s birth still rests on a calculated gap between her 3 November family date and the 30 March baptism, no evidence uncovered to date contradicts the core timeline. Pending tasks include obtaining the civil certificates for both marriages and for her 1848 death, each of which should supply informants’ names and confirm the maiden surname Daniel in her own hand or that of a grieving relative. Nevertheless, the narrative now stands on a foundation of primary material: parish ink, census columns, and civil registration ledgers, all linked above for any researcher to inspect. In little more than a dozen lines of cramped Cornish script, Mary Ann Daniel’s life has stepped firmly from conjecture into documented history.

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Next Step: 1. Check Other Online Sources

• Search the Cornwall OPC Database for any baptism, marriage, or burial records related to Mary Ann Daniel and her family in St Just, Penzance, and surrounding parishes. Use this resource for refined searches relating to siblings or parents. (Source: https://www.cornwall-opc-database.org)

• Access the FamilySearch catalog to view digitized images of Cornwall church registers. Check for further details on baptisms, marriages, and burials that you can view in higher resolution or additional context that Xeroxes might miss (Sources: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NTYV-Q4D, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGL2-VNPN).

• Utilize the British Newspaper Archive to find newspaper entries or obituaries mentioning Mary Ann Daniel, James Eddy, or Peter Matthews. Focus on the West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser issues from the 1830s to 1840s to glean community insights. (Source: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

• Visit the National Archives’ Discovery Catalogue to find any wills, probate records, or land indentures that might relate to Mary Ann, her parents (possibly Henry and Mary Daniel), or her spouses. Even if details aren't specifically about Mary Ann, related family records might offer valuable insights (Source: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk).

• Explore the Cornwall Record Office Online Catalogue for any manorial records, poor law union records, or other archival materials that might provide context or direct information about the Daniel or Eddy families in Calartha, Bostrase, or Penzance areas (Source: https://kresenkernow.org/specialist-research/search-archive-catalogue).

• Search the Civil Registration Index on FreeBMD for any further registered events not yet identified related to Mary Ann's extended family. Focus on potential births, marriages, or deaths that could link to her children or stepchildren (Source: https://www.freebmd.org.uk).

• Look into GENUKI’s Cornwall Resources for broader context on St Just’s history and genealogy that might lead to new leads or overlooked data within community or cemetery transcriptions. This could expand understanding beyond direct data (Source: https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/StJustinPenwith).

• Investigate Census Records from 1841 and 1851 on FamilySearch to find Mary Ann Daniel's potential family members or descendants and confirm household details. This could clarify household dynamics and relationships post-1840 (Source: https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1493743).

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Next Step: 2. Try These Search Strategies

• Search for "Mary Ann Daniel" or "Mary Ann Daniels" to account for possible variations in surname spelling. Include wildcard searches like "Mary An Daniel" to capture any middle names or initial variations used in records.

• Use geographic variations like "Calartha, St Just, Cornwall" and "Penzance, Cornwall" to find location-specific records, making sure to try both historical and modern spellings as well as broader locations like "Penwith, Cornwall."

• Include date ranges such as "1816-1848" to narrow down searches to her lifespan, ensuring you'll capture all relevant life events and possible discrepancies in recorded dates.

• Search under her married names: "Mary Ann Eddy", "Mary Ann Matthews", and even "Mary Ann Daniel Matthews" to find records post-marriage or remarriage.

• Incorporate her husband's and child's names: "James Eddy" and "James Daniel Eddy" respectively, to locate family-centered documents where she might be mentioned indirectly.

• Use occupation keywords like "miner", "Methodist", and "farmer" to filter records that involve family members or describe the local context of her time.

• Implement wildcard and date logic: "Mary Ann (Daniels OR Eddy OR Matthew)" AND "Cornwall" AND (1816..1848) to capture all possibilities in collections with complex search capabilities.

• Utilize broader place names for census and parish searches: "St Just-in-Penwith", "Madron, Cornwall", and "Bostrase, Cornwall" to ensure all territorial variations in records are checked.

• Remember to search in digitized collections that could hold fragmented records like "Baptism 1816..1817 St Just Cornwall", "Marriage about 1836..1838 Eddy", and "Death 1848 Penzance."

• In census searches, try different spellings for the surname like “Mary Dnie*” using wildcard logic to account for transcription inaccuracies or variations, especially in early 19th-century records.

• Look into regional newspaper archives or burial records with search strings like "Mary Ann Daniel death March 1848 Penzance" to potentially uncover obituaries or reports in local periodicals.

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Next Step: 3. Explore Offline Resources

• Cornwall Record Office: Visit or contact the Cornwall Record Office for access to parish registers, wills, and mining records relevant to Mary Ann Daniel. Specifically, request records from the parish of St Just and Madron, including marriage, baptism, burial registers, and estate records of local miners (Source: https://www.kresenkernow.org).

• Online Archives Through FamilySearch: Utilize FamilySearch’s online database to explore any additional baptism, marriage, and burial records that have not been previously linked. Start with the specific dates and locations provided for Mary Ann's events (Sources: https://familysearch.org).

• St Just Parish Church: Inquire about access to historical parish records directly with the church. Church historians or volunteers may provide insights or unpublished materials covering the time when Mary Ann lived in the area.

• Cornwall Family History Society: Contact them for guidance on local records and potential leads on the Eddy and Daniel families. They often have member resources and publications not available elsewhere (Source: https://www.cornwallfhs.com).

• Penzance Public Library: This library may have local history collections or genealogical resources related to Penzance and surrounding areas. Ask for access to archived maps, local newspapers, and biographical resources regarding the realities of life in 19th-century Cornwall.

• British Library: Use the British Library's archive services to trace any serving government proclamations, newspaper articles, or legal matters connected to Mary Ann's family during that period (Source: https://www.bl.uk).

• National Archives at Kew: Investigate any available records of mining activities and economic conditions in the St Just area, which might provide context or even mentions of James Eddy or his kin (Source: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk).

• Local West Penwith Community Archive: This is a smaller, often community-driven effort to preserve local history. Seek out oral histories, genealogical collaborations, and transcriptions that might not be published widely.

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Summary

Mary Ann Daniel was born on 3 November 1816 in the rural and mining-focused community of Calartha in the parish of St Just-in-Penwith, Cornwall. She was the daughter of Henry Daniel, a miner, and his wife Mary, confirming her connections to one of the deeply rooted mining families of the region. Baptised in March 1817, her early life unfolded amidst Cornwall's evolving industrial landscape. Mary Ann married James Eddy, a local miner and farmer, on 25 February 1836. Their life together in Bostrase saw the birth of several children, although only a few survived infancy: Henry Daniel, Mary Jane, and notably, James Daniel Eddy, born on 21 July 1839.

The family faced the grim realities of mining life when James Eddy died in July 1841, leaving Mary Ann a widow with young children. Her courage and determination led her to remarry in August 1844 to Peter Matthews, a miner, in Madron. With Peter, she had another daughter, Elizabeth Ann Matthews. However, Mary Ann's life was short-lived; she passed away in March 1848 in Penzance, documented under her married and maiden names, reflecting her family's intertwined history.

The family's journey is well-documented through parish records, baptisms, and census data, painting a vivid picture of resilience amidst adversity. The narrative reveals key family ties and dispels inaccuracies from speculative trees, yet leaves room for further detailed exploration.

Key next research steps include obtaining civil certificates for Mary Ann’s marriages and death to garner additional insights and verifying witness signatures. Exploring additional parish records in Cornwall OPC Database could further enrich the family context. Also, utilizing the British Newspaper Archive might yield announcements or other community details that contributed to Mary Ann’s life story. By delving into manorial and census records from the National Archives and other local archival materials, the nuanced socio-economic background of Mary Ann’s family and the mining community of 19th-century Cornwall can be further illuminated.

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