This is my Pritchard family. Ann (1821) never married but she moved in with John Deakin who may have sired her children. She posed as his wife and lived with him in Dorrington with her son Charles. Ann passed away from cancer in 1871 shortly after the census was taken. Charles went to Staffordshire after his mother died and you can find him in 1881 in Acton, (near Swynnerton), working as a 'wood ranger'. In 1881 his first child was born (Annie) and his partner - Selina (aka Jane) Jones had baby Annie in Whitmore which is a stones throw from Acton. Like his mother and grandmother, he never married but he had about a dozen children with her. Ann Pritchard (Jones (born 1786, or thereabouts)) was married to Thomas Pritchard in Chirbury in 1806. Ann passed away in 1863. Maria was born in Chirbury in 1810, (baptised 19 Aug 1810). Many of their ancestors were born in and around Whittington in Shropshire. I have them right the way back to the mid 1600s. My aunt Edna who was in her mid nineties at the time, told me that, Ann Pritchard (1821) was given a butchers shop by a rich man who gave it to her to help pay for his illigitimate children that he had with her. I note that her mother ran the shop though! I mentioned that Ann moved in with John Deakin when his wife passed away and he was a master butcher. Coincidence? I think not. My grandfather was one of Charles Pritchards sons. As a footnote, Thomas Pritchard was born in 1783 in Westbury. Also, Charles Pritchard's partner Selina was known as 'Jane' as she took her mothers name when she died young. The name Jane Jones appears on all of her children's birth certificates but she reverted to Selina in later life. As well as this, Francis Pritchard married Jane Lloyd in Shrewsbury 1862 but he had mental health problems and died in Bicton Heath Lunatic Asylum in 1873. I have a couple of photos of his daughter Mary Lloyd Pritchard and of several of her children.
