This is quite intriguing. I have been looking at the Hayball baptisms in Jersey.
There are 3 children of Moses and Dorcas Thomas said to be his wife. The records list birth as well.
William John Thomas Hayball born 17 Nov 1847
Susanna Elizabeth Hayball born 3 Dec 1848
Sarah Ann Dorcas Hayball born 29 Feb 1850 ! (1850 shouldn't have been a leap year)
I searched for them on the 1851 census and found matches for ages and forenames for the two girls, but as daughters of a Mary Ann Worden widow b England age 26 dressmaker. In the household is John Le Montais married age 27 plasterer. On 20 Nove 1851 Dorcas Thomas sp 26 married a John Le Montais bac 27 plasterer. Can't find them in 1861, but in 1871 they have a daughter Caroline.
Has anyone found burial / death of Maria Hayball nee Hawker, last seen on 1841 census in Jersey
It certainly has given me a headache trying to work it all out. I can’t find a burial for Maria anywhere. Some of her children end up in Bristol area, but I can’t locate a death for her.
I am going to look at the other records you have found re: Dorcas and children as she was baffling me too. I haven’t found any marriage between Dorcas and Moses, so maybe they never actually married, just had kids together.
If Moses marries Sarah Littlejohns in 1857, then perhaps Maria had passed away by then and he was then able to remarry. I am convinced that this Sarah Littlejohns is actually Mary Ann Sarah Quarm the daughter of Robert Quarm and Sarah Temperance Littlejohns. Why she lied about her age and name and gave her grandfather as her father and her mothers occupation as his occupation we will probably never know. There must have been some reason why a lie was told.