Bringing this thread up-to-date...
I thought it may be a good time to update this thread with the information that has since been uncovered for the other Ansley / King descendants on here.
Fanny and Ann are still missing in various census years, as is John Ansley.
Prison records for John Ansley in Cornwall have been found with mention of his "wife" Susan. They state he was born in Lambeth. They had daughter Ellen and also a son Henry who died in childhood.
Baptism and marriage records have been found in Lambeth that *may* be John, plus an 1841 census return. The current theory is that John was already married prior to meeting Susan Smith and Ann King and never married either of them as no marriage record has ever been uncovered...
Which didn't seem to be any sort of impediment to Ann King or her parents...
Ann possibly married in Plymouth to a Royal Marine, having 2 children who both died in infancy. She then definitely married John Connor and had children Dinah and Susan. Dinah, we think, married in Colchester, had a daughter in Soham, Cambridgeshire, then was living in Ipswich in 1871. Cannot be found on any subsequent census. Susan ended up in Cambridge, married name Kelley. Ann King died in Cambridge in 1909.
Ann's parents were Abraham King and Dinah or Diana Veal m. 1822, Plymouth. Ann was baptised in 1824 in Plymouth. Siblings Eliza Jane (died in childhood) Mary, Joseph (died in infancy) and Sarah were all baptised in Plymouth. Abraham was in the Royal Marines. In 1834 Dinah Veal married James Croker in Plymouth. Abraham was still alive. Dinah styled herself as a spinster. She had 3 sons with James in the UK and then they emigrated to Australia in 1841.
I have DNA tested, as has my mum and Hat (the OP) and between us we have 25+ DNA matches we can trace back to Dinah Veal who live in Australia, including to a Mary Ann Croker who we think may actually be Mary King. We have access to the DNA matches of a descendant of Susan Connor and he also matches many of the Dinah Veal descendants in Australia.
In 1862 a Sarah Gegg emigrated to Australia with her deposit paid by Dinah Veal. She was a widow with 4 children whose marriage certificate shows her maiden name was King, father Abraham, a sailor. We also have DNA matches to her descendants and believe she is the daughter of Abraham and Dinah.
Abraham King was bapt 1798 in Silverton, Devon son of Thomas King and Sarah Pepperell who had married in 1776 in Silverton. He died in 1861, Royal Marine pension records have been found for him. He appears to have married again in the 1840s pretending to be a widower. So far I have found only 1 DNA match to Abraham's siblings, but I persevere!
Dinah was bapt 1803 in Widecombe in the Moor, Devon to George Veal and Joana Coaker. My mum has DNA matches to the siblings of Joana Coaker. Joana's mother was Mary Cleave and mum also has DNA matches to Mary's siblings.
I'm typing this on my phone which is why some of it is a bit vague as I'm doing it from memory!
And so the quest continues!
Karen