Hi again - Yes, I have pondered over this one long and hard. This John and Maria are definately mine - memories from an elderly aunt recalls being told how the family travelled and lived throughout Wales and that in Carmarthen John used to fish in the river using a Coracle.
Personally I can only think that he was trying to 'hide' his true identity. That he'd abandoned his family in Turweston and had taken up with Maria. John could read and write, Maria couldn't, also her accent was strongly Cornish - when she married for the third time she prounced her surname 'Dorrant' not Durrant and this is how I found it in the local register office in Macclesfield. I don't know how the census was done but if Maria was giving answers to questions by a welsh speaking person then the entire procedure is fraught with possibilites!! 'Ostend' - 'Turweston' an easy mistake perhaps.
This 1861 census problem, lack of marriage cert for John & Maria, John Durrant's born in Turweston plus another interesting piece or two of the jigsaw. John's Mother's family were brickmakers. John had a sister called Caroline Elizabeth and a brother called Alfred. His father was William. The first daughter he had with Maria - Caroline Elizabeth, the first sone he had with her - John, Alfred, William.
Thanks again for your kind interest
Nell
