Ann Forkes (Fawkes, Forke, Fauwks, etc.) was the second of the three children of John and Elizabeth Forks whose records I have been able to find. By the time Ann was five years old, the family were accepting help from the early equivalent of poor relief. Sadly, in the form of a pauper’s grave for her two-year-old sister Elizabeth.
I have not been able to find a record of her marriage to Samuel Raven, who is named as her husband on the birth record of her daughter Mary, our ancestor. I have not been able to find, indeed, any other trace of a Samuel Raven with a wife named Ann. Nor can I find any other birth records with parents named Samuel and Ann Raven.
However, I have found a marriage between a John Raven and Ann Forkes at Scoulton, Norfolk. John and Ann had three children in Scoulton up to 1807 and five in Hingham from 1812. I believe that Mary, born in 1809 in Hingham, was also their daughter. More on this discrepancy here.
Ann Raven died at the age of 54 and was buried at Hingham. For thirty-two years she had borne and raised nine children, the two youngest being ten and thirteen at the time of her death. Four of her grown-up children were married, she had grandchildren and all appear to have been thriving. According to the expectations of the time, her life seems to have been a fulfilled and happy one.
Mother of Mary Raven and daughter of John and Elizabeth Forks
Born 21 September 1779 and baptised Ann Forks on 29 September 1779 at Hingham, Norfolk
I believe she married John Raven on 3 November 1800
Buried 27 May 1833