Ann the Pauper

On 9 August 1789 at St Mary the Virgin, Stannington a baby girl was baptised. She was born illegitimately to Ruth Hedley and William Pyle and they named her Ann.

Ann's baptism at Stannington.
From the Durham Bishop's Transcripts.

A few years later Ann's mother Ruth married a man named William Sharp, whose family came from the nearby Bothal. William took little Ann in as his own, and soon Ann became the elder sister of five siblings. Unusually Ann retained the name of her birth father, and went by Pyle. 

The family unit soon moved to Seaton Sluice, where her stepfather and brothers worked in the glassworks. A couple of decades later, Ruth Sharp died there aged 59. After this Ann mainly resided with her stepfather and youngest brother, Joseph. When Joseph married Dorothy Hindmarch in 1843, Ann remained with her brother. Joseph and Dorothy went on to have five children and it was around this time Joseph became a baker, but still carried on working in the glassworks. 

Although she had a home, Ann was without work and due to his large family, I presume Joseph was not able to help her out. Ann was described as a Pauper in the census returns, and in 1852 she died aged 63. Ann had never married, nor had children.

Joseph's second daughter was given the middle name, Ann.