Our 4xgreat grandmother Susannah (wife of Thomas DAVIES) gave her age on the 1851 census as 35. That would place her birth in 1816.
There were 1300 girls baptised Susanna(h) in the United Kingdom in 1816; but, perhaps surprisingly, there were just 6 in Flint. Even if we include adjoining Denbigh in the search, the total number of candidates is only 13. That should be a manageable list to explore.
The 1851 Census also shows that Susannah's eldest child, John, was aged 15 which indicates his birth was probably in 1836 and that a search for his parents marriage should begin in 1835.
Both of these propositions are confirmed by the Flint Parish Registers. John (son of Thomas Davies and his wife Susannah) was baptised on 14 February 1836 and his parents (Thomas DAVIES and Susannah HUGHES) had been married by banns on 23 May 1835.
Among the 6 candidates listed as being christened in Flint during 1836 was Susanna Anne HUGHES but studying the image of the church record revealed a surprise. On 28 January 1816 in the Parish of Whitford, twin daughters of William and Elizabeth HUGHES were christened Susanna and Anne by the Reverend Edward Roberts.
Further support for the argument that this is indeed our 4xgreat grandmother comes from the fact that one of the witnesses to the 1835 marriage was Elizabeth HUGHES.
Census records from after the death of Thomas (in 1856) show that Susannah lived in the households of several of her daughters and daughters-in-law until her death at age 71. She was buried in the Rhuddlan parish churchyard on 25 February 1887.
In the course of her life, Susannah raised 9 children and assisted in the care of not a few grandchildren. There is however no evidence that she ever lived with her eldest daughter Jane (as an adult) or that she ever met Jane's youngest daughter Jane who was born after the family left Wales.
By the time of her grandmother's death, our 2xgreat grandmother Jane was 17000 kilometres away in Queensland.
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