Biography of Mary Ann Smith (Mary Ann High)

Born on 7 June 1809 in Reedham, Norfolk, & baptised 3 days later on 10 June. The parish baptism register records Mary Anne as illegitimate daughter of Mary Garff & Robert High Reputed; Robert & Mary married a couple of months after Mary's birth.

Mary married Robert Smith, a labourer, on 14 April 1835 at Reedham. In the 1841 census they are still in Reedham, but by 1851 they have moved to Besthorpe ('Compasses Road Railway Lodge'), Norfolk, where Robert became a Railway Gate Keeper.

Mary & Robert didn't have any children. Robert remained a Railway Gate Keeper in Besthorpe all his life. The 1861 census records them at Gate House, Besthorpe, with a visitor Mary Ann High (18, one of Sarah Spurgeon's sisters). Ten years later in 1871 Sarah's staying with them; the address is recorded as White House Lane, Besthorpe.

In the 1881 census Mary (70) is living with Robert (76), still a Railway Gate Keeper, at the Gate House, White House Lane.

No record of her death has been found.