My great, great grandmother Matilda Davis was born 3 May 1842 in the parish of Winsham. Her parents were William Davis (b. abt 1803 in Broadwinsor, Dorset and d. abt 1844 in Winsham) and Deborah Matthews (b. abt 1803 in Whitchurch Canonicorum, Dorset and d. abt 1864 likely in Winsham). Other children of William and Deborah are William (b. 1829), Sarah (b. 1830), Elizabeth (b. 1832), George (b. 1833), James (b. 1835), John (b. 1837), Drusilla (b. 1838), and Samuel (b. 1840). My issue is that I have a 20 year gap in which I can not find any information on Matilda. She appears on the 1851 census in Winsham with her mother who is by then widowed and six of her siblings. The next information I can find is the 1871 census in Pakenham, Ontario, Canada in which she appears as the wife of Thomas Hill and a daughter Clara who is 8. Her husband Thomas dies in 1875 and Matilda marries George Needham in 1870 in Pakenham, Ontario. They eventually move to Forest River, North Dakota, USA and remain there until her death on 4 June 1916. Census information is that she came to Canada in 1869 or 1870, but I have not yet been able to find her on a passenger list. Clara married Robert Tufts on 15 Feb 1879 in Arnprior, Ontario, but she did not give her place of birth or parents’ names even though her mother is one of the witnesses. Her age is given as 22. I am not sure of her year of birth as it has shown as 1860, 1861 and 1862 on censuses, obituary, gravestone, family bible but her date of birth has remained consistent in all the records as 29 December. The obituary lists her place of birth as Battersea, England. However, I have not been able to find a marriage record for Matilda and Thomas Hill. I also have not been able to find a birth record for Clara Hill or under Clara Davis considering that she is possibly an illegitimate child of Matilda’s. Unfortunately the only information I have on Thomas Hill is that he was born abt 1840 in England and died in 1875 in Ontario, so not much information to work with. Is anyone connected to William Davis’ family and have any knowledge of Matilda? Any suggestions? Thanks, Bev