Mary Ann Cheney, was born at Little Addington, Northamptonshire, about 1836 the daughter of John and Frances Cheney.

She was the first wife of Thomas Willington Wakefield who was born at Hurley in Warwickshire about 1833.

Thomas's second wife was Mary Maria Cheney, born at Harrington, Northamptonshire, in 1854, the youngest child of William and Mary Ann Cheney.

It is not yet known whether the two wives were related.