Okay, I posted this photograph of Sarah Thacker below, but here is a fresh scan with a little bit of enhancement using open source software Gimp 2.2.
I visited the Norfolk Record Office yesterday, for the first time in many years. Indeed, when it has moved a few times since I would haunt the basements of Norwich Central Library, and is now in a much larger complex on the edge of the City, at the County Hall. I didn't have any need to access the original registers - everything they had for me is now on either microfilm or microfiche. Staff were pleasant and helpful.
What did I learn? Unfortunately, I didn't get any further back on my maternal line yesterday. I did fill in some details and siblings. I did go back another generation on Sarah's father, the Daynes of Brandon Parva, Norfolk. I also discovered her parents, Rueben and Sarah Daynes (nee Quantrill), were not as I thought married in Wymondham, but nearby in Besthorpe. I found the banns in a transcript, but however, the parish marriage registers for 1849 are missing. Presumably still at the church. I feel that I need to see their actual marriage next. It should verify their ages, and give me the name of Sarah Quantrill's father. That might help me locate Sarah's baptism and her mother. It is her mother that I most want to find. She would be the next generation around to donate that mtDNA. Sarah was born circa 1827, I believe in Wymondham, or maybe again, in Besthorpe.
I left the record office, and visited my mother. We then took a look at Besthorpe Church. The church was locked, I tried to telephone the vicar, but no answer. Many of the headstones had unfortunately been moved, but I did find one in memorial to a William Quantrell". He was born a few years before my Sarah Quantrell, so it is quite possible that he was an older brother, if the family originated in Besthorpe. A thought was, if he was indeed the brother, then his remains somewhere in that church yard would carry our mtDNA - from his mother.
I was playing with the idea of going back another day, to see if the vicar does have that missing marriage register. However, with time and petrol, I've ordered a copy of the state document from the GRO (General Register Office) online. Hopefully the certificate will arrive next week. Then I'll have another go at seeing if I can trace Sarah Quantrill's mother.