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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: kellysmith1976 on Sunday 14 November 10 17:25 GMT (UK)
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Hi,
I have reluctantly decided to try and research my husbands disjointed family..!!.
The only clue i have is, My husbands dad, has passed away so we can ask no one there,
My Hubbys grandparents, He remembers his Granny smith, But his Grandad smith died before he was born,
I have their Marriage cert and his death cert, His grandad was called William Victor Smith, Died in Kent in 1962, says on his death cert approx 62yrs old... On his marriage it states that his father was called Alexander and he was deceased so no profession of father was put, this was in Dec 1934...
Family speculation and rumour, William Victor Smith was originally from Sunderland/Newcastle... Before moving to Kent...
I have searched through 1901 & 1911 census, and i have a couple of possibilities... I just need to know where to look next...
There were hundreds of WIlliam SMiths born so i cant buy them all .. and even if i could how would i know which one was mine....
very confused Kelly!
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Just sympathising! I've given up on my Smith's. I've decided I've more chance of finding Bin Laden than I have of finding where in the world my John Smith came from! And as for my Fred and Elizabeth - pah!
Hope you have better luck and more patience than I have! At least you have a middle name to go on to help distinguish him.
Regards
Ann
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can you let us know the full details of the marriage and death certs?
sometimes witnesses were relatives, also address and occupation will help pin him down if he died 1962 aged 62 then you would expect him to be born 1900 in which case he should appear on the 1901 census
i have found a William Victor Smith birth in 1900 and am looking for him in 1901
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Marriage -- 24th Dec 1934, All Saints Church, Frindsbury Kent,
No smiths were Witnesses, He was already living with his bride, in Strood, Kent.. and was a general laborer..
Death of William Victor smith, Sept Qtr 1962, Chatham, Kent..
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I had to give up on mine.John and Jane Jones pre 1837.Not enough fingers and toes.
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There is, in 1901, a William Smith, born c1898, Jarrow, father Alexander.
RG13/4740/28/21
Jen :)
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Jen i saw that was hoping for more details from marriage cert to tie it in :-\
Kelly who were the witnesses?
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I saw that one too... I have found them on the 1911 too... Im hoping that these are my lot, but i dont know how to be sure...
Witnesses were P F Taylor, (wifes family) And Emily Agnew... Dont know who she is though!
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Emily Taylor married James L Agnew in Strood she seemed to have died 1952 chatham aged 48 so would hazard a guess this was brides family too :-\
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sorry to be pedantic but how old was William when he married ?
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Yes, with the surname Agnew being considerably less common than either Smith or Taylor, in these circumstances I would research her first, you never know what this line may lead to. Remember too, that though Smith is the commonest surname in the UK, there are regional variations in the level of incidence, in parts of Northern England it is substituted by Wright. which has a similar meaning, so who knows, researching Smith might be feasible in the North east.
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No prob, if you can help , I dont mind... Sorry i didnt think to put it earlier...
He was 32yrs... So maybe that wasnt him on the 1901 census?
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hmmmm so he was 32 in 1934 and 62 in 1961
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He was 62, In 1962... And 32 in 1934...
Well i have just searched through 1911, and I can only find a handful of William Smiths with a father called Alexander, Born around the same time, but im still leaning towards Alexander & Rachel being the parents... Bt maybe thats because they were the first ones i found...
I have asked my husband to try and remember any details, and it seems that they never knew of any other SMiths..
My Husbands dad was called Malcolm, He had siblings Roy, Gordon, Sheila, Robin, Carole, Barry, Raymond....
They are all either passed away or unknown now...
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So whoever gave the information on his age wasn't entirely accurate! Well ther's a surprise. The Smiths seem to be so good at this. ::)
If only my own John Smith had known when he was born, my family history would be so much easier to research!
I'd be more inclined to believe the 1934 information as, presumably, he gave that himself, whereas his age on his death certificate would be given by someone who might well have been guessing.
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Are there any aunts/uncles (either side) that may have a bit more? Was he in the army? Gotta be some snippet ........surely....... anything
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Army's a good one Silvery - at that age he could (just) have been in either or both of WW1 and WW2.
I was wondering about his occupation? Some employers kept and still keep employee service records....
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i totally agree with Jen re his age as he was the one to give it in 1934 but could he have made himself younger than he was
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i totally agree with Jen re his age as he was the one to give it in 1934 but could he have made himself younger than he was
Indeed he could! My own great grandfather changed his age, we think because he was marrying a woman very much younger than he was, This would be easy enough for me to sort out with any name other than John Smith ( or William!).
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I had a William and John Smith in my wife's tree. Luckily I was able to resolve theem both as William was born in a small village in 1798, and John, his grandson was the 4th child of seven and the only boy so he stuck out in the records.
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Many thanx for all your replies..
No there are no Aunt/Uncles... I have asked my hubby and he remembers no mention of his Grandad.. No mention of Army or Wars....
I will try a serch though
May have to accept that i may not ever be able to find anything...
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I too am struggling with a William and Florence smith (who belong to a friend). They had a son called Bernard in 1910 in b'ham but I can't find em in 1911.
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Is emigration a possibility?
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I dread looking for Smiths, so hard, at the moment i'm trying to do the Murphy's from Ireland, just as difficult :-\
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I know we have a surname interest section in Rootschat but I'm inclined to think that if we had a specific Smith thread, we might, just might be able to make some progress on our various brickwalls. ;D ;D
Like many others, I have all but abandoned mine, which means that several strands of my mother's family line go hardly anwhere and one branch of my father's comes to an abrupt standstill in about 1820. So very frustrating.
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If a Smith thread were to be started I think to have any chance it would need to be regionalised, and to appear on the travelling people section.
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I was thinking that too. But there could be links to other regions. Do you think it is a possibility? Somewhere we could pool our Smith resources and knowledge would be incredibly useful.
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A regionally split, separate Smith board would be VERY useful. I love all this family history lark, but my Smith line is really frustrating!
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I have just asked the moderator, Berlin Bob, and have also asked him to reply to this thread.
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Sorry, but we can't do it.
The "Ten Most-Wanted ..."
(Re-Calculated hourly)
#1 : SMITH 835
#2 : JONES 585
#3 : TAYLOR 441
#4 : BROWN 431
#5 : WILLIAMS 398
#6 : WILSON 354
#7 : WALKER 281
#8 : HALL 276
#9 : ROBINSON 275
#10 : WHITE 269
- every extra board reduces performance
- if the Smiths get a board for themselves, they will soon want it to be split into counties and countries (sub-boards)
- if the Smiths get a board and sub-boards for themselves, then the other nine names in the "Ten Most-wanted" list will want a board and sub-boards for themselves.
- those who don't get separate boards for their names will start complaining: "why them, why not us?"
- EVERBODY - those with "names boards" and those without - will be complaining about the slow performance ...
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Ok, Bob, point taken. :)
It was a nice thought while it lasted though.
Jen.
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Thanks Bob, that is what I thought the reply had to be, but nothing ventured nothing gained. Is it time for the iniator to complete this topic?
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Thank you...
Im not sure how im supposed to complete the topic??
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It's alright , don't worry. Something may yet turn up, or you may find out from a cousin or something.
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There is a topic here which also has a few SMITH web-sites:
Topic: JONES: A web site, just for JONES !
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,47732.0.html
Good luck,
Bob
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you could just join the scavenger hunt list in the common room
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Thanks for reminding me Toni, I shall need another scavenger hunt soon. How lon g is the delay please?