RootsChat.Com

Dani,

If you have the family back to those you mention I don't think I can help much at all as I will only be duplicating what you already appear to have.

I knew nothing about the Smithers marriage so that your family are new to me.

What info do you have on Alfred Thomas Smithers, I could perhaps start from him and work back

If you want what I have I can convert into a pdf and send it but it will be a large file and there are many gaps as the Goldsmiths are not my main interest in Kent

Regards

Roger

Good morning Middo, -- at least it is here( western UK)

Welcome to the great furtle !!

My connection to the GOLDSMITHS comes via Jane Goldsmith, born  Ramsgate 1825 to Jarman Goldsmith (1787-1855) and Francis Betts Atherden.

Jarman was the brother of Edward who married Maria Freeman.

It appears that whilst most of Jarman's family remained rooted in the UK significant parts of Edwards family emigrated.

I would be more than willing to e-mail such info as I have if you have a family history program with a GEDCOM facility.

Incidentally , where do your Middleton connections come from? as I have connections to that surname from Horncastle, Lincolnshire.

Regards

Roger M Evans

Dear Margot and Greentrad

http://www.mundia.com/au/Person/15410620/459371675

Browsing the internet for the Australian connection I came across the above link to a family tree which suggests that we have acompetitor for our Walter and the Australian connection set out by Margot.

The tree suggests(states) that Walter was born in Gravesend in 1848.

One of us is wrong, I suspect them.

Your thoughts please

Regards

Roger

The physical feature is nothing to do with any Middle East connection as far as I know, the name Goldsmith in the UK may come either from the "trade" but more probably from a central european origin, you sure its not the "Fosters"
Yes please, send some warm sun, preferably in soon
Regards

Roger

see http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/GoldsmithGoldsmith
This interesting and unusual surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is from an occupational name for a worker in gold, derived from a compound of the Olde English pre 7th Century "gold", similar to the Old High German "gold", and the Middle English (1200 - 1500) "smith", from the Olde English "smith", a smith, probably a derivative of "smitan", to strike, hammer. To a large extent it is an Anglicized form of the German "Goldschmid(t)". Metal-working was one of the earliest occupations for which specialist skills were required, and its importance ensured that these terms and their cognomens and equivalents were perhaps the most widespread of all occupational surnames in Europe. The surname was first recorded in the mid 13th Century, and early recordings of the surname include: Thomas Goldsmith, witness in the 1255 Assize Rolls of Essex; and John le Goldesmethe in the 1309 "Calendar of Letter Books of Devonshire". Probably the best known namebearer was Oliver Goldsmith (1728 - 1774), the Irish poet, dramatist and novelist, whose works include the novel "The Vicar of Wakefield" (1766), the poem "The Deserted Village" (1770), and the comedy "She Stoops to Conquer" (1773). A Coat of Arms granted to a Goldsmith family in Hampshire is a red shield, a chevron silver three crosses crosslet black on a chief gold, a lion passant red, the Crest being a stork black bezantee. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Goldsmiz, which was dated 1250, in the "Middle English Surnames of Occupation", Norfolk, during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Margot,

Unfortunately, all I know of your side of the Goldsmiths is what I have gleaned from Greentrad in particular, I am currently unable to assist you, but will ferret about and see if I can come up with something.

Regards

Roger

ps its cold, windy and wet here and Melbourne is such a warm and pretty alternative