Amelia Elizabeth P SMEE birth

[time_detective]

I'm trying to locate the birth of Amelia Elizabeth P SMEE who various censuses show as being born in Devon, approximately 1866.  However I've searched the indexes between 1861 and 1868 but can find no birth registration that fits.  I have found various siblings, some born in Devon and some in London.  I have her age 5 with parents William and Louisa in the 1871 census living in Chelsea, London.  I also have her marriage index to James Burrell, Q3 1884 West Ham.  However her birth registration is eluding me. 
Can anyone help me locate her? 
Thanks TD

[CaroleW]

Not all births were registered.  My great grandparents had a large family but some births were registered and others were not.

Finances played a part in it - if times were hard, food was more important than a "piece of paper"

Did William & Louisa marry before 1865/66?  If not - what was Louisa's maiden name as Amelia may be registered under that name

[tbirduk]

Have you found her?
The clue is in the P shown as a "middle name"
She was registered as Amelia Elizabeth Parish   

[time_detective]

Hi there tbirduk,

No I hadn't found her, it sounds as if you have though.  Are you saying her surname was Parish? If so how did it get changed to Smee I wonder???

Many thanks for your reply, it has certainly given me something to ponder over.
Kind regards
TD

[lizdb]

THe most likely is thather mum married a Mr Smee, and Amelia took her stepfathers name.

Have you got the parents marriage at all?

[lizdb]

interesting

there is a marriage 30 years later!!

MArriage
Oct/Nov/Dec 1901
Chelsea reg distr ref 1a 834
William Smee

one of brides on page - Louisa Parish

perhaps they had to wait till a first husband/wife died before they could actually marry?

[tbirduk]

It's a VERY Complicated story! and despite spending too much money on Certs,  I am not convinced I have it 100% correct


Deep Breath
Loisa Clara Saunders (1843-1904) married Levi Parish in Dec 1863 in Devon
 They had a child Amelia Elizabeth Paris 25 Feb 1866 in West Ham (Levi was a Policeman)

It then appears Levi took up with a lady called Sarah who was born in Chulmleigh in Devon c1846 and they had a Daughter Elizabeth A Parish? in Rotherhithe c1870

Louisa took up with a West Ham Butcher - William Smee (1841-1920)

William was a widower, his first wife Mary Martha Turner had died in 1867 - their kids
Richard William Smee (1861-1865)
William Smee (1862-1907)
Rose Anna (aka Rosa 1866-1868)

William and Louisa Parish (nee saunders)
produced
Emma Nora Smee (1871)
Elizabeth Ada Smee (1876)
Louisa Annie Smee (1879)
Alice Smee (1885)

William and Louisa eventually married 8 Dec 1901 as Widower and Widow.
Not sure what triggered that as I cannot find is Levi Parish's death

Much more Smee stuff on my Webby (check my profile)

[time_detective]

Oh my! The plot thickens.  I've got a William Smee marrying Louisa Clara Linsell Q3 1860, Braintree.  William was born in Braintree, Essex and Louisa born in Torrington, Devon.

Strangest thing though was that in 1920, in Essex, one of the descendants of Amelia Smee married someone whose grandmother, (might have been her great grandmother - can't remember), was from South Molton in Devon.  What a coincidence!

[time_detective]

I think I need to lay down with a scotch and soda in a darkened room!!

Thanks for the info.  Time to see if I can unravel it all.  I know that West Ham is a definite because that's where all my subsequent rellies are from. As for the earlier stuff, I need to go through it very carefully.

What I don't understand is why does there seem to be this wholesale shift of women from Devon to Essex?  Did they run out of men down there or something???

TD