Hi Gerald
How strange: I was about to post a census lookup for PESKETTs in Dartford, Kent, England, and there's your "Any PESKETT info" staring me in the face.
The following is somewhat convoluted, but that's what gives it a bit of interest.
My G-Grandmother was Sophia PESKETT, b.1847, d.1874 in Dartford, Kent. She married James SMITH (don't know where or when) and had a son, George James SMITH (b.1868, d.1957), who became my mother's father.
I have no proof yet, but Sophia may have died at the birth of a daughter, Sophia Jane E [presume Elizabeth] SMITH, who also died in 1874, age 0.
After Sophia's death, James, her husband, married Emma Elizabeth PESKETT, formally KEMPTON, whose first husband was James PESKETT, b.1848, d.1881. The children from this first marriage were James b.1873; Thomas Henry b.1874; Sophia Elizabeth b.1876 and Amy Elizabeth b.1881 (all PESKETT).
The 1891 census shows James SMITH as head, Emma as wife, George J as son, Thomas PASKET [note spelling] as son, Sophia E. PASKET as daughter, Amy E. PASKET as daughter, and a new son, Leonard S. SMITH, age 6, from the current marriage; all living at 13 Maiden Lane, Dartford. I haven't found James PESKETT (b.1873) yet. [Note that PASKET is not the only variant spelling: the 1881 census shows the family name as PISKETT; and the 1901 census has the remaining two at that time, Thomas and Amy (Sophia had married), as TESKETT].
Sophia married Charles KEEP in 1896 and moved to Woolwich, where they had a number of KEEPsakes;-). Amy married Ernest V. POWELL on 12 Mar 1916; and Thomas, a lighterman working on the river, died by drowning some years later, ending the PESKET dynasty.
I hope this is of some interest to you, and if so, you may like to help me out with the request I was going to post here; which would get these PESKETTs a step closer to the wider world of PESKETTs.
It seems likely that the original James PESKET, b.1848, and James SMITH's first wife, Sophia PESKET, b.1847, were siblings. If this were the case then James would be 2 or 3 years old at the time of the 1851 census, and Sophia would be 3 or 4. An 1851 census lookup, presumably still in Dartford, should prove or disprove this relationship and possibly give us names and ages of their parents, siblings etc.
Anyway, I hope this has been of help to you. I don’t know what resources you have. If you can't help with the above don't let it bother you; I'll post a request here later.
I probably have a few more details than those above. Let me know if they would be of interest to you.
Best Regards
Terry
