Thank you everyone for replying to my message. The information i have has mainly come from Ancestry and has been confirmed by the older people left in my family. They remember names and being taken to places to meet people but they do not know who they were to them. The information i have that i know is 99% true is as follows:-
William Matthews born 1852 Malling married Louisa (surname unknown) around 1876 could have been in Stone near Dartford. They had the following children:-
Clara Ann Matthews 1875 Deal
Oliver Matthews 1877 Herne Bay
Betsy 1879 Boxley Maidstone
George Matthews Luton Chatham 1880 (my granddad married Nancy Whiting)
William Matthews 1888 Faversham ( married Mary Ann Penfold)
Then Louisa died and he married Ann Scamp who was born in 1860 Forest Row.
I don't know if all these children are William's but in the census for 1901 (living in tents in Stowting Lane) it records the family as:-
Faul/Paul 1885 Faversham
Clemantine 1887 Faversham
Flory 1890 Faversham
Absey 1892 Faversham
Sidney 1894 Faversham
Rily 1896 Faversham
Sam 1899 Faversham
Poly 1900 Faversham
I have looked at other peoples trees on ancestry and one in particular recorded the names as Scamp/Lee/Matthews and has told me that her dad and he's brothers birth certificates show the same mum but using all three surnames at different times. I was told by my dad that Matthews wasn't our real surname, that it was changed back in history but that was all he new. i have never been able to progress any further than William Matthews which is written on Georges Marriage certificate which i have.
I will research all the people you suggest in your kind replies and see if i can solve the great Matthews mystery. If any of the information i have listed above, suggests anything to you all, please let me know.
Allison
