Trouble With The Smith Family
As you probably know Smith is a very common name and thus hard to trace but I got on alright with my Smith's, but couldn't find a marriage of Thomas Smith to a Florence that looked likely.
To start, my Thomas Smith was born in 1876 in Boldre, Hampshire. A general labourer by trade he 'married' a Florence supposedly in 1897, according to the 1911 Census. However there were many of those combinations of names but I couldn't find one that I felt was correct. His first child Thomas Harry Smith was born in Walworth, Surrey in 1898. So I checked the counties around there. There was still multiple marriages and still couldn't find them. So it looked like a birth certificate was going to have to be ordered.
From Thomas and Florence, I am descended from William John Smith, born in 1907. But there was more than one possibility, so I decided to get his sister (Lavinia's) birth certificate as I was pretty certain it was my Lavinia.
I already knew that Lavinia was born in Bitterne, in the district of South Stoneham, in 1908. This is what the birth certificate said:
To start, my Thomas Smith was born in 1876 in Boldre, Hampshire. A general labourer by trade he 'married' a Florence supposedly in 1897, according to the 1911 Census. However there were many of those combinations of names but I couldn't find one that I felt was correct. His first child Thomas Harry Smith was born in Walworth, Surrey in 1898. So I checked the counties around there. There was still multiple marriages and still couldn't find them. So it looked like a birth certificate was going to have to be ordered.
From Thomas and Florence, I am descended from William John Smith, born in 1907. But there was more than one possibility, so I decided to get his sister (Lavinia's) birth certificate as I was pretty certain it was my Lavinia.
I already knew that Lavinia was born in Bitterne, in the district of South Stoneham, in 1908. This is what the birth certificate said:
So I finally found out Florence's maiden name. So I tried the marriage for the two and still couldn't find it in or around 1897. However, when I did a broader search I did find a marriage in 1915 in the South Stoneham district. So it seems that they had quite a few illegitimate children.
I suppose there 'marriage' in 1897 was either real but not authentic or completely made up to make them look like they were a responsible couple.
Published: 8 January 2015
I suppose there 'marriage' in 1897 was either real but not authentic or completely made up to make them look like they were a responsible couple.
Published: 8 January 2015
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