Ridgway/Vasconcellos tomb in Ford's Cemetery, Liverpool

[cleo14]

My gg grandmother Cleonice Ridgway, (nee Smith de Vasconcellos) is buried in a tomb in Fords cemetery in Liverpool along with her mother Francesca Smith de Vasconcellos and son Joseph Ridgway. I think they called the tomb the Vasconcellos family tomb. I visited it a year ago only to find that it was virtually a ruin. The plot is  number 577 and 578 in Fords. I believe the tomb was quite large and that there was a newspaper article about it about 20 years ago. A bit of a wild card but I wonder if anyone can offer any info or pics about the tomb. I believe it was probably vandalised, often used as a small shelter and  I suppose the newspaper article may have been about this .......... Any info gratefully received. 

[Robert11]

Hi Cleo:
This is Robert in the USA. My great grandfather was Rodolpho Smith de Vasconcellos. Cleonice was one of Rodolpho's sisters. The Smith de Vasconcellos family was really into genealogy. They published several books detailing the Smith de Vasconcellos line. I have my grandfather's personal copy of a 1927 genealogy book. There are two pages about the Ridgway family (Cleonice and Joseph Ridgway's descendants) in this book.

Robert

[pimpernel]

Hi, my direct connection to the Tustin-Smith-Vasconcellos line is through Mary Tustin's grandfather in Broadway, Worcestershire in the mid 1700's, long before the connection to Portugal and Brazil. The earliest link with Portugal I've found for Mary Tustin (or 'Tustin-Smith') is around 1810-1814 so no help with the Ford's Cemetery I'm afraid. However the family connection to Portugal and Brazil has long fascinated me, it's amazing to learn there's a tomb, I'd love to see a photo!

If I can get up to Liverpool one of these days I'll have a look for it.

[Robert11]

We are distantly related. I actually have a picture of the Smith de Vasconcellos tomb in Ford cemetery. I didn't take the picture. It was sent to me by a cousin. The tomb was apparently vandalized years (decades?) ago and never repaired. I don't have the "before" picture. I am not sure how to send a picture on RootsChat or if that is even possible.

I also have a small family tree from a 1927 genealogy book written by my grandfather. It may give you a better idea of how we are related.

Robert

[pimpernel]

Hello Robert,
when you click 'reply' you should see under the message pane a link for "Attachments and other options" - that will allow you to select an image from your desktop to upload. I think sometimes there's a 900k size limit so you might have to adjust the image resolution.

[Robert11]

I am sending the picture of the Smith de Vasconcellos tomb in Ford Cemetery in Liverpool. I hope it works. As you can see it is little more than a pile of rubble now.

If you receive it, I will send the family tree. It is a 7meg file so I will need to adjust the file size.

Robert

[pimpernel]

That's a very sad sight! Many thanks for sharing Robert.

I wonder if there are any descendants of the line still in the Liverpool area? You probably know there is a lot of material online in Portugese on the Brazilian descendants of the Smith-Tustin line, but it seems very little on the British end. My connection to the family is very distant through earlier generations in Broadway, Worcestershire.

Mary Martha Tustin-Smith of Broadway (1784-1866) was the daughter of William Tustin (1752-1793) and Elizabeth Smith (1755-) of Broadway. She married twice, the first time in Oporto, 1814 to a Portugese lawyer and "Judge of the House of Supplication" (House of Justice) (desembargador da Casa de Suplicacao) - Jose Inacio Pais Pinto De Sousa E De Vasconcellos (circa 1780-1820).
As this was at the end of the Peninsular War I wonder if she had started a Portugese trading business following in the footsteps of Wellington's army. After Jose's death she re-married to a British trader in Lisbon, William Chambly Studart. After he too died in 1834 she moved to Brazil where several of her children had already established connections.

Descendants of her first marriage in Ceara, Brazil including the 1st and 2nd Barons de Vasconcellos, heads of the trading companies that connected to the Ridgeways. Children of her 2nd marriage to William Chambly Studart included the British Vice-Consul to Ceara John Studart and his son the doctor and Brazilian historian Guilherme Chambly Studart.

My personal connection is much further back - my 5th Great Grandfather Thomas Tustin (1727-1772) was Mary Martha's grandfather.

[Robert11]

I have attached page 86 from my grandfather's 1927 genealogy book. It's a classic parent grandparent type of tree. Names only, no dates, no second marriages.

The person on the far left is my grandfather Nuno Smith de Vasconcellos. He was born in 1893. The tree goes back 5 generations which is probably around the early 1700s. I don't know how accurate the information is.

I have some historical pictures of the Smith de Vasconcellos family on Facebook. I will send you the link in a personal message.

My grandfather managed to locate some birth, baptism, marriage and death records for certain members of the Tustin Smith families (late 1700s to early 1800s). He didn't get the actual record though. He got a letter from the clergy person who had possession of the records in 1925. He retyped the letters and published them in the appendix to his genealogy book. I have those pages scanned and can post or send them to you if you are interested. You may already have this information.

Robert

[pimpernel]

This is great, the family has been researched deeper than I thought! So many distant cousins! No.36 Thomas Tustin is my closest mutual ancestor, though my research doesn't quite match his father as John Tustin as the pen notes seem to indicate. Thomas's wife (No.37) was Mary Bennett (1729-1802), I have his father as Richard Tustin (1706-1729) and mother Barbara (surname unknown).
I saw the photos on your Facebook page Robert, fantastic!