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« on: Wednesday 13 March 24 22:23 GMT (UK) »
I am trying to place the Reverend Courtney Smith into the Smith/Milnes family who owned Dunstan Hall, near Chesterfield, but I am getting myself thoroughly confused and Smith is not a good name to research when you're getting sken-eyed!
Courtney Smith was baptised in Edensor in 1808, the son of Richard and Charlotte Smith. He was a clergyman at Barlow. He married Emily Barnes in Brampton in 1835; their last child was Ernest Broughton Smith (I'm pretty sure that middle name is relevant). He died in Pleasley but is commemorated in the grounds of Beauchief Abbey.
Beauchief Abbey was owned by the Pegge family (or Pegge-Burnells by the late 1700s). Peter P-B had, in 1782, married Mary Lee, who was the widowed daughter of William Milnes of Aldercar. Peter's mmn was Broughton and his son in law/nephew (they were keen on marrying in!) was Broughton Steade (aka Broughton Pegge-Burnell). So that's why I suspect the Broughton name is significant.
William Milnes, Mary's father, had a brother Richard Milnes, who owned Dunstan Hall. He in turn had a son Richard Milnes (1747 - 1824) of Barlow Grange.
At some point in the 19th century (I think) the Milnes at Dunstan Hall changed their name to Smith, or maybe added Smith as a second surname, I'm not clear on this. Maybe it was the other way around? Genuki has a comment from 1817; Dunston-hall some time belonging to the family of Milnes, is now the property and residence of Mrs. Smith, grand-daughter and heiress of the late Richard Milnes, Esq. One of their number, William Broughton Smith (WBS - it's that name again!) married Mary Steade, who was Peter PB's granddaughter, and his son gained a royal licence in 1873 to use the Milnes surname again.
So ultimately I think that Courtney Smith, commemorated in Beauchief Abbey, was probably related to Mary Pegge-Burnell who came from the Milnes family but as I said, I've got myself confused and don't blame anyone for being equally confused now!
Can anyone help me untangle this? Many thanks in advance!
(And if you think this is bad, well some of the descendants of WBS's line in Australia decided to drop a couple of names as otherwise their surname would have been Craven-Smith-Milnes-Pegge-Burnell!!)