Hi, doggy - no worries! Hope you're feeling better now.
Found a transcript of the marriage of Smith Runham and Elizabeth in Cambs marriages on Family History Online:
26 Aug 1838
Groom Smith (x) RUNHAM aged full age condition bac occupation lab residence of Welches Dam
Bride Elizabeth (x) BURTON aged minor condition sp occupation [blank] residence of Welches Dam Licence? by banns
Groom father William – occupation lab
Bride father William – occupation lab
Witnesses James (x) MILLER, Lucy (x) SMART, John CROUCH, – – Notes – Parish Manea, CAM
So they married in Manea, and were both resident in Welches Dam at the time. It looks as if they were both working away from home, as it would be usual for at least one family member to have been amongst the witnesses, espeecially as Elizabeth was under age.
Thus if Ann Runham b about 1857 is the daughter of Elizabeth Runham only, with no father's name on her birth cert, then she might well have been illegitimate, born either (a) outside the marriage or (b) after Smith's death/disappearance.
Interestingly the 1861 census listing for Elizabeth shows her with a boarder named George Smith, aged 27, farm labourer born Ashdon in Essex.
How is the father's name on Sophia's marriage certificate actually written? Could it be that she was the daughter of George SMITH rather than Smith Runham?
There is no death for Smith Runham on FreeBMD, and a check of the Camdex Online index (though not yet complete) shows no death either. Perhaps he just ran off? I have a couple of those in my own family - one ran all the way to Australia!
Perhaps that is the next line of enquiry?
Hope this helps a bit!
Wendy
