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In the biography of James' great-grandson George Bramwell Evens (aka "Romany of the BBC"), written by his wife Eunice Evens nee Thomas (see her Notes), the sons of James are mentioned as follows:
"Cornelius was one of five brothers, the others [i.e. excepting Bartholomew and Woodlock who'd been discussed previously] being known as Christopher and "Pizzler" Jimmy [the mind boggles!]. All of them were badly in need of "conversion," for they were known to be exceptionally lawless; deer-stealing in Epping Forest was one of the least of their crimes."
As can be seen, when compared side by side a lot of the above info differs vastly from the data in the list so far entered into this tree for James and Elizabeth's children. A lot more research needs to be done here ... it just depends on reliable records surviving that can be properly attributed to *this* family (wishful thinking?).
Source for James' date & place of death [07 Apr 1875, Loughton, Essex] un-noted. If correct, the Death Indexes have the following promising match: JQ 1875, aged 75, Epping, 4a, 61, which would roll back James' YOB by eight years and solve a lot of the timeline difficulties.
Certificate with above index reference purchased, but there is nothing concrete that indicates any Gypsy connection. It must be the same certificate to which the previously-mentioned date refers, but I'm just not 100% convinced it's a match, because there's nothing 'obvious' about the certificate. There are, however, small clues that MIGHT add up to it belonging to James. There's no full address of death, which occurred on 7th April 1875, just that it was in Loughton (registration district Epping) ... and this location does tally with that of wife Elizabeth's when she died in 1873 (also with the address solely as "Loughton"). Maybe the lack of an address indicates both were living in a wagon? Age is 75, but occupation is Agricultural Labourer - an occupation done by the majority of British non-travelling people at that time, but also something that Romany peoples did, too, on a seasonal basis. He died of bronchitis - as had his wife - and the informant present at the death was a Bathsheba Smith - an 'odd' enough forename to be a Romany, but a name not so far found elsewhere in the Smith research - whose 'address' is also just noted as Loughton. This JQ 1875 cert is - at best - inconclusive, but I've left it as part of James's 'vital statistics' until something better crops up. The key to the certificate might lie in being able to find out more about Bathsheba Smith.
I later bought an alternative possibility: SQ 1876, Age 73, Epping RD, 4a 80, however this seems even less likely. James Smith, Labourer, 73 years old, died 5th September 1876 in Bury Lane, Epping, Essex. Cause of death: Diseased Heart, Dropsy. Informant: Elizabeth Tarling, daughter, present at the death, of Bury Lane, Epping, Essex. Currently I have no information that suggests James had a daughter named Elizabeth, much less one with the surname Tarling. Family Search shows that an Elizabeth Smith, dau. of James Smith, married a Charles Tarling, s. of James Tarling, in Epping in 1858 ... but this still isn't much help. I include the info to rule it out, more than anything.
