SMITH Family - Cordwainer, Chard

[stuartstevens]

Wow, what great information.

I found a register of marriages on Ancestry.com which gave the only the quarter and took some delving to determine the spouse.  I did not find the exact date just the quarter the marriage was registered.

I do find the civil districts a little confusing, I have found some old maps and have been consulting  them to try to make sense of where they were.   I have been working on this in preparation for a trip there next May to the area.   I was really dismayed to see that the Somerset Records Office is moving and we will have limited access to records.  So, trying to get as much done in advance.

There is a chest of information, letters and such from the daughter Ruth who came here to the USA just before 1880.  I am going over on Thursday to go through it again.   

The information about Mary Hine's birth was new to me.  I have found Sarah Ann and Thomas in the census and Thomas came with Ruth to the USA so I have both of their death certificates, but neither mentions the mother's name.

This is such wonderful information!    I am off to the cited web sites to try my luck.   Thank you so much for the help.

P.S.  Is there a site which lists cemeteries in and around Chard?

Thanks again for everything.

[AngelaR]

Hi Barbara

I've found some other bits and pieces you might be interested in so am sending you a private message separately.

About churchyards - a lot of burials for Somerset area have been transcribed and are on FreeReg. Others are part of the National Burial Index and a lot of that is on FindMyPast.

You are so right about civil districts being confusing! The register offices (as opposed to record offices) changed a lot in terms of the areas they covered since civil registration started. What confuses things even more is that those districts were pretty well a new invention in 1837 and were superimposed on previous area definitions based on parishes and groups of parishes.  The earlier definitions didn't fall out of use then either! Depending on the particular records you are after, you need to know which system that applies to them - great learning experience though 

Marriages after 1837 are a typical example of the problem. A lot of them took place in churches, so one copy of the marriage certificate details stayed with the church in their marriage register - that's the record I found. Early registers are now mainly found in county Record Offices under the parish system. Another copy stays in the local Register Office - they have their own indexing and storage methods. They forwarded another copy to the General Register Office, who indexed them in the way you found in Ancestry. You can get at the original record through any of these routes but each one uses different indexing criteria. Hope that makes sense.

Anyway, enough confusion for one post.....

Regards

Angela

[bicker]

Hi Barbara

If you have not found it already there is a good web site for Winsham at

http://www.winshamwebmuseum.co.uk/

I have photocopies from the Winsham parish records for the baptisms of Sarah Ann and Mary, if you send me a pm I can e mail them to you. I could not find a baptism for Thomas at Winsham or Thomas and Ruth at Chard when I looked today.

Regards Heather

[stuartstevens]

I just went to the site and it is really interesting.  I am wondering whether the church in the photo is the church in which Amy Newberry and John Smith were married in 1839.   What a beautiful little town this is.

Thank you very much for your help.   

[Clever clogs]

I too have ancestors who were in Chardstock and some generations later then moved to Chard.

If you haven't seen this website already, go to this link for Chardstock, which is packed with information on this parish.

http://www.chardstockwebmuseum.org/index.html

Also see here
http://www.chardstock.org.uk/

NEWBER(R)Y was certainly an established name in Chardstock, so you should find a lot of data for them.

If you want to look at original records for Chardstock, you will need to visit the Devon Records Office at Exeter.
Info for Chard is at Taunton, and although the record office is due to relocate, you may be lucky and find that the existing premises are still open when you come over. Not everything is housed at the records office though. For instance, microfilmed copies of old newspapers are located in the reference section of the library in town.

If the family were Church of England, burials would have taken place at St Mary's in Chard, which is the old parish church. You can see a picture of the church here in the online images section
http://www.somerset.gov.uk/archives/

I will have a look tomorrow, see if I can see a christening for John in Chard.

[Clever clogs]

Had a look in Chard records but no baptisms for John between 1800 and 1811. I also noted that there were no other SMITH baptisms either, so this makes me wonder if John's family were Baptists or Congregationalists perhaps. Chard had several Non-Conformist chapels/churches, so maybe that's a possible line of enquiry to pursue elsewhere.

[stuartstevens]

I have been able to see the family register of John Smith.  It includes his parents Thomas Smith and Sarah Smith.   Given below is what was included in the register for the family.  It seems to indicate that John was the first child born in Chard that the older children and even parents were born in Wareham.  They must have only been in Chard a short while because younger siblings were born in Winsham.    Consulting the on-line baptism records from Wareham I think that Sarah Smith was the daughter of George Smith and Lydia Northover.   The parish records on-line for Wareham and Winsham are great and I can find most of the children and even some marriages for these children.   I find it odd that John's baptism is not recorded, but maybe there is a gap in the logs.

Thank you so much for looking for him for me.  I really appreciate it.

I cannot believe how much I have been able to find on these families with the help from all of you who have posted information and sentme records!   This is awesome.

1761   Thomas Smith born at Wareham.  Died at Winsham
Dec 14   half past 3 morn                [added in different pen but maybe the same hand
                                                          Dec 22nd 1839 – 1761   aged 78 years when he died]

1767     Sarah Smith born at Wareham.  Died at Winsham   [No date given]
Nov 21


Married at Wareham
July 11 1791

Their children

1792
July 31   Thomas
                         Half past 2 morn   Born at Wareham.  Died at Winsham
1793
Oct 28   Henry
                         7 o clock morn   Born at Wareham.  Died at Tyrenleon
1796
May 3   Sarah
                        40 m after 4 afternoon   Born at Wareham.
                         Died at Warham Augt 25 1796 2 clock Thursday morn 16 weeks and 2 days old
1796
May 3   Mary Hine
                Half past 6 afternoon   Born at Wareham
1798
Feby 13   Sarah
                 Qr past 8 eve   Born at Wareham

1801
Feby 4   Lydia
                 Qr past 8 morn   Born at Wareham.  Died Aug 5, 1843
1803
Septr 13   John
                 6 oclock eve   Born at Chard
1805
June 10   Elizabeth
                 8 o’clock morn   Born at ______  [blank]
1807
Feby 8   William
                6 oclock morn   Born at Winsham. 
                 Died a Yeovil Mch 31 1830 8 oclock Eve aged 23 years
1809
Feby 18   Betsy [L]
                6 o clock morn   Born at Winsham
1811
May 7   James
                2 o clock afternoon   Born  _________ [blank]
1812
Nov 23   Richard Hansford
                About 12 m to 5 morn   Born at Winsham Died when a child
      
Sister Sarah’s Daughter Elizabeth Hammond Died May 6 1847 about ½ past 10 o’clock eve
Uncle John Smith Born July 1 – 1777 - 
This handwriting  is  for these last two entries may be different than the  original log above – could be the same written with different instrument later

[stuartstevens]

This is rest of the information from the family register.  It contains the information on John Smith's family and a bit about three of his sisters.   I have added some notes on what I have found in the parish registers participants of this topic have suggested.  This has been so helpful in helping me find details about this family.  Thank you all so much.


1803 Sept 13
About 6 o’clock eve   John Smith             Born at Chard

1796 Dec 13   Mary Ann Follett  [

 Born at London.  Died at Winsham Oct 26 1836 aged 44 years

Married At Winsham
January 23rd 1831
Their Children
1831 May 20   Mary Ann
Born at Winsham 20 m after 11 o’clock eve
Died at Winsham May 22nd about 4 c’clock Tuesday morn aged 29 hours

............................................

1803 Sept 13
About 6 o’clock eve   John Smith              Born at Chard
...
1818 Mar 29   Amy Newbery        Born at Fordwater

Married at Chardstock The Second time
Mar 2nd 1839

Their children:

1840 Feby 18   Sarah Ann
Born at Winsham  Tuesday about 10 m before 3 oclock afternoon

1841 Nov 17   Mary 
Born at Winsham  Wednesday about half past 11 oclock eve

1844 Jany 23rd   Thomas Smith 
Born with a vail on at Winsham Tuesday about ¼ before 3 oclock afternoon

1847  Octr 24   Sidney Henry
Born at Chard Sunday about ¼ past 1 oclock morn
Died in Chard Sept 27 1849 25 m past 5 o’clock morn drank boiling water Tuesday 25th morning about 12 o’clock.  Buried Winsham Chapel Wednesday 11 o’clock following day.”

1851 Jany 11   Ruth Elizabeth Smith
Born at chard Saturday eve about ½ past 7 o’clock

 

The register then has blank pages each headed with information which seemed to indicate that the children of Thomas and Sarah Smith were to be entered in the remainder of the book.

Daniel Hunt
Mary Smith
Married
Their children


[note Wareham records on-line indicate Daniel Hunt married Mary Hine Smith 12 Jun 1828 in Wareham.  They are in the 1851 census in Thorncombe.  In 1861-1881 Daniel is in census as widower.  Mary probably died in Thorncombe between 1851-1861]

Joseph Hammond
Sarah Smith
Married
Their Children

[note:  Sarah Smith is in the 1841 census with her family in Yeovil.  Her husband Joseph is a glover and they have four children.  His brother John is with them in 1841 and 1851.  In 1851 Joseph appears as a Glove Manufacturer .  In 1861 they cannot be found in census but Joseph’s brother John Hammond is listed as a visitor in the home of George and Elizabeth Picford.  Elizabeth is Sarah Smith Hammond’s sister.  Elizabeth Hammond, daughter of Joseph and Sarah Smith Hammond, was 8 in 1841 census.  It is her death that is written in the register below the family of Thomas Smith.]

William Loaring
Lydia Smith
Married
Their Children

[Note: from Winsham records online  Lydia Smith married William Loaring 9 Oct 1832 in Winsham.   I could not find either of them in the 1841 census.  There are two young Loaring children, James and Emma,  enumerated  with Elizabeth and George Pickford in the 1841 census.  James Loaring is still with them in 1851 aged 16 he is listed as an organist and teacher of music.   He is found there again in 1861, same profession.]