William Smith, known as Willem was the son of Guilroy and Eve.
He had one eye having lost one with a peg knife.
My great grandad Samuel was his brother. Three of the brothers married the daughters of their uncle Natty Smith. Some say that Martha was another one of the daughters of Natty and his Davies wife.
Willem was the last of the Smith brothers to stay in Leonard Stanley with Guilroy who ran a coal yard after his conversion to Christianity.
His brother Reuben was a preacher of some renown and travelled the world as an evangelist.
Hi Vince
Thanks very much for your reply.
Hopefully I'll be able to get myself onto the right track soon, the information you have given me sounds very good. Have I read your reply correctly - Did Willem marry a Martha? if yes, then they could be who I am looking for.
The information you have about Martha sounds really useful as I don't know for sure her maiden name but our family seems to think that she may have also been a Smith before marrying William.
William and Martha Smith are my great grandparents. Their daughter Emily-Louisa Smith is my grandmother.
We were always told when we were growing up that Emily had an uncle who was a famous preacher which is why I thought perhaps William could be connected to Gildroy & Rueben.
I have among some of the few bits of information we have, a newspaper cutting about a monument to Gypsy Smith in Epping Forest and as a child remember being told this was a relative. Sorry my information is sketchy but we have no older generations around to ask now.
William & Martha's first daughter Tilly married Israel Davis and lived in Gloucestershire too. I know that William & Martha are both buried in Stonehouse, Glos.
Hope you don't mind me asking but if you have any more information on Natty's daughter Martha I'd love to know as so far I have drawn a complete blank trying to trace her. All I have is the 1911 Census that shows her birth place as Stourbridge but how accurate that is I don't know.
Thanks once again for your reply
