Thomas Ayres (Ayers) and Matilda Smart

[Westozi]

Hi Rootschatters

I have been researching the above couple for my daughter-in-law and would be interesting to find out anyone else looking into this family.  I can only find them in the 1841 census (in Lincolnshire) and the 1851 census (in Cambridgeshire). 

Of particular interest to me is whether or not the family migrated to Australia.  I'm assuming that it is their daughter (Mary Ann Ayers/Ayres born 1836 in Peterborough) who migrated to Australia.  In 1853 she married a convict William Rolfe.  They had 6 children before she left him to live with a George Ladhams.  She and George married once William died.

Mary Ann's death certificate gives her parents names and her place of birth but I cannot find when she migrated to Australia.  Did she came out here by herself or did the whole family come to Australia?  This is what we would like to know.  The family seems to disappear after the 1851 census.  Is anyone else researching this family?  Any help appreciated.

Regards and thanks
Ann

[ciderdrinker]

Hi
Not my family but yes it odes look like Thomas and Matilda did go to Australia dying in Western Australia  Marylands 1911 and Subico 1912.

Family tree at Ancestry.Normally I'd double check but Libarary about to close.

Ciderdrinker

[warncoort]

Nine trees on Ancestry but all appear to be copies.Shipping lists on resources page worth checking,also Trove.

[Westozi]

Hi Ciderdrinker and Warncoort

Perhaps I should've said that I have seen those entries on Ancestry (that Thomas died in West Australia in 1911 and Matilda in 1912) but I'm not convinced they are the right people.  The entry for Thomas is for a "Thomas Myers" (which I know could easily be a version of "Ayers/Ayres") but this person is aged 61 therefore born in 1850 so that doesn't compute with his daughter's d.o.b. of 1854.  And Matilda would've been 93 years old - not impossible, I know. If West Australian certificates weren't so expensive I'd get that one for Matilda to prove to myself whether it is or is not the right person! 

I have tried Google searches for their names hoping it would pop up in Trove but no luck to date.

Ann

[seahall]

Hi Westozi.

On the Peterborough marriage index is lists this marriage by Alan Clarke.

Peterborough St. John    By License
27 Feb 1836
Matilda SMART, otp, spinster & Thomas AYERS otp, bachelor   

Sandy         

[seahall]

Hi again.

Looking at the images for baptisms it is a son Thomas who is baptised in Nov of 1836.

Mary Ann in 1840.

Sandy

[Westozi]

Thanks for your help, seahall.

I have taken Warncoort's advice and checked through Trove (digitalised newspapers) and found a Thomas Ayers who very well may be the Thomas Ayers baptised 1836 (son of Thomas and Matilda).  He was a cabinetmaker seemingly following his father's trade.  Coincidentally he married a Matilda and it was this Matilda who died in West Australia in 1912. Thomas Ayers (ba 1836) died in South Australia in 1911.  But I still don't know when the family - or just the children - came out to Australia.  (There seems to have been at least another child - brother to Thomas and Mary Ann - who came out to Oz in the 1850s-1860s.

Ann
 

[Woz From Oz]

Found your post via a general internet search.
My GGG Grandparents are Thomas Ayers & Matilda Snart. (pretty certain its Snart not Smart and it's been transcribed as other names including South and Suart)

I too live in WA and have been researching for a while now.

Thomas & Matilda and family migrated to Perth, stayed for a while and had one or 2 more sons and as I recently discovered, migrated to Adelaide possibly in 1853 where their fifth? child was born in 1857.

Their daughter, Elizabeth (my GGGM)  b ~1840 stayed in Perth and married a convict had 6 children, then married another convict had 6 more kids, was widowed and married a third time.

I have some outdated info on my family tree web site at http://woz.wozemy.com/WebFamilyTree/ but will hopefully update soon with my latest research.

warren

[seahall]

Hi Woz from Oz, welcome to Rootschat. 

Looking at the original marriage cert now on Anc**** it most certainly says SNART.

Sandy