Marriage - Maidstone - 1915 (Stevens & Smith)

[-Glen-]

Oh my goodness! This all fantastic stuff!!

I've been offline for a few days. I'll have to catch up on these recent finds tomorrow. Thank you so much!

Something I discovered late the other evening was that the Langley and the Smith families are the same family!...

Edward George Langley is the son of William Kelly Smith and Charlotte Langley. Edward sometimes appears as Edward Smith, sometimes as George Smith and on other records as Edward George Langley. His children all seem to be registered as Langley. (Looks like the family use Langley on BMD and Smith on some Census records.)

I'd love to know what happened to Caroline.

Thanks again! Very much appreciated,
Glen 

[softly softly]

Hi Glen, Many thanks for getting back to us all, it does happen on occasions that posts are left unanswered. I think you have a lot of info to digest and log down. The Lamkin/Langley/Smith family were an interesting group of people to try and sort out. There are for me 2 unanswered questions. 1, the death of William Thomas Lamkin and 2 the death/possible remarriage of Caroline Lamkin.
If you ever find out about these two please let us know. Have a good day.

John

Added: Glen, with regard to Caroline, one avenue to follow would be her birth certificate that would detail her exact dob, this could help with 1939 register and death if after 1965.

[-Glen-]

Good morning John,

I've ordered the birth certs for Mabel and Caroline. The pdf versions from the GRO. I did this a few days ago, so they should be here any day now.

I originally thought Mabel's middle name Smith was in honour of her grandfather (Langley/Smith). However, after reading the latest finds on here, I'm wondering whether it's actually a clue to who her father is! Interestingly, there's no mother's maiden name on the GRO indexes, so I'm expecting there to be no father mentioned. Watch this space.

And the reason I've ordered Caroline's is in hope that her DOB might be 27th Sep (my elusive great grandmother's DOB). I've been searching for her for 18 years now. It's a long shot but she magically appears in 1918, aged 26. It would mean a name change from Caroline to Dorothy so it really is a long shot!!

My mysterious great grandmother is the reason I started this post. Mabel's great granddaughter is a DNA match to my grandmother.

My great grandmother used two different maiden names! Shepherd and Langley. So you can imagine my interest in the Lamkin/Smith/Langley family when I started building their tree last week. Perhaps too much of a coincidence, but at least I know there is a DNA link somehow.

Many thanks again to you both,
Glen

[softly softly]

Hi Glen, well done in ordering the 2 certificates. Would you be willing to share the line back from you to what you know and if persons are still alive to just put down initials.

Glen
Mother
Grandmother
Caroline--Great Grand mother.

Where did you find Caroline in 1918 and under what name

John

[-Glen-]

Hi John,

Will write more later but here's an old Scavenger Hunt with all the known details on the first page....

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=535847.0

I only know there's a DNA link to the Lamkin \ Langley \ Smith family. And hoping Caroline's birthday is 27th Sep to match my great grandmother's. It's all a long shot but she remains a complete brickwall for now!

Thanks for all your help,
Glen 

[Maid of Kent]

Thank you so much!!
Yes, this seems to be all related to the right family and that is them in the 1911 Census. Thank you!
I've just had a look too and found the following children:

1881 Lily Amelia LANGLEY (Birth and death registered as Langley, however baptism is Lamkin)
1883 Married
1884 William Thomas LAMKIN
1886 Eva Ellen LAMKIN
1888 Minnie LAMKIN
1892 Caroline LAMKIN
1894 Mabel Smith LAMKIN
1898 Elsie LAMKIN

Thanks again,
Glen

On the 1911 census it has William and Ellen living in Bearsted married 28 years (correct) 5 children born, 4 still alive, 1 dead.  you quote 7 children with which I agree, but according to records 3 died and not 1 as is on the census: Lily Amelia in 1891, William Thomas in 1884 and Else in 1898, leaving the four alive Eva Ellen, Minnie, Caroline  and Mabel.  7 children were born but only 5 given on the census. Did William perhaps consider Lily and Mabel not to be his? although they were all baptised as his, cant find the baptism of Caroline and why did he say only 1 had died. This post is intriguing.

[softly softly]

Caroline was baptised 28th May 1893 St Paul's Maidstone, dau of William Thomas & Amelia Ellen --occ Labourer, abode 32 Thornhill Place.

John

[softly softly]

Maid of Kent

Looking at William Thomas's Lamkins army record I strongly suspect that Lily was not his daughter


Per the army file he was in Nova Scotia from May 1878 to November 1880, then Gibraltar to December 1880, then South Africa until March 1882, then on "Home" service in the British Isles until his transfer to the Reserve in 1883 and discharge in 1889. As a reservist from 1883 he would be able to lead a civilian life.

The medical record shows that he was in Dublin in 1882

John

[-Glen-]

The two birth records have arrived.

No father recorded for Mabel. Her name is recorded as Mabel Smith Lamkin because the mother's name is recorded as Ellen Amelia Lamkin. I've come across this before, whereby the mother would include the father's surname as a middle name, when he can not / will not be recorded.

And incredibly, Caroline Lamkin's DOB matches my elusive great grandmother Dorothy Shepherd / AKA Dorothy Langley!!! I wonder whether this is her and could Caroline and Dorothy be the same person?!

I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again for your invaluable help!

I need to digest all of your finds properly and add them to the Lamkin/Smith/Langley family tree that I've started.

Thanks,
Glen