Hi David & Sue,
I hope you had a nice Christmas. I've got some time now, so I'll write up my thoughts here, though I warn you in advance that it may be a lot to digest at once!
David – yes, that's the will I was referring to. It seems safe to conclude that our John Smith cannot be the son of this Thomas, since John was buried 24 Oct 1780, and Thomas wrote his will on 15 Sep 1781, in which he bequeaths to his son John among others. I believe that this Thomas Smith was born 1704 in Caldy par. West Kirby and married Margaret Langley 1731 at Heswall church. They lived in Gayton par. Heswall and had several children, including Thomas b. 1734. The wife Margaret died in 1745, and Thomas senior remarried to Sue Ciknes at Bidston church. Sue apparently only died in 1790, aged 100! Anyway, Thomas, Sue, and his children from his previous marriage to Margaret (he had none with his second wife) seemed to have lived in Moreton par. Bidston from then onwards, until Thomas's death in 1783. Thomas died aged ~76, so this lends extra support to the idea he was the one born in 1704. Since he's described as a labourer in earlier records but a yeoman in his will, it looks like he worked his way up in the world, perhaps thanks to his second marriage, after moving around quite a lot as a day labourer for much of his career. Now, Thomas's son Thomas junior (b. 1734) married Martha Woodward at Bidston church in 1761, and they had a son Richard born 1764 in Moreton. That's the Richard Smith who married Martha Linacre in 1785 at Bidston church, so not our Richard – though as I mentioned before, the identical name, residence, and their wives having the same surname certainly hints at a relation.
Now to our ancestor Richard Smith, the one born 1755, son of John Smith and Mary (Yearsley) of Moreton... I've pored over the records trying to find more about the father John Smith, and I think I've arrived at a likely theory, although I can't be 100% sure. There is no doubt this John died 1780 at Storeton par. Bebington, following his wife Mary's death there in 1776. As for his birth, I've found a 1716 baptism record of Heswall parish, for John son of Robert Smith. By date alone this would make sense, since John's first wife Catherine Inglefield was born 1716, although his second Mary Yearly was evidently older, born 1704. Robert Smith was married to Margery Holt – they wed 1715 at Heswall church, and it seems Robert was a shepherd. Robert died young in 1729, and Margery remarried to John Ashe in 1733. Robert and Mergy's children, in order, were: John (b. 1716), Samuel (b. 1718), James (b. 1720), and Richard (b. 1724). James seems to have married Alice Woodcock in 1748 at Bebington church, and may be the same James Smith who died in Bebington in 1796, though records for this couple are sketchy after 1755 (baptism of their 2nd child). I've not had any luck tracing the lives of Samuel and Richard Smith, however. The Samuel Smith who married Ann Scarisbrook (or Scarsbrick) in 1742 at Great Neston church was most likely another Samuel Smith, also born 1718 (in Bebington rather than Haswell) to Peter Smith. I say this because he named his eldest son Peter. All the same, at least the marriage and children of James Smith seem to place him in Bebington during the same period as his elder brother John, despite both being born in Heswall – that's encouraging, to me. As is the fact another brother was named Richard, although I should say that John's such Richard (b. 1755) might just as well have been named after his mother's father, Richard Yearsley.
Finally, we have a potential link between the ancestral lines of these two Richard Smiths, going back to West Kirby, but also with both families residing in Heswall and then Moreton at the same approximate time. I mentioned Thomas Smith senior was born 1704 in Caldy par. West Kirby, son of another John Smith. Thomas's siblings were Margaret (1697), John junior (1699), Samuel (1702), and Joseph (1706). John junior married Ann Brown of Heswall in 1722/3, and it's explicitly written that he was of West Kirby. So here we have two links of this Smith family of West Kirby to Heswall. As for a possible brother Robert, this is where things get especially tricky – the parish records of West Kirby are patchy during the early years (even up to the mid 1700s). There was a Robert Smith son of John baptised 1680 at West Kirby church, but it's not clear if his father John is the same father as Thomas born 1704, perhaps from different mothers. FamilySearch has transcriptions but not the original images for West Kirby burials (while FindMyPast doesn't have anything for the burials I'm afraid). To me, it's telling that a Margaret Smith (no parents or spouse given) was buried 03 Apr 1695, and a John Smith subsequently married Mary Young in 16 Jan 1695/6. So, my guess is that Robert Smith b. 1680 and Thomas Smith b. 1704 were indeed brothers, albeit the former by the first wife Margaret, the latter by the second wife Mary Young. That would make the two aforementioned Richard Smith's second cousins, while their wives Nancy and Martha Linacre were first cousins (daughters of Daniel and Thomas Linacre respectively, both of Great Meols par. West Kirby).
That's more than enough for now. Of course, I'd be glad to hear either of your thoughts on the above. Perhaps you can even expand on it, with a bit of luck.
Alex
