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I am searching for anything relating to my Great Great Grandfather James Smith. He was born in Sheffield in 1809 and was a File Cutter. He married Jane Murdock on 30/05/1830. They subsequently had 11 or so children, my Great Grandmother being the last, Emily Smith born Sheffield 1854.

The family legend has it that either James Smith or his wife Jane Murdock were descended from the Royal Stewarts. The Gardener was supposed to have run off with the daughter of the house and eloped. It was a true enough story that someone came from England in 1915 to visit my Great Grandmother in New Zealand to apply for funds held in chancery from this family who were descended from the Royal Stewarts. My Great Grandmother claimed that she could recite her family back to the Royal Stewarts. If it was ever written down, we never found it.

I have never been able to find a correct DOB or DOD for James Smith. If anybody out there could help me it would be very much appreicated.

Thanks for any help that you may be able to give me.

Kind regards
Wendy Beck
Christchurch New Zealand
(Home of the Rugby World Cup AND BIG Earthquakes!)

Could this be them?

1851 - the family were at 59 Scotland Street, Sheffield
They were all born in Sheffield except Jane who states, Sleaford, Lincolnshire

James 42 - File cutter
Jane 38
elizabeth 20 House Servant
charles 18 File cutter
ellen 16 House Servant
Jno 13 File Cutter
David 11 File cutter
Ann 8 scholar
Ben 7 "
William 4 "
Henrietta 2 "




Could this be Jane and Emily? 1861 Census,

Jane Smith aged 45 - WIDOW

Emily Smith
Age 7
Estimated Year of Birth 1854
Relationship to Head of Household Daughter
Occupation Scholar
Address 10, New Meadow Street
District Sheffield, North Sheffield
Parish Sheffield
Administrative County Yorkshire (West Riding)
Birth Place Sheffield
Birth County Yorkshire

Also Listed, Henrietta aged 14 and Jane aged 10

Based on Jane likely being a widow by 1861 I will take a look for James' death between the census'

Babs :-)

Jane Birth :

residence: Lincoln, England
parents: David Murdock, Elizabeth

record title: England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
name: Jane Murdock
gender: Female
baptism/christening date: 27 Jan 1813
baptism/christening place: NEW SLEAFORD,LINCOLN,ENGLAND
father's name: David Murdock
mother's name: Elizabeth
indexing project (batch) number: C03043-1
system origin: England-ODM
source film number: 508039

James Birth an Baptism details?

birth: 20 May 1809
residence: 1809 —York, England
parents: James Smith, Mary

record title: England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
name: James Smith
gender: Male
baptism/christening date: 18 Jun 1809
baptism/christening place: CATHEDRAL SAINT PETER,SHEFFIELD,YORK,ENGLAND
birth date: 20 May 1809
father's name: James Smith
mother's name: Mary
indexing project (batch) number: C15052-2
system origin: England-ODM
source film number: 919327

Dear Barbara,

Thank you so very much for your speedy reply to my post. Yes, you do have the correct family. I had found most of that except I've never been sure of James' Birth details and I've never been able to find his death. I too, like you think it has to be between those 2 census but I have never been able to find it.

Do you know how I would take James' life back further, ie find out for sure who is parents were and therefore their parents etc? Searching for a James Smith is very difficult as there are so many. I actually got lucky when searching for my Great Grandmother Emily Smith. I only had her marriage certificate to go on. I was sitting at my computer looking at 120 possible Emily Smith's and only one of them would be mine. My daughter took one look at the screen and pointed to one and said "that one". AND she was right. What a fluke!

I so appreciate any help you can give me. I am relatively new to this and am certainly not an expert.

Thank you so much for your time and help, it is so much apreciated.

kind regard
Wendy Beck
Christchurch New Zealand

Dear Wendy,

I'm glad it's the right family and It's most certainly a pleasure......I've gotten quite frustrated with my lot so decided to help somebody else with theirs :)

The last details I posted were of James' birth and gives you his exact birth date 20 May 1809

and, his parents details - James and Mary.

Most of my research tracing distant relatives is done on the LDS site
www.familysearch.org

Although the information there isn't always as it should be and there is often a disparity with information on other sites....they do however hold the most comprehensive records (for most people) and it is a good place to start.

I will continue to look into this for you - I'm finding it enjoyable! and will be in touch as soon as I can.

Regards,
Barbara

Hello Wendy,

Have you been in contact with the other members on here who have James in their tree? Simply put his name into the Search Trees box above (in the dark green bar) and you can contact the tree owners. Cx

Dear Cynthia

Thanks for your comment. Yes I have contacted all other members who has a similar James in their respective Family Trees. So far, I have not found anybody who can throw more light onto my Smith Ancestors than I have found either. So my search goes on! I have been unable to do any quality family tree research over the past 7 weeks as I have no internet at home. Our house is being repaired from the 7.1 earthquake damage last year and we are out of our home. I only get brief internet at work.

Anyway, thanks for your response to my post, it's very much appreciated.

kind regards
Wendy Beck
Christchurch New Zealand