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I have traced our tree back to George Smith 1771-? married ?? (Died before 1817)
married Mercy Russell born 1788 Normandy Surrey, on Dec13, 1818 in Normandy, Guildford Surrey.
These are my 3x Great grandparents.
I cannot go any further back as I go into Birth, Marriage, Death, area and do a look up there seems to be hundreds of Smiths Do you have any suggestions how I could cut my search down to a few as I have no info on anyone else,
I have from George 1771 forward accept for " ? "
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Smiths are always difficult. I have two lines of Smiths in my ancestry and both end in the late 1700s because of similar brick walls. Sometimes you have to be indirect in order to get a better method than simply eliminating all the other George Smiths.
In this case, you are very lucky - on the census 1841 after George Smith (70) Mercy Smith (53) and their son George (11) there is a "stray". Elizabeth Searl aged 7(?) months, with no apparent immediate family.
In the Familysearch database. Elizabeth Searl was baptised at Ash in 1840, illegitimate daughter of Charlotte Searl. Charlotte was bap in 1817 at Ash, daughter of Ambrose Searl and Mary. Checking the map, Ash is west of Normandy, on the way to Aldershot and Farnham.
Tracing the Searl family back, Ambrose Searl married Mary SMITH 09 July 1803 at Seale, a village south of Ash. Their first 6 children on the database were baptised at Seale 1803-1816, then the last two at Ash 1817, 1823.
So we are looking for a George Smith, born about 1771, who probably has a younger sister Mary (born about 1780 at first approximation), both in the area of Seale, Surrey (as brides tended to marry in their own parish more often than grooms).
Hey presto! George Smith (bap 1772 May 10 Seale, Surrey) child of John Smith and Esther / Hester, appears to have at least 5 siblings -
James 1778 Seale
Mary 1779 Richmond (presumably the one who married 1803)
Sarah 1781 Seale
Hannah 1783 Seale
Thomas 1786 Seale
There may well be others born at different locations 1773-1778 and I did not check in detail because I did not want to spoil your fun. When I input a search for children of John and Hester born in the range 1760-1790 in Surrey, the results did not include George himself as his mother is rendered Hesthir in the transcription.
I am 99.9% confident that there is no better candidate for your George Smith, but you will have to verify for yourself that this George did not die in infancy and so wreck the whole construct.
Hope this helps.
Kim Sargerson
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Hello Edward,
It may also be worthwhile looking to see if anyone else on this site has your family in their tree. You can check by clicking on the Search button above and putting in details. If you find a connection, you can contact the tree owners. Cx
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Thank you for the info. I did see the name Elizabeth Searl but did not know who this was.
Thank you for replying
Regards
Brian
Brian and Edward Chipp-Smith
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Hello Brian
Thank you for your reply. I hope my research has been of some assistance (and wish you luck with the next generation, a John Smith, as you are going to need it).
As I say, Elizabeth Searl was "lucky" - people often fostered the children of friends or neighbours with no genetic relationship to them. But it always pays to check side details, and really only takes a little more time - less, if you have hit a "brick wall" and spend a lot of effort sorting through "possibles" and pushing and pulling at the data to try to get it to make a different shape.
Regards, and do take up Cynthia's suggestion as well.
Kim
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Thank you to all who helped find part of my Smith connection-
I have one more request for help on my family tree.
George Smith b1771 Wilbledon Surrey/ Bapt.1772 May 10.Seale Surrey Died ??? married not known died married Mercy Russell b1788 Normandy Surrey 1818 Dec 13
Georges father -- John Smith b ??? d ??? married Esther (Hester) b ??? d ???
(See inf on other threads from Kim and others)
My brother and I will in the near further be handing the "info" over to our sons and grand sons ( who are more computor minded) who will carry on the records for future generations and hopefully go back further in our history.
But I would like to fill in the missing pieces (??)
If someone can help with the dates names etc ?? that would be a great help as I have not been able to find any of the missing spaces
Regards,
Brian and Edward Chipp-Smith
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