Advice on Smiths of Gosport!

[ElizabethHerts]

Hi Kiterunner:

1774A/106 Will of Walter Smith of Portsea, Hampshire, gardener 1774

This ties up with possible children, all baptised at St Mary's, Portsea:

Richard? 5/1/1759 Father Walter SMYTH (different spelling - although not crucial)
Elizabeth 21/6/1761
Molly 24/5/1763
Robert 20/12/1764
Wm 13/11/1768
Thos 17/2/1771
George 2/5/1773

I think I have a big order to the Hampshire Archives!

[Phoenix]

Gosh, all that looks interesting.

I have links by marriage to a Langford in Portsmouth & although I have no info, I know a cousin's cousin has done a lot of work.

Other line to persue is Dockyard records. I've only looked at the ordinary people, but TNA should have records for the higher ups as well. Realise you won't get anything online, but you might try a search with ADM & Portsmouth in their search engine as you might find correspondence.

[ElizabethHerts]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

Gosh, all that looks interesting.

I have links by marriage to a Langford in Portsmouth & although I have no info, I know a cousin's cousin has done a lot of work.

Other line to persue is Dockyard records. I've only looked at the ordinary people, but TNA should have records for the higher ups as well. Realise you won't get anything online, but you might try a search with ADM & Portsmouth in their search engine as you might find correspondence.

Phoenix, thanks for that advice, it is very useful as I have lots of shipwrrights in my line - Purkis, Quintrell, Smith etc., not to mention my RN engineers!

It would be interesting to know more about the Langfords. I did quite a big tree for my Smiths yesterday and it appears that Walter Smith and Elizabeth (nee Langford) had a few children. One of them appears to be Robert Smith who had two daughters - the first Ellen Elizabeth Langford Smith, who sadly died shortly after birth, and the next, Helena Elizabeth Langford Smith. I haven't found out what happened to her yet. Also a son, Robert Walter Smith.