Charlotte Ellen SMITH / EIGHTEEN

[kiterunner]

Starting with Henrietta:

FamilySearch has the baptism of an Edith Mary Smith 23 Aug 1871 at St Mary's, Reading. FreeBMD shows the birth registration of an Edith Mary Smith Apr-Jun 1871 and death reg Jul-Sep 1871, age 0. Berkshire BMD shows that both of these were in the St Mary sub-district of Reading. The Smiths were in St Mary's parish on the 1871 census (and 1881). So it's possible that they changed their minds about her name in between census night and registering the birth, or it could be a mistake on the census, or of course Edith Mary could belong to a different family altogether. If she is Henrietta, then it would seem strange that they didn't get Charlotte Ellen baptised at the same time, but it could be that the baby's baptism was an emergency one if she was very ill and likely to die.

[kiterunner]

Charlotte Ellen:

The only birth reg for a Charlotte is Charlotte Ada, and I think you have already ruled her out?

There are three birth regs for Ellen Smiths around the right time:
Ellen Elizabeth Jul-Sep 1868 (St Giles sub-district)
Ellen French Oct-Dec 1869 (St Mary sub-district)
Ellen Lucy Jan-Mar 1870 (St Lawrence sub-district).

There is the baptism of a Helen Elizabeth Smith 11 Sep 1868 at St Giles, Reading, daughter of Henry and Matilda, and no birth reg for a Helen.

So I think we can rule Ellen Elizabeth out, but I haven't found anything more on Ellen French or Ellen Lucy yet.

[James18]

Yes, Charlotte Ada Smith is the daughter of a Fortunas Smith, who a lot of people seem to have down as being my great-grandmother's father, but I honestly think this is a case of people just copying what other people/family trees have done and assuming it is right.

If you do some quick research into this, you can see that it is certainly not the same family as our Thomas, Mary and Ellen Smith, and the father's name on the marriage certificate is definitely Thomas Smith, so I've ruled it out on that alone. Whatever else one may lie about on official records, I can't think of a reason to lie about her father's name.

I am fairly confident Charlotte Ada is nothing to do with my family, but feel free to argue that point if you uncover further evidence.

EDIT: Fortunas/Thomas and Charlotte/Ellen are also obviously not the same people, and appear on separate census records in different parts of the country.

[kiterunner]

A public ancestry tree shows Ellen Lucy Smith born 1870 Reading as marrying a Mark Leeks 15 Oct 1894 at Holy Trinity, Barnes, Surrey. On the marriage cert she is just Ellen Smith, age 24, father Henry Smith, licensed victualler. On the 1901 census she is age 30, born Reading, with a brother William Smith age 23, born Stockfield(?), Berks. On the 1911 census she is Ellen Lucy.
Ah, on the 1891 census Ellen Lucy Smith age 21, born Reading, is the daughter of Henry and Matilda. Ellen Elizabeth Smith died 1868 age 0. So it seems that Ellen Lucy Smith was the younger sister of Ellen Elizabeth, both daughters of Henry and Matilda. That just leaves Ellen French to rule out or in...

[James18]

Indeed, great work Kate. You're an old hand at this now for sure.

We can account for Charlotte Ellen after her marriage to Frederick Syer, as she lived with him at various Eighteen family properties (that family owned a lot of houses in Reading) and is on the 1891, 1901 and 1911 census' alongside him and their ever-expanding litter of children.

My guess would be that Ellen French isn't her, but of course it could well be. The problem is that if it isn't her, we're back to square one.

[kiterunner]

I should look for birth regs for Rosa and Anne next, but I got a bit sidetracked with the name French trying to see whether either Thomas or Mary had a French in their families. There are quite a few Frenches in Cropredy, but I think it is quite a common surname. I have to go out shopping now, but will just leave this to work on later, probably a red herring, but what if Thomas was originally a French and changed his name to Smith?!
1851 Cropredy
Elexander French Head Mar 49 Ag Lab Oxfordshire Cropredy
Charlott Do Wife 34 Oxfordshire Barford St John
Children all born Cropredy: Elexander 12, Elizabeth 11, Joice 9, William 7, Sarah 6, Thomas 1.
1861 Cropredy
Charlotte French Head Mar 49 Ag Lab Wife Oxford Barford
Children all born Cropredy: Elizabeth 20, Thomas 11, James 9, Mary A 4.

Not found any of them in 1871 yet except for James who is a lodger somewhere.

[Merry]

I don't have time to look at this again now (and am on my phone which isn't the best implement for doing searches), but just wanted to point out quickly that surely it would be likely Henrietta died before he date of the baptisms of her siblings in 1876 (was it 1876? don't have time to check!). Anyway, though the registration of a death was also not compulsory until the same year as it became compulsory to register births, it is much less common for a death to go unregistered in this time frame (1871-1876), yet when I looked yesterday I didn't see a death reg for Henrietta and I thought that could be something worth investigating.

[kiterunner]

Oh blimey, there is a public tree on ancestry for Alexander French and Charlotte which looks just as messy as the saga of Thomas and Mary. Makes me think it is the right family for Thomas! Will investigate further.

[kiterunner]

Originally Posted by Merry

I don't have time to look at this again now (and am on my phone which isn't the best implement for doing searches), but just wanted to point out quickly that surely it would be likely Henrietta died before he date of the baptisms of her siblings in 1876 (was it 1876? don't have time to check!). Anyway, though the registration of a death was also not compulsory until the same year as it became compulsory to register births, it is much less common for a death to go unregistered in this time frame (1871-1876), yet when I looked yesterday I didn't see a death reg for Henrietta and I thought that could be something worth investigating.

Did you read post #41 yet, Merry? Do you think she could be Edith Mary?

[James18]

As someone else asked, I just wanted to clear up a few possible issues re identity: http://www.familytreeforum.com/showt...=1#post2554573

Not much use in finding out about her birth, though.