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William Smith, sawyer, upper Marshall street 1851 census
- Thread starter Brotog
- Start date
Thank you so much for trying! Really appreciate it!That's a tall order as the 1852 directory lists over 50 people living in Birmingham called William Smith. I can't search by address on Ancestry and any name search brings up all the children named William Smith as well.
He has a wife called Sarah and a child aged 6 named Hannah. All born Kenilworth. These I know for certain. Although born in Kenilworth, Hannah was baptised in Birmingham in April 1845
brummy-lad
master brummie
Thank you so much. I was very sceptical about the information provided by AI….it seems I was right to check this….this is what it gave me….all sounded very plausible!
Attachments
brummy-lad
master brummie
That would be a tremendous research tool if it gave the correct results, I've searched on findmypast for the family in Birmingham in 1851 but had no luck yet.
I started by asking why a child born in Kenilworth might be baptised in Birmingham instead of Kenilworth. It explained that almost certainly the family would have moved for employment possibilities. It then offered to search for the family, so I offered the information of the sawyer’s name. This is what it came up with. 1851 and 1861 entries from the census. It was such a detailed reply that I became suspicious.
I had searched for this family for decades….and had discounted the Birmingham baptism because I knew the family had lived in Kenilworth in 1845 when Hannah, the daughter, was born. All of my searches had been in the Kenilworth/Leamington area. Thanks for commenting!
brummy-lad
master brummie
Thank you for showing this….I was quite interested in this family for a long time and followed it through the years of census returns because the child Hannah’s age seemed to fit with that of my great grandmother…..but the father was a bricklayer in every census, and never a sawyer….so I could never be certain I had the right family. Thanks again for your help!
pjmburns
master brummie
It says it for that person found by AI but I wanted to know why he is convinced the bricklayer in post 13 isn't the right person. I wondered if there was some other evidence.
On Hannah’s marriage certificate of 2nd. October 1865 in Holy Trinity, Coventry it states profession of father: Sawyer. The Leamington William Smith never deviates from bricklayer on every census return. I find it difficult to believe that she could be mistaken. Thank you for going to so much trouble for me!
brummy-lad
master brummie
Another thing that started me looking towards Birmingham as being very likely was that I had discovered that her husband to be, Alfred Wells Cantrill, born in Foleshill near Coventry, was actually working in Birmingham in a drapery shop according to the 1861 census. Their meeting at some point in Birmingham before 1865 would seem more likely if they both lived there.
Thanks so much for your efforts….this is the first time I’ve seen evidence of a sawyer named William Smith anywhere! I could look into this to see if it’s a possibility of him having remarried. Thanks again!