Genealogy Forum UK

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their help. Discovering bits and bobs including birth dates etc. turns out there were twins rather than two births within a year. Should make interesting reading for my gran. I would go further but the price of the certificates is too much to delve deeper es...

Yeah...distant relative went round the graveyards and did most of it from headstones!!!

Not sure when I'll be able to see her, but I did say I'd send of copies of the stuff I've got. I'll try to think of some questions to ask. I was doing genealogy at school years ago which is when I got started. Let it slip but have been watching repeats of Who Do You Think You Are? which got me inspi...

Had some excellent news. Just spoken with my grandmother who confirmed that the Smithies living in Grimsargh are the correct ones. 1881 Grimsargh Jane Turner head wid 48 shop keeper Chorley Margaret ditto dau unm 15 cotton winder Preston Mary Jane ditto dau 13 ditto ditto Alice Maud Mary Smithies bo...

Same occupation as 1901. 1881. Chipping, Lancashire. William Dewhurst 56. Spindle & Fly manufactor. Martha Dewhurst 60. Charles Smithies 22. Adopted Son. Spindle & Fly Maker. born Blackburn. Charles aka John Charles Dickinson Smithies took over the Dewhurst's business when they retired so h...

Wow, this is fast. The 1883 marriage is correct (I think we have the marriage certificate already) as is the Wolf House Mill address entry. Those are known. So it looks like there's another brother called Alfred. Charles Edward Smithies is definitely not right....not that there's anything wrong with...

That she never married.

That's it. Only found out she existed last night.

According to the 1871 census she was living as a boarder aged 10 in Grimsargh with a Frederick Smithies aged 9 who no-one knows about.

This would make sense if the parents died when the children were young.

Thanks for that.

Will check it out.

We know his parents died when he was young and that he was adopted by the Dewhursts and carried on their family business but didn't take their surname

It hadn't occurred to me that he might be adopted himself.

Thanks for all that. I got it all from the census earlier. Unless they added the Smithies surname I doubt that's a match. I'll pop down the road to the National Archives sometime next week. I tried IGI but found it very confusing to use. Came up with nothing. Thought I'd managed to track his sister ...

Hi, I'm trying to track down a birth record for a John Charles Dickenson Smithies. His birthplace on the 1891 census says Blackburn but I can't find a birth record for him. It says abt. 1859 and he was about 91 when he died in 1951 There is a possibility that he was born in Russia as his parents wer...