ARC TBC - Stephen Smout

[bryank]

This is an addition to a forum on Smout versus Smart of Oldbury. The Smout family is in my mother direct maternal line, her mother being Elizabeth Smout, daughter of Stephen Smout, who was the son of Stephen Smout, who was the son of John Smout and Susannah Northall.
John Smout and Susannah Northall were married in St Michael's Parish Church in Madeley, Shropshire on 26 Nov 1810 - the register entry states both of this parish, and bachelor and spinster, banns on Sunday Nov 11 and Sunday Nov 18, 1810; witnesses were William and Sarah Lloyd; he (William Lloyd) a publican living in Broseley on the 1841 and 1851censuses, and with no obvious family link to the Smout's or Northall's.
The Smout family, and my mother's paternal line Ward, were non-conformist Protestants, mostly it appears Methodists or perhaps early on Baptists. This is perhaps why there is not a record of children other than Stephen on C of E transcripts - I haven't had enough time to access non-conformist records in England to search (my mother told me that although baptised Methodist, everyone was married in the C of E). John Smout died prior to civil registration, and I have yet to find the parish register with his burial record, but as a guide he was a miller. I recently checked the registers for Wellington, Madeley and Shifnal at Shrewsbury Archives, to no avail. The most likely John Smout was born in London and baptised 20 Oct 1782 at St James, Clerkenwell, his father John was a tailor, and mother was Martha. I have not been able to find a marriage record of John Smout and Martha ?, but they had four children in London (1778 to 1783) and four children in Shifnal (1788 to 1799). There is no record of the burial of John or Martha Smout in the Shifnal register. The most likely John Smout (senior) was born in Wrockwardine in 1756.
The family history of Susannah Northall is easily traced on-line and at Shrewsbury Archives; the family is long-time Madeley-based although her mother (Sarah Brisco) came from Stourbridge (Oldswinford) and father (William Northall) was born and baptised at Burton Upon Trent, nevertheless his brothers and sisters are in the Madeley register. There is an interesting bit of gossip because Sarah Brisco/Northall also had children with Jeffrey Weir Evans while married to William Northall, and after he died - can be found in the parish registers of Wellington and Madeley (Jeffrey Weir Northall was born in London to parents William and Sarah Northall, but appears on the 1841 census as Northall, and later as Evans and was married as Evans; begging the question as to who was the father of Susannah Northall and Jeffrey Weir Northall).
The known children of John Smout and Susannah Northall are Martha Smout (not Mary or Smart), Charles Smout and Stephen Smout, all on the 1841 census in Madeley Wood with their mother (as Smart), and later in Oldbury. Martha Smout was born in Manchester, but there is no on-line record of baptism (well, record that has been transcribed). Charles Smout was born in Dudley, but again there is no on-line transcription of a baptism. Records may be found in non-conformist registers, but they are beyond my reach. Stephen Smout was born in London (baptised 31 Aug 1827, St Giles Camberwell), and the baptism record clearly says son of John and Susannah, and records John as a miller. The marriage certificates for Martha (two of them) and Charles states father was John Smout, and a miller. The death certificate of Susannah Smout says widow of John Smout, miller, and the death was recorded by the daughter Martha Northall (she married John Northall at Christ Church - where incidentally I was also baptised, and my mother and father married).
The marriage certificate of Stephen Smout says father was Charles, a miller. This is almost certainly an entry mistake. Stephen Smout was a rare name in those times, meaning there was in fact only one Stephen Smout! The children of Stephen Smout and Sarah Carr are well documented in family trees. The son Stephen Smout is my great grandfather, and was born 9 Oct 1856 in Green Street, Oldbury. He is buried, along with his wife Phoebe Ann (baptised Hannah) Mason/Smout at Grave # 4199, Oldbury Cemetery, St Paul's Road.
The fate of Stephen Smout (senior), my 2nd great grandfather, was not known on family trees after the 1871 census, but he beat me to Australia by 101 years. He left (aka abandoned) his family, and bought passage as a free man on the Steamship Northumberland, departing Thames and Gravesend on 2 June 1879 and arriving Sydney on 28 Oct 1879. I have corrected the transcription of the passenger list. Stephen Smout died on 16 June 1896 at George Street Asylum (a hospital for men, not a mental institute), Parramatta, NSW, and was buried on the 17 June 1896 in the Church of England Cemetery, Rookwood, Sydney, NSW. The death certificate, which can be purchased on-line from the NSW Registry Office in Sydney, clearly proves he is the Stephen Smout born London, married to Sarah Carr in Dudley, and even lists his children. His grave is listed on-line in the Rookwood Cemetry website. He is buried in Grave Number 335, in Section MMM, which is Crown Land. There are some headstones remaining but there is unlikely to be one for him as he was buried by the state. Nevertheless, the cemetery officials informed me his remains would be there, undisturbed since 1896, as it is now public open space. There is a map of the cemetery available from the Rookwood website, and the approximate position can be found from a Google Earth image - I will check it out in person next year.
BUT - if anyone has other information, or is inclined to search for the gaps, that would be nice.

[Northern Lass]

Thank you for posting this here
this is the family
http://bcconnections.tribalpages.com/tr ... =372450096

Very grateful for you flagging the Charles info to me and I have amended the
Black Country Connections tree

I will try and add some more to BCC as it all helps other researchers
as will posting here.

Is there anything in particular you would like help with?

[bryank]

Thanks for the offer of help.
The "brick wall" in the family tree is who was the John Smout who married Susannah Northall, and where and when did he die? By a process of elimination (meaning finding out where every John Smout of likely age married or died), I came to the conclusion he was the John Smout born in London, and that his family moved to Shifnal. I've been trying to find a burial record with his age to help that elimination.
Of course, if that is the correct John Smout, who were his parents: John Smout of where and when, and Martha?
The other question is why can I not find any children born to John Smout and Susannah Northall between 1810 (when they married in Madeley) and the first record of Martha, Charles and Stephen in Madeley Wood on the 1841 census. The answer may be that they were non-conformist Protestants, but I can't seek out every register - with the known children born in Manchester, Dudley and London, where would I look?
My Smout/Ward family moved between Methodist and Church of England, so the rule seems to apply to them: if you can find the marriage in a Church of England but not a baptism, they were non-conformist, or adult at baptism.
For those with a Smout ancestor, be prepared to find all kinds of transcription errors of the surname, and incorrect entries on certificates.
Thanks for the copies of the church marriage certificates, nice to see the witnesses on the marriage of Charles Smout were his brother and sister, Stephen Smout and Martha Follows/Northall/Smout, proving the family connection.

[Northern Lass]

Ok I will move this now to our Brick Walls section
Then hopefully if someone can help it can be chipped away at there

So can anyone help pls with this

[BC Wench]

Is this still a Brickwall, or have you solved it?

Unless otherwise advised this will be moved to the Brickwalls Archived section
within 24 hours