Can Anyone Find A Smyth Family ?

[dvddigby]

I have found the following family on the 1881 census living at 6 Briggs Street, Salford

James Smyth Head 46 b Ireland
Eliza Smyth Wife 45 b Ireland
George Smyth Son 20 b Ireland
Margaret Smyth Daughter 22 b Ireland
James Smyth Son 18 b Ireland
William Smyth Son 14 b Ireland
Hugh Law Son in Law 26 b Ireland
Eliza Law Daughter 24 b Ireland
George W Law Grandson 3 b Salford
Margaret E Law Granddaughter 1 b Salford

Can anyone please find this family in any Irish records prior to 1881 ?

dvddigby

[JNicLiam]

To trace families in Ireland you need to know which part of Ireland they are from - at least the county and preferably the parish. So start by checking all English records to see what information you can find. Have any of the family given more information in later or earlier census? Have you checked all the marriage certificates, death certificates and any death notices or grave stones?

Jill

[dvddigby]

Thank you for replying.

I do not know anything else about these people. I have no other census details for the Smyth family before or after 1881 nor any BMD information. I believe that the Law family also appear on the 1891 census with some more children born in Salford but the parents still only give their birth places as Ireland. I understand that the wife is called Eliza Jane Law in 1891. I do not think that they appear on the 1901 census. I could perhaps identify the birth registrations for the Law children in Salford but I am not sure that the certificates would tell me anything more than I already have about their parents.

I was hoping, perhaps naively, that someone would be able to spot the Smyth family as a group somewhere else or that someone might be able to identify a marriage in the late 1870s between a Hugh Law and an Eliza Jane Smyth which might help to identify where they came from.

dvddigby

[dvddigby]

It has just come to my attention that Eliza Jane Smyth and Hugh Law were married in 1875 at St Matthias, Salford.

It seems apparent, therefore, that the Smyth family probably moved from Ireland between 1871 and 1875 and also that Eliza Jane was still called Smyth when they were in Ireland.

I think that I vaguely understand the difficulties of finding people in the Irish records but if anyone does happen to see them, anywhere in Ireland, please let me know.

dvddigby

[suedent]

It might be worth looking for the baptismal records, sometimes they have little snippets of information that aren't present on birth certificates.

For instance I have come across some RC baptisms here in Sunderland where the priest has indicated which parishes the parents have come from if they weren't born in Sunderland.

[dvddigby]

Thank you for that suggestion, Sue, I will try to follow it up.

dvddigby