SMITH family history

[wcj44]

HI MY NAME IS WCJ44 I AM RESEARCHING BOTH MY PARENTS LINE, BUT RUN INTO TROUBLE AS BOTH ARE SMITHS AND FROM LONDON. CAN ANYONE POINT ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. i AM AS FAR AS MY GGRANDFATHER ON MY FATHERS SIDE AND THE SAME FOR MOTHERS.

[MarkJ]

I would start by getting hold of the marriage certificate for the farthest back persons you have - e.g your paternal great grandfather - and that should show his fathers name and occupation, even if he was deceased as well as the fathers name of his wife.
Have you tried looking at the censuses? Again, those are a useful source for tracking families through the years - at least as far back as 1841.

Mark

[hughar]

I am a Smith, and have a Smith line that I have managed to trace back to the mid-1600s in Essex. It can be done, but you have to recognize that there can be no short-cuts. You have to work back in the classic way, through birth, marriage and death certificates and the censuses, and then into the parish registers. Don't be tempted to ignore the deaths - it's important to be able to kill everyone off at the right time, otherwise you'll have someone marrying who actually died shortly after they were born, and go climbing up the wrong tree. Also look for your people in other parish records as well.

Try to keep track of the siblings of the people in your direct line, and the witnesses/inmformants on marriage and death certificates. They can help decide who goes with which line when you have two John Smiths born at about the same time in the same place.

Good luck with your research, and remember that there are plenty of people here who are willing to help when you need it - even for Smiths.

[Mutley]

I have London Smiths also.
Elizabeth Maud, daughter of Fredrick William and Martha.
She had a sister called Martha and a half brother named Johnny Brown.

Ring any bells?