WISDOM SMITH

[babygirl101]

have recently come across the following newspaper report about a WISDOM
SMITH. It was dated Tuesday 13th September 1853 and relates to his then
recent wedding to an AMY HAYWOOD:-

Marriages -


"Sept 5, at the Abbey Church, Bourn, bu the Rev. Walker Scott, Wisdom
Smith to Amy Haywood. Both parties are gipsies, and notwithstanding
their advanced age, they tripped gaily on 'the light fantastic' to the
fiddle and the tambourine. The buxom bride is in her 66th year, and
she is the third wife Wisdom has led from the altar".


I have checked on FreeBMD and there was a marriage on that date shown
for them. If Any was Wisdom's 3rd wife - does anyone know who the
rest were??


I can't find a census return showing an Amy & Wisdom around that date,
but there is an entry for a Wisdom Smith on the 1861 census with him
being married to a Hannah and on the 1881 census there's a Wisdom who
is married to a Sarah in Lincs.


Can anyone solve this mystery please.


Many thanks

[bumblebee]

There is a Wisdom Smith, Gypsy, aged 66 on the 1851 census with wife Elizabeth.

Class: HO107; Piece: 1733; Folio: 35; Page: 1

Bumblebee

[janbooth]

From the OFHS PR Transcripts of Kiddington:

4 August 1827 Letitia SMITH daughter of Wisdom 7 Elizabeth, Tinker, baptised - they were not married at Kiddington, however.

Have to go out now, but will do some more searching on the family when I get back.

Janet

[janbooth]

Interestingly, there is a burial record at Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, which is where Wisdom & Elizabeth SMITH were in the 1851 census, on 23 May 1851 of a Wisdom SMITH, aged 66. What is the likelihood of 2 Wisdom SMITHs, both Gipsies, around at that time.

Looking at the 1861 entry for Wisdom in Lincolnshire who is married to a Hannah, he is of the age to be the son of Wisdom & Elizabeth above. Wikll have another look later.

Janet

[babygirl101]

Hi Janet

Unlikely, that there would have been 2 or so you'd have thought, but there were 4 Wisdom Smiths around the same time, all very confusing.

1) 'My' WISDOM SMITH was born 5th June 1796, Twyford, Leicester and was the son of WISDOM SMITH & HANNAH - well at least as far as I can tell!!

2) born 1789, Horley, Oxford and was the son of JASPER SMITH & CATHERINE BEETELS-SMITH. Apparently he married an ELIZABETH GENTLE, 1804 in Shutford, Oxfordshire and then a HARRIETT BUCKLAND.

3) born 12th November 1812, Woolsthorpe Near Grantham, Lincoln and was the son of JAMES SMITH & EUNICE.

4) The 4th WISDOM SMITH was born in 1825, Brailes, Warwick and was the son of THOMAS SMITH & MARY ANN WELSTEAD.

I have now been informed that 'my' WiISDOM married his first wife, an ESTHER on 10th May 1813, in South Witham, Lincoln closely followed by his second wife MARIA ELLOT (which I now understand was actually MARIA ELLIOTT), on 1st July 1818, Saltby, Leicester - busy man!!!


So I think I've solved my mystery about the first two wives.

Many thanks for all your help

Interestingly, there is a burial record at Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, which is where Wisdom & Elizabeth SMITH were in the 1851 census, on 23 May 1851 of a Wisdom SMITH, aged 66. What is the likelihood of 2 Wisdom SMITHs, both Gipsies, around at that time.

Looking at the 1861 entry for Wisdom in Lincolnshire who is married to a Hannah, he is of the age to be the son of Wisdom & Elizabeth above. Wikll have another look later.

Janet