SMITH in Preston

[CindyC]

I'm new to the forums and could use some help! I have John SMITH born abt. 1840; he is the son of Thomas and Catherine SMITH. In the 1851 Census the family is found on Savoy Street in Preston, children Charles, John, Mary, Thomas and Ann. In the 1861 census, I cannot find Thomas (Sr) but have found what appears to be his wife, married to Thomas Mason Williams, living on Ladyman Street in Preston.

Some of the children are in the household, but are listed with an "S" as their middle initial - is it possible that this "S" means SMITH? I thought so, so I set out looking for a death record of Thomas Sr. I have found newspaper announcement of the marriage of MRS Catherine SMITH to Mason WILLIAMS in June of 1854 but cannot find any death record for Thomas SMITH between 1851 & 1854. Is it at all possible that they divorced? If so, how do I find out?

Thanks for any guidance!
Cindy

[salcat]

there are several entries for deaths for Thomas Smith in Preston between 1851-4 on FreeBMD.

Jun 1851 21 *2
Jun 1851 21 -04

Mar 1853 8e 369

Dec 1853 8e 288

Sep 1854 8e 231 (just possible if he died right at the end of the previous quarter).

There are also quite a lot of entries where the district names have not been transcribed as they are illegible, so I'm afraid there are quite a lot to chose from!

HTH

S

[CindyC]

Thanks for that! I would have found these myself but I was entering a birthdate trying to narrow down the list and these didn't show up... guess I should have had that second cup of coffee and given it another go before I posted this. Thank you again, now at least I have something to work from.

Cindy

[salcat]

A further thought....

If you found a newspaper announcement of the 2nd marriage, might it be possible that there would be a similar announcement for the death? That might actually give you a date of death, but even if it didn't, it would narrow down the time frame. Were you able to find it on-line?

regards

S

[CindyC]

That's actually the next place I went, checking all the death notices in the news for Preston - there were several actually but none that "appeared" to be him. Of course, one of them could have been. They didn't list any family details in the paper back then, only the date, name, sometimes the occupation, and what area they lived in.. Unfortunate that they didn't list the survivors as they do today. I couldn't find one that hit me but I think I'll have another look today. Too many Smith listings everywhere! That's one name I wish I hadn't come across in my search!