William Smalley and Lydia Thurston
William Smalley (b 1748, m Lydia Thurston 1796
Newton, d 1821 Newton in the Isle, Cambridgeshire)
Lydia Thurston (b 1774, d 1835)
Lydia Smalley (b 1797, m 1817
Thomas Shaw, d 1835 Cambridgeshire)
William Smalley (b 1799, d 1806)
Mary Smalley (b 1801, d 1819)
James
Smalley (b 1805 Newton, Cambridgeshire, m Martha Goode 1832 Newton, d 1877
Brunswick, Vic)
Thomas Henry Smalley (b 1851 At sea
SS Constance, m Emily Marshall
1876 West Melb, Vic, d 1839 Ballarat Vic)
Herbert Oscar Smalley (b1878 Brunswick, Vic, m Annie Tippett 1908 North Fitzror,
Vic, d 1960 Preston Vic)
Joseph Smalley (b 1809, m Jane
Smith 1834, d 1884 Leicester)
Sarah Smalley (b 1811, m John
Barton 1829, d 1837)
Robert Smalley (b 1813, d 1837)
A bit about Newton
The village is situated on the Silt Fen, a sea
bank formed thousands of years ago. Unlike the salt marshes to the
north or the formerly water-logged fens to the south, this narrow
strip has been inhabited for many centuries. The parish church of St. James has
stood on the current site for than 800 years, the building is a
medieval structure with a tower. Its full title is the
Parish Church of St James, Newton-in-the-Isle, with St Mary in the
Marsh. The link with St Mary in the Marsh refers to a long-lost
chapel and college that stood on the old sea bank on the outskirts
of the village. The College of St Mary by the Sea was
founded here during the reign of Henry IV by Sir John Colville.
The lands were given to the rectory of Newton when the college was
dissolved by Henry VIII.
Back to general research notes
Les Towley
A note from M Smalley provided some interesting information on
this family
Sarah Smalley actually died back in England in
1837 (buried 31/05/1837) around the same time a lot of
other Smalleys. I've always wanted to know what it was
that killed them. The other deaths were as follows:
Her two children Elizabeth (buried 5/07/1837)
and Margaret (buried 31/05/1837)
Her brother Robert (buried 12/05/1837)
Her sister Lydia's child William Smalley
Shaw (buried 31/05/1837). Lydia had died in 1835.
Her brother Joseph's children
William (buried 2/06/1837) and Francis (buried
12/05/1837). Jospeh's wife Jane died a year later leaving him
without a family. He married the farm servant and started
a new family.
I wonder if the dead are somehow linked to each
other or if it was representative of deaths in the community
that year. I read somewhere that a particularly bad flu
went through the UK around that time.
In 1990 we corresponded with Margaret Ross, whose husband was a
descendant of Sarah Barton (b 1830). Sarah was a daughter of
Sarah Smalley and John Barton.
Sarah Barton married Robert
Anderson at Leverington 30 Nov 1852, and came to
Australia on the Ida 12 July 1853. Sarah Barton was the
daughter of Sarah Smalley and John Barton
I note in the 1841 Census, Joseph Smalley has a wife Sarah, both
aged 25, no children, which fits with all of this
William and Lydia's farm was Black Dyke Farm, Newton
(Barbara Owens). For more recent photos link
M Smalley provided the location of Black Dyke Farm. Quoting from
his email
"I notice you're still looking
for Black Dyke Farm. Your best bet is to download Google
Earth then click on the attached placemark. Google Earth
has great quality images of the area, the location is just a
paddock now so there is no building sadly.
In the meantime you can go to
Google Maps (satellite quality only) at
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=52.697692,+0.104972&ie=UTF8&z=12&ll=52.700314,0.105057&spn=0.095702,0.431213&t=h&om=1&iwloc=A
Newton is close to Wisbech ("Capital of the Fens"), 10 miles south
of The Wash . Just east of Wisbech is labelled marshland on the
map. So Black Dyke is presumably to keep the water at bay.
Notes on Joseph (ex Lawrence
Cattermole)
I have a copy of the
wedding certificate for his second marriage in Leverington Parish
Church to Sarah Pottinger on 20 Jun 1839, showing him as a widower
and both of them resident in Mays' Lane at the time of
marriage. He signed with his mark.
As for censuses, you speculate that Jos
Smalley of Leverington in 1841 may be James' brother Joseph and I
agree. Clearly being about10 years older than his second
wife required some masking. The marriage certificate simply
describes both as 'of full age'. The 1851 census shows him as a
farmer of 70 acres in Leverington, age 37, born in Newton with 6
children. He is still there aged 48 in 1861 and aged 62 in 1871.
By 1881, aged 72, he and Sarah have moved to 89 Havelock Street,
Leicester. He died in Leicester, aged 74, in Q1 1884. This
age is a much better fit with the1809 birth date than the age of
25 shown in 1841. His wife died, aged 73 at the end of 1892.
Notes from Claire and Christine's
Researches
William
Smalley
Born in 1747 to John and Alice
Smalley. n/a
William and Lydia owned a farm, called Black Dyke Farm, in
Newton. A road now exists in that area, called Black Dyke road
(runs of Fen Road. Properties stand in the area, but it is not
clear if they are original buildings. The land is very flat,
mostly agricultural (Feb 2014).
On his marriage certificate, William makes his mark with a x,
while Lydia writes her name. In 1780, William and Lydia are
living in Wisbech
Lydia
Thurston
Her father acted as the Bailee for
Thomas Shaw (son-in-law) and signed Allegation Bond in the sum
of £200. It appears that Lydia's father was a mayor, in the
police or a legal representation.
Joseph Smalley
1851- Joseph and Sarah are farmers with their
young children. Also living at the house is Eliza Knowles, aged
16, who is a~ living in Leverington.
1861- Joseph is a farmer of 40 acres in Wisbech, Leverington.
Sarah (42), John (19), James (16), Josiah (9), Sarah Jane (12) and
Eliza (11) are all living there.
1871- Joseph and Sarah are living in St. Augustine, Leverington.
In addition to Joseph, Sarah (50) , James (26), Josiah (19) and
Eliza (21) there is two others living there Diane Linnell (27) and
Arthur S Linnell (2). Ages would suggest that it is Diana SmaII
married or possibly widowed with a young son.
1881- Joseph (aged 72) had moved to 89 Havelock Street Leicester
(St. Mary's parish). Sarah is living as well (62). Joseph is
listed as the purveyor of milk (seller of milk). Also living there
is Sarah Jane (32), Harry Smalley (7) and Charles Dawkes (27).
Acknowledgements
Lots of good information was received from
Roy Smalley, Bruce Tippett, Lawrence Cattermole, Bette
Joseph, Barbara Owens asnd M Smalley
Thanks to M Smalley for Black Dyke Farm
Thanks to Claire and Christine for their painstaking work
reflected above
Research Note
M Smalley
supplied some good information about his sources.
One of the best sources has been
the Cambridgeshire Family History Society Database online http://www.cfhs.org.uk/Search.html
(link no longer works)
I've
bought a fair amount of microfiche from them (parish
records) to confirm the results and get further
information. Fortunately for Sarah's death I recorded
my source in my software - it was one of the microfiche:
"Newton-in-the Isle Parish Registers 1600-1852
CAM-PR114". I didn't note if it was under Barton or
Smalley but I'm 99% sure it was under Barton from memory.
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