William Smalley and Lydia Thurston

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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 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
For your info, the approximate GPS location of the location is 52.697692, 0.104972.  I think that's decimal rather than degrees. 
I found the location by going to http://www.old-maps.co.uk/ and typing in Newton though technically the farm is closer to Fitton End".
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 Notes

Genes Reunited checked for William and Lydia
Family search has a small ancestral file that roughly corresponds to this webpage. Submitter is Marie Van Straten
LDS FHO checked. No OPC
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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