Hi Folks , Is there any one that has a connection with a James & Fanny Smith. They lived at Bognor Regis in 1890'S Fanny smith died in 1894 and was buried at Bognor James lived there in the 1911 Cens, they had a daughter Catherine Agnes and a son Ralph James who joined the navy until 1912 . Fanny's death cert states that her sister Sarah Robins was present at the Death and lived at 4 Stene Bognor. I ask as Ralph James was my father. I look forward to any information that I can get on either families. Regards Ralph Smith

Ralph, I'm guessing you're getting on in years and struggle with the technology. Do you have a younger family member who could assist? All the data is there. Apart from the menace of the Smith surname, you should readily be able to get back to 1800. And you should also be able to trace descendants almost to current day. It's a case of working through each census in conjunction with records on FreeBMD. Do you still have your Ancestry subscription? I see you put up a tree in 2007. Did you get any little leafy hints suggesting matches with other submitters? Ancestry will also provide access to census and later BMD records. If you don't have a current subscription check around local libraries and FHS centres. Looking at 1891 census, James Smith, tailor, was born c1837 at Fordingbridge HANTS. His wife Fanny was born c1845 at Newport on Isle of Wight. FreeBDM has a Mar 1868 marriage at Winchester suggesting her maiden name was Saunders. But it needs to be checked. 1851 and 1861 should find them with parents. 1871 and later should find them together. In 1891 they have children Lillian b1874, Catherine b1883 and your father Ralph b1885. Lillian's birthplace is given as Ventnor, Is of Wight. The other two are born Southsea, Hampshire. I see your mother was Beatrice Stainer but privacy of living individuals prevent me accessing later data from your tree. I could do the research, but you already know it. Your closest living relatives will come from families of Lillian, Catherine and Ralph. Have you traced all those lines? Once you look at 1851 and 1861 census, you might find some siblings of James & Fanny, which will broaden the search. Hope that helps. Peter

Ralph, Looking for Sarah Robins who as a sister was the witness to the 1894 death of Fanny Smith. I found a tree on Ancestry for Mark Robbins and Sarah Smith who married on the Isle of Wight in 1877. If the tree is correct, it looks like Sarah may have had two illegitimate children Mary 1863 and John 1875 that pre-date the marriage. If you look in 1851 census for Isle of Wight you will see what looks like a widower William Smith born c1807 with children Sarah c1834, Louisa c1835, Mark c1839, Leah c1841, Fanny c1843 and Ruth c1844. So it looks like Fanny Smith married a James Smith. Your father's birth certificate might confirm her maiden name. It's probably all a bit much to comprehend in one go. I'd encourage you to update your Ancestry tree if you still subscribe. That will give you a lot of branches to follow to find relatives. Some may already have trees on Ancestry which should generate plenty of leafy hints. As I said, it's all there. Peter in Sydney