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Trying to find information about my mother in law's family. My mother in law was born in 1917 - birth certificate shows her name as Ena Frances and her mother as Winifred Caroline Smart born1897 - no father's name. Place of birth Tendring Essex. In 1918 a marriage certificate shows Winifred Caroline marrying in the name of Grant -a widow in Burntwood Staffs giving her father's name as John Smart a farmer to Frederick George Smith occupation grocer's carter - father's name Henry Smith labourer. They had a son Roland Frederick in 1921 and in 1923 a daughter Frances May - who was given up for adoption. Winifred died in 1925 and Frederick remarried.Ena Frances died in 1967. Does anyone have any of these people in the family please ?

To see if anyone has the family you should look in members trees which is under the search heading above the boards

Have you found the marriage for Winifred to a mr grant

Not seeing a birth for Winifred or her on any census

Have you located her

Births Dec 1917 (>99%)
Smart Ena F Smart Tendring 4a 1009

It's not this one is it?


Results:
Name: Mother's Maiden Surname:
SNART, WINIFRED CAROLINE BUSHELL Order
GRO Reference: 1898 S Quarter in READING Volume 02C Page 379

EDIT spelling def' Snart though so I assume not?

1901 England, Wales & Scotland
14, Cardigan Road, Reading St Giles, Reading, Berkshire, England

William Snart Head Married Male 30 1871 Nursery Gardener's Assistant St Albans, Hertfordshire, England
Alice Snart Wife Married Female 32 1869 - Sulhampstead, Berkshire, England
Winifred Caroline Snart Daughter - Female 2 1899 - Reading, Berkshire, England
Ellen Agnes Wheeler Sister-In-Law Married Female 29 1872 (Husband At War) Reading, Berkshire, England

Edit not her as she married in Reading

Who did ena marry as not seeing her on the 1939 register or her death

?
Marriages Mar 1954
Carter Ena F Wright Welton 3b 1156
SMITH Ena F WRIGHT Welton 3b 1156
WRIGHT George S CARTER Welton 3b 1156
WRIGHT George S SMITH Welton 3b 1156

Marriages Sep 1939
Carter Harry Smith Welton 7a 2076
Smith Ena F Carter Welton 7a 2076

Also possibly this child

Births Dec 1918 (>99%)
Smith Male Smart Lichfield 6b 668

sadly probable death same qtr
Smith Male 0 Lichfield 6b 892

Yes this is my mother in law but it is her mother Winifred's parents we can't find details of.

this is the only Winifred born in Essex

Births Dec 1896   (>99%)

Smart
 Winifred
 
 Halstead
 4a
701

Does the birth certificate of Ena say that her Mother was 20, or did the birth in 1897 come from elsewhere?

I wonder if this might be Winifred Caroline?

THE WEEK'S POLICE.
MISTLEY, August 27. Put Probation. Winifred Caroline Smart, 20, single woman, was further charged with stealing a costume and gold ring:, value £5, at Great Clacton, August
01 September 1917 - Essex Newsman - Chelmsford, Essex, England

Evidence had been given at a previous hearing by Mrs Wilster of Clacton, the prosecuterix. Sergt Pryke had stopped and asked the defendant if her name was Ransome and she said no, it was Graham. A witness noticed the ring and costume were similar to the missing articles so the sergt cautioned her and asked how she came by them. She said they were hers and she had had them for a long time. She then said she may as well own up to everything and pleaded guilty. Supt Day then said the young woman was in difficulties now; she had neither father nor mother and had been roaming about the county. She was so untruthful that one could not believe a word she said. She was bound over for the sum of £5 for 12 months.


If it is her, she must have either been heavily pregnant, which isn't mentioned, or given birth to Ena and waited to register her in the last quarter.

Don't think the male child is relevant. Found the Winifred born in Halstead but her middle name was May. Yes we found the newspaper article and think this could well be our Winifred. As you can see from the article she seems to have given false names !!!! Maybe the name Grant and widow on her marriage certificate were not true ?? We calculated her birth year from her marriage certificate in 1918 and her death certificate in 1925. Ena Frances also told her daughter that she was 8 years old when her mother died. Incidentally the name Winifred was not included on Winifred's son Roland Frederick Smith''s birth certificate just her name as Caroline Smith

We thought it strange that no mention of her pregnancy was mentioned but Ena was definitely born end of September 1917 - the place she was born in was at one time the Workhouse so maybe Winifred was sent there to give birth.

Could you post the death reference, please?

It is possible that her mother was unmarried, and then married and Winifred/Caroline used the new name.

Any idea why Ransome and Graham were mentioned in that newspaper article?

Also, why go from Clacton to Burntwood?

Birmingham N 6d 475 Jan/Feb/mar 1925. No idea about surnames - not family names. Don't know if Winifred was born in Essex or Staffordshire. One possibility is that mother in law Ena's father - stated as John Smith late of North Staffs Regiment Deceased on her marriage certificate in 1939 was from Birmingham area and may have been stationed in or near Colchester ??? Another coincidence is also that Winifred married a Frederick Smith in Burntwood Staffs in 1918

Sorry, just putting that death, as she only shows as Winifred, for information:

Deaths March quarter 1925
SMITH Winifred 27 Birmingham N. 6d 475

That's ok. We have the death certificate and are certain it is Ena Frances mother. The cause of death ties in with her having had a daughter born in 1923 who was then given up for adoption - birth name Frances May Smith. It is so frustrating that we cannot find Winifred's parents. Family information that comes from a younger sibling of my husband's says that as a child she was told by Ena that Winifred came from the Pyrenees but another source mentions the Channel Islands. The search goes on.

So no Address on Birth Cert. then, just Tendring?...

Chris :)