Genealogy Chat

My grandfathers father was called Sidney Schmidt. He was born in 1895 in Holborn but he later changed his name to Smith in 1917 (for fairly obvious reasons) and so i am now Hannah Smith. But i have no idea how to trace back through his family. I know his father was called Peter Schmidt and my family believe that he came over from Germany. However, that is all i know and i really need help in where i should go next...

Also, one other question: how do you find out if a married couple had any other children...as my grandfather on my other side had plenty of siblings, its just no-one knows who they are! so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Hannah x

1901 has Sidney transcribed as 50. His father was born in Mile End


1901 England Census
about Sydney Schmidt
Name: Sydney Schmidt
Age: 50
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1851
Relation: Son
Father's Name: Peter
Mother's Name: Ellen
Gender: Male
Where born: St Luke, London, England
Civil Parish: Islington
Ecclesiastical parish: St Clement
County/Island: London
Registration district: Islington
Sub-registration district: Lower Holloway
ED, institution, or vessel: 32
Neighbors: View others on page
Household schedule number: 324
Household Members: Name Age
Edith Schmidt 3 Barnsbury, London
Ellen Schmidt 25 Sidbury, Devon
Harold Schmidt 2 Barnsbury, London
Peter Schmidt 29 Mile End, London, England
Sydney Schmidt 50 St Luke, London

Rose

Births Sep 1871
Schmidt Peter James Mile End 1c 496

Rose

Here is the family in 1881

Household:

Name Relation Marital Status Gender Age Birthplace Occupation Disability
Peter SCHMIDT Head M Male 31 Ellenfelt (F), Prussia Philosophical Inst Maker
Emily SCHMIDT Wife M Female 32 St Martins, Middlesex, England
Peter SCHMIDT Son Male 9 Mile End, Middlesex, England Scholar
Alia SCHMIDT Daur Female 6 Deptford, Kent, England Scholar
Albert SCHMIDT Son Male 4 Deptford, Kent, England Scholar
Amelia SCHMIDT Daur Female 2 Hoxton, Middlesex, England
Carl SCHMIDT Son Male 3 m Hoxton, Middlesex, England
Emily SCHMIDT Daur Female 8 Mile End, Middlesex, England Scholar


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source Information:
Dwelling 14 Allens Bldgs
Census Place London, Middlesex, England
Family History Library Film 1341083
Public Records Office Reference RG11
Piece / Folio 0387 / 54
Page Number 17


Sue
x

Marriages Sep 1870
PICKMAN Emily Susan Bethnal Grn 1c 607
Schmitz Peter Bethnal Green 1c 607

Rose

1891:

1891 England Census
about Peter Schmitt
Name: Peter Schmitt
Age: 19
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1872
Relation: Son
Father's Name: Peter
Mother's Name: Emily
Gender: Male
Where born: Mile End, London, England
Civil Parish: Edmonton
Ecclesiastical parish: St Michael Bowes
Town: Bowes
County/Island: Middlesex
Country: England
Registration district: Edmonton
Sub-registration district: Edmonton
ED, institution, or vessel: 23
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
Albert Schmitt 8
Amelia Schmitt 12
Arthur Schmitt 6
Carl Schmitt 5
Emily Schmitt 41
Frederick Schmitt 1
Peter Schmitt 41
Peter Schmitt 19

Rose

Hannah

You're not alone - I too have Schmidt/Schmid/Schmitt in my tree that came from Prussia in 1852 and later changed their name to Smith.

I shall watch your thread with great interest.
MB

Hannah,

If you go to top tips/advanced search on the left of this page and then enter a phrase such as "German searches" you will find some useful advice and websites.

Good luck,

Peter

- an extract from Rootsweb around 1999 (so may be considerably out of date now), re Ellenfeld:

"The locality in the former kingdom of Saxony whose name comes closest to
"Elbenfeld" or "Elberfeld" is D-08236 ELLENFELD, in the Vogtland, about 3
kilometers south of the town center of Auerbach, on Bundesstrasse 169.
Ellenfeld belonged to the Amtshauptmannschaft [county of] Auerbach, and to
the Kreishauptmannschaft [province of] Zwickau. The Protestant parish of
Ellenfeld was created only in 1901; prior to that time the inhabitants
belonged to the parish of Falkenstein, the village immediately to the
west. The surviving church registers for Falkenstein date from 1663,
with gaps in all registers before 1687, for 1720-1722 in the baptisms, for
1801-1825 in the marriages, and in 1694 in the burials. The registers have
not been microfilmed, so to obtain extracts from the church registers you
shall need to contact the church directly, at the following address:

Ev. Pfarramt Falkenstein
Markt 2
D-08223 Falkenstein

The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has microfilm copies of the
Kauf- Handels- und Konsensb"ucher for Ellefeld from the Amtsgericht
[county court] Falkenstein from 1740 through 1848 (Family History Library
microfilms #'s 1891427 through 1891432), and you can borrow copies of
these microfilms through any LDS (Mormon) Family History Center.

Michael Palmer
---
Michael Palmer
Claremont, California
[email protected] "

(NB Unless this was a period when PRussia was in expansionist mode, this to my mind seems too far south - it is close to Bayreuth and the Czech border - so this might not be your ancestor's origins)

- Ancestry's 1871 census has two very similar couples Emily married to Peter Schmi* born in Prussia around 1850.

One's wife is Emily (Pickman) born in Epping with son Peter aged 8 months born Mile End; the other is also recently married but his wife Emily is born in St Giles Middlesex and has no son Peter. The occupation of this latter one looks a better fit with the 1881 entry given above.

Wow, thanks everyone. Had no idea i'd get this many posts! and such useful information too. But i think some have got a bit confused so im going to try to tidy it up a little.

Hannah Smith (me) - 1990

David Smith (father) -1958

Frederick Smith (grandfather) - 1931

Sidney Schmidt (g grandfather) - 1895

Peter Schmidt (g g grandfather) - ?

1901 census should show sidney at age 6. But of coarse i can't find him...that would be too easy

the 1881 census looks interesting, but i'm not sure if peter was here or in Germany, here in lies the problem.

Thankyou for your help, and if i find anything out i'll post it here, more advice is always welcome! :)

Hi Hannah,


If you look at Portland Rose's post of 22:54 on 4 Jan, she seems to have Sidney on the 1901 census (ancestry had mistranscribed the child's age).

Do you have Sidney's birth certificate?

I've found him!

I knew that Peter Schmidt was a case maker and so looking for him in the 1901 census i came across the man himself, found out about his wife and 3 children - one including Sidney aged 5 (must not have turned 6 yet) when i cross referenced with birht records for peter i found the right one (inc right middle name which i also knew...james) and he was born 1871, tried searching for his father under the same name (just in case) but no luck, i can get a birth certificate now though...thanks for your help people xxx

Hurrah, well done. Keep us all in touch, it's an interesting one.

Hi all, going a bit off topic...to the other side of my family. My Great-Grandfather William, i've found several documents that all give his year of birth as something different and seeing as he has no middle name it's quite hard to find him anywhere! It's either 1900, 1901 or 1902. now i think it might be 1901 even though he's not in the census (must not have been born yet). It's a tricky one because without a definite year i can't order a certficate and find his parents and siblings (of which there are 9!) It's an interesting story though...full of dirty deeds, asylums, prisons, bad home life!

Anyway, his last name is Mayo (Irish descent aswell!) Has anyone had any experience in tracing back through Irish roots, i wouldn't know how to begin...coarse i won't get anywhere untill i sort this out!

Again, advice is much appreciated. I'll let you know of any progress x

Hi Hannah,

I've only one Irish born (1840s) relative in my tree - sitting in the "not yet" pile waiting for a rainy day and some good ideas - I'll be keeping a keen interest on how your Irish side develops!

All the best

PS Although the advice is generally against starting lots of new threads, it would probably be justified for the Mayo side, since (I presume) none of the info posted so far touches on the Mayos, and also since this thread is headed "German advice"

I have more information on the Schmidts

After finding peter james schmidt b.1871 i then found his parents

Peter Charles Schmidt b.1850 in elberfelt prussia (someone at the top had it, coarse i didn't know then) and his mother emily ashford.

I have managed to find peters parents: peter schmidt b.1818 and anna maria b.1815 from a genes member. They were from germany, so now i have to take my search there...

if anyone has any experice or knowledge in researchin in germany then please feel free...

H x