Thomas Smith (1786 - 1854)

Born 1786 in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England

Husband of Amy (Morse) Smith — married 1809 in Newland, Gloucestershire, England

Descendants

Died 1854 at about age 68 in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

There were many Thomas Smith's around this time so no baptism record can be identified. In the 1841 census Thomas has been listed as being born in Gloucestershire and in another in London. As Berkley was often confused with London, perhaps he was born in Berkeley. There were 2 Thomas Smith's in Berkeley around the same time, baptising children. The other Thomas married an Elizabeth.

On February 12th 1809 Thomas married Amy Morse in Newland, the parish church of the Forest of Dean. They were both living in the hundred of St Briavels. ^[1]

The couple had 2 children who died young, Richard, born 1819 ^[2] who died aged 9 ^[3] and Anthony William, baptised 6 Jan 1826. ^[4]

In 1841 Thomas (who indicated he had been born in Gloucestershire) and Emma lived in Sutton Street Berkley. He was a Pig Killer. 4 of their children also lived there. ^[5] In 1851 Thomas and Amy were living in Hamfallow, in Berkley. He was listed as being born in London. He and his son George were agricultural labourers. His son John was a Blacksmith. Their granddaughter Rebecca Dowell also lived there. ^[6]

Thomas died in 1854 and was buried in Berkeley on 4 June. He was 71. ^[7]

Pug Butchery An interesting account of life in the Forest of Dean by Freda Phipps described how Pigs were essential to households.. "At the bottom of the garden of Stone Cottage was a pigsty where two pigs were usually kept and reared from very small piglets to fat pigs which we then killed. One was usually sold to help pay the rates etc. and the other was cut up and used for the families’ consumption. Pig killing day was the day we females of the family kept indoors and covered our ears as much as we could so that we shouldn’t hear the shrieks of the pig as it was being killed. Mr Charlie Smith who lived at Yorkley Slade was our butcher and he was very quick and efficient. After the pig’s blood was caught to make black pudding a fire would be lit in the garden and the dead pig put in the f lames to burn all the hairs off the poor thing. Next thing was to get the organs, stomach and intestines out. The intestines were then thoroughly washed perhaps four or five times which was the woman’s job and afterwards cooked and sent out to relatives and friends as chitterlings. Most people said how delicious they were but I would never try them after I saw them coming out of the pig. I would never bring myself to eat black pudding either, but my sister and cousins really enjoyed both. People used to say every port of a pig could be eaten but I liked to choose which part I ate. The heart, kidneys and liver were cut up and also shared with our neighbours. Doris and I used to have to take the fry as it 5 was called to our friends the day after the pig was killed. After all the inside was attended to the butcher and his helpers would bring the carcass into our cellar to hang for several days. Mr. Smith would then come and cut it up into joints of meat and Mum would salt the sides for a week on the salting stones which we still have in the cellar. When it was thoroughly cured it would be hung up in our living room each side of the window so that we could cut our own bacon when we wanted it. The hams were mostly kept for when we had visitors on Sunday morning for breakfast. Dad always said the sides hanging in the room were the best pictures we could have. Doris and I didn’t like the period when the carcass was hanging up as we were often sent to the cellar for something and if we weren’t careful we would bump into it, as there was no light to switch on, and we didn’t bother to light a candle, so we had many a scare. Some sows had so many piglets that it wasn’t possible for the sow to feed them all and then the smallest called the runts were taken away from the sow and given to anyone who was willing to bottle feed them. Then often they got so attached to the little piglet that they were very upset when it came to killing time. ^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ Name: Thomas Smith Gender: Male Event Type: Marriage Marriage Date: 12 Feb 1809 Marriage Place: Newland, Gloucestershire, England Parish as it Appears: Newland Spouse: Emma Morse Source Information Ancestry.com. Gloucestershire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1813 Ancestry uk Record 4732 #14082057
2. ↑ Name: Richard Smith. Gender: Male. Baptism Date: 25 Apr 1819. Baptism Place: Berkeley, Gloucester, England. Father: Thomas Smith. Mother: Emma Smith. FHL Film Number: 855612. Reference ID: y 1813-1829 p 89. Source Information. Ancestry.com. England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. Ancestry uk Record 9841 #134398945
3. ↑ Name: Richard Smith. Age: 9. Birth Year: abt 1819. Burial Date: 1 Jul 1828. Burial Place: Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England. Parish as it Appears: Berkeley. Source Citation. Gloucestershire Archives; Gloucestershire, England; Reference Number: P42 IN 1/39. Source Information. Ancestry.com. Gloucestershire, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1988. Ancestry uk Record 5158 #541113
4. ↑ Name: Anthony William Smith. Event Type: Baptism. Baptism Date: 6 Jan 1826. Baptism Place: Berkeley , Gloucestershire, England. Father: Thomas Smith. Mother: Emma Smith. Source Citation. Gloucestershire Archives; Gloucester, England; Reference Numbers: GDR/V1/333. Source Information. Ancestry.com. Gloucestershire, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1913. Ancestry uk Record 5066 #12720368
5. ↑ Class: HO107; Piece: 347; Book: 3; Civil Parish: Berkeley; County: Gloucestershire; Enumeration District: 6; Folio: 25; Page: 14; Line: 3; GSU roll: 288761. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1841 England Census. Ancestry uk Record 8978 #1861785
6. ↑ Class: HO107; Piece: 1957; Folio: 478; Page: 29; GSU roll: 87357. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1851 England Census. Ancestry uk Record 8860 #7639477
7. ↑ Name: Thomas Smith. Age: 71. Birth Year: abt 1783. Burial Date: 4 Jun 1854. Burial Place: Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England. Parish as it Appears: Berkeley. Source Citation. Gloucestershire Archives; Gloucestershire, England; Reference Number: P42 IN 1/40. Source Information. Ancestry.com. Gloucestershire, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1988. Ancestry uk Record 5158 #872866
8. ↑ Early Days at Stone Cottage by Freda Phipps. Available to download from the Forest of Dean Family History Trust Website, www.forest-of-dean.net, Resources, Stories and articles. https://forest-of-dean.net/joomla/index.php/resources/documents-and-articles

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