Biographical notes

The records for this family are somewhat patchy. The Old Parish Registers for Dumfries-shire record the marriage of Margaret Allan and Joseph Smith at Dumfries on the 5 June 1836 when Margaret would have been 26 and Joseph would have been about 24 (assuming his date of birth is correct). There are apparently no surviving OPR records for the birth of their children in Scotland.

The family next appear in the 1841 Census where they are living at Loreburn Street in Dumfries. Joseph Smith has the occupation of Clogger Master, aged 25 (actual age 29), born in Dumfries-shire. Margaret Smith, aged 25 (actual age 31), is entered as not being born in Dumfrieshire (this agrees with her known birthplace of Irvine in Ayrshire). They have three children; Joseph, aged 5, Ann (possibly named after her maternal grandmother), aged 3, and William (possibly named after his paternal grandfather), aged 1. All the children werte born in Dumfries-shire.

So far no reference has been found of the family in the 1851 Census, but in the 1861 Census return, they have moved to 36, Greenbank, Salford in Lancashire. Clogs were worn widely in Lancashire so this would have been a sensible move for a Scottish clog maker. Joseph Smith (Head) is listed as a Clogger, aged 44 (actual age 49), born in Scotland. Margaret Smith (Wife) is listed as aged 45 (actual age 51), born in Scotland. Joseph C. Smith (Son), is listed as a brush maker, aged 24 (this age agrees with that given in the 1841 Census). William Smith (Son), is listed as a clogger, aged 20 (this age agrees with that given in the 1841 Census). Wallace Smith (Son, probably named after his maternal grandfather), is listed as a Tobacconist, aged 18, born in Scotland. Thomas Smith, the youngest of the children, is listed as a shop boy, aged 11, born in Manchester, Lancashire. The move from Scotland to Lancashire can be dated between the birth of Wallace Smith in 1843 in Scotland, and Thomas Smith born in 1850 in Manchester. So the family should appear in the 1851 Census in Lancashire.

The final record for this family is in the 1871 Census where Joseph Smith, age 59, a Clogger born in Dumfries, Scotland is living with Margaret Smith, age 61, erroneously stated to have been born in Dumfries (correct county was Ayrshire), at 57, Regent Road, Salford. No other occupants are recorded although there son Wallace is recorded living with his family in the same road.

Marriage records show that William Smith married Ann Entwistle in 1872 and their family appears in the 1881 Census living in Salford. Thomas Smith married Emma Cork in 1873 and their family appears in the 1881 Census st Cheetham in Lancashire and in the 1891 Census when Margaret Smith is living with them as a widow in Broughton, Salford. Margaret died at the age of 89 in 1900 at Clarence Street Broughton. She is described as the widow of Joseph Smith, Clogger Journeyman. The informant was her grand daughter Sarah Smith, (daughter of Thomas Smith). The date of death of Joseph (Margaret's husband), has not yet been ascertained.