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SMITHS IN STROUD, GLOUSESTERSHIRE. Hello fellow Smith hunters (are we crazy or what?). My name is Byron Smith. I'm writing from Melbourne. Australia and I'm seeking any information about the parents of SAMUEL SMITH born 4 March 1844 in Stroud. Parents names: CHARLES Smith and MARIA HARRIS SMITH (nee Rowland). estimated DOB around 1800-1820. Samuel Smith’s birth certificate is: Reg no. G116514. Registration district: Stroud. Sub district: Houndscroft, Rodborough. County: Glouster. His wife, Frances/Fanny CHAPMAN was also from Gloucestershire. Born 5th of October 1847. England & Wales FreeBDM Birth Index: 1837-1983 has a Fanny Chapman registerted as born 1847 Oct-Dec Gloucester, Glouscestershire. Volume: 11 (not sure if this is the right record for the right person - would love to find out!) Fanny/Frances' parents were HENRY CHAPMAN and EMMA PILLINGER, who we believe were from Gloucestershiore too. According to England & Wales FreeBDM Birth Index: 1837-1983 Henry Chapman and Emma Pillinger were married Gloucester in 1845. According to SAMUEL SMITH'S story, he had a sister and brother. But we do not know for sure. Would love to find out! Samuel Smith began working Rodbourough/Stroud/Minchinhampton region at 8 years of age – shepherding pigs under Acorn trees for one shilling per week. At 11 years of age he left Gloucestershire for London to work in a wood and coal shop from where he had various jobs until he became an apprentice to a shipping firm in the late 1850’s and sailed to Wellington, New Zealand. A sailor on the ‘Victoria’ (the first ship in the old Victorian Navy), he fought in the Maori war, after which they sailed to Melbourne, Australia in 1861 and were sent to the Gulf of Carpentaria to search for the lost explorers, Burke and Wills. He sailed the world and was on board the ‘Knight Templar’ when it was wrecked in a typhoon in the Timor Sea. Married Frances 'Fanny' Chapman at the Scotch Manse, Williamstown, Victoria, Australia 29/02/1868. Would love to trace Samuel or Fanny SMITH's ancestry back further in England and any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! Byron Smith. Melbourne.