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Actually, I suspect the surname was Wysocki -- there are a bunch of them in 1930 in Hartford and Fairfield, Connecticut.

You can search the US censuses at

http://www.ancestry.com

to the same extent I can -- I don't subscribe for US records, so searches are kind of hit and miss. But if you search in the 1920 and 1930 censuses for

surname: Wysock*
state: Connecticut
county: Hartford

There are also Mary Williams-s in the vicinity who could be her, if they were going by that name, one or two born in Ireland.

This is really just idle curiosity, though

Mary was born in Southern Ireland and her father was William Smyth Snr and he married a Mary Gallagher. Marys brother was Bernadettes father William Smyth(Smith) Jnr. It doesn't sound like we are going to get any further with Columba - she just seems to have disappeared. Like you suggested she could have remarried and Honor and Jimmy were Bernadettes half siblings.

I've just thought - are there any records of divorces to look at?

Actually, what I was thinking was that Columba may have been married (and widowed) *before* marrying William. So she would have married him under a different surname, not English -- while English would still be given as her birth surname on her children's birth certs.

There's no way to find the Smyth marriage just now, if that's the case.

The GRO shows only the surname of the spouse, and if Columba was a widow, we don't know what her surname was. And we don't know when the Smyth marriage took place. And there are far too many William Smyths to start cross-checking the surnames of possible brides to see what their given names were.

All I can suggest is wait a few months and hope that FreeBMD gets caught up to 1930. Then it will be searchable by given name, and since Columba is so unusual a name, something should emerge. The mystery should be solvable, before too long!

It's much more likely that she was a widow when (if) she married William than that she was divorced, I would think.

I would like to thank you Kathryn from all the time you have spent on this project. I will do as you suggest later. Stephanie

Can anyone help me find my grandmother - the only thing I knew about her was that her nme was Columba. But since last year I have found a Margaret Columba English from Dundalk Co. Louth Ieland born 1902. Which would tie in with some info I already had. She married William Smyth from Crinstown Maynooth Co Kildare Ireland. not sure of date but my mother Bernadette Smith was born on the 12th April 1931. I think William had been married before - I found out he had two boys William and Martin. I have two dates - 1913 and 1915 but not too sure. Martin was drowned in the River Thames London - so William Snr most have come to London from Ireland. I would appreciate any information - thank you