We don’t know when our name came into being
or how some distant ancestor acquired it.
We don’t understand our name at all,
we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity,
we merge with it, we like it,
we are ridiculously proud of it
as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.
Milan Kundera

As we walk through life, writing our own story, we all have a desire to be the best person we can be. To achieve our dreams, to accomplish our destinies, to love and be loved, to reproduce and to be remembered for our heart, soul and wisdom.
No matter our journey, we imprint on the souls of the people we meet, the loved ones we hold dear, and even the ones whom we are not too fond of. We all leave our mark, be it in a positive or negative light. A minuscule part of us imprinted upon the soul whom also leave a part of themselves imprinted upon our own souls.
In time, those imprints, those memories will be forgotten. All that will be left is crumbling headstones or ash, dusty documents locked away in archives and fading photos in darkest corners of attic’s. Forgotten.

Even though our family name survives the test of time, our achievements, our sacrifices, our strengths and weaknesses, our hearts and souls, our failings, our love, will all perish.
It saddens me to the deepest depths of my entire being, to know that in thousands of years to come, my boys, my hubby, my parents, my grandparents, my in-laws and all whom came before us, lives will mean diddly squat.
That is why I am determined to document the lives of our ancestors. Not just the good parts where their characters shine, but the harder parts to, because I wholeheartedly believe this is where was learn about their strengths and their struggles, their will and determination, their true and beautiful characters.

Some of our ancestors lived extraordinary lives, some struggled just to get by, some of their lives were over way to fast and others grow tired and weary with age. Each one unique and well worth remembering.
One of those remarkable characters, I’m beyond privileged and honoured to share with you today. Her name is Jane smith and she is my hubbies 3rd Great Grandmother.
Before I share her life with you, let’s look at her family name, Smith.

Smith is one of the most popular surnames in the English-speaking world, particularly common among those of English, Scottish and Irish heritage, but also often used by African Americans as a result of the enslaved being given the surname of their slavers. Smith dates back to the Anglo-Saxon era and derives from the occupation of ‘smith’, from the Old English ‘Smid’, which means to hit or to strike, and was used to describe someone who worked with metal (a blacksmith for example). The Smith surname would have been given to those with a connection to this occupation, in the era before surnames were inherited. Due to the occupational nature of this surname, there are many diverse branches of the Smith family, and there is believed to be no common line of origin to be traced back to.
The earliest occurrence of the Smith surname in our family history documents is from 1418, and Find My Past, (FMP) currently have 24,662,412 records where Smith appears.
The Smith family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. The most Smith families were found in USA in 1880. In 1891 there were 60,270 Smith families living in London. This was about 15% of all the recorded Smith’s in United Kingdom. London had the highest population of Smith families in 1901.
Not all Smiths were angels, apparently. FMP has 37244 in criminal records for Smiths and According to the World War I records, 34458 Smiths served in the First World War.

Here are a very small amount of Smith Surname Resources on The Internet.

• Smith Family History.  Smiths from Derbyshire to the coal mines of the northeast.
• Clan Smith Society.  Smiths in Scotland.
• The Smith Family. Descendants of Ralph Smyth of Hingham, Massachusetts.
• The Elias Smith Family. Smiths from Pennsylvania to Oregon.
• Smith Family History. Johann Schmidt/John Smith line in Virginia and Kentucky.

Now you know a little about the Family name Smith, let me tell you what I found discovered through documentation about, my husbands 3rd paternal Grandmother and my boys 4th paternal Grandmother, Jane Smith.

The Life Of Jane Smith,
Through Documentation,
1815-1855

Welcome back to the year 1815, England.
George III was on the throne. George, Prince Regent was Regent.
Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (Tory) was Prime Minister.
Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh was Foreign Secretary.
And it was the 5th Parliament.
1815 marks the end of years of war between the United Kingdom and France when the Duke of Wellington wins a decisive victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. Fighting in the War of 1812 between the UK and the United States also ceases, peace terms having been agreed at the end of 1814.

1815 also sees the introduction of the Corn Laws which protected British land owners from cheaper foreign imports of corn.
The Cambridge Union Society, one of the oldest debating societies in the world, founded at the University of Cambridge.
The 1815 Philadelphia train accident, a boiler explosion, killed at least 13 people in County Durham.
Jane Austen‘s novel Emma was published. (anonymous; 23 December, dated 1816).
Jones, Watts and Doulton begun life as a stoneware pottery in South London.
The Prince Regent divided the Order of the Bath into three classes: the Knights Grand Cross, Knights Commander and Companions.
Edward John Eyre, English explorer and colonial governor (died 1901) was born.
Sir Humphry Davy announced his invention of the Davy lamp as a coal mining safety lamp.

And Jane Smith was born about 1815, at Orcheston St Mary, Wiltshire, England, to Richard Smith, an Agricultural labourer and Sebro Smith Nee Arman.
The census give her birth year and location as,
1841 – 1816, Wiltshire, England.
1851 – 1816, Orcheston St Mary, Wiltshire, England.
Going from the age on her death certificate, she was born in 1814.

Richard and Sebro already have 3 children, two daughters, Sarah born about 1788 and Rachel, born about, 1791 and a son, Samuel, born about 1794, whom were all born in Wiltshire.

Orcheston (OR-Chest-ton) is a civil parish and village in Wiltshire, England, lying on Salisbury Plain less than a mile north-west of neighbouring Shrewton. The present-day parish combines the two former parishes of Orcheston St Mary and Orcheston St George and includes the hamlet of Elston.

Richard and Sebro, baptised Jane on Sunday the 26th of March 1815, at The Church of England parish church of St John and St Helen, Wroughton, Wiltshire, England.

The Church of England parish church of St John and St Helen has Norman origins but is mostly from the 14th century, with a 15th-century tower. The church was restored by T.H. Wyatt in 1846 and again in 1852, the 1880s and 1905. It was designated as Grade I listed in 1955.

Unfortunately there is no documentation on Jane, until the year 1839.
In 1839, The Monarch was Queen Victoria.
The Prime Minister was William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (Whig).
The Foreign Secretary was Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston.
And it was the 13th Parliament.
A few historic events happen that year, including, The first Henley Royal Regatta was held on the River Thames.
A coal mine explosion at St Hilda pit, South Shields, killed 51 people.
The first Royal Show (agricultural show) was held, in Oxford.
British forces under Sir John Keane captured the fortress city of Ghazni, Afghanistan in the Battle of Ghazni during the First Anglo-Afghan War.
British forces seized Hong Kong as a base, as it prepared to wage the First Opium War.
George Bradshaw published the first national railway timetable, Bradshaw’s Railway Time Tables and Assistant to Railway Travelling, in Manchester.
Between 5,000 and 10,000 Chartist sympathisers led by John Frost, many of them coal miners, marched on Newport, Monmouthshire, to liberate Chartist prisoners; around 22 were killed when troops, directed by Thomas Phillips, the mayor, fired on the crowd. This was the last large-scale armed civil rebellion against authority in mainland Britain and saw the most deaths.

And more importantly to us, Jane, married John Williams, Son of James and Elizabeth Williams nee Blewden, in The Church Of Orcheston St. Mary, Orcheston, Wiltshire, England, on Sunday the 24th of November, 1839.
John was a single man and Jane a spinster.
John was residing at Maddington and Jane at Orcheston St. Mary.
Their witnesses were Charles and Elizabeth Dewey.
John had followed in his Father James’s footsteps and was working as a butcher at the time of his marriage.
Their Fathers were named as Richard Smith, a Carrier and John Williams, a Butcher.

Their marriage banns had been read, at the Parish Church of Maddington, Wiltshire, England, on the 10th, 17th and 24th November 1839.

The Church Of Orcheston St. Mary, dates from the 13th century and is Grade II* listed. In 1971 the benefice was united with those of Chitterne and Tilshead; today the church is part of the Salisbury Plain benefice, which also includes the churches at Shrewton.

Mark and I visited the church. It is a tiny church and very eerie.
Ravens circle above making the atmosphere even more dislikable. After a quick look at the alter, Mark and I couldn’t wait to get out of there. I wonder how it would feel on a clear summers day. I get the feeling it would still make us feel uneasy. We won’t be going back in a hurry.

Jumping forward to the year 1841, Queen Victoria sat upon the throne. William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (Whig) (until 30 August); Robert Peel(Conservative) (starting 30 August) We’re the priministers.
Foreign Secretary were Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (until 2 September) George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (starting 2 September). It was the 13th and 14th Parliament.
The United Kingdom formally occupied Hong Kong.
The active volcano Mount Erebus in Antarctica was discovered and named by James Clark Ross. Ross discovers the “Victoria Barrier”, later known as the Ross Ice Shelf.

The Parish’s of Shrewton and Maddington were devastatingly flooded, resulting in the destruction of 38 cottages and other buildings.

James Axford of Maddington small terrier took to nursing 4 young foxes while nursing her own two puppies.

And the United Kingdom Census was held, which was the first to record names and approximate ages of every household member.
It shows, Jane and her husband John lived in Maddington, Amesbury, Wiltshire, England, on Sunday the 6th of June, 1841.
Anne Williams and Sarah Sopp, were also residing with them.
John was working as a butcher. 

Butchers can be traced back centuries, having been evidenced in Roman or even Prehistoric times, where the love of meat began and steps towards an impactful and game-changing industry took shape.
Romans brought with them different skills and approaches to meat, introducing the chopping block and cleaver. This caused game-changing adaptations to the world of butchery. 
During the early stage of butcher shop development, it was common belief that nothing was to be wasted. With many meat merchants heading to market to sell their stock, butchers began standing out as they specialised in the more complex cuts of meat such as heads and feet and how to make use of these in cooking. This new take on ‘the meat market’ helped to increase the popularity of meat across the community, helping to secure the Butcher’s Shop as a reliable and essential food source, which helped to introduce the concept of trade and barter for necessary produce.
Moving towards the Middle-Ages, butchery had secured itself as a fully-fledged, money-making institution. The introduction of ‘The Butcher’s Guild’, a moral code within a trade, ensured that some health and safety regulations were introduced to ensure safe consumption, alongside the thriving environment of the livestock market. However, with distinct hierarchy within society, otherwise known as the feudal system, meant that there was a clear class divide when it came the luxuries the general public could afford and enjoy, with the majority of meat being set aside for those of higher class or nobility. In fact, during this time butchers were highly respected during these times due to their superior knowledge of anatomy, much like doctors or dentists.
The 19th century saw a big shift for the local butcher, with the population growing and many of those quickly populating the towns and cities, urban butcher shops were busier than ever. 
A trip to the butcher was a daily occurrence for many in a Victorian households to ensure a fresh and nutritious meal. 
Meat became a hugely popular source of food, and Victorians stuck with the ‘waste not want not’ attitude seen in Roman times, using as much of the animal as possible. The wealthy would enjoy large roasting joints, using the bones and excess cuts to create soups and more. The lower classes used cheaper cuts, and scraps of meat to make hearty dinners such as sausages and stews.

On the 4th of April, 1842 in Saint James, Devizes, Wiltshire, England, Jane and John’s first Son was born, whom they named John Williams. 
John senior was still working as a Butcher, at the time of his son John’s birth.
Jane registered his birth on the 10th May 1842, at Devizes, Wiltshire, England.
She gave their residence as, South End, Devizes, Wiltshire.

Devizes /dɪˈvaɪzɪz/ is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century civil war between Stephen of England and Empress Matilda, and again during the English Civil War when the Cavaliers lifted the siege at the Battle of Roundway Down. Devizes remained under Royalist control until 1645, when Oliver Cromwell attacked and forced the Royalists to surrender. The castle was destroyed in 1648 on the orders of Parliament, and today little remains of it.
From the 16th century Devizes became known for its textiles, and by the early 18th century it held the largest corn market in the West Country, constructing the Corn Exchange in 1857. In the 18th century, brewing, curing of tobacco, and snuff-making were established. The Wadworth Brewery was founded in the town in 1875.
Standing at the west edge of the Vale of Pewsey, the town is about 10.5 miles (16.9 km) southeast of Chippenham and 11 miles (18 km) north-east of the county town of Trowbridge. It has nearly five hundred listed buildings, some notable churches, a town hall and a green in the centre.

Heartbreak sadly followed as on Monday the 13th of November, 1843, in Wroughton, Jane’s Father, Richard Smith, a Labourer, passed away, aged 79.
Richard died from, Decay Of Nature, Aka old age.
Jane’s Sister, Sarah Jones nee Smith, of Wroughton, was present and registered Richards death on, Friday the 17th November, 1843, in the Swindon and Highworth district of Wiltshire.

Jane laid her Father Richard, to rest, at The church of St John the Baptist & St Helen, Wroughton, Wiltshire, England, on the 18th November 1843.
Richard was the 783rd burial.

Just a few short months later, Janes Mother, Sebro Smith nee Arman also died on the 15th of January 1844 in Wroughton, Wiltshire, when she was 76 years old. Sebro died from, Decay of Nature. Fanny Little of Wroughton, was present and registered her death on the 16th of January 1844.

Jane laid her mother to rest on the 19th January 1844, at The parish church of St. John the Baptist and St. Helen, Wroughton, Wiltshire, England.
Sebro was the 794th burial.

 
Wroughton is a large village and civil parish in northeast Wiltshire, England. It is part of the Borough of Swindon and lies along the A4361 between Swindon and Avebury; the road into Swindon crosses the M4 motorway between junctions 15 and 16. The village is about 2.2 miles (3.5 km) south of Swindon town centre on the edge of the Marlborough Downs, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town of Marlborough is about 11 miles (18 km) to the south, and the World Heritage Site at Avebury is about 7 miles (11 km) to the south.
The parish includes North Wroughton, formerly a small settlement on the road towards Swindon but now part of the built-up area; and the hamlets of Elcombe and Overtown.

To loose one of your parents is bad enough but to loose both your parents in such a short time, must have been incredibly hard. I have no idea how she would have even begun to process and grieve for them.
Loosing a parents leave an incredibly deep void in our soul and heart, one that can not, no matter the time that passes, never begins to heal.
Somehow you learn to live with the emptiness, the what ifs and the pain, but in truth nothing is ever the same, you are not the same, how can you be, you’ve lost part of your soul, part of your existence and one of your creators.
Too loose both, is beyond my comprehension, I just know that your soul and spirit could never recover from a double loss like Jane had.
Thankfully Jane, had her family to motivate her, a reason to soldier on and with a growing belly, she at least had a silver lining to look forward to.
I sincerely hope that the baby that grow inside her womb, gave her the strength to push forward, and conquer the demons that death always brings.

On Friday the19th of January, 1844, John and Jane’s, second Son was born at, Orcheston St Mary, Amesbury Wiltshire, England.
They named him, William Williams. 
At the time of Williams birth, his father, John was still working as a Butcher.
Jane registered her son Williams birth on Wednesday the 24th January 1844.
She gave their abode as, Orcheston St Mary.

Jane and John, had their sons John and William Williams, baptised on Friday the 3rd of May 1844, at Orcheston St Mary, Wiltshire, England.

On the 25th August, 1847, Jane gave birth to another son, whom they called Albert Williams.
He was born at Bridge Street, Bradford, Wiltshire and Somerset, England . I think it’s known now as Bradford on Avon. Please don’t quote me on that.
His father John was working as a Policeman. To be honest this throw me a little as he had been working as a Butcher until this point. I went back and checked Alberts birth year and location on the census’s and also rechecked the birth index’s and it all seems correct. Maybe John, just needed a change in occupation or possibly was just helping out.
Jane registered her son Alberts birth on the 5th October 1846 in the Bradford Union district of Wiltshire and Somerset.
Albert went on to marry, Eliza Phoebe Hannah Arnold, daughter of Mr David Arnold and Mrs Elizabeth Arnold.

Bradford-on-Avon (sometimes Bradford on Avon or Bradford upon Avon) is a town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset, which had a population of 9,402 at the 2011 census. The town’s canal, historic buildings, shops, pubs and restaurants make it popular with tourists.
The history of the town can be traced back to Roman origins. It has several buildings dating from the 17th century, when the town grew due to the thriving English woollen textile industry.
The earliest evidence of habitation is fragments of Romansettlements above the town. In particular, archaeological digs have revealed the remains of a large Roman villa with a well-preserved mosaic on the playing fields of St Laurence School. The centre of the town grew up around the ford across the river Avon, hence the origin of the town’s name (“Broad-Ford”). This was supplemented in Norman times by the stone bridge that still stands today. The Norman side is upstream, and has pointed arches; the newer side has curved arches. The Town Bridge and Chapel is a grade I listed building. It was originally a packhorse bridge, but widened in the 17th century by rebuilding the western side. On 2 July 1643 the town was the site of a skirmish in the English Civil War, when Royalists seized control of the bridge on their way to the Battle of Lansdowne.
On the bridge stands a small building which was originally a chapel but was later used as a town lock-up. The weathervane on top takes the form of a gudgeon (an early Christian symbol), hence the local saying “under the fish and over the water”.
The river provided power for the wool mills that gave the town its wealth. The town has 17th-century buildings dating from the most successful period of the local textile industry. The best examples of weavers’ cottages are on Newtown, Middle Rank and Tory Terraces. Daniel Defoe visited Bradford-on-Avon in the early 18th century and commented: “They told me at Bradford that it was no extra-ordinary thing to have clothiers in that country worth, from ten thousand, to forty thousand pounds a man [equivalent to £1.3M to £5.3M in 2007], and many of the great families, who now pass for gentry in those counties, have been originally raised from, and built up by this truly noble manufacture.” With improving mechanisation in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, the wool weavingindustry moved from cottages to purpose-built woollen mills adjacent to the river, where they used water and steam to power the looms. Around thirty such mills were built in Bradford-on-Avon alone, and these prospered further until the English woollen industry shifted its centre of power to Yorkshire in the late 19th century. The last local mill closed in 1905. Many have since stood empty and some became derelict.

The police are a part of everyday life and it would be almost unimaginable to think of a world where they don’t exist, but it may surprise you to learn that police as we know them weren’t around until the Victorian era!
When the police force did eventually come to be, they operated very differently to how they do now. It’s no secret life was harder in the Victorian era and punishment for crime was – by and large – much harsher than it is now.
Robert Peel, former Home Secretary, is who we have to thank for introducing us to the police as we know them in England. In 1929, he established the Metropolitan Police in London following the passing of the Metropolitan Act of 1829 which was designed to correct poor public behaviour and law. It was the first time any such sense of law and order was being enforced outside of Parish constables who – for the most part – were regular people policing their local area. Essentially, prior to the Metropolitan Act, local people policed themselves, and as a result, crime was rising, hence the need for action.
There wasn’t a huge number of people who wanted to join the police force, and many flirted with the idea for all but a matter of days. It is thought that of the 2,800 first policemen, less than a quarter actually stayed on. The rest either left or were fired, and those who did stay were far from the pinnacle of public protection we see today.
Nowadays, we think of the police of being upstanding members of society, well presented and committed to their jobs, but this was far from the case for those who joined the police force in Victorian times.
Often, those who signed up to join the police were scruffy, unfit, unintelligent and not committed to their role. In fact, it is said that the first-ever man inducted as a police officer was fired after four hours because he was drunk whilst on the job! This did the Metropolitan Police no favours when it came to getting the public to trust them, and so a new criterion was later put in place specifying that to join the police, you had to be: 

• Male 
• Aged 20-27 years 
• A minimum of 5’7” tall 
• Fit and healthy
• Literate
• Have a clean background free of poor/wrong behaviour

The high turnover of the first policemen could well have been down to the fact their lives were so tightly controlled. The public thought the police were spying on them, so to try and combat this, policemen were forced to wear their uniforms both on and off duty so people could identify them.
They had to work seven days a week and were only allowed five (unpaid) days off every year. They had to request permission to marry or even go to lunch with a member of the public, and they were not allowed to vote in elections. This was so they could abate the perception that they were government informants.
Victorian police looked much unlike officers today, although there are definite similarities between the two. For example, modern-day police wear hats, as did those in the Victorian times, although Victorian police wore long, solid hats that served both to protect their heads and act as impromptu stepping stools when needed.
They also donned long coats known as ‘Peeler coats’. The name ‘Peeler’ denotes from the fact police in the 1800s were often called ‘Peelers’ or ‘Bobbies’ – both words being an ode to their creator, Robert Peel. Many Londoners still call police people ‘Bobbies’ today.
The Peeler coat was comparable to a tunic – relatively long in length, dark blue or black, and with little to no detail besides the front buttons. It was designed not to startle the public and to make the police blend in with everyone else as much as possible.

The police in the Victorian times were not quite as thorough as they are now, as exampled by the fact Jack the Ripper was never caught. That being said, it was hard for Victorians to solve crimes given many crimes happened at night and street lighting was poor, they had no access to DNA evidence or CCTV, and though people recognised them as peace-keepers, no one wanted to be seen as being a ‘grass’, so witnesses were hard to come by.
Paperwork and keeping records was not a priority for the Victorian police force, and as such, many crimes went unsolved. In some cases, the police didn’t even bother to investigate. That being said, if you were found guilty, you could expect to face a grim sentence as Victorian punishments for crime were severe, to say the least.
The weapons carried by the Victorian police have largely remained unchanged. Truncheons were the primary weapon, and they generally still are. The Metropolitan Police opted for truncheons over firearms because they wanted to appear non-threatening and non-combative in order to gain the public’s trust.
In the beginning, police in Victorian England was deeply mistrusted and many people disliked them heavily. The Victorians thought that by introducing a police force, the government were trying to hamper their right to free speech and arrest anyone who disagreed with them. Though their goal was in fact the opposite, the Victorian police force scarcely managed to sway the public in their favour.
It wasn’t a legal requirement for counties across England to have a police force, and so entrenched was the public’s distaste for them that it wasn’t until the Police Act of 1856 that saw every county in England forced to set up a police force.
After this, the reputation of the police slowly bettered as a result of their prominence, though it still took quite some time for people to warm to the idea that their taxes were being spent on such a thing. Eventually, when it became clear the police were indeed having an effect on the levels of crime, they became less of a target for violent attacks and the Victorian police lamp soon enough became associated with safety and protection, as it is today.

Let’s get back to Jane.
On Thursday the 29th of March,1849, Jane gave birth to a Son, whom they named, James Williams. 
James was born in Maddington, Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. 
His Father, John, was back working as a Butcher. 
Jane registered James birth on Saturday the 21st of April, 1849, in the Amesbury district of Wiltshire. 
She gave her abode as Maddinton. 
James went on to marry  twice, I haven’t looked into one of his first marriage yet, I think her name was Emma or Amma, but I do know he married Widow Isabella Drewett, daughter of William Drewett and Elizabeth Manns.

Maddington is a small settlement and former civil parish on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. It is on the River Till. Its nearest town is Amesbury, about 6 miles (10 km) to the southeast.
At the time of the Domesday Book (1086), the manor was held by Amesbury Abbey. In 1825 the parish contained seventy-eight houses and had a population of 369.^[2] By 1841 the parish of Maddington extended east and south of the village.
For local government purposes, Maddington was added to the adjoining Shrewton parish in 1934. As Shrewton expanded during the 20th century, Maddington became an area of Shrewton.St Mary’s Church was built in the 13th century, then partly rebuilt in the 17th and 19th. It was declared redundant in 1975 and is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.
Maddington Manor is a two-storey 18th-century house in brick, remodelled and extended at the front in the 1830s.
You can read more about Maddington, here.

On Sunday the 15th of April, 1849, at St Mary’s Church, Maddington, Wiltshire, Jane and John, baptised, James. It was a private baptism.
They also had their Son, Albert, baptised on Sunday, the 13th May, 1849, at St Mary’s Church, Maddington, Wiltshire

St Mary’s Church in the Maddington area of Shrewton, Wiltshire, in the west of England, was built in the late 12th century. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and is now a redundant church in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. It was declared redundant on 29 December 1975, and was vested in the Trust on 26 July 1979.

St Mary’s Church is pretty spectacular, it oozes history, with possibly Mason markings, Compass-drawn hexafoil, or daisy-wheel, Overlapping circle and semi-circle. An apotropaic symbol or geometrical code and so many more.

St Mary’s Church is very peaceful, in its shady churchyard. It is surrounded by several ancient and beautiful houses, including the Old Rectory and the Manor.
It’s definitely well worth a visit if you are passing through, however it isn’t the easiest to find but if you park in the little parking area by Maddington Church Rooms, known affectionately by us locals as “Maddy Hall”, and walk up the secluded pathway you’ll find it no trouble at all. There were plenty of dog walkers around to ask if you get a little lost. I found it very strange that so many buildings head been built around the church, making it impossible to see from the main road. I’m guessing that is possibly was originally situated in the grounds of the Manor.
The church has two burial sites. The older burials are situated around the church and the newer graves are in a fenced area next to the church. Inside the church you can find a printed burial register and location maps. Unfortunately the Williams that I know are buried there, are not named among those listed.

If you love old buildings and history as I do, you can find a medieval prison, on the main road, which is well worth a gander at. It’s beyond fascinating.

On the 3rd of February 1851, Jane gave birth to a wee boy, whom they named Richard Williams. Richard was born at Maddington, Amesbury, Wiltshire, England.
His Father John, was working as a Butcher at the time of his birth.
Jane registered his birth on the 20th of February 1851, in Orcheston, Amesbury, Wiltshire.

Jane and John, were residing in Maddington, Amesbury, Wiltshire, England, on Sunday the 30th of March 1851, with their Children, John, William, Albert, James and Richard. James was working as a Butcher. 

Jane and John, baptised Richard, on Sunday the 8th June 1851, at St Mary’s Church, Maddington, Wiltshire.

Heartbreakingly Jane never got to see Richard grow up.
Jane died on Thursday the 3rd of May,1855, when she was 41 years old.
She died from Consumption also known as Tuberculosis.
Rhoda Kyte, from Maddington, Wiltshire, was present and registered her death on the 9th May 1855.

Jane’s Family laid her to rest on Wednesday the 9th May 1855, at St. Mary’s Church, Maddington, Wiltshire, England.

As you read earlier, Mark and I visited St Mary’s in Maddington, in hopes of finding her resting spot but unfortunately the old graves situated around the church are unreadable, however I am in contact with the vicar so hopefully I will have some follow up information shortly. 
We were hoping that we could get some drone footage for you but unfortunately it is a no fly zone due to Salisbury Plain, understandably, the same goes for St Mary’s Church, Orcheston, which we visited also. I have never been to such a creepy church as St Mary’s, Orcheston. All above the church ravens circled, like something out a horror movie. Mark couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

Jane’s Legacy lives on through her five boys..
May she Rest in Peace.
1815-1855

🦋🦋🦋

I have brought and paid for all certificates,   
Please do not download or use them without my permission.   
All you have to do is ask.  
Thank you.