THE GUERNSEY SMITHS

As we have seen earlier, William Davey Smith arrived on Guernsey about 1790, although there is a suggestion that he may have frequently visited for a number of years in the course of his "business" with his uncle John, probably shipping of one kind or another. If our research is accurate, he had 7 children when he arrived. Just how he and Rebecca Stanbury got together is a mystery. At the time of their marriage, he was 38 and she only 19. Why a 19 year old girl "from the Forest" would marry a 38 year old sea captain with 7 children defies logic. One theory is that she had been engaged as his housekeeper, and the romance blossomed.

Whatever the reason, they were married March 19, 1795, settled into Forest parish and started a large family of 8 children, 5 of whom survived infancy:

William Davey: December 22, 1795, died November 3, 1797
Thomas: June 10, 1797, died May 17, 1883
Peter: January 10, 1799, died October 22, 1832
Joseph: January 12, 1801, died June 17, 1801
Elizabeth Catherine: May 7, 1802, died May 5, 1803
Mary Davey: March 25, 1804, died November 23, 1868
Sidney: October 18, 1807, date of death unknown
Charles: March 1, 1810, date of death unknown

Research indicates that Thomas, Sidney and Charles went over to County Surrey in England, possibly to join their half-brother William from their father's first marriage, married, and raised large families there (10 children each!). Thomas appears to have lost his first wife Hannah in childbirth, returning to Guernsey to remarry and die there. It also appears that his children Thomas and Charles came with him, as did Charles' children. Thomas and Sarah, and that all of those children married on Guernsey and raised families there. It is interesting that 3 of those 4 marriages involved members of another family (Druce) which came over from Somerset at about the same time.

Mary Davey never married and, in fact, lived with Rebecca all her life. They operated a millinery business in downtown St. Peter Port. She died of natural causes as noted above.

William appears to have been a ship's captain and Peter quite possibly seved with him as a cabin boy. Family folklore has it that John, Annies grandfather, was at sea with his father at age 14 when his father was washed over the side and lost at sea, John bringing the ship back into port. We now know that John's father Peter, in fact, drowned in the harbor when John was 3, so we must presume that the legend lost a generation in the translation, and that it was William who went over the side, and Peter who brought the ship back to port. This theory holds water in that there is no record of William's burial, and deaths at sea were not usually recorded locally. If the theory holds, then we presume William to have died 1813-14.

Rebecca appears to have been a lady of some substance on the island. Census data shows that she and Mary operated a millinery shop in downtown St. Peter Port, she lived in a rather posh neighborhood as early as 1827, she and Mary lived in a rural area near town in 1851 and at the time of her death, they were living downtown near the harbor. Census data shows her occupation in the later years as "annuitant", which at the time meant she lived on the interest from invested captial. It could be that William, as a ship's captain, had life insurance from the ship owners or, as some believe, she had the proceeds from his privateering enterprise (a legal form of piracy licensed by the Crown, and a major industry in Guernsey). She died of natural causes in St. Peter Port Hospital September 3, 1861, at age 85, remarkable for those times.

Peter was a mariner all his life. He married Mary Anne Farnham, a local girl whose parents had come over from county Dorset, on February 19, 1824. He was at that time a Revenue Service agent, based on the northernmost Channel Island of Alderney. Their first child was born on Alderney, and they then returned to St. Peter Port to complete their family. As will be seen, this was a marriage of unending tragedy for them both, but especially for Mary Anne. Their children were:

Mary: December 26, 1824, died August 21, 1849
William: March 11, 1826, died January 16, 1868
John: December 15, 1827, died December 23, 1884 (Victoria)
Thomas James: May 12, 1829, died February 2, 1830
Peter: April 14, 1830, died April 16, 1830
Amelia Ann: May 5, 1831, died August 2, 1831
Elizabeth Amelia: April 1, 1832, died January 15, 1833

If the dates of death are closely examined, it can be seen that Mary Anne lost 4 infant children and her husband in less than a three year period, and that she was pregnant when one of the children died, and also pregnant when Peter died. She also outlived her oldest daughter. She died March 8, 1857, of a stroke.

Mary never married and died at age 24. William married and had 3 children, living in St. Sampson: as that is the island's deep water port, it would appear that he maintained the family seafaring tradition. He died in St. Peter Port of liver disease at age 42. We have not traced his children yet.

John was also a mariner while remaining on Guernsey, according to official civil records, and as we know left the island with his wife and three children in 1862-63, as will be detailed later.

Peter began his career with the Revenue Service, a combination of coast guard and customs service mainly directed at intercepting pirate ships and smugglers. He also worked as purser aboard a costal schooner based on St. Malo, France and, at the time of his drowning death in 1832, was working as ad day laborer on board a brig in St. Peter Port harbor. That job seems to be a significant come down from his previous positions, and it is entirely possible that he was working undercover for the Revenue Service on the last two jobs. The circumstances of his death by drowning are suspicious to say the least, and it may be that he was recognized by another worker, and "paid back" for something he had done at an earlier time. We will never know, but the enclosed article from the Guernsey Star (see in Appendix II) makes for interesting reading!