SMALLWOOD FAMILY HISTORY

THE  EARLY SMALLWOODS OF CHATHAM, KENT (TREE 552)

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Between 1705 and 1719, Thomas and Sarah Smallwood baptised ten children in the parish of St. Mary, Chatham, most of whom died in infancy. Their son Daniel (1718) may be the one who married Frances Weyman in Stoke in 1766, but Frances was already in her 40's and the couple do not appear to have had any children.

It is possible that the Walter Smallwood who married Mary Cannon in Rochester Cathedral in 1721 was an older child of Thomas and Sarah. Mary died in 1723 (having borne one daughter who died in infancy), and Walter remarried in 1725 before baptising two more children in Chatham : Thomas (1727-50) and Martha (1729). Thomas went on to marry Anne, baptising Sarah (1747) and William Walter (1748) in Chatham and possibly an earlier Thomas (1740-41) and Thomas (1742) in Stoke. This latter Thomas married Frances Howard in Stoke in 1762, baptising two daughters there in 1764 and 1769, the latter dying later in 1769 along with her mother.

Although the only male Smallwood 'loose end' in this picture is William Walter (1748), it is tempting to speculate that this line (or lines) may be antecedent to the later local Smallwood families in St. Mary Cray and West Malling. Stoke is roughly 6 miles to the north-east of Chatham (albeit across the Medway), West Malling roughly 7 miles to the south-west, and St. Mary Cray roughly 15 miles to the west, now on the outskirts of London. Other stray Smallwoods appear in the latter half of the 18th century in Chatham itself, in Rochester, and in Hoo, between Stoke and Rochester.

OUTLINE OF TREE

SUMMARY OF RESEARCHERS

If you are researching this branch of the Smallwoods and would like to have your name or contact details listed here, please contact Ian Hall.