A "John Smith" possibly in Cardiff in 1898 (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Wednesday, May 22, 2013, 18:15 (4204 days ago) @ Regis

Hi Regis,
I'm glad you found my post of interest, however I must apologise for not making myself entirely clear. What I tried to say was that despite my searching different members of YOUR Smith family on various FH databases, after a pleasant hour I still found nothing to add to the above thread, ie no-one definitely from YOUR family, that hasn't already been mentioned. Like you and I'm sure MPG I searched the 1881 Census in depth, but no luck at all. However as they appear to be travellers this didn't surprise me at all. SO what next I thought ?.
Sometimes searching Old Newspapers can throwup links to one's own family, altho' for most of us I suspect, certainly me, these are usually vague and not direct relations/ancestors except if they appeared in the local Courts or met untimely deaths ! - there were certainly no significant front page "movers and shakers" in my tree that I've found.

I searched the Welsh papers site because it's entirely free and because your family spent a lot of time in South Wales, I didn't necessarily expect any close hits given how many John & Priscilla Smiths were in the area in Victorian times.
I had hoped the above link to the site would take you directly to the single article that I also copied in full, but it seems it didn't ?. The link still works for me but I think you've proven what I had sometimes wondered, ie the link works JUST for me because my pc still has the relevant "cookies" in it further to my original search, but for anyone else maybe not ??.

Eitherway, apologies for not making myself clearer, NO despite the happy coincidence# that it was the right subject and particularly time and place, I found that article entirely by chance while randomly searching for "John Smith". I posted it purely as I thought it might amuse you, I certainly didn't think it was hinting at YOUR specific John Smith. In truth it's quite probable, I guess, that the original article was a piece of humourous fiction albeit based on real observations ?. Either way I thought it nicely summed up the predicament you're in.

I have now amended the last line of my post accordingly.

Re your mention of a Gipsy Smith, I'm sorry but I don't know where this has come from, I cannot see such a name anywhere in this thread or within the newspaper article ? Presumably this is where my link has "just" taken you to the initial results pages(s) of my search, from which the above article is just one of those many "possibles" ?. It's for you to decide whether any of these many hits are actually linked to your family.

I hope that clarifies things, good luck with your searches, Jeff

# Then again, was it coincidence, or was it fate ???.... :-)