Family tradition has it that William S. SMITH & Sarah Ann JOHNSON eloped to Paris, France, married there and lived there at least until the birth of their first child, William. Having found the birth record of their son, William [7965], it is now known that William S. and Sarah, along with William’s father, Thomas SMITH, all were living at 61 Rue Marbeuf, Paris, at the time of the boy’s birth. William S. Smith stated his occupation then as shoemaker, which is unusual, since he was not known for that in England or Canada. It is not known at what point in this story Thomas (the boy’s grandfather) showed up in Paris, but it does show that the grandparents knew where their kids had run off to. Thomas participated in the registration of his grandson’s birth and his signature appears 3 times in the record. Another interesting point about the birth record is that William gave 2 middle names: Henry and Starmer. No other record mentions the name “Henry.” According to the birth record, the birth took place at 15 Rue de Ponthieu, just a 4 minute walk from their residence.

As for the actual marriage record of William and Sarah, having not found it in the records of Paris, I returned to search English records armed with a new alias for William. In that Paris birth register, William recorded his name as “William Henry Starmer Smith.” The use of “Henry” is of unknown origin but it turns out that he also appears to have used that alias when he married Sarah. I'm still not in possession of the marriage certificate for final confirmation, but it does appear that they did marry in England rather than Paris and that Sarah was only 18. Based on the birth date of Willie, I had estimated the marriage was in July or August of 1877. But the record I found indicates marriage in late 1875. I won't know the exact date and location until I obtain the certificate, though the registration district, Strand, implies a location in either Middlesex or London, which explains why I didn't find anything in Northamptonshire.

At some point they returned to England and as of 3 Apr 1881, were living at 34 Linton St., Harpurhey, Lancashire. [729] But it is puzzling why they went there rather than going back to Northamptonshire. Later they emigrated to Canada in 1882 or 1883. [731]

At the time of the birth of son, Gordon, the family lived at Craigflower Road and Sunnyside Avenue in Victoria West, BC. [95], [1016]

In 1892, while Sarah was pregnant with Grace, the whole family, including Nelly and Gertrude, traveled to England to visit Sarah’s parents. By unlucky circumstance, William’s brother, John Alfred, suffered an accidental death during William’s visit to Northampton, and so he was present at John’s funeral. [4075] They arrived back in Canada, with new baby, Grace, aboard the S.S. Parisian, on 14-JUN-1893 (or possibly on the 16th), and took the CPR train to the west coast. [2186] The uncertainty in the arrival date is twofold, first, the 14th is from Ancestry.com’s index entry, but the actual list does not state the arrival date, only the departure date (8-JUN-1893), secondly, another web site source claims arrival on the 16th; and finally, the ship’s master recorded on the passenger list a forecast of a 32 day journey, which would have them arriving 10-JUL-1893. [2187]

In 1894, William played the unlikely role of matchmaker, bringing together a couple who met in person for the first time the evening before their wedding day. [2178] The bridegroom was Thomas Alfred MILLS, of Nelson (but born in England), and the bride was Beatrice Jane WATSON, of Northamptonshire, England. They were married in Revelstoke, BC, 22-SEP-1894. [2180], [2181] William then returned to his home in Sunnyside, Victoria, BC. [2178] There was a Beatrice Jane WATSON, born in the 3rd quarter of 1870, in the Wellingbro' (Wellingborough) registration district, the majority of which is part of Northamptonshire. [462] If that is her, then she was about 24 when she got married. Other than the fact that both William and Beatrice were born in Northamptonshire, exactly how she and William Starmer SMITH knew each other is unknown; she would only have been a child when William left England. However, the marriage record shows that Beatrice’s mother was Jane CRADDOCK, which suggests that she could be an in-law of William’s wife (Sarah Ann JOHNSON’s uncle, Charles JOHNSON, married Marianne CRADDOCK). As for Thomas MILLS, he later ended up being a pallbearer at William’s funeral. [988]

Evidence suggests William was in Nelson, BC, at least by 1897, based on a news item indicating that “W. S. Smith” had bid on a job to paint the fire hall and city lockup, but his was not the winning bid. [2179] The year 1897 also agrees well with Gordon N. SMITH’s written history of the family. [730]

Both William and his wife, Sarah, appeared to prefer to emphasize the name “Starmer” rather than William. [8138] [8140]

13-SEP-2009: searched www.bmdregisters.co.uk for William Smith within Marriages 1878 (+/- 5 years), all locations; 10 hits, none match.
13-JUL-2011: searched www.bmdregisters.co.uk, all record groups, for marriage of William SMITH, in France, 1877±5yrs; zero hits.

In June 2011, I contracted with an American genealogist living in Paris, France, to try to locate records of the marriage of William and Sarah and the birth of their son, William Parnell. Unfortunately she found no trace of them in the time period they are believed to have resided there.

23-MAY-2020, I examined the Tables Décennales (Decennial Tables) for marriages in the period 1873-1882, for all 20 arrondissements of Paris, for both JOHNSON and SMITH, and did not find this marriage.
http://archives.paris.fr/s/7/tables-decennales/?&a...todo=modif_recherche

18-DEC-2020: Possible match found at FreeBMD for Marriages Dec Qtr. 1875 in the district of Strand, which spans the boundaries of the counties of Middlesex and London. Volume 1b, page 1042. The names given are Sarah Ann JOHNSON and William Henry S. SMITH. This is consistent with his use of the name “William Henry Starmer Smith” in the birth record for son William. Will require actual certificate to confirm. See index pages “1875M4-J-0160.jpg” and “1875M4-S-0270.jpg”.


found “death notices” entry in an online index by the City of Victoria:
Smith W. Starmer 1901.12.05 48 Nelson, BC Reference = Tim 1901.12.09,08 (Victoria Daily Times, 09-DEC-1901, page 8)
[5811]