Records of James Smithson on Ancestry

Ancestry is a major source of information if you are filling out the detail of James Smithson in your family tree. With over 30 billion records and 100 million family trees to search, Ancestry is one of the key websites to visit to help you trace your family tree back in time. Free trials are normally available and are a good way to fill out a lot of your tree quickly.

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DNA

Sometimes you can run into a brick wall in your tree and you just don't have enough evidence to make that next step back in time. If you are lucky then you may find some previously undiscovered Smithson ancestors. Additionally, the modern DNA test can give you a breakdown of your ethnic mix - you may be surprised at the results!

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Birth, Death and Marriage Records for James Smithson and the Smithson Genealogy

Birth, Death and Marriage records are often the best method of making the links to the Smithson Genealogy that will form part of your family tree. Although records vary from country to country, they are normally the most formal record of a person's relations. From the sources listed below it will be possible to locate a birth record and, from that record, a birth certificate may be obtainable which is likely to list the names of the parents, therefore taking you back another generation. A marriage certificate may also list the names of the respective fathers of the bride and groom which may then help you to find them earlier in life on a census record enabling you to fill out more detail in the Smithson family tree.

Study Parish Records for James Smithson at Find My Past.

Investigate for the UK registered births, marriages and deaths of James Smithson using the FreeBMD database.

Check out Genealogy BankGenealogy Bank for James Smithson records.

Explore MyHeritage for James Smithson information.

Search the LDS Database for records about James Smithson.

Research the Smithson surname using fold3 Military Archives and view images of original Smithson Military records.

ukDid you know that there are currently 3453 people with the Smithson surname in the UK? Smithson is now ranked number 1634 for popularity in the UK.

Smithson Genealogy Databases

Another way to build your tree quickly is to use the research other people have already done. This can help to confirm or refute your own deductions - however, be wary of taking this data at face value as other researchers may not have been as meticulous as you. Always try to back up deductions with some definitive sources rather than relying too heavily on others.

Look at the WikiTree database for user contributed records for James Smithson.

Study MyTrees for information on the Smithson family and people looking to contact living Smithson relations.

Study One Great Family for Smithson records submitted by people who are already researching the Smithson Family Tree.

Find James Smithson from Ireland on findmypast.ie

Smithson Forums

There are a number of forums which are dedicated to rearching particular surnames. These can be good places to share your findings and also to tap into the knowledge that others may already have. These can sometimes be a good way of finding living relations as these tend not to show up on the other sources of information for privacy reasons.

Research the Smithson surname using Genealogy.com forums .

ukDid you know that there are currently 9115 people with the Smithson surname in the USA? Smithson is ranked number 154 for popularity in the USA.

Miscellaneous Smithson Databases

Investigate the Ellis Island Database for information on James Smithson. This database contains over 25 million immigration records detailing passengers arriving in the United States of America.

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Some Famous People called James Smithson

James Smithson

James Smithson (c. 1765 – 27 June 1829) was an English chemist and mineralogist. He published numerous scientific papers for the Royal Society during the late 1700s as well as assisting in the development of calamine, which would eventually be renamed after him as "smithsonite". He was the founding donor of the Smithsonian Institution, which also bears his name.

Born in Paris, France, as the illegitimate child of by Elizabeth Hungerford Keate Macie and Hugh Percy, the 1st Duke of Northumberland, he was given the French name Jacques-Louis Macie. His birth date was not recorded and the exact location of his birth is unknown; it is possibly in the Pentemont Abbey. Shortly after his birth he naturalized to Britain where his name was anglicized to James Louis Macie. He adopted his father's original surname of Smithson in 1800, following his mother's death. He attended university at Pembroke College, Oxford in 1782, eventually graduating with a Master of Arts in 1786. As a student he participated in a geological expedition to Scotland and studied chemistry and mineralogy. Highly regarded for his blowpipe analysis and his ability to work in miniature, Smithson spent much of his life traveling extensively throughout Europe; he published some 27 papers in his life.

Smithson never married and had no children; therefore, when he wrote his will, he left his estate to his nephew, or his nephew's family if his nephew died before Smithson. If his nephew were to die without heirs, however, Smithson's will stipulated that his estate be used "to found in Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men". He died in Genoa, Italy, on 27 June 1829, aged 64. Six years later, in 1835, his nephew died without heir, setting in motion the bequest to the United States. In this way Smithson became the patron of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. despite having never visited the United States.

Source: James Smithson, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Other names that sound a bit like Smithson

Family names can get corrupted over time, particularly where literacy was not as good. The following list contains some names that have similar sounds so you may want to also look at one or two of the more likely possibilites.

Saint-sauveur Saint_sing Saintsbury San_woodson Sandage Sandcraft Sandcroft Sandegren Sandes Sandeson Sandez Sandidge Sandige Sandison Sandkohl Sandose Sandoz Sandquist Sands Sands-Allan Sandstoe Sandstrom Sandusky Sandwich Sandwick Sandys Santacrole Santacrus Santacruz Santaguida Santgruber Santgrueber Santhouse Santiago Santistevan Santizo Santos Santoscoy Santostefano. Santowski Santschi Santucci Santus Schantz Schantzenbach Schentze Schimetzek Schmaedicke Schmatjen Schmeitzer Schmidkunz Schmidtke Schmiedekamp Schmittgall Schmitz Schmitzcamp Schmutz Schnatz Schnettgoecke Schnetzer Schnetzka Schnetzki Schnetzler Schnitger Schnitker Schnittgrund Schnittka Schnitzer Schnitzerling Schnitzius Schnitzlein Schnitzler Schwantes Schwantz Schwientek Scintsbury Seimetz Semetko Sends Sentis Sentkowski Sents Sentz Shands Shantz Shontz Sintes Smethes Smets Smithes Smithies Smiths Smithwick Smitkiewicz Smits Smitson Smitts Smittz Smitz Smitzel Smitzer Smootes Smutek Snedaker Snedecor Snedeger Snedeker Snediker Snedker Snetsinger Snetzer Sniatkowski Snoots Sondag Sondegaard Sonntag Sontag Squants Squantz Sundker Sundquist Sundstrom Swanitz Swantek Swiontek Synatzske Syntis Szmidecki Szombatzy