Researching Peter Smollett
Explore the detail of Peter Smollett using the links below. We hope you find this information useful!
Good news! There is already a One Name Study on the Smollett surname.

The name Peter means "A Rock" and is of Greek origin.
Records of Peter Smollett on Ancestry
Ancestry is a major source of information if you are filling out the detail of Peter Smollett in your family tree. A vast range of data is available to search ranging from census records, births, deaths and marriages, military records and immigration records to name but a few. Free trials are normally available and are a good way to fill out a lot of your tree quickly.
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Ancestry.com Global records search results for Peter Smollett. |
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Ancestry.com US records search results for Peter Smollett. |
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Ancestry.co.uk UK records search results for Peter Smollett. |
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Ancestry.ca Canadian records search results for Peter Smollett. |
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Ancestry.com.au Australian records search results for Peter Smollett. |
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. A DNA test can sometimes help to make a link to a particular family name if you find you share common DNA with people who have the same or similar surnames as each other. If you are lucky then you may get a match within a few generations and discover some Smollett ancestors. Additionally, the modern DNA test can give you a breakdown of your ethnic mix - you may be surprised at the results!
Have you reached a brick wall in your Smollett Tree?
Birth, Death and Marriage Records for Peter Smollett and the Smollett Genealogy
Birth, Death and Marriage records are often the best method of making the links to the Smollett 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 below you will be able to find a birth record and, from that, a birth certificate can be ordered which lists the names of the mother and father, taking you back another generation in your tree. 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 Smollett family tree.
Search Parish Records for Peter Smollett at Find My Past.
Study for the UK registered births, marriages and deaths of Peter Smollett using the FreeBMD database.
Search Genealogy Bank for Peter Smollett records.
Look at MyHeritage for Peter Smollett information.
Check out the LDS Database for records about Peter Smollett.
Research the Smollett surname using fold3 Military Archives and view images of original Smollett Military records.
Smollett 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.
Search the WikiTree database for user contributed records for Peter Smollett.
Study MyTrees for information on the Smollett family and people looking to contact living Smollett relations.
Study One Great Family for Smollett records submitted by people who are already researching the Smollett Family Tree.
Find Peter Smollett from Ireland on findmypast.ie
Smollett 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 Smollett surname using Genealogy.com forums .
Miscellaneous Smollett Databases
Investigate the Ellis Island Database for information on Peter Smollett. This database contains over 25 million immigration records detailing passengers arriving in the United States of America.
Some Famous People called Peter Smollett
Peter Smollett
Harry Peter Smollett, OBE (1912–1980), born Hans Peter Smolka and sometimes continuing to use that name as a nom de plume even after he changed it by deed poll, was a journalist for the Daily Express and later a Central Europe correspondent for The Times. During the Second World War, Smollett became head of the Russian section at Britain's Ministry of Information and was responsible for organising pro-Soviet propaganda. He was later identified as a Soviet agent.
Born in Vienna, he came to Britain in 1933 as an NKVD agent codenamed "ABO". Although he changed his name to Smollett on becoming a naturalised British subject in 1938, he returned to using the surname Smolka when he returned to Vienna after the war. According to the Mitrokhin Archive, Smollett had been recruited by Kim Philby.
George Orwell included him on the list of those who "in my opinion are crypto-communists, fellow-travellers or inclined that way and should not be trusted as propagandists" that he gave to the Information Research Department in 1949 as "almost certainly agent of some kind" and "a very slimy person" (see Orwell's list). Timothy Garton Ash stated that Smollett "was 'almost certainly' the civil servant on whose advice the London publisher Jonathan Cape rejected Orwell's Animal Farm as an unhealthily anti-Soviet text".
Graham Greene's biographer, Michael Shelden, refers to the inside joke that appears in the film The Third Man (1949), filmed in Vienna. Greene wrote the screenplay and used the name Smolka for a bar because Smolka/Smollett had given uncredited advice on the filming.
Source: Peter Smollett, Wikipedia, The Free EncyclopediaOther names that sound a bit like Smollett
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.
Sambleton Schmaltz Schmelter Schmeltz Schmeltzer Schmult Schnellten Schnelt Schnelten Schnelton Schoenholtz Schoenleiter Senaldi Senholt Shanholtzer Shemelt Shemilt Shimeld Shinault Shinnault Shmeltz Smalldon Smallthwaite Smallwood Smaltz Smelt Smeltz Smeltzer Sonnleitner





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