We are still defeated in finding the parents of Emma Lewis Smith who was born on 18 Feb
1824, in Monmouthshire.
I posted for information on Emma some time ago, but have a few more clues from another
branch of the family.
Emma drew a sketch of Chepstow Castle and it bears the notation, "Emma drew this
while at school" so we have to assume she attended a school in Chepstow around 1840,
but before 1843, when she arrived in Melbourne Australia.
This may be connected to the story that her mother remarried and she did not get on well
with her step-father - would they have sent her off to boarding school. And if she ran
away, would they have found her a (sinecure?) position within their social acquaintances
?
Emma came to Melbourne Australia, on the ship "Imuam of Muscat" with the family
of Henry and Harriet BLANCH. She married George COLE in 1847.
By one oral account, her family was distressed that she had married "beneath"
her station, marrying into a family of nurserymen and orchardists. It is said her brother
came to Australia and was satisfied that the COLE family was suitable and returned home on
the ship SS London, but it sank.
The main problem is that the SS London sank in Feb 1866, on an outbound voyage in the Bay
of Biscay - did the brother make it safely home but the story was distorted here, because
news took so long to reach the colonies ? Within weeks of the London sinking, Emma Lewis
had died in childbirth, so neither side of the family may have known the fate of the
other.
So, did her brother make it safely home ? Or did he never reach Australia ?
There does not appear to be any SMITH families within reach of Chepstow in the time frame,
so was she just Emma LEWIS ?
Would love to hear any thoughts or suggestions
Diane Cole
Sydney Australia