Mary Smisby [or Smedly] 1660–1729 KLXF-68H: What is her maiden name?

Dean, Barton David

I cannot determine what her name is. None of the sources attached to her reord show a photo-image of an original record, except for one I found on Ancestry.com. I am not a well-developed researcher and connot seem to find a legible parish register or transcript. The URL to the Ancestry source is: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/61407/images/RS00013361_4452629-00209?treeid=162540928&personid=282278170459&hintid=1030805024545&usePUB=true&_phsrc=sHk26&_phstart=default&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.53710831.65657550.1617042283-739873410.1617042283&pId=3442534. The entry appears on Image/Page 25/61 under the marriage date of 27 APR 1681.

When I look at the badly damaged page, I lean toward Smedly because it appears that the black before the final 'y' shows two staffs above the write line. However, I might have a bias because Smedly or Smedley is a name I have heard before, and when I stare at ink blots too long phantom images dance in my mind.

Here's what I do know: Both names were used in Southern Derbyshire. Searches in partner websites yield the same sources for 'Smisby' attached Mary's FamilySearch record. When changing the maiden name to Smedly, a search in FindMyPast yields a person born in Elvaston about 20 miles away from Walton-upon-Trent. It fits the baptism and death dates nearly perfectly. If the URL works, you would find the result here: https://www.findmypast.com/search/results?firstname=mary&firstname_variants=true&lastname=smedly&keywordsplace=england%2c%20united%20kingdom&keywordsplace_proximity=5&yearofbirth=1660&yearofbirth_offset=2&yearofdeath=1729&yearofdeath_offset=2&sid=999.

Normally, I don't sweat the spelling since there were several variants for names before spelling was standardized. In this instance it does matter because the names are not the same. I was hoping someone might find something I haven't or be better able to interpret the "Rorschach" entry.

Thanks,

Bart

Mckenna Cooper

The event on 27 April 1681 from Ancestry is actually for the burial of a Joannes Draper, not a marriage. I checked the Bishop's Transcripts for 28 May 1681 (the marriage date in Family Tree) and there is no marriage there, but there is a miscopied entry for the burial of a Joannes Draper Senior on 27 May 1681. The original page of the parish registers shows a marriage between Joannes Draper and Maria Sme??y on 28 May 1681. The letter after m is definitely part of an 'e' not an i, but the letter before y could be a b or an l, it's really hard to tell. The entries for a Maria Smisby seem to link back to a transcript of this marriage record, so that was just the transcriber's interpretation: (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSZF-9SX5-J?i=576). I think Smedly is most likely--there don't seem to be any other Smisby's in Derbyshire from the indexes.