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Joseph SMITH (1816–1865)
His wife Mrs Elisabeth SMITH, née Baylis (1815–1875)
Their grandson Ernest Alfred NUNNEY (born and died 1870)
St Giles section: Row 14, Grave B25½

Joseph Smith was born in Wolvercote in 1816 and baptised there as Joe Smith on 6 October. He was the son of the millwright John Smith and his wife Elizabeth, who had eight other children baptised at Wolvercote: John (1813), Ellis (1814), Augustus (1818), Marianne Hannah (1820), Elizabeth Jane (1823), Augustus (1825), Edwin (1828). Joseph's father John Smith died at the age of 53 and was buried at Wolvercote on 25 May 1838. At the time of the 1841 census Joseph (24), who was deaf from birth, was a tailor, living at Wolvercote with his mother and two of his brothers: Ellis (26), who was a whitesmith, and Edwin (10), who was at school.

Elizabeth Baylis was born in Shipton-under-Wychwood in 1815 and baptised there on 5 March, the daughter of the ash-collector Joseph Baylis and Ann Longshaw, who were married at Shipton-under-Wychwood on 17 October 1814. They had three more children baptised there: Esther (1816), Mary (1818), and James (1821). The family then moved to Oxford, and their youngest child William Baylis was baptised at St Aldate's Church on 11 April 1824: he died in Oxford at the age of four and was buried at Shipton-under-Wychwood on 17 February 1828. Elizabeth's mother Ann Baylis died in Oxford at the age of 28 and was buried at Shipton-under-Wychwood on 22 October 1824. At the time of the 1841 census Elizabeth (26) was the servant of the tailor Joseph Prior in Cornmarket Street, Oxford.

On 21 October 1843 at St Nicholas's Church in Abingdon, Joseph Smith (27) married Elizabeth Baylis (28): they were both living in Stert Street in Abingdon at the time of their wedding. They had just one child:

• Mary Anne Smith (born at St Bernard's Road, Oxford in 1844 and baptised as Marianne at St Giles's Church on 20 September).

At the time of the 1851 census Joseph (35) was a journeyman tailor, living in St Bernard's Road (then called St John's Road) with his wife Elizabeth (36) and their daughter Mary Anne (6).

By 1861 Joseph was a grocer, living at 24 West Street, Osney with his wife and their daughter Mary Anne (16).

The family must have moved to Little Clarendon Street in St Giles's parish by 1865, as Joseph Smith died there that year:

† Joseph Smith died at Little Clarendon Street at the age of 48 on 30 April 1865 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 5 May (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles's Church).

His brief death notice in Jackson's Oxford Journal stated that he was “much respected by all who knew him”.

His widow moved to Cranham Street in St Paul's parish after his death. Their only surviving child Mary Anne Smith was married two years later in 1867 to Joseph Nunney (see separate biography below). Her second son Ernest only lived ten weeks, and was buried with his grandfather:

† Ernest Alfred Nunney died at Cranham Street at the age of ten weeks in December 1870 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 30 December (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles's Church).

At the time of the 1871 census Mrs Elisabeth Smith (54), with her occupation described as “income derived from cottage property”, was living at 1 Cranham Street. Her daughter Mrs Mary Anne Nunney (25), who appears to have left her husband, and Mary Anne's surviving son William (2) were living with her.

Elisabeth Smith moved to 45 Walton Street, and then lived briefly at Kingston Road prior to her death there in 1875:

† Mrs Elisabeth Smith née Baylis died at Kingston Road at the age of 59 on 9 May 1875 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 14 May (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles's Church).

Her effects came to under £1,000. Her probate record states that she died on 8 May (rather than 9 May as carved on her headstone), and that she was formerly of 45 Walton Street but late of Kingston Road. Her executors were her brother Alfred Baylis of Great Barrington, Gloucestershire, who was a schoolmaster; George Cowderoy of 45 Walton Street, who was a Post Office clerk; and George Thomas Coleman of 11 Leckford Road, an attorney's clerk.

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Joseph & Elizabeth Smith's daughter Mary Anne Nunney, née Smith (born 1844)
Mrs Mary Anne Nunney's only surviving child William Henry Joseph Nunney (born 1869)
William Henry Joseph Nunney's only child Olive Marion Nunney (born 1894)

On 27 August 1867 at St Paul's Church, Oxford, Mary Anne Smith married Joseph Nunney, who was also living in Cranham Street.

Joseph Nunney was born in Oxford in 1837 and baptised at St Peter-le-Bailey Church on 18 June. He was the son of the plasterer/builder William Nunney (born in Oxford in 1804 and baptised at St Michael's Church on 21 October) and his London-born wife Mary Matilda S. Nunney. Joseph's grandparents were William & Martha Nunney, who are also buried at St Sepulchre's. Joseph was originally a slater & plasterer, but by early 1869 was described as a builder like his father.

The announcement of their marriage in Jackson's Oxford Journal read: “Aug. 27, by licence, at St Paul's, Oxford, by the Rev. W. Yates, Joseph Nunney, to Marian, only child of the late Mr. Joseph Smith, of this city. No cards.”

Mary Anne and William Nunney had two sons:

• William Henry Joseph Nunney (born in Cranham Street, Oxford in 1869 and baptised at St Paul's Church on 9 May)
• Ernest Nunney (born in Oxford on 11 October 1870).

Ernest only lived ten weeks, and on 30 December 1870 was buried in the grave of his maternal grandfather Joseph Smith (see above).

On 8 January 1870 Joseph Nunney inserted an advertisement in Jackson's Oxford Journal stating that he was a builder of Brewer Street and St Aldate's and had succeeded to the business carried on for many years by his father William Nunney and uncle Henry Nunney.

On 18 February 1871 it was reported that Joseph Nunney suffered severe head injuries when thrown from his one-horse vehicle when returning from Abingdon on a Friday evening. His address was given as Speedwell Street, suggesting that he and his wife had separated.

At the time of the 1871 census Mrs Mary Anne Nunney (25), who was working as a schoolmistress, and her surviving son William (2) were living with Mary Anne's mother Mrs Elisabeth Smith at 1 Cranham Street.

Joseph Nunney went bankrupt in 1875, and was described as a builder of Brewer Street, Walton Street, and Rose Place. He was listed at 125 Walton Street in Harrod's Directory of 1876.

Mary Anne Nunney is hard to find in the 1881 and 1891 censuses.

In 1891 her son William (22) was an architect's assistant boarding in Hackney, and he was married there in 1892:

• In the third quarter of 1892 in Hackney, William Henry Joseph Nunney married Clara Ellen Frances Bush (born in St Pancras in 1869).

William & Clara had only one child, Olive Marion Nunney (born in Bloomsbury near the beginning of 1894).

William Nunney was admitted to an asylum, and at the time of the 1901 census his wife Clara (41) was the general servant of a law stationer in Hackney, and her daughter Olive (7) was living with her. William died at the London County Asylum, Banstead, Surrey two years later on 1 March 1903. His effects came to £30, and Clara was his executor.

Clara's mother Mrs Mary Anne Nunney died at 13 Market Street, Oxford near the end of 1904: her burial, which took place on 28 December, was recorded in the parish register of St Michael's Church.

In 1911 Clara was the housekeeper to a family at 25 Ospringe Road, London, and Clara's daughter Olive was still living with her.

Clara's daughter Miss Olive Marion Nunney died in Reading at the age of 55 on 21 November 1949.

Mrs Clara Ellen Frances Nunney died in Windsor at the age of 98 in 1967, 64 years after her husband and 18 years after her only child.