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Samuel Nicholson SMITH (1810–1886)
His wife Mrs Mary Frances SMITH, née Nixon (1822–1904)
Their son-in-law Thomas Collins SNOW (1852–1926)
Their daughter Mrs Edith Mary Nixon SNOW (1859–1933)
St Giles (Ss Philip & James) section: Row 46 Grave K43½

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This is a double-sided headstone: the inscription to the Smiths' daughter and son-in-law is on the other side of the headstone, which is shown below at the head of their separate biography

Samuel Nicholson Smith was born at Airmyn near Snaith, Yorkshire on 26 November 1810 and baptised at Airmyn on 15 January 1811. He was the son of George Smith and Hannah Nicholson, who were married at Airmyn on 24 July 1809. Samuel's two younger siblings were also born and baptised at Airmyn: George Nicholson Smith (1813) and Hannah Nicholson Smith (1815). At the time of the 1851 census Samuel (40) was a Divinity student, paying a visit to the Revd Thomas Gascoigne, who ran a boarding school in Basford near Nottingham. On 22 May 1853 Samuel (42) was ordained Deacon at York Cathedral (with “literate” rather than a college against his name in the announcement). He then served as Curate of Peneston in Yorkshire, and in October 1854 was presented to the incumbency of Thurstonland near Huddersfield on the nomination of the Vicar of Kirkburton.

Mary Frances Nixon was born in Islington, London on 19 July 1822. She was the daughter of Francis Nixon, a solicitor, and his wife Hannah (surname unknown) and had two older siblings: Francis Nixon junior (born c.1828) and Edith Nixon (born c.1830). Soon after Mary's birth the family moved to Bristol (then in Gloucestershire), and she was baptised at St James's Church there on 31 August 1834. They then moved on to Stapleton near Bristol, where Mary's next five siblings were born: Edith Jane Nixon (1826), Philip Nixon (1828), Isabella Barbara Nixon (1830), Eliza Ann Nixon (1832), and Richard Nathaniel Nixon (1835). Her next brother Reginald John Say Nixon (14) was born in Bristol proper in 1836, but they were back in Stapleton when her youngest sister Lucy Amelia Nixon was born in 1838 (reg. fourth quarter with surname misrecorded as Naxon). At the time of the 1841 census Mary (18) was living with her parents and nine siblings at 1 Freeland Place, Stapleton. Her parents were still at that address with five of their children in 1851, but Mary herself, who would have been 28, is hard to find. Her family was still living in the Bristol area in 1856.

On 25 June 1856 at Elland in Yorkshire, Samuel Nicholson Smith (45), who was still the Curate of Thurstonland, married Mary Frances Nixon (33), and an announcement appeared in the Standard as well as the Bristol Mercury, the Sheffield & Rotherham Independent, the Huddersfield Chronicle & West Yorkshire Advertiser. They had two daughters:

• Katharine Hannah Nixon Smith (born at Thurstonland, Kirkburton, Yorkshire on 20 April 1857 and baptised at Kirkburton church on 25 June)
• Edith Mary Nixon Smith (born at Carlton-in-Lindrick, Nottinghamshire on 27 April 1859).

At the time of Katharine's baptism Samuel was still Curate of Thurstonland, but by 1859 when Edith was born the family appear to have moved to Carlton-in-Lindrick in Nottinghamshire. Later that year Samuel was appointed Curate of Wombwell in Yorkshire.

At the time of the 1861 census Samuel (50) was living at Wombwell with his wife Mary (38) and their daughters Katharine (3) and Edith (1). Mary's unmarried sister Eliza Ann Nixon (28) was also living with them, and they had one servant.

In September 1861 Samuel was licensed to the stipendiary curacy of St Peter's, Oldham Road, Manchester.

By the time of the 1871 census Samuel (60) was the Curate of Newport & Scalby in Yorkshire, living nearby in the village of Gilberdyke with his wife Mary (48) and their daughters Katharine (13) and Edith (11).

By the time of the 1881 census Samuel (70) had retired and was described as a clergyman without cure of souls. He was living in Preston (at Athol Terrace, Waterloo Road) with his wife Mary (58) and their daughter Katharine (22), who was a schoolmistress, plus a servant.

Their younger daughter Edith (21) was staying in Bradfield, Westmorland in 1881 with her aunt Mrs Edith Jane Snow, née Nixon, and e following year she married her aunt's stepson:

• On 8 July 1882 at St Andrew's Church, Ashton-on-Ribble, Lancashire, Edith Mary Nixon Smith married Thomas Collins Snow (30).

By 1886 Samuel and Mary Smith had moved to Oxford, perhaps to be near their married daughter Edith Snow, and Samuel died there that year:

† The Revd Samuel Nicholson Smith died at 5 Southmoor Road at the age of 75 on 18 April 1886 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 22 April (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles's and Ss Philip & James's Church).

His death notice in Jackson's Oxford Journal read simply: “April 18, at 5, Southmoor-road, Oxford, the Rev. Samuel Nicholson Smith, aged 75.”

His effects came to £668 13s. 8d., and his daughter Miss Katharine Hannah Nixon Smith was his executor. He was described in his probate record as being formerly of Ashton-on-Ribble, Preston.

At the time of the 1891 census his widow Mary Frances Smith (68) was living at the Parsonage at Underbarrow with her sister Mrs Edith Jane Snow (65) and Edith's husband Thomas Snow (70), who was still Perpetual Curate of Underbarrow. Mary and Frances's unmarried sister Eliza Ann Nixon (58) was also living with them. Mary's unmarried daughter Katharine (33) was running a small private school in Surbiton, Surrey.

By 1901 Mrs Mary Smith (78) and her sister Miss Eliza Nixon (68) had moved down to Oxford and were living at 94 Kingston Road with Mary's daughter Mrs Edith Snow (see more below). Mary died there in 1904:

† Mrs Mary Frances Smith née Nixon died at 94 Kingston Road at the age of 83 on 31 August 1904 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 3 September (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles's and Ss Philip & James's Church).

Her effects came to £260 0s. 7d., and her executor was her son-in-law Thomas Collins Snow, Esq.

Children of Samuel and Mary Smith

• Katharine Hannah Nixon Smith (born 1857), who was running a school in Surbiton in 1891, never married. She was living at 54 Charlwood Street, London when she died at Wigod House, Wallingford, Berkshire on 9 November 1939. Her effects came to £391 12s. 2d., and her executor was her nephew John Snow.
• Edith Mary Nixon Smith (born 1859) and her husband Thomas Collins Snow are buried with the Smiths, and their full biography is immediately below.

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Thomas Collins Snow was born in York on 2 February 1852, the eldest son of the clergyman Thomas Snow and his first wife Matilda Collins, and his brother John Collins Snow was born their in 1855. Their mother Matilda Snow died in Halifax in 1864, and in 1865 (reg. second quarter) in Halifax, their father married his second wife Edith Jane Nixon (the sister of Mrs Smith above). Thomas was matriculated at the University of Oxford from Corpus Christi College on 19 October 1870 when he was aged 18. At the time of the 1871 census Thomas (19) was home for the vacation at 17 Park Place, Salford, with his father Thomas (50), who was Curate of St Philip's Church, Salford, and his stepmother Edith (44), and his young half-brother William (3). In 1875 Thomas was elected a Fellow of St John's College, Oxford. At the time of the 1881 census Thomas (29) was home on vacation at the Parsonage, Underbarrow, Bradfield with his father Thomas Snow (60), who was now the Perpetual Curate of Underbarrow, and his mother Edith (54). Staying with his family was his stepmother's niece Edith Smith (21), whom he was to marry the following the year.

Edith Mary Nixon Smith was born Carlton-in-Lindrick, Nottinghamshire on 27 April 1859, the daughter of Samuel Nicholson Smith and Mary Frances Nixon (see above).

On 8 July 1882 at St Andrew's Church, Ashton-on-Ribble, Lancashire, Thomas Collins Snow (30) married his stepmother's niece Edith Mary Nixon Smith. They had the following children:

• Matilda Snow (born at 4 [?41] Kingston Road on 30 December 1884 and baptised at Ss Philip & James's Church on 25 January 1885)
• John Snow (born at 41 Kingston Road, Oxford on 15 January 1888 and baptised at Ss Philip & James's Church on 25 February)

Thomas ceased to be a Fellow of St John's College in 1882, but continued as a Lecturer there, settling with his wife in Kingston Road, which was then in the parish of Ss Philip & James.

At the time of the 1891 census Thomas (39), described as a Lecturer in Classics, and his wife Edith (31) and their children Matilda (6) and John (3) were paying a visit to Edith's sister Miss Katharine Smith (33), who ran a small school in Surbiton, Surrey.

By the time of the 1901 census the family was living at 94 Kingston Road, which was now in the new parish of St Margaret. Thomas (49) was a patient in the Radcliffe Infirmary on census night, but his wife Edith (41) was at home with her daughter Matilda (16), and her widowed mother Mrs Mary Smith (78) and her aunt Miss Elizabeth Nixon (68) were also living with her. Her son John (13) was staying at Craig Lake Road, Bowness-on-Windermere, Westmorland with his uncle William Snow (33), who ran a preparatory school in his home.

In 1910 Thomas Collins Snow's book How to save Greek, and other paradoxes of Oxford Reform was published.

By 1911 the family had moved to 8 Hernes Road, Oxford. Thomas (59), described as a non-collegiate lecturer in English Literature, lived there with Edith (51) and their son John (23), who was a student.

Thomas died at that address in 1926:

† Thomas Collins Snow died at 8 Hernes Road at the age of 74 on 27 October 1926 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 30 October (burial recorded in the parish register of of St Giles's Church).

His effects came to £1,897 13s. 2d., and his executors were John Snow (his solicitor son), and William Snow (a schoolmaster and likely to be his younger half-brother of that name).

His widow Edith died in 1933:

† Mrs Edith Mary Nixon Snow née Smith died at 8 Hernes Road at the age of 74 on 27 September 1933 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 30 September (burial recorded in the parish register of of St Giles's Church).

Children of Thomas and Edith Snow

• Matilda Snow (born 1884) never married. She remained with her brother in her parents' house at 8 Hernes Road, and died there on 15 May 1949. Her effects came to £4,219 18s. 1d., and her solicitor was her executor.
• John Snow (born 1888) does not appear to have married. He remained a solicitor, working at the offices of Morrell, Peel, & Gamlen at 1 St Giles's Street. He continued to live with his sister at his parents' house at 8 Hernes Road until his death at the Acland Nursing Home on 2 January 1943. His effects came to £4,409 4s. 1d., and his sister Matilda was his executor.