The Smyth-Bloods - and some thanks!
This genealogy site had its origins one night when I was messing around online, trying to trace my maternal grandfather in the United States. No luck, but I tripped over my father's name at Ancestry.com, and in a heartbeat, I was hooked on genealogy! Tracing my ancestors (the Smyth-Bloods of South Australia).
I have traced my direct ancestors from my father, John Frederick Smyth-Blood, back to my 9th great grandfather, Edmund Blood of Derbyshire, England, who was born in 1540. It has now grown to include, not just the Australian Smyth-Bloods, but the Bloods of England, Ireland and the USA, and the Blood-Smyths and related lines.
I have been very lucky in some ways, and I cannot express my gratitude enough. My Aunt Audrey (Audrey Marianne Smyth-Blood Jaeger) is also very interested in the Smyth-Bloods of South Australia,and has spent many years in family research. My dear friend (and also my 3rd cousin), Jane Fekete has contributed hugely, both directly and indirectly. And my great-grandfather, John Henry Smyth-Blood (who came to South Australia from County Clare, Ireland, in 1847) was tremendously interested in the 'new science' of photography and worked as a professional photographer - and we are lucky to have many of his family photographs which I am including here.
The name "Blood"
Sue Bindon had a marvellous website on The Bindon Family. My 4th Great Grand-uncle, Col. William Blood, married Sue's ancestor Elizabeth Bindon in 1772, and quite a lot of information on the Bloods were included in Sue's website. In fact, 'Bindon' is one of our Blood family given names. Unfortunately, Sue's website was hosted on Geocities, which no longer exists, and I have not been able to locate a current version of her site.
Sue's website gave the origin of the Blood name thus:
The name of Blood is said to have originally been Bloyd and derived from the Welch Ap-Lloyd, meaning son of Lloyd. It is found on ancient records in the various forms of Ap-Lloyd, Ap-Llud, Bloyd, Blud, Blude, Bloode, Blod, and Blood, of which the last is the generally accepted form of today.
It is generally believed that the family bearing this name was of extremely ancient Welsh origin and spread at early dates into Ireland and into the English counties of Lancaster, Chester, Northampton, and London and were, for the most part, of the landed gentry and yeomanry of Great Britain.
The name "Smyth"
So now, you ask - where does the "Smyth" come in? I was told in my childhood, that an ancestor of mine married a Miss Smyth, whose parents had no sons, and the name change was made so that the Smyth name would live on in her descendants. And my research shows that this seems to be fairly close to the truth! And here, I owe thanks to The Galloping Fox, a website with a great deal of information about the Smyth family.
Mary Smyth (my 4th great grandmother) had a daughter, Dorothea Julia Ingram, who married Matthew Blood (son of John Blood). Mary Smyth's uncle was the Most Rev. Dr. Arthur Smyth, Archbishop of Dublin, and , having no descendants, he made a will leaving his possessions and money to the family; Dorothea's inheritance was contingent on her taking the name "Smyth". And so after the death of the Most Rev. Dr. Arthur Smyth, on 14 Dec 1771, Dorothea's husband, Matthew Blood, became Matthew Blood-Smyth by Royal Licence.
"The King has been graciously pleased to grant unto Matthew Blood of Castle Fergus etc. his Royal license and authority that he and his issue may take and use the surname and bear the arms of Smyth instead of those of Blood in compliance with the Will of Arthur Smyth, late of the City of Dublin."
Most of the family retained the Blood-Smyth name but my 2nd great grandfather (the Dr. Matthew Henry Smyth-Blood who came to South Australia from Ireland) reversed it to Smyth-Blood, saying that Blood was the name of his ancestors, and he would die a Blood. In later years, the majority of the family in Australia seem to have followed Matthew Henry's path, and the Blood-Smyths of Australia have all gone back to using the name Blood only, rather than Smyth-Blood/Blood-Smyth. And so as my sister and I had no brothers, it seems that the usage of the name "Smyth-Blood" will not be seen in future years. However, the Blood-Smyths of the USA and other countries are still out there, alive and well, and the Bloods of Australia have simply gone back to using their ancestral name.
I have recently been successful in tracing a lot of the historical gravesites of the family, and photographs of the old headstones, localities etc. will be uploaded in the near future.
This is an ongoing project; I am still working on it and would be very grateful to hear of any additions or corrections. I'd also love to hear from any relatives who could give me information on my living relatives in America, Australia or anywhere else (not for publication without express permission - just for my interest).
And any of the descendants of the families here are welcome to any of the photographs I have. Please email me and let me know what you would like, and I will send an original (full-sized) image.
So from here, you can see the Blood Family Tree Branches, browse the Blood Family Database, or view the Blood Photograph Album. And if you can help me with additions or corrections, please email me.
Some of the many websites I have found invaluable in my research are:
© Andrea Smyth-Blood Payne, 2004-2013.
All rights reserved
Last modified: March 05 2013 03:50:52.
