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Henry Venn Brandram SMITH

I'm looking for a relative named Henry Venn Brandram SMITH b. 1852-3 in Hong Kong and who emigrated from England to the US in 1892. On the 1920 census he is living at 661 - 8th Avenue, Manhattan, and his occupation is shown as an actor in moving pictures.
I would dearly love to find out more about his life in America, and wonder if this 'career' (he had many...) might be a worthwhile avenue to explore. But how?
I've googled and searched Ancestry 'til I'm blue in the face - need to go deeper, but haven't much experience in US research. (I even emailed a New York actors' association without result)

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Permalink Reply by Kate Steere on August 27, 2009 at 12:19pm

Hi Elizabeth-
I see on the 1920 census that he is indexed as divorced, had he married and divorced in the UK or the States? Or elsewhere?

Have you found him on immigration records entering the US?

If he arrived in the US in 1892-3, we should be able to find him in 1900 and 1910. But, I found it hard to search for him, LOL. :)

What we need to figure out is, if he did act in Motion pictures, what was his acting name? Did he use Henry Smith or perhaps Brandram Smith?

Also, do you know when he died? He appears to have been 68 in 1920, so I'm guessing he may have died before the 1930 census?

Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Campbell on August 27, 2009 at 12:50pm

All good questions. He married Sarah A. Allen c. 1873 (can't find the record), probably as a student in Oxford (I suspect a sudden marriage...). I can find no record of another marriage, but he is shown as married for 10 years on the 1910 Census (no wife or children showing with him, though). That is the only other US Census I've been able to find him on.
He's an enigma. His sister lived with my great-grandmother for years, but my mother (and her father) knew nothing about Henry. He went bankrupt and shifted occupations frequently, so he may have been a bit of a black sheep that the family kept quiet about. He had a daughter Alice b. 1874 in Oxford, but I am also having difficulty tracing her. I have not been able to find immigration records - just the note on the 1910 Census that he came to the US in 1892.
Part of the problem is, of course, his name. When his initials are used or his place of birth, I'm home free. But they weren't always... I have no idea of what his stage name would have been, if he had one. I wouldn't be surprised if he used Brandram with its connections - his mother's first cousin was a famous reciter who performed in England and the US in the late 1800s (Samuel Brandram), and there was Rosina Brandram (stage name and no relation, but she was a famous English actress).

Henry Venn Brandram SMITH

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