I asked:

Can you help me to identify Robert SMITH's parents. According to the 1851 and 1861 censuses Robert Smith was born in St Albans in 1786 or 1787. My problem is that the IGI reveals the following St Albans entries:

Robert son of Robert SMITH and Susannah [HUGHES] Bapt 1 Jan 1786 at St Albans Abbey.
Robert son of William SMITH and Mary [WORRELL] Bapt 15 Oct 1786 at St Peters
Robert son of Robert SMITH and Elizabeth [??] Bapt 7 Feb 1788 at St Stephen

My Robert SMITH (of North Mimms, Herts) married Susanna THRALE of Sandridge at North Mimms on 1st March 1809. She died and was buried at Sandridge in 1815, a son Thomas apparently dying in infancy. In 1813 Robert was paying land tax on land in Sandridge jointly owned by Thomas THRALE.

In 1817 Robert married Elizabeth BURCHMORE [of the Flamstead Burchmore family] at Sandridge, and by 1819 he had taken on the lease of Cheapside Farm, Sandridge, the owner being John SMITH of Cheapside, London, several generations of John SMITH having farmed Cheapside Farm in the 18th century. [Was Robert a relative of this John SMITH?]

The couple had several children: Thomas (baptised 1818, later farmed Pound Farm, Sandridge); Elizabeth (baptised 1820, married Henry Alexander TAYLOR in 1865); Susan (baptised 1821, married John PURROT in 1853); Sarah (baptised 1823, married Henry TOMSON of Luton in 1844); Edmund (1825, married Sarah [DAY?]); and Ellen (1828/9, married John RANSOME in 1861).

In about 1830 Robert moved into the newly built Heath Farm farmhouse, Bernards Heath, Sandridge. [Now demolished and redeveloped as The Limes estate, St Albans.] He lived there until his death, when he was succeeded by his son Edmund. Edmund SMITH died in 1870 and the tenancy was taken by Jacob REYNOLDS, whose wife was Ellen SMITH, daughter of Dolphin SMITH, of Water End Farm, Sandridge, who came from Wiltshire. [Another relative?? Sarah Smith's daughter, Fanny Elizabeth TOMSON, married Dolphin SMITH junior.]

It should be noted that another Robert SMITH (born Luton 1815/6) farmed Hedges Farm, Childwick, in the parish of St Michael's, St Albans, according to the 1851-1871 census. This farm is within a couple of miles of Cheapside and Heath Farms. [Another possible relative?]