Researching Lewis Family

My Great Grandmother was Lily Isobella Lavinia Lewis and she was brought up in London and was belived to be one of twelve children to Robert William Thomas Lewis and Emily Abbott. I have been researching them now for about three years and every so often I find little bits out about.

My Research -The first thing i did when I started tracing back the Lewis Family was talk to any of the living family members that are left and who may of known anything about the Lewis family. I got the odd story,but nobody seemed to know much. My aunt Dolly told me what she remembered Lily telling her about her mum and dad (Robert and Emily) and her siblings. Lily was one of twelve girls and she had one brother, named after his father Robert Lewis and he was really tall. She told my aunt that one of her sisters married a German fellow, their may of been twins and the sister she was closest too the most was Edie known as Edith. So i took all this information and decided to see what i could find. My next step was going onto www.freebmd.org.uk and starting with what i know and finding the entry for Lilys birth. So i found it quite easily and ordered the certificate which took about three-four weeks coming in the post from the family records office in London. When i finally got my hands on the certificate I confirmed everything of Lily's birth, address at the time of birth, her parents and her fathers occupation. This Certificate was like a key that opened many doors and in this key it gave little clues on how to get to the next door.
After a few months I gained a few more certificates which included Robert William Thomas Lewis marriage to Emily Abbott in March 1980 Shorditch. From this led to Roberts parents. Joel Langdon Lewis and Hannah Highman Bailey who i found on the 1861 and 1871 census with Robert in Bristol area. Looking at these both census's they must of had about ten - twelve children and the sad thing was that a few of them from the 61 census never made the 71 census. It must of been really hard back then for families and yet i hate to imagine what it was like to loose a child and then another. But sadley this happened quite often due to disease or lack of nutrition. I suppose you could say although we have other problems today we have a better chance of survival and nutrition.