One of the families known to have been in Little Thurlow for almost 200 years is the Smiths, and although the Smith name itself can no longer be found direct descendants still live in the village. Joseph Smith and his wife Elizabeth were both born in 1802 and were married in 1826. They had four sons and three daughters, and in the 1861 census they were to be found living at Overgreen Farm (in the area behind Tara in Little Thurlow Green). Two of their sons were recorded as being agricultural labourers like their father, although their eldest son William, born in 1829, proved to be more adventurous, and emigrated to South Australia in 1854. Their youngest daughter Mary left the village to go into service.

Their son John Smith (born in 1839) spent all his life in Little Thurlow, marrying Eliza in 1858. They lived at Temple End and had four sons and two daughters. John was widowed when his youngest daughter (Kate) was born. In later life he lived at Locks Cottage, where two of his grandchildren were born to his daughter Harriet. All of the children born to Eliza and John are buried in Little Thurlow churchyard and extension, except William, the eldest, who left the village to work in the brewing trade in Burton-on-Trent.

John and Eliza's second son Thomas was born in 1861, was married to Jessie, and was a blacksmith working in the smithy that stood in the Square opposite Driftside. His daughter Eliza married Dick Sargent, who for years was the village builder and undertaker, and their son Fred continued in the family business at Brookside until the 1970s. Fred died in 1993.

Tom and Jessie ended their days in the middle almshouse, next to brother John, who had lived previously next to his sister Kate, in cottages that have long since disappeared but which were alongside Mill View. Kate married Jerry Wright, and they were the parents of Dora Rowlinson, who now lives in Porch Cottage. Their son (Herbert) spent all his working life working at Manor Farm. Dora's grandson, Paul Atherton, is the sixth generation to live in the village, and he carries on the unbroken tradition of working the land.