Theme: Conflicting Clues.

After over 20 years of occasional searching, my GGGUncle Reuben Hunt remains undiscovered. Born on February 6, 1824 to Thomas Hunt and Ann (Nancy) Welding, he was baptised on October 25 in St. Lawrence, Reading.

He is in the 1841 Census (name misspelled) with his parents and siblings. His father is described as a Shoemaker (which confirms earlier evidence) and he is 17, a shoemaker’s apprentice. It is probable he was born in Pendock, Worcestershire where his parents were married and lived for some years and his eldest sister was born in 1820.

What happened to him after that? As a young man of 17 it is unlikely he would settle down immediately. His eldest sister had already left home. Quite possibly he decided not to be a shoemaker all his life.

The only likely entry in the 1851 Census is for a Reuben aged 27, born in Eydon, Northamptonshire, a hand loom weaver with a wife Elizabeth (“British subject, born in North America”) and one year old son Thomas, born in Shutford, Oxfordshire where the Census was recorded.

This family emigrated to the US, as so many others did at that time – and turned up in Fayetteville, Iowa in the 1860 Census – Reuben Hunt, 35, master mason, b. England with wife Elizabeth b. New York and 3 children born in England (the eldest a Thomas aged 11) plus one in New York. This family were also in the 1880 US Census where father Reuben is now a stone mason-beer retailer. He was aged 82 in 1905, in the US 48 years and in Iowa 44 years. Widowed.

Searching for the parents of an Eydon-born Reuben baptised on 13 July1856 turned up William and Hannah Hunt. So, definitely not my Reuben. (There was also an earlier Eydon-born Reuben baptised on 3 Aug 1820, parents John and Sarah! )

Yet another Reuben Hunt of the correct age was born in Abingdon, Berks according to the 1861 Census, a fishmonger with a wife Elizabeth and 2 children born in Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire where they were then living. This Reuben was actually born 1823 died October 1865 in Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire. Not my Reuben. And incidentally, another Reuben was born May 1824 in Abingdon, Plymouth, Massachusetts where he and his family always lived!

And another Reuben Hunt born Blackwater, Hampshire; and one in Roxwell, Sussex … and so on. All born in the same year. Sigh.

And also ….. A Reuben Hunt was born to parents Thomas and Ann Hunt in Tarrant-Crawford, Dorset – but baptised in 1821. Not my Reuben.

A Reuben Hunt born in Sedgebarrow, Worcs (close to Pendock) unfortunately died in 1837 in Evesham, Worcs. His family continued to live there for more than one generation; a much younger Reuben Hunt is in the ERs for 1884-1908. Not my Reuben. (He’s claimed by another family on Ancestry).

A child Esther was born in Lighthorne, Warwick in June 1870 to Reuben, a labourer, and Mary Anne Hunt. Unlikely – he would have been 46 then.

A Reuben born about 1826 died in Wiltshire in 1884.

And finally, there is a private photo on Ancestry of a Reuben Hunt born May 1824 died 1854. I have messaged the owner but do not have much hope that it is my Reuben.

It would be lovely to finally find him and put him to rest in the family tree!!

Theme: A Big Decision.

Of all my immigrant ancestors who came to Australia from Ireland, Scotland and England in the nineteenth century, surely the biggest decision was made by the biggest family – school Headmaster Edwin Hunt (Brother of Emma in the previous 52 Ancestors theme) and his wife Margaret Morgan, and eight of their ten children (two died earlier) in 1879. By then immigrant ships were vastly improved; Edwin and family traveled saloon class on the Aconcagua, a fast (and very big!) steamship. Even so it must have been a trying voyage which took 49 days (the earlier sailing ships usually took over 100 days).

A description of the ship says …”The first saloon is supplied with steam heating apparatus, and the arrangements generally (including smoking room, ice-house, &c) are such as to ensure the greatest comfort for an Australian voyage. Both first and second saloon cabins are furnished with every requisite, including bedding, linen, &c. A free table supplied daily with fresh meat, poultry &c, will be provided for each of these classes. An experienced surgeon and a stewardess will be carried. Fares from 15 to 70 guineas.” The ship was powered by two combination engines although she also used sails where there were advantageous winds.

The voyage was London to Plymouth then the Cape Verde islands, Cape Town (South Africa) nd via the Roaring Forties to Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. Some passengers continued on to New Zealand.

By an amazing coincidence I discovered a shipboard diary written by one of the New Zealand passengers, in a NZ Library. Although it did not specifically mention the Hunt family, there were references to children, and the many trials and tribulations of the long ocean voyage.

Theme: What the Census Suggests.

My Great Great Aunt Emma Hunt, born 1829 in Reading, Berkshire, was the fourth child and only daughter who stayed in England – three of her siblings emigrated to Australia and one brother is thought to have gone to America.

The 1851 England & Wales Census shows Emma, aged just 21 and head of the household, a milliner and dressmaker, living at Ing Court, Reading, with her younger brother Edwin aged 14, a ‘teacher at a charity school’ and a very young Helena E Hunt aged 1, her ‘daughter’. (A surprise!). Her father had died in 1848 and her mother Ann (Nancy) was living with a family with 4 young children on Census night in 1851. She is listed as a Nurse; there was also a Governess and a servant. An older sister was also working as a Nurse with another family.

The child Helena enabled me to identify Emma’s family – she married Joseph Waugh on November 18 1855 in Reading. Joseph, a gas fitter, was still living with his parents and younger siblings in 1851, at an address in St Marys, Reading – very close to Emma. By 1861 they were living together; by now Joseph was a shoeing smith, and besides their listed daughter Ellen aged 11 (thus born in 1851) there were two younger children. They were to go on to have nine children, including another daughter before their marriage. Subsequent Censuses gave Helena’s middle name as Ellen, which fits with the one-year-old Helena E. Hunt.

Topic: Favourite Photo.

This is the only photo I have of my Grandfather Alex Johnston (1868-1952), indeed the only known photo of him at all. A very private man, he reluctantly succumbed to the pleas of his granddaughter when I was about 10 and armed with my first camera, a Baby Brownie box camera with a very simple shutter mechanism. Also in the photo are my father and brother – and again, this is the only photo of all three of them together, so doubly precious.

Granddad was an extraordinary man. Born in Tasmania, Australia to immigrant Scots, he travelled extensively when young, making several trips to to the Far East and Japan in between working as a newspaper reporter on the Western Australian goldfields and in Melbourne, painting exquisite watercolours and playing the violin “like a young Joachim” according to a tiny newspaper cutting which I miraculously discovered concealed between the pages of one of his books. (No, NOT Joaquin Phoenix! The name, a Spanish evolution of a Hebrew name, means ‘lifted by God/Yaweh’ with connotations of divine favour, strength and stability; in 1899 the reference was probably to Joaquin Rodrigo, a Spanish composer and pianist.)

My father in contrast was a quiet man who had no desire to travel and was content to spend long summers on the beach with his children. Like his father he did however have an enquiring mind and was a wonderful life teacher.

My brother was different again – a gregarious man who enjoyed talking about himself! Not interested in journalism or anything resembling it, not an artist, not very musical ….