William Hookins (A) Obituary

A newspaper obituary from 1899 kindly sent to me by Barrie in 2002 includes the following about William:
Mr Hookins of Chelsea passed away on December 26th in his seventy-ninth year. For over 2 years he had been laid aside from active work as the result of a paralytic stroke and a second attack brought on a fatal termination after a week's interval. Mr Hookins had been an abstainer nearly 60 years having signed the pledge early in 1839. He attended out of curiosity the first temperance meeting held in his native town of Wiveliscombe in Somersetshire. The brewers and publicans organised an opposition; the lights were put out, the forms broken up, and the convenors of the meeting were driven into a corner, when the chairman announced that nineteen persons had signed the pledge, and asked who would make twenty and Mr Hookins, disgusted at the treatment the teetotalers had received, stepped forward and by the light of a candle signed the pledge.................... On coming to London Mr Hookins was soon brought into connection with the Chelsea Temperence Society by coming upon one of their open air meetings in the lanes of Kensington where the speaker had to contend with considerable opposition and Mr Hookins appealed for fair-play and asked the people to hear what a young man from the country had to say for the principle and succeeded in gaining an attentive hearing................ He leaves behind him a daughter and several sons, two of whom are in the ministry of the Methodist New Connexion body and the whole family are teetotalers..........
Bob

Samuel or William - Merry Dance with no conclusions!

I have a family in my records of William HOOKINS and Charlotte (nee FARMER) who had 8 children and I had an idea that an Elizabeth might be the 9th. I therefore ordered her birth certificate from 1855 and sure enough her mother was Charlotte (nee FARMER). However her father is recorded as Samuel and he had actually registered the birth. Hmmm! William and Charlotte were married in 1851 and shortly before that in the 1851 Census they were living at the same address as lodgers with a family. I can trace them right the way through up to and including the 1891 Census and using that information and the marriage certificate details Willaim appears to have been born in the period 1829-31. Looking at the on-line Parish records I find William born and baptised in 1827 but the recorded father of William does not tie up with his marriage certificate which says Robert. There is a birth to a Robert and his wife in 1830 and the child's name is.........Samuel! Hmmm! I was hoping to find somewhere that he tuned out to be a Samuel William and they just used his second name but no evidence of that. William disappeared after the 1891 Census and by 1901 Charlotte was the Head of the Household. There is a death in 1900 for which I plan to get the certificate although it is recorded as HOOKINGS and even though the death took place in South Wales but quite a few went from Somerset to South Wales for the mining work. The search continues but if anyone has any information which might help please get in touch.
Bob

Hardcastles from Whitby

I've spent a little time today looking at the Hardcastle family in Whitby to help Eileen in Canada. Her grandmother's sister married a Hookins although she is in contact with one of her grandmother's sister's daughters who was a Hookins as well as another contact of mine in Canada who married a Hookins. So it goes to show that it isn't just those with the Hookins name who may have information about our family.
Bob

Welcome to Hookins Links

Welcome to this new blog site for anyone interested in the Hookins name. I have studying the family links of the Hookins name since about 1980 and have now accumulated information on more than 1500 people who hold/have held the Hookins name. I have allocated these into almost 400 family units and where these links constitute 8-10 people the families have been included in one of 29 Trees. Those people with a lower number of links than that or where they are completely unconnected at present are held in a Miscellaneous database. These number about one-third of the names so I hope that this website will enable some discussion and sharing of information to allocate some of these to their true home. I continue the research and amazingly still find Hookins people out there past and present whom I have never come across before. I have checked through Census records both in the UK and the USA and in so doing have noted those who could be Hookins but are suspect due to the enumerator's handwriting. There are other databases I have and continue to look at from time to time. I collect certificates and other documents (originals or copies are always welcome to add to the collection) as well as photographs of Hookins people and aspects of their lives which are also such valuable things to have copies of. I will endeavour to share some of these on this website although for those who are living I will seek permission before displaying them. It is my intention to group these into the different Trees for ease of reference as well. This site will replace the myfamily.com site which was by invitation only. I hope you enjoy periodically dipping into the site. Contact, information and comments from you will be gratefully received.
Bob Hookins