Walter, Jesse, William HOOKINS (Tree A)

Walter (born 1860), Jesse (born 1867), and William (born 1857) were 3 of the sons of Samuel and Eliza HOOKINS who had a total of 10 children although 4 of them didn't make it to adulthood. I guess this picture was taken perhaps around 1890 although the occasion is not known - it could possibly be the 21st coming of age birthday of Jesse judging by his youthful looks. By this time although William was still living locally in Pawlett near Bridgwater Walter had already moved to South Wales where Jesse was later to follow as seen from the previous post about him in his coachman's uniform.

Where the Hookins' were in 1881

So where were all of our Hookins ancestors at the time of the 1881 Census. Well - the attached map seems to do the work for us as we can see the various Counties where a Hookins name/family existed and the volume of people of that name. The list on the right gives the actual numbers in each County. So that solves it right? Oh that Family History was that simple!!! It's a great start but not the whole picture as it only gives us 78 people and I know there were more than that. Unfortunately discrepancies can occur firstly because of the transcription of the original handwritten Census documents. I have found a number of entries for other Census returns which have been logged as Hookins which when magnified are found to be more like Hoskins. A second complication is that these returns were complied by asking questions and writing the result and with varieties of accents and the fact that the illiterate would not be able to spot an error the enumerator could only write down what he/she heard which results in numerous mis-spellings. I know of several instances where what was heard and written down was Hookings and not our family name. So although this map is extremely useful it is not conclusive.

Jesse HOOKINS (Tree A)

Jesse HOOKINS was born in 1867 at Pawlett near Bridgwater in Somerset. He was one of 9 children of Samuel & Eliza HOOKINS. In 1881 he is recorded as being a General Labourer living at home with his mother and her second husband as Jesse's father had died 11 years earlier at a time when he and all of his siblings were all under the age of 15. By 1901 Jesse had married and was living in Kilve in Somerset west of Bridgwater and is recorded as being a Domestic Coachman. His first child was born in Kilve in 1901 but by 1902 and the birth of their second child they were in Llantwit Major where Jesse had gone to work as Coachman to the Cranshay family who were Ironmasters fro Merthyr Tydfil. Jesse and his growing family lived in Dimlands Lodge in the grounds of Dimlands House where the remainder of his 7 children were thought to have been born. Unfortunately Jesse's wife died in 1915 when all of his 7 children were under 14 years of age in the same way that his own mother had been left but he seems to have done a marvellous job in bringing up those children. Later Jesse moved on to be a gardener for the Cranshays and subsequently went to live in Barons Close in Llantwit Major. He is said to have been a quiet man with a sense of humour. He died in 1950 and is buried in Llantwit Major churchyard.

HOOKINS Family at War

Some years ago I paid a visit to Violet HOOKINS who lived in Weston super Mare. She had some items belonging to her father which she was considering disposing of and I was delighted when she offered me this page from the Bath Herald printed during the First World War. It principally concerns members of the family of Frederick John HOOKINS (my grandfather) who were serving in the war. His father, 5 brothers and a brother in law are pictures in their regimental uniforms. Why Fred wasn't in the war I don't know yet. His father William and brothers Samuel and Willie are picures on the top row. William was apparently in charge of a Government mule depot, Samuel was a transport driver in the Army Service Corps and Willie was in the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars. The second row shows brothers Henry, Walter and Charlie. Henry and Walter were in the same regiment as Willie whilst Charlie was a Bombardier in the Field Artillery. Fred's brother in law, brother of his wife Emma, is the first of the bottom row and was in the 1st Somerset Light Infantry. He took part in the battle of Mons, was injured and taken prisoner of war and came from the well-known Cobb family in Bath who were renowned for their bread and cake shops in the city.

HOOKINS/HOOKINGS dilemma

I've found reference on the FreeReg website of Parish records to some HOOKINS/HOOKINGS baptisms in Somerset during the period 1822 and 1840 which seemed to fall into nice bunches in different areas in Taunton, Wellington, Brompton Ralph, Brockley and Crocombe all of which are familiar places in my research. Assumptions however are dangerous as I found out when checking each of the records as a couple of those places obviously had more than one HOOKINS/HOOKINGS family. Have just looked at the Taunton baptisms which were all children of the John & Lucy HOOKINS I already had in my records. Two of these had the same name William and were born just over a year apart but a little more digging has located that the first one died after just a few months. Each one was recorded as HOOKINGS and the baptisms took place between 1822 and 1826. Lucy unfortunately seems to have died in 1829 but one of her sons has been found in the 1841 Census aged 15 as a Labourer living with the family of Mary Townsend who was a Coal Dealer in East Reach Taunton. Took a little while but 3 more people added to the database which now totals 1518 people.

Frederick John & Emma Selina HOOKINS (Tree A)

Apicture of Fred and Emma with their first 4 children - Grace, Daisy, Bill and babe in arms Fred. This will therefore have been taken around the end of 1914 or the beginning of 1915 at a time when Britain was at war with Germany. Obviously arranged in a photographer's studion and the lady standing at the rear of the picture is unknown at present.