Over the many years I have been researching the family name, a lot of contacts have been made and although we continue to keep in touch over the Christmas festivities with cards and newsletters it is nowhere near as satisfying as meeting people face to face. So after many Christmas cards I finally made the trip to South Wales to meet other members included on my Family Tree.
Thank you all for your welcome, your friendship and the hospitality of Jemma and Audrey. Altogether I was able to meet with 5 people who have or have had the Hookins name plus another 3 who are related by marriage or relationship. We even recognised similarities in appearance. Three of us were then able to visit a house which about 100 years ago was the home of one of the first Hookins members to leave North Somerset and venture to South Wales. Grateful thanks to Ian, the current owner of the house, who kindly arranged for us to have a look around even though he was away at the time and thank you to his parents who managed our visit and provided information about the transformation that had occurred since the Hookins family were there.
The Hookins member was Jesse HOOKINS who has been mentioned several times in the blog over the years having lost his wife when she was only 38 leaving him with 7 children aged 13, 12, 10, 8, 5, 4 and 1. Described as a quiet man with a sense of humour he never re-married, bringing up 4 sons and 3 daughters single-handed. He died just short of his 83rd birthday 35 years after the death of his wife and 6 of his children were still alive at that point.
