This James HOOKINS was the 3rd child born to Thomas HOOKINS and his wife Mary Ann (previously PETERSON nee HEAD). He is believed to have been born in 1834/5 although strangely he is listed in the 1841 Census as the eldest child aged 17(??) which would have meant his birth had taken place prior to his parents' marriage. This is not inconceivable as Mary Ann's previous husband seems to have died in 1822 and no other James birth appears in either of Mary Ann's previous names. At the 1841 Census 5 other siblings are recorded with the family living at Common Side in Mitcham.
10 years later in the 1851 Census James' age has reduced to 16 (perhaps he should have been given a baptismal name of Peter Pan!!!). A brother called Frederick who was 6 in 1841 (corresponding with the age James should have been) is not recorded in 1851 either with the family or elsewhere and neither is there evidence of a birth in that name so I am wondering if some names got mixed up in the previous Census. Just 1 sibling is at home with James and his parents who are recorded as being at West Side Common in Mitcham at this point.
In 1861 James was a Road Labourer and living with his widowed mother at Common Side West but on 1 October 1865 James was to marry Emma PESKETT at Croydon Parish Church. A child, Emma Mary, was born as PESKETT in 1863 and could have been a product of this union but a son William John was born in 1866 followed by Mary Ann in 1869.
In 1871 the couple were living with their 3 children (all recorded as HOOKINS) and living at 3 Smiths Place in Mitcham. Daughters Elizabeth and Louisa Jane were then born in 1873 and 1875 respectively and a son James Henry in 1880. So by 1881 the whole family of 8 were living at Crews Alley although their eldest son John died later on that year.
Daughter Emma married in 1887 and by the time of the 1891 Census James and Emma were living with their remaining 4 daughters at 1 The Terrace, Mitcham together with their married son William and his wife Martha.
In the Electoral Rolls for 1893 and 1901-4 James is shown as living at 1 Grove Road in Mitcham which may well be the same as 1 The Terrace as the 1901 Census shows him at 1 Grove Road with Emma and daughter Elizabeth. Daughter Mary had married in 1892 and Louisa was a servant elsewhere in Mitcham.
James died on 3 January 1904 at home and was buried 6 days later at Church Road Cemetery in Mitcham.
