Samuel HOOKINS (Tree A)

 This Samuel HOOKINS was my great great grandfather and was born on 3 December 1830. He was the 2nd of 8 children born to Robert HOOKINS and his wife Mary Ann (nee FOXWELL). He was baptised just 16 days later (as HOOKINGS - a common transcription error in our family's history) at St John the Baptist Church in Wellington, Somerset.

St John the Baptist Church Wellington

In the Census for 1841 Samuel was living at Pitt Cottages in Wellington with his parents and 4 siblings, all again recorded as HOOKINGS. In 1851 he is not living with the family and has not yet been located elsewhere but on 8 July 1854 he married Eliza SANDY at Pawlett Parish Church still recorded as HOOKINGS! The interior of the church pictured below shows where they would have stood to recite their vows to each other.

Interior Pawlett Parish Church

Their first child, James arrived in 1855 and he was baptised in the church where his parents had married the previous year (yes - as HOOKINGS!). 3 more children followed - William (my great grandfather) in 1857, Mary Ann in 1858 and Walter in 1859. Many congratulations to Walter as they at last got the family surname spelling correct. All the family were present and correct at the 1861 Census living in Pawlett village.

In the next decade 6 more children arrived - Anna Marie in 1861, Elizabeth in 1863, Fanny in 1864, Jesse in 1867, Frederick Edward in 1868 and Samuel Henry in 1870 with only one being bestowed the HOOKINS spelling. Up 'til now Samuel's work had been Agricultural Labourer (1857), Servant (1864), Labourer (1861-4) and Brickyard Labourer (1867). However he was never destined to set eyes on his final son who bore his name as father Samuel died at the beginning of 1870 whilst Eliza was pregnant with her 10th child. What an awful time for her. Her husband had died of inflammation of the lungs which was likely to have been caused through the inhalation of brick dust.

So the 1871 Census sees Eliza living in Pawlett with 9 of her 10 children as eldest son James was working as a Servant on a farm in the village. The ages of the children with her ranged from 14 years down to just a few months. After a further 6 years she was married again to Frederick SHUTE who had been living in the village at the previous Census so was probably know to her previous husband and the other family members. He was also an Agricultural Labourer and was 14 years Eliza's junior. They remained married for a further 25 years before Frederick's death followed the year after by Eliza's.