Family History Surprises

It really is always surprising when you experience a Family History surprise. I've been going along with my searching and linking of families for over 30 years now but quite regularly I get these surprises which give extra information or documents which provide further insight into members of the Hookins family. The latest surprise was a visit from Debbie who is on the same Family Tree as me and had been given a number of photographs none of which were marked to indicate the subjects involved. I have now accumulated records of over 1500 Hookins people and acquired quite a number of photographs which I have been gradually sharing on this blog so I was quietly confident of being able to identify some of these. That illusion was shattered however when I looked through them and was able to identify 2 people who appeared in one of the photographs!! So - what do I know after all these years?!! Debbie was able to tell me where her father appeared but we are still left with 14 prints involving a number of people unkown to us so I have set about the task of sending them to people in our Family Tree who might just have been around at the same time as these people and/or may have seen pictures of them to identify some. Debbie's father was a William Ewart HOOKINS son of Henry James HOOKINS and it is probably Henry's siblings (there were 10 of them!!) or people of his generation whom we are looking at. Those siblings were Frederick John (my grandfather), Samuel, Ada Jane (married name RODBER), Alice (married name ROBERTS), Jesse (died at age 6), Walter, Charles, William, Nellie and Elizabeth (died at age 12). If anyone has knowledge of the families of any of these or of contact with them I would be delighted to hear from them. In the meantime I will continue to contact those I have come to know over the years to try and help solve this mystery. One thing with these surprises is that it normally involves a bit of work to solve mysteries or to catalogue changes but it's enjoyable all the same and such contact is very welcome. So thanks to Debbie - it was good to meet up again and I hope to get some answers for both of us. And here are the pictures.

Richard Southey HOOKINS (Tree 3Q)

Richard Southey HOOKINS was born in Elsternwick, Victoria, Australia just after Christmas in 1925. He was the only son in a family of 4 children to Spencer Southey HOOKINS and his wife Alma Vera (nee TURNER). Richard's grandfather Sidney Southey HOOKINS was born in Exeter but went out to Australia in 1867 and 13 years later married Fanny BLACKBURN. Richard was an Insurance Clerk but joined the Royal Australian Naval Reserve in 1943 as an Ordinary Seaman serving on a few ships. He was described as being 5ft 7 inches tall with brown hair and hazel eyes on the attached Naval record. Unfortunately he was badly burned and died as a result of the wounds received on 21st October 1944. His mother's details are included on his record and another page indicates that she was awarded a pension of £2.10s per fortnight from the following month.

Alice and Sarah Muriel M HOOKINS (Tree 3N)

This is the final picture I have of the familyof Alfred John & Alice HOOKINS and shows Alice and her daughter Sarah Muriel M. Alice was born in 1876 in Bermondsey and married Alfred in 1898. Alice died around 1972. Sarah Muriel M. was known as Muriel and was born in 1900, the eldest of the surviving children. She married Harry Edward JOHNSON with whom I believe she had 2 children. Muriel died around 1980.

Arthur Timothy HOOKINS (Tree 3N)

Another child of Alfred HOOKINS and his wife Alice (nee LONGWORTH) was Arthur Timothy the youngest apart from his sister Gertrude. He was known as Tim and was born in 1917 in Greenwich like the remainder of his siblings. He married Winifred Rose SMITH in 1945 in Lambeth and they had a son and daughter born to them. Tim died in 1999 and his wife 3 years later.

"Detached" HOOKINS/HOOKINGS

I have now accumulated 1534 different HOOKINS/HOOKINGS names past and present which seems a lot but is I understand quite small fry in Family History terms. I have just added the 500th Miscellaneous member - those individual records I have located for people who might have a spouse or be part of a single family but who are not joined to any particular Tree. Often the information I have about them is so limited that they can't be linked to anyone else with any certainty but it will be a project for me to work on in the future to see if I can find a home for them. They must belong somewhere!

Gertrude HOOKINS (Tree 3N)

There are only 2 ladies in my Hookins records who have had the name Gertrude. This Gertrude is the one missing from the photo of the last posting for the family of Alfred and Alice HOOKINS as she was not born until 1920 the youngest of 9 children. I understand that she was also known as "Fred" as she hated her name. There is a story that when she was to be born her parents put different names into a hat and one of the brothers thought it would be funny to put in Gertrude and that was the name pulled out! I have been informed that she married Arthur OUGHAM thought to have been in 1954 in Ealing. She is pictured here in a photo thought to have been taken in 1983 with her grandson Bradley SCOTT who now lives in Australia and with whom I am in contact. If that year is incorrect he will let us know as I do not wish to make any comment about his potential age from more recent pictures I have seen!! Best wishes Brad!

Alfred John HOOKINS (Tree 3N)

Alfred John HOOKINS married Alice LONGWORTH in October 1898 at St Alfege Church in Greenwich. Alfred was a Flour Miller's Warehouseman and suffered serious accident when a large bag of flour fell on his head. He served as a driver in the Army Service Corps in the Corps of Waggoners in South Africa under Baden Powell having joined the Army at an early age. Between 1898 and 1917 Alice bore 10 children. By the time of the above photograph which is thought to be around 1915 their firstborn, Alice, had died before her first birthday and for some reason Gertrude (5) and William (6) are not included whilst Arthur Timothy had not yet been born. The other children enjoyed much longer lifetimes and the remaining 4 daughters all married. Those in the picture are thought to be from left to right John, Alfred, Alice (mother) Sarah Muriel, Henry George, Alfred John (father), Elizabeth and Mary. Alfred John died at the age of 71 in 1942 whilst Alice was 96 at her death in 1972.

William HOOKINS (Tree 3N)

This is the another picture featuring William HOOKINS much later than on the last blog posting. His wife Sarah is seated beside him and alongside him is Lizzie SMITH (Sarah's maiden name) a niece of William and Sarah. The boy seated playing with his toy boat is said to be Alfred John the youngest of the children of William and Sarah. This suggests that the picture was taken in the late 1870s so William would have been aged just over 50, Sarah being 5 years younger.












This certificate is from the Royal Hospital at Chelsea which indicates that William was no. 9500 in the Chelsea pensioner ranks
as a result of which he was granted a pension of 4d per day. The letter I have a copy of in William's own hand was addressed to the Governor of Portland Prison where William had worked as a guard. In this letter William was asking the Governor to write to the Chelsea Hospital with a character reference and points out that he has a wife and 2 children - the other 2 children had died by this time - and that Sarah has been "for many years afflicted" presumably with some illness. She died in 1891 of apoplexy.

William HOOKINS (Tree 3N)

William HOOKINS was born in 1826. I have a copy of a letter in William's own hand which was sent much later in his life in which he explains a little about his parents. His father William Thomas HOOKINS as a young man had apparently been a valet to Lord Palmerston but William indicates that he never really knew his father. William's mother Mary was brought up in a Foundling Hospital but sadly records of that institution appear to have been destroyed. He indicates however that she was a Lady's Maid to a Lady Wheatley of St James' Palace, Lady Blunt, Mrs Spicer of Esher Park nd Mrs Bosenquet of Broxbourne Park. William attended Westminster National School but it seems that his mother could not maintain him there for too long. In 1840 he obtained employment with a Mr Hinds in Tottenham Court Road who was a maker of Government sealing wax as an errand boy and was therefore able to support himself and also his mother as her health failed until her death in 1844 when William was only 18. The "new" postal system was then introduced which hit his role as an errand boy and so William states that he was "compelled" to join the Army to earn his living.

He became a Bombardier in the Royal Artillery and is pictured during his service in the Crimea. The copy of his discharge shown here indicates that he served for 9 years and 93 days of which 6 years and 8 months were spent abroad. Due to him being no longer fit for service following an injury sustained in the Crimea he was awarded an Army Pension of 7d (7 old pence) per day for 2 years. His character is described as "exemplary". He then joined the Prison Service at Portland where he served for another 23 years.

Adelbert HOOKINS (Tree I)

Adelbert HOOKINS was born in March 1881 and is the father of John Scott HOOKINS in the previous post. Adelbert was born in Oil City Pennsylvania one of 5 children of Isaac Frank HOOKINS and his wife Elizabeth Ann both of whom are said to have been born in England but that has not yet been proven. Neither is the fact that Elizabeth had been married prior to this marriage. Adelbert migrated to Kansas in the early 1900s to work for Prairie Oil & Gas Company which made the town of Independence its Headquarters from 1905. John Scott HOOKINS was born there in 1921 and Adelbert eventually died in the town in February 1950.

John Scott HOOKINS (Tree I)

John Scott HOOKINS (known as Scott) was born in 1921 in Independence Kansas the only son of Adelbert HOOKINS (not to be confused with his nephew Adelbert Mitchell HOOKINS) and Mary Irene (formerly SCOTT). The adjacent picture is said to have been taken in 1934 when Scott was approaching his 14th birthday but he looks quite mature for his age in his smart suit. Scott married and had one daughter and later went to live in Arkansas from where he wrote to me on a few occasions. He died in 2001.

Ardelle HOOKINS (Tree I)

Ardelle HOOKINS was a renowned flautist and in some articles is described as "the legendary Ardelle HOOKINS". She studied with George BARRERE - reputed to be the best flautist in the world at the time - when she was only 12 years old at the Chautauqua Institute. She was one of the youngest flautists in the world in 1931 and was considered too young to travel on her own so required a chaperone. She was a member of The Hookins Entertainers Deluxe with her father and brothers and performed lunch and dinner music at the Athenaeum Hotel in New York. Barrere insisted that she complete high school before entering the Institute of Musical Art so she auditioned for William Curtis at Kincaid at Curtis. She spent 6 years as the only woman in the Curtis wind department, graduating in 1934. Later she played in the Boston Women's Symphony under Ethel Leginska.
Ardelle was born in 1913 in Oil City Pennsylvania, one of 2 sisters and 3 brothers born to Frank and Mable HOOKINS. She married Arthur Donald BOWERS IN 1938 and they had 4 children. She was then known as Ardelle HOOKINS-BOWERS. Ardelle pre-
deceased her husband in 1995 in Mooretown New Jersey at the
age of 82 years.



Ardelle is pictured her with Georges BARRERE at the Athenaeum Hotel in 1925

Shoemakers, Cordwainers or Cobblers

So............. should they be called "shoemakers" or "cordwainers" or is that all "cobblers"?
Between the 16th and 18th Centuries shoemakers and cobblers were two completely separate trades. Cobblers were not permitted to make shoes or boots or even to work on the uppers of any shoes or boots. They were restricted to the repairs of soles and heels. Cordwainers used a special type of leather which I understand originated in Spain. Cordwainer boots were made for special purposes such as for when riding with hounds or with a military uniform or if paying a formal visit to "his lordship". Further on their careers some shoemakers and cordwainers also acquired the additional title of "Master Shoemaker (or Cordwainer)" or "Shoemaker ( or Cordwainer Master)". This denoted that they had served an apprenticeship and were also designated to be an employer. Some shoemakers and cordwainers (later Masters) appear in my Family Tree and lived in the North West Somerset area so the likelihood was that the cordwainer side of their activities was more to do with the area of hunting and less of the landed gentry although this could still have been an aspect of their work. I'm not sure if it paid that well as I see that one of them, having been a shoemaker etc all his life was suddenly living at the Carpenter's Arms in Brompton Ralph as a shoemaker and Innkeeper! - or perhaps he was one of those few males who can multi-task!!

Ruby Ivy Louisa HOOKINS (Tree G)

I am so sad to have to report the death of the oldest living HOOKINS family member. Ruby Ivy Louisa HOOKINS passed away on Tuesday of this last week aged 101 years. A lovely lady who had a good sense of humour and whose hearing, sight, mind and memory enabled her to communicate in engaging conversation. The card below was given to her at her 100 birthday celebration and shows a picture of her parents as well as her own baby picture following her birth in July 1909 in Ealing. She married Charles Francis HOOKINS (photo below) in September 1931 at St Mary's Church Ealing and I understand that the honeymoon was spent in Bournemouth and Hastings. A year later they bought the house which was to be theirs throughout their married life. Charlie spent his war service in Bermuda whilst Ruby provided accommodation for relatives. Thereafter they lived happily in their home until Charlie died at the age of 93 in 1999. My first contact with Ruby was in 2000 when she responded to a letter I had sent but by that time she was housebound. I was pleased to be able to visit her the day

after her 100th birthday which she spent at St Vincent's Nursing Home which was so wonderful in caring for her. They gave her a party which included a number of visitors and her room was bedecked with flowers and cards and presents to celebrate this milestone. Thank you Ruby for what you meant to so many people who came into contact with you. I will miss our contact with you which has latterly been through Mary who is a relative of mine who lived in the area and spent time in visiting with Ruby on a regular basis and who I know will also greatly miss this lovely lady.

Ernest James HOOKINS (Tree G)

Ernest James HOOKINS was born in August 1887 at 3 Bath Road Mitcham and Bath Road was to be the home of various HOOKINS families in the years to come. He was the 6th of 11 children of George and Caroline (nee TRASH) HOOKINS. The family lived in Bath Road at No.3 (1885), No.21 (1890), No.41 (1895) and No.6 (1900). The family was a little elusive in a couple of Census returns being found in 1881 as HOSKINS and in 1901 as HOOKIN with Caroline being recorded as Clara! Ernest married twice, firstly to Mary Ann (nee BULL) with whom he had 3 children. There is a record of an Ernest James as a Private in WW1 with the Army Service Corps. When his wife was only 38 she died leaving Ernest with a 6 year old son and 2 other children in their teens. He then married Sarah May (nee BROOKER) at St Mary's Walton on Thames with whom he had another son the following year. Ernest is recorded as a Packer in a Varnish Works at the time of his second marriage and later as a Factory Hand. His youngest son was however less than 2 when Ernest himself died leaving Sarah to presumably care for the still young family as she survived her husband by another 30 years before her death in 1966 at the age of 70. Ernest was buried in Church Road Cemetery.

William Carl HOOKINS (Tree D)

This is William Carl HOOKINS whose own family has been mentioned before with photos of 2 of his sons. William Carl was born in September 1895 at Caroline Street in Camden Town. He had 5 brothers and 2 sisters and they were the children of Edwin Alfred HOOKINS and Jessie (nee JEFFERY). Edwin was a Carman from the 1880s (which could be a driver of a horse and cart for deliveries or even a horsedrawn tram) but in 1915 was defined as a Horse Keeper and in 1919 as a General Labourer. Although William Carl was born at No 37 both in the 1891 and 1901 Censuses 25 Caroline Street and judging from the borth of William's other siblings the family also lived at Preston Street, Camden Street and Bayham Street within Camden Town. William Carl was a Compositor and died in Rainham Essex towards the end of 1974.

Victor Leslie HOOKINS (Tree D)

I mentioned on a previous post that Victor Leslie HOOKINS made his home in Canada and worked with young people at the Malibu Club. He may just have be doing a scouting expedition towards his future homeland when he travelled into New York aboard the ss Drakensberg Castle (originally called Empire Allenby) the day before his 24th birthday. You may not be able to see that the ship was carrying a locomotive on the foredeck and cowsheds on the after deck - interesting cargo. I wonder where they ended up?


In January of the following year (1947) Victor arrived in New York again aboard the English Prince. She was built in 1942 in Sunderland and launched the following year. She was chartered in 1953 but retained her name and was returned to the Prince Line in 1957. In 1961 she was sold to a Liberian Shipping Company when she was re-named Simos and 2 years later she was transferred to the Greek flag. She went aground near Cape St Vincent in 1972 and although refloated she was condemned as unseaworthy ad laid up in Setubal before being towed to Bilbao the following year for breaking up.

Edward John HOOKINS (Tree D)

Edward John HOOKINS was born 1n 1916 in Ponders End Middlesex the first child of Edwin John HOOKINS (featured in the last posting) and Elizabeth (nee DUKE). Edward's mother died less than 6 years later after the birth of his second sibling leaving 3 children under the age of 6. Edward John was a Gardener/Driver and married Lily PENNEY on Christmas Day in Walthamstow in 1937 and in the following 5 years had 3 children.

Edward John is pictured again here flanked by Ada and Albert Francis HOOKINS. Edward John's father married again within 3 years of the death of his first wife providing a mother-figure again for his 3 young children. His second wife was Ada and together they had a further 5 children. The second of these was Albert Francis who was born in 1926 who eventually moved to Australia where he raised his own family and where he eventually died in 1986.

Ada died in Kings Lynn the year before.

Edwin John HOOKINS (Tree D)

Edwin John HOOKINS was born in 1887 in Kentish Town and became a Fitter's Mate. In 1915 he married Elizabeth DUKE at St Matthew's Church in Ponders End with whom he had 3 children, one of whom was born in Ponders End and the other two in Chingford. Unfortunately Elizabeth died in 1922 at the age of just 33 very soon after the birth of her last child. Edwin then had 3 children under 6 to care for and he married again in 1923 to Ada RUMBLE with whom he had a further 5 children. Edwin died on Christmas Day in 1956 in Chingford and is buried at Enfield Crematorium. Ada died in 1985 in Kings Lynn at the age of 93.

Family of William Carl HOOKINS (Tree D)

William Carl HOOKINS married Sarah MONK in 1919 in West Ham and they had 3 sons together. The eldest on the left was Ronald William Nathaniel who was born in 1921 and died in 2001. He married Alma Sylvia COLLINSON in 1944 again in West Ham and in order no doubt to redress the male/female balance in the family had 3 daughters together all with christian names beginning with "S". (We also had 2 daughters with the same "S" initial too.)














The youngest son Victor Leslie is shown here. Victor was I believe in the Merchant Navy and I know he travelled to New York in 1946 on the Drakenburg Castle and again in 1947 on the English Prince. Although he married a Hendon girl they were married in what must have been a lovely setting at Yellowknife which is on the shores of the Great Slave Lake in North West Territories of Canada. Between 1962 and 1972 the couple were involved in the Malibu Club and spent future years returning there to assist with the work. Malibu is an evangelical resort for High School youth in the fiords about 100 miles north of Vancouver. There is no road access - everyone arrives by boat or seaplane - a great beginning for the young people who spend just one week at the camp. A picture of the setting is below and looks idyllic.



The couple also worked with YWAM and Victor's wife worked at the office when MV Anastasis was commissioned for Mercy Ships - the very ship which my daughter joined when she began her connection with Mercy Ships.

Later Victor and his wife settled in Chemainus on Vancouver Island but Victor sadly died in 2002 but it was good to have some connection with them both before that happened and to see that connection continue through contact with his wife.

Certificates

There is an abundance of information on birth, marriage and death certificates to aid research. I had a previous post which talked about Poppy who was married to Ted Hempkins for only 3 days before a bomb hit the shelter where they had taken cover although other family members had taken refuge in another shelter. Grateful thanks to William who has kindly sent me a copy of their marriage certificate which as well as the actual date of death has confirmed the correct spelling of Poppy's third forename and the occupation of her father at that time. It also tells me that Ted hailed form Liverpool.
After I noticed an entry on a burials index that I dind't have in my records I sent for the death certificate of Ida Hookins who died in South Wales. It turns out that she was only 4 months old when she died so wouldn't have found her way on to any census of the family. I was however able to place her in a family as it gives the parents' names and importantly the maiden name of the mother and as the family travelled between North West Somerset and South Wales it was good to be able to pinpoint her connection. One more person added to the database making the total number of individuals 1520.
I have been going through the 1911 Census and I am now just establishing if all the people that should be there are present and then trying to establish where they might be. They could be indexed as a slightly different name - a number of those claiming to be Hookins turn out to be more likely to be Hoskins or similar when the zoom is used on the monitor and it can work the other way around too.
Have had the chance to use Facebook on a few occasions to help clarify where people fit into the picture. Usually I am able to give quite a lot of information about whom I think the person is so that hopefully it will provide me with a response and that has helped me several times so it's good to use any tools we can to help with the research.

James and William HOOKINS (Tree T)

James and William HOOKINS were 2 of the 10 children of Henry and Maria HOOKINS who come from the same village in North West Somerset as my own family but I do not yet have evidence of their link to that family. In the 1861 Census James and William disappeared from the family unit which is not unusual because they were both Agricultural Labourers so it is quite likely that they could be at the place of their employment. However they did not seem to appear anywhere else. At that time they would have been 24 and 22 years old respectively. I have now located them on the passenger list of the Barque "Caucasian" (seemingly as emigrants) leaving Southampton on 10th Sep 1857 and arriving in Adelaide South Australia on 26th Dec 1857. About 200 people made the journey and unlike other journeys it is good to know that no deaths occurred on the voyage. I wonder what happened to them?

Frank Bryan HOOKINS (Misc Tree)

One of the miscellaneous names I have linked to no-one else is Frank Bryan HOOKINS whom I had found listed as an acting Sub Lieut with Royal Navy/ Royal Navy Voluntary Reserve based at HMS Peregrine (formerly Royal Navy Airstation at Ford in Sussex - now an open prison recently in the news concerning rioting by prisoners). Frank was in 826 Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm which was formed in March 1940 as torpedo spotter reconnaissance using the Fairey Albacore aircraft (as above). Aircraft was lost on 21 Jun 1940 when operating from De Kooy airbase Den Helder NL. Frank was acting sub Lieut and died in that operation aged just 20 along with acting Lieut James L M Bell and Naval AIrman 1st class Robert G Poole - all buried at Texel (Den Burg) cemetery - Frank Plot k Row 1 Grave 9. Not sure yet if Frank was British but no record can be found in the UK of his birth in 1919/20. So although I know something about his service life he still remains linked to no-one else.

Charles Frederick HOOKINS (Tree C)

This is one of the few pictures I have of anyone on Tree C. This one is of Charles Frederick HOOKINS known as Charlie. He was born in 1904 at the Globe Inn in Highbridge in Somerset where his father was licensee. Other siblings were also born there in 1908 and 1910. His father's records have become a little elusive because although he appears on different Censuses his birth record has never been located even to the extent of inspecting the birth register for the stated birth place unless his name was changed after birth but none of the births registered seem to be linked to other nown names. I even have a record of his entry into school but the information there does raise suspicions about his father's name. Charlie ran the Ship Inn in Frome when first married but later a farm called Sedgehill and on his death in 1980 was survived by his two sons and the widow of his second marriage but she has also now passed away. I am pleased to have been able to meet both of his sons and his second wife but none of them have so far been able to cast any light on grandfather Frederick John HOOKINS. I hope I can some day because I think there is a link between this Tree and Tree M which centres around Plymouth.

Jesse & Alice Mary HOOKINS (Tree A)

I am extremely grateful to Audrey who recently sent me some more photographs of her ancestors.
On the left is another picture of Jesse HOOKINS who left North Somerset for South Wales and has been featured before in this blog. Jesse married Alice Mary LANE who had been born in Fiddington in Somerset some 10 years after Jesse's birth. They are believed to have married in Bridgwater in 1900. Both are
buried in the churchyard at Llantwit Major a short distance from
their long-time home at Dimlands Lodge.

Also pictured is Henry James HOOKINS one of their sons and also the father of Audrey. He married Violet Mary JEREMIAH ON 11th April 1925 in Neath. Henry was a Railway Engine Driver - every boy's dream! - and died in 1956 at the age of just 54. His wife Violet outlived him by 41 years and died at the age of 92. Henry is pictured her outside the actual Dimlands House in the grounds of which Jesse and his family lived at Dimlands Lodge (previously featured).




Scanned or photocopies of photographs of Hookins ancestors are always welcome and can be added to the blog together with any other photos relevant to Hookins lives in the past although

those of people still alive would not be added without express permission from those involved. So if you come across any please send them through or send a message at the foot of the blog.

Susan HOOKINS (Tree A)

There have been previous posts concerning Susan and her husband William HOOKINS who lived at Pawlett in Somerset. Here we see Susan standing outside the family home. Whether the neighbours were intended to be included in the photograph is debatable but they were obviously interested in what was going on! Photograph possibly taken in the early 1900s.

Walter was one of Susan's sons born in 1887. He married Emma Gertrude HOLMES in 1922 and they lived in Yorkshire where together they ran The Daisy Hill Home.

Another of Susan's sons was Samuel born in 1881 in Huntspill in Somerset. He married Alice Lily PHELPS in Pawlett Village Church in 1909 when Walter (above) was one of the witnesses. Samuel was recorded as being a Gardener but he is pictured here on the right in what seems to be the uniform of the omnibus company of the day possibly as the driver. Is he posing with his ticket collector or is that another passenger to add to the ladies and child already on board. Are there any omnibus officianados out there?

Deceased On-Line

Have just finished working my way through a few pages of Hookins burials from www.deceasedonline.com which has enabled me to add some information to the records of some individuals where I can clearly identify the people. Where there is some doubt it has prompted me to place the death record on to my list of certificates to order just so that I can make sure of those involved and perhaps get some more information from the certificate as well. Interesting exercise though and just another example of the increasing availability of information on the web. It is important however not to rely solely on information gathered in this way because it is only as good as the person who gathered it together and should be substantiated from other original sources for every transcription done provides another opportunity for errors to be made. Original source material can't be beaten in this respect.

Henry James HOOKINS (Tree A)

Henry James HOOKINS was the son of William and Susan born in Pawlett Somerset in 1893. He served in the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars but his occupation in 1943 is shown to be a Brickyard Labourer. Both his father and his uncle Walter worked at the brickworks thought to be in Puriton close to Bridgwater. The picture above shows some of the brickyard workers and Henry can be seen seated on the front row on the right.

Jesse HOOKINS (Tree A)

I have provided photographs of Jesse before but this is a lovely picture of the whole family possibly taken in the grounds of the house where Jesse was employed probably in the early 1920s. Jesse's wife Alice had died in 1915 at which stage Jesse was left with these 7 children aged then between 2 and 14 years. He seems to have done a good job in caring for them and bringing them up alone as well as fulfilling his duties to his employers.

William & Susan HOOKINS (Tree A)

William HOOKINS was born in Pawlett in 1857 and married Susan MASON at the Parish Church in that village on Christmas Day 1880. All of their children were born and baptised there and William and Susan were both eventually buried in the village churchyard as were some of their children. This picture of the village was taken in 1908 and was on the reverse side of a postcard sent by William's son Samuel to his cousin Beatrice who was born in 1887 in Cardiff where her father had migrated to from Somerset before 1881 and her married there in 1884. Unfortunately his wfe Alice died in 1891 it is thought during the birth of Beatrice's twin siblings' birth in 1891.

Jesse HOOKINS (Tree A)

Several previous posts have related to Jesse HOOKINS and his family and Jesse's move to South Wales to work as a coachman for the Crawshay family based in Llantwit Major at Dimlands House. The picture below shows the road entrance to the Lodge where Jesse lived as well as the entrance to the estate. The top picture shows an advertisement which appeared in

recent years when the Lodge came up for sale. This highlights the prime location of their home with views over the Bristol Channel and the accommodation even boasted an en-suite bathroom at the time of sale - surely not a luxury which Jesse would have enjoyed. It is good to know though that the dwelling where Jesse made his home with his family still remains standing even if, as I understand it, the rest of the estate has been turned into housing.

Samuel HOOKINS (Tree A)

This I know is a picture of a Samuel HOOKINS and I believe him tp be the Samuel who was a son of William who has been referred to on a number of other posts. Samuel was born in Huntspill on Boxing Day of 1881 and at the time of his marriage to Alice Lily PHELPS in 1909 he was a gardener and Alice was a dressmaker. They had one daughter Violet Lilian who had been a teacher and who lived in Weston super Mare. She was the lady who porvided me with the one page newspaper cutting about the Hookins family in uniform on which Samuel was featured. Unfortunately Alice and Samuel separated and Alice died in 1954 before Samuel in 1974. Violet died in a Care Home in Weston-super-Mare in 2004.

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.