ancestrees

[ancestrees]

A photo of my first cousin (4x removed): Bertha Emma Cheel (1868-1947), shown here with her husband Walter Skinner, a clay digger from Rochester, Kent (UK). 

[ancestrees]

Since Valentine's Day is coming up, here is Mr Valentine Day himself. Valentine was born circa 1851 in Whitby, Yorkshire. He married Millicent Allington in Spring 1876. 

In 1891, he is recorded as a visitor in Chesire at the house of William Kendrew, a Wesleyan minister (b. 1841), and his wife Eliza. Elizabeth Day is also at the Kendrews' house and is the mother-in-law of William, and presumably the mother of Valentine and this Eliza, his sister. 

In 1911, Valentine, his wife, and two servants were living in North Street, Wareham, Dorest. His occupation is listed as bank manager. Valentine died in 1913, and was buried December 29 of that year.

Romance is dead.

[ancestrees]

I discovered JSTOR contains details of my family history on it! SGH stands for Stanley George Hooker (cousin), William Harry Hooker is my 2nd great grand uncle, and Edward J. Hooker is my great-great-great grandfather (1821-1918).

[ancestrees]

A skeleton found beneath a Leicester car park has been confirmed as that of English king Richard III.

Experts from the University of Leicester said DNA from the bones matched that of descendants of the monarch's family.

Lead archaeologist Richard Buckley, from the University of Leicester, told a press conference to applause: "Beyond reasonable doubt it's Richard."

[ancestrees]

Guys, I'm so sorry. I think Fudd finally got him.

[ancestrees]

Another amazing genealogical find, this time from the US Indian Census Rolls which listed Native Americans living in a particular area.

This one is from a Cheyenne reservation in Dakota and records a man born in 1867 whose English name was Skins His Penis!

[ancestrees]

In celebration of The Hobbit's release in cinemas, I give you John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, aged 19, on the 1911 census. Both Tolkiens were born in Orange Free State, South Africa.

He and his brother Hilary Arthur Tolkien (b. 1894) were boarding with Mr Thomas Macsherry (director of a whisky distillery) and his wife Julia Elizabeth.

John is listed as at school, while Hilary was employed as a hardware merchant’s clerk.

[ancestrees]

I went cemetery trawling and found the gravestone of my great-great-grandparents John Ezzard Edward Hooker (1847-1926) and Anne E. Baker (1848-1921)! Buried with them is their daughter Annie Matilda Hooker (1881-1940), husband of William Twigg.

[ancestrees]

This ship, HMS Formidable, is the ship aboard which the wife of my third great-grandfather (Edward Jabez Hooker) was born. Her name was Caroline Sophia Waight (1826-1914). She was the sister of my third great-grandfather’s first wife, Charlotte Waight (1822-1850).

[ancestrees]

My third great grand uncle’s family on the 1871 UK census. 

George Hooker (here listed as a joiner at Sheppey dockyard) and Jane Hooker née White, with their children, all born in Sheerness, Kent: 

(1) Jane Sarah Hooker, b. 1853. (2) Selina Hooker, b. 1855 (pretty name!) (3) Fanny Bigg Hooker, b. 1858 (conversely, a cruel name!) (4) Alfred E Hooker, b. 1866. (5) Alfred S Hooker, b. 1870.

[ancestrees]

My dad and I stumbled across this in Sheppey cemetery when we were actually trying to find somebody else! 

It’s the headstone of my 3rd great grand uncle, George Hooker (1830-1914) and his wife Jane Hooker née White (1831-1899). Their daughter Mabel (c. 1876) was a dressmaker at the age of fifteen, and when the census was taken in 1891, Jane’s brother Alfred (c. 1829) was in the home. Both George and Jane’s brother Alfred were joiners (woodworkers).

[ancestrees]

Guys, guys, guys. I found a better thing than a guy called Christmas Day. This guy is recorded on the 1851 census as "Stupid Butler" (I presume, and hope, this wasn't his real name!)  He was born in 1815 in Lancester and was employed as a saddle maker. When the census was taken he was recorded as a visitor at the house of Thomas M Smith, also a saddle maker. One can only imagine that Mr Smith told the census officials the guy at his house was the stupid butler!

Although, perhaps I've misread the handwriting, but I can't think what else it could be!

[ancestrees]

My Christmas present to you, Tumblr, besides a picture of my cursor, is the knowledge that there was a man called Mr. Christmas Day. Christmas was born in 1877 in the village of Bluntisham, Cambridgeshire. He was the son of Peter and Mary, and married Mary Merryweather in 1901. His occuption was a "carrier," someone who delivered goods by a horse-drawn carriage.  Christmas died in the summer of 1940. RIP Christmas Day.

[ancestrees]

The Hooker Surname

At school, my surname (Hooker) gave people the chance to make fun of me. I remember specifically an English lesson in which we were told surnames generally evolved out of familial occupations. My family then was apparently a generation of prostitutes.

However, the term hooker as a slang word for prostitute was chiefly an American term, arising, in text at least, in the 1840s. In Britain on the other hand it was applied to thieves and watch-stealers.  

As a surname, it's mainly focused in southeast England, as seen by the map included in this post (information from 1891 UK census records). Nearly half of all Hooker families lived in Kent or London. As relating to occupation, it is literally the maker of hooks, or, topographically, one who lives on a hook of land.

From the 1881 census records, we find out that 40% of Hookers were farmers (against 35% of the general population).