So far away, starts close to home, ending up in America via Australia and becoming part of a Mormon Church dynasty! My story starts in around 1780, involves ships, trains and wagons and several big adventures so far from home….
My 4th great-grandparents (maternal branch) Ann Carrington (b.1781 and d.1862) and George Gregory (b. 1779 and d.1853), lived their lives in rural Flamstead, Hertfordshire, England. Ann and George were married January 1804 in the parish church of St Leonards in Flamstead, and went on to have 12 children the first was named Ann, was baptised July 1804, which means Ann must of been pregnant at their wedding, the last Arkeah (great name) was born baptised in 1825, poor Ann she must have been pregnant every other year!
Their eldest child, Ann Gregory and Matthew Hobbs b. 1798 married in 1825 in Great Gaddesden in Hertfordshire, where they lived and had 7 sons. Their eldest son named William Hobbs, was baptised 1826 in his mother’s home village Flamstead.
William Hobbs married a local girl, Emily Geary in 1844, William was a labourer, so was his father Matthew and father in law, they were all illiterate as their marriage certificate was signed with an X by all of them. Emily was a straw platter, hat making was a big industry in that area, with lots of homeworkers.
According to his obituary, William (my 1st cousin 4x removed) and Emily migrated to Australia and landed in Adelaide in November 1849. He and his family settled Reedbeds, nearly Henley Beach and worked many jobs and when gold was discovered, he like many others searched but was not successful, and eventually returned to his family. After several false starts they settled and farmed land in Muntham in Southern Grampians, Victoria, around 350km from Melbourne.
William & Emily had 12 children, first 2 were born England, the third was born at sea, and the other 9 were born in Australia. William lived to the grand age of 87 and was buried in 1913 in Douglas Salt Lakes, Harrow, Southern Grampians, alongside his wife Emily who died in 1898.
Their 5th child Emma Hobbs, was born in 1854 in Reedbeds, South Australia. In 1876 she married William James Brooksby. William was born in Northampton England and aged 6 in 1850 he migrated to South Australia with his parents and siblings on the “Carnatic”. His family were non conformists and some of his family were Quakers. Whilst in Australia he was baptised in to the Mormon church.
William and Emma Brooksby were in their 40s with ten children, and Emma was pregnant, William walked out and went to America in the wake of his Mormon friends, leaving his wife and family (the eldest aged sixteen) to manage as best they could.
He bought a house and a piece of land in Arizona and returned to Australia to fetch his family.
Emily was baptised into the Mormon church, they sold up, and set off for Vancouver, a journey the children at least loved and remembered all their lives. It was a train journey from Seattle to Salt Lake City, and then a wagon trek over the hills and the desert and the canyons, stopping on the way for a month while the last baby was born, a girl that nearly died in the cold as they travelled the last stage over the mountains.
Story of William & Emma’s migration, extracted from the excellent website https://www.brooksby.org
William was an active member of the Jesus Church of Latter day Saints when living in America, he became a priest and counsellor to Bishop A W Judd, Eliza Brooksby (William & Emma’s daughter married into the Judd family.
William & Emma were buried in Fredonia, Coconino County, Arizona, USA.
It is thanks to the amazing Family Search website that I have been able to find this story and Ancestry DNA I have 23 cousin matches on my Carrington line.
not just any family 