Diamonds are forever - A Horkings Wedding
Diamond Wedding Anniversary
It is a photo of all the relatives celebrating my 3x gt-grandparents 60th wedding anniversary, that of William Horkings and Eliza Johnson.
They landed in New South Wales and somehow made their way to Victoria, where they eventually settled at Blackburn. The family were farmers, orchardists, fruiterers (not Con!) greengrocers and market gardeners.
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| William Horkings and Eliza nee' Johnson Married Christmas Day, 1851 Ely, Cambridgeshire England Photo taken at Blackburn Victoria Australia (1909) |
Shown below, I have been able to identify 3 generations of my direct ancestors. My gt-grandparents in the green boxes (my gt-grandmother is holding my grand aunt Grace), my 2 x great-grandparents in the blue boxes and my 3x gt-grandparents in the red box, and this of course is the couple being celebrated for 60 years of "wedded bliss", and the celebration was probably a Christmas celebration as well since they were married on Christmas Day.
In the Age Newspaper on Jan 1, 1910 appeared the following notice, obviously placed by the family to celebrate the Diamond Wedding anniversary of their parents...
...but was it really their 60th anniversary? The family obviously thought so, but ....Nope! Was the "Ely Cathedral" a fantasy as well? They did only live around the corner from the Cathedral so I am guessing that was real.
The Wedding at Ely
The marriage certificate confirms they were celebrating anniversary number 58! I think they may have "adjusted" the date to account for the birth of their first born son Edward (my ancestor) who was born 6 July, 1851.
On their marriage certificate it states they were resident in Broad Street Ely and they lived very near to the Ely Cathedral (mind you there was also St. Peter's Church in Broad Street), there seem to be churches everywhere!
The image below is Ely Cathedral where the family notice says they were married. How on earth did ordinary people come to be married in such a grand cathedral?
(Side note - The original cathedral was the wedding chapel of St. Etheldreda the virgin queen also an interesting character from 630 A.D., a shame she didn't have any descendants to tell that story... she remained a virgin her whole life! )
My ancestors marriage certificate states they were married in the parish chapel of the Holy Trinity Ely, which appears to be still a rather grand section of the main cathedral. The small bit of research I have done about the church indicates that it was formerly the "Lady Chapel" of the Cathedral which is still amazing.
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| By Verbcatcher - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92494961 |
Immigration to Australia
William and Eliza, left Plymouth on their 4 month voyage with an 18 month old in tow; this was their first son Edward (my 2x great grandfather). The Humbolt (pictured below), arrived in Australia on 29th December, 1852. They celebrated their first wedding anniversary onboard the ship.
See the comments from the page shown below about crews deserting their ships to make a quick fortune on the goldfields as this was the time of the Australian gold rush!
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| http://www.oocities.org/mppraetorius/com-hu.htm |
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| Shipping Record 1852 |
William left his parents behind in Moulton, County Suffolk, and Eliza left behind her mother in the Isle of Ely, but the shipping record indicates her father John Johnson was already in the colony.
I thought that he must have only preceded them by a brief time, but why would he leave his wife behind in England? I looked closer. Eliza's mother Elizabeth had been a "widow" since the 1841 census and I have a hunch that I will be adding yet another convict to my list. I have found a likely candidate in the Tasmanian Convict records in 1837, but for now that is just conjecture and needs more research.
Anyway, the shipping record notes William could read but not write and Eliza could do both. Though on her marriage certificate she signed her name with a cross. Did she educate herself to read in that year (unlikely), or did she simply go along with signing "her mark" so as not to show up her new husband?
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| Other photos of the happy couple Eliza nee' Johnston and William Horkings |
Descendants of this couple seem to be the most prominently represented in my DNA on my paternal side. They had 14 children (8 boys and 6 girls) and many descendants as shown in the picture. Many of them seem quite invested in the family history as well which is great!
Eliza died in June of 1911 (aged 81) and William died in October of the same year (aged 84), having lived a long and fruitful life in the country.
And back to the beginning.... my cousin Anthea, who I have known for over 20 years and who I only met in 2018.
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| Paul, Julie Anthea and Alicia Western Australia Oct 2018 |
Another convict! A great read....
ReplyDeleteThanks Chris, like I said, more research to do, but it is another little interesting tidbit to look at :)
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