In 1985, Helen Hudson nee Hughes (1915 – 2005), my grandfather’s first cousin, published a family history with the rather lengthy title, ‘Cherry stones: adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland; Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales; Hale of Gloucestershire, Langford Sidebottom, Cheshire; Shorten of Cork, Ireland, and Slater of Hampshire, England who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850, researched, compiled and written by Helen Lesley Hudson‘ (Berwick, Victoria: H.L. Hudson, 1985).
For me her book, based on papers, old letters, and paraphernalia she inherited from her father, is a researcher’s treasure-house. At the moment I’m preparing for a family-history trip to England, and I’m finding ‘Cherry stones‘ particularly useful, for it includes details of Helen’s travels to the “Old Country” visiting the places our forebears came from, and I’ll be doing something similar.
Helen and her husband Bill visited Holywell in Flintshire twice. She wrote about walking around the graveyard of the ancient church beside St Winifrede’s Well Sanctuary, where she found many graves of our Hughes family.
She also wrote about a visit she made to Trelawynydd, formerly known as Newmarket. My fourth great grandfather, Edward Hughes (1803 – 1876) was born at there. FindMyPast has the baptism records for Trelawnyd, Flintshire, and these include an Edward Hughes baptised 23 January 1803, the son of Edward and Ann Hughes. Helen gives Edward’s birth date as 17 January 1803. I am not sure what document she based this on. Edward Hughes is a common name – Hughes is the eighth most common Welsh surname – and there are plenty of other candidates for our Edward.
On 21 April 1821 Edward Hughes of Holywell, Flintshire married Elizabeth Jones of Ysgeifiog at Ysgeifiog. [Ysgeifiog pronounciation]. Ysgeifiog is less than five miles from Holywell. Helen’s tree had 1823 as the date of this marriage, but I have located a likely parish record at FindMyPast giving the date as 1821. Edward and Elizabeth married in Liverpool in 1825. Elizabeth Jones was from Cardiganshire.
Samuel Hughes (1827 – 1896), their eldest surviving child and my third great grandfather, was baptised at the Great Crosshall Street Chapel of Welsh Congregationalists, Liverpool. The baptism record gives his birth date as 12 October 1827. Helen’s tree has 13 October 1827 and gives his place of birth as Liverpool. Edward Hughes was stated to be a joiner of Norris Street, Liverpool.
At the time of the 1841 census Edward, Elizabeth, four children (Samuel, Mary, Henry, and Eliza) and a child Goodman Jones, I assume a nephew of Elizabeth’s, were living at Drinkwater Gardens, Liverpool. Edward was a joiner. There were no live-in servants.
On 20 January 1849 Samuel Hughes arrived in South Australia on the Gunga, which had left Liverpool on 16 September 1848. Helen states that Edward, Elizabeth, Mary, and Henry also arrived on the Gunga but there seems no record on the passenger list of any other family member.
In 1851 I believe Edward and Elizabeth Hughes and one daughter, Mary, were living in Heathfield Street, Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales. Edward was a builder, employing 30 men.
I have not been able to find the immigration record for Edward and Elizabeth Hughes. Elizabeth died in Brighton, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, and is buried in Brighton cemetery. Edward returned to England and died 4 May 1876 at South Norwood near London. A death notice in the Melbourne Argus stated he was late of Sandhurst and the father of Samuel Hughes. He had been living with his daughter Mary Hewitt nee Hughes.
Helen Hudson wrote that there was a family story that Edward had lost a lot of money in Peruvian Bonds but she was not able to verify it. Nor can I. Helen also wrote that Edward was on the Bendigo diggings and that he and Elizabeth were living in View Street, Bendigo at the time of Elizabeth’s death.
I am glad that Helen wrote up her family researches in such detail. Much more information has become available since 1985 and online searching makes the task of finding and gathering information far easier than it was. I am sure she would have enjoyed researching today and verifying what she knew. I look forward to retracing her footsteps in Holywell during our visit to the United Kingdom in May.
Sources
- Hudson, Helen Lesley Cherry stones : adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland, Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales … who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850. H.L. Hudson, [Berwick] Vic, 1985.
- “Liverpool: Churches.” A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4. Eds. William Farrer, and J Brownbill. London: Victoria County History, 1911. 43-52. British History Online. Web. 12 March 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol4/pp43-52.
- ancestry.com – census records:
- 1841 census : Class: HO107; Piece: 559; Book: 26; Civil Parish: Liverpool; County: Lancashire; Enumeration District: 35; Folio: 43; Page: 29; Line: 23; GSU roll: 306941
- 1851 Wales census : Class: HO107; Piece: 2466; Folio: 145; Page: 57; GSU roll: 104215-104217
lindamaycurry said:
What an amazing resource to have. You are going to have so much fun following in Helen’s footsteps.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Anne Young said:
I am very lucky to have so many family history enthusiasts to follow on from.
LikeLike
The JOYOUS Living (@thejoyousliving) said:
i’ll have to check out “find my past”. thanks for the tip! good luck finding the immigration deets.
Joy at The Joyous Living
LikeLiked by 1 person
Anne Young said:
Although there are considerable overlaps, FindMyPast does have different records and also has indexed such records as censuses separately and often with greater accuracy than their competitors at ancestry.com. I do recommend them.
LikeLike
cassmob said:
Fantastic to have this resource but, like a good genealogist, you’ve been rechecking the data.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Anne Young said:
We are so lucky to have more resources available to us now and made so easily accessible with digitisation and indexing. I know Helen Hudson would have revelled in them.
LikeLike
Donna Smith said:
You should do one of the blog publishing services to compile all your information. Did a lot of genealogy before my mom died, but we really aren’t done. It is a fascinating work.
AtoZ Challenge
Maine Vanity Plate Poetry
Mainely Write
LikeLiked by 1 person
Anne Young said:
Hi Donna
Thanks for visiting.
Yes I have archived my blogs on paper using Blog2Print. I also produced a family tree book for my husband’s family using MyCanvas which had blog posts included in it. https://ayfamilyhistory.com/2019/01/04/book-making-with-mycanvas/
Genealogy is never done! It is indeed a fascinating way to learn more about the past.
LikeLike
Brett Minor said:
I got into tracking down our family history with my mother a few years ago. I didn’t have the patience for it. She still does it and I love reading what she finds, but I just couldn’t get into it. I admire your drive and interest.
I am at Transformed Nonconformist. I usually write humor pieces, but I am getting serious this month. I’m writing about people who have deeply impacted my life.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Duncan David said:
I have heard from my mother how absorbing family history can be and how after much searching and detective work, long lost ancestors can be found
https://seal-of-melchizedek.blogspot.com/2019/04/fort-lauderdale-florida-fort-collins.html
LikeLiked by 1 person
raesquiggles said:
We often visit Greenfields in Holywell – amazing heritage.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: A day trip to Wales 10 May 2019 | Anne's Family History
Pingback: Climbing our family’s gum tree again | Anne's Family History
Pingback: Y not Y? | Anne's Family History
cassmob said:
That’s going to be a fabulous resource on your visit. It is a doozy of a title though. Now I have to look up Flintshire.
LikeLike
Pingback: The unfortunate death of Goodman Hughes | Anne's Family History
Pingback: E is for emigration | Anne's Family History
Pingback: An obituary about John Hughes (1788–1844) | Anne's Family History
Pingback: Henry Hughes (1838–1907) and a breach of trust | Anne's Family History