John Churchill and family Crewkerne and Philadelphia

[Benzol]

I'm searching for details of John Churchill b. 1855 and his wife Mary Jane nee Carey b.1852. They were both born in Crewkerne Somerset and married in Sheffield Yorkshire in 1876. They had five children in the UK, Thomas b.1877; Harriett b. 1879; George Carey b. 1881; Charles Edward b. 1883; Susan b.1885. John was referred to as a Shoemaker and an Assurance Agent in census records.

My understanding is that the family emigrated to the USA, probably about 1886, and settled in Philadelphia PA. I have a record of John dying there on 18.6.1902.
I've had a go at the Ellis Is. database - no joy.

Any help/information appreciated.

Cheers Benzol

[grub]

Hi Ben...
1900 US census, Philadelphia City, Pennsylvania

CHURCHILL
John, 47, b Jan 1853, England, parents born England, to USA 1884, is naturalized. Occupation: Wool Scourer.  Married 25 years.

Mary J, 47, b Sept 1852, England, parents born England, to USA 1886, is naturalized.  Married 25 years.  Birthed 12 children, 8 living at time of census.

Thomas W, 23, b July 1876, England.  Occupation: wool scourer to USA 1886

Harriet, 20, b August 1879, England. Occupation: curtain spooler, to USA 1886

George, 18, b Nov 1881, England. Occupation: cloth finisher, to USA 1886

Edward, 16, b Aug 1883, England.  Occupation: wool piecer, to USA 1886

Susan, 14, b July 1885, England. Occupation: curtain spooler, to USA 1886

Catharine, 12, b Sept 1887, Penn.  Occupation: at school

Anna J, 4, b June 1895, Penn.

Lucy 11 months, b Jun 1899, Penn.

Regards
Grub

Unless the family returned to England after John passed on, they should be on later census, but I don't have time at present to look.

One of our other RCers will find them for you, I'm sure.

[Benzol]

Hi Grub,

Thanks. Great news. What stamina hey, 12 kids and nearly 47 when the last one appeared. Lots to chew on.

Benzol

[shellyesq]

SS Lord Gough from Liverpool 14/7/1886 to Philadelphia

Churchill, My., age 32, female, born England, last legal settlement - US, occupation - wife, in US before - yes

Churchill, Thos W, age 9, male, born England, last legal settlement - US, occupation - child, in US before - yes, steerage

Churchill, Harriet, age 7, female, born England, last legal settlement - US, occupation - child, in US before - yes

Churchill, George, age 5, male, born England, last legal settlement - US, occupation - child, in US before - yes

Churchill, Ed W, age 3, male, born England, last legal settlement - US, occupation - child, in US before - yes

Churchill, Susan, infant, female, born England, last legal settlement - US, in US before - yes


I haven't had any luck yet finding them in subsequent census records.

[Benzol]

Hi Shellyesq,

Rootschatters are the best. Didn't expect this. Thanks.

I wonder can you (or another rootschatter) explain why this family seems to have been in the USA previously, or am I mis-reading the data. It certainly seems unlikely that the family had visited the US before. Was it something to do with John Churchill arriving there in 1884. Don't suppose he came home and then sailed back with the family in 1886! Interestingly the two youngest children, Charles Edward and Susan, were baptised in Crewkerne on 7.7.1886 just seven days before the SS Lord Gough sailed from Liverpool.

Once again thanks for the info.

Benzol

[Jacquie in Canada]

I looked for the family on later census as well but couldn't find them either. The only thing I did see was an UK incoming passenger list that had a Mary J. Churchill, 53, who sailed from New York and arrived in Liverpool on 20 Jul 1907 however she was travelling alone.

Jacquie

[Benzol]

Hi Jacquie,

Thanks for the info.

"The game's afoot". Guess if this is my Mary J. Churchill, and it seems likely, she was just visiting the UK. Although John was probably dead by this time she must have left behind a large family. If youngest daughter Lucy was still alive she was only about 8.

p.s. Can you recall the name of the ship Mary J. sailed in?

It seems from your research that the family had completely died out, unlikely, or that it had moved away from the Philadelphia area, perhaps more realistic. How do the US census records work? Is it a national database or simply based on each State? Is there an accessible census later than 1900? If so what does it hold? As you can no doubt tell, I know absolutely nothing about US records.

Cheers Benzol

[Jacquie in Canada]

The name of the ship was the Campania. I did a couple of quick searches of the passenger list databases at Ancestry and couldn't find any that looked like they could be Mary returning to the US. 

Regarding the census, I did searches at Ancestry for the family. The databases for each census year (1790 - 1930) cover the entire US. As well I didn't limit my search parameters to just Pennsylvania.

The LDS Labs website has Philadelphia death certificates from 1803 - 1915. I found a possible death for Harriet in 1904, Edward in 1905 and Mary Jane in 1914. Here's a link to their site:
http://search.labs.familysearch.org/

It looks like Edward, Mary Jane, Harriet and John were all buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Philadelphia. I can't check that out further right now because it's incredibly late where I live.

Jacquie

Edited: After finding the deaths of most of her children, it's certainly possible that Mary travelled alone to England then returned before her death in Philadelphia.

[shellyesq]

I suspect the statement that they had been in the US before was wrong.  The passenger lists from then aren't very detailed and they are handwritten with a lot of dittoes, and I get the impression from that that they weren't checking immigrants' information all that closely then. 

In addition to checking the census records, I tried checking the WWI & WWII Draft Registration Cards.  These cover men who were born from roughly 1875-1900 (I'm sure the exact dates are listed somewhere, in case you're curious), so 3 of the Churchill sons would likely have fit in those age ranges & been required to register if they survived & stayed in the US.  I didn't find any likely matches in there.