George Atkinson was a farmer in Australia. He was born about 1800 in Yorkshire, travelled to Australia (maybe the early 1830s), married and so on.
The understanding in the family was that George’s father had owned (or worked in?) a mill. Son George was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps but didn’t want to. He quarreled with his father and took off to Australia. There was a suggestion that he wanted to own land and farm and there was more chance of achieving that in the colonies than at home. His training as an ”engineer” (his stated profession) probably related to maintenance of the mill machinery.
There seems to have been no contact between father and son after that.
Looking thru IGI, there is a possibility that the village of Horbury might be a good starting point. Would anyone be able to advise me the best place to start searching there, please?
Paul
