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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: mwjw22jb on Sunday 25 February 18 03:23 GMT (UK)
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Would someone be able to tell me how I'd find the reason for travel from England to USA if it isn't written on the passenger list?
My Harker family sailed on the steamship Paronia on 16th April 1884 destination Boston and listed as Immigration but they were back in Bramley Yorkshire on the 1891 Census minus Francis the husband.
Tried to find passport applications but drew a blank and am unsure where else to search for any information.
I know Francis didn't have any relatives in USA until 1910 and can't connect Marjory nee Wilson or Alex (adopted by the Harkers - father Charles Wilson, mother Isabella McDivett-McDevitt etc) to any like surnames there.
Thank you.
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Is this him? It indicates arrival on 16 April 1887 on the SS Pavonia. Occupation - spinner.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9K4-X2XW?i=121&cc=2304666
And there's also this: 27 September 1877 on the SS Minnesota. Occupation - merchant.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9K4-XF5G?i=120&cc=2304666
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Here's the 1887 passenger list:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939K-YH99-1?i=275&cc=1860873
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Yes the family search link is the correct one. Do you know why it says 1887 yet event date is 1884? I don't understand why the 2 dates?
Marj
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Actually the entry for Francis Harker on the SS Minnasota is my Francis also but I didn't know he had been there before. He was a foreman at a Worsted Mill in Yorkshire during this date.
Marj
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What event date? I haven't seen anything that puts the event in 1884. Here's the first page of that passenger list, clearly 16 April 1887.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939K-YHBT?i=250&cc=1860873
As for the purpose of the trip, it appears to have been immigration since they were planning a "prolonged sojourn." Possibly they went because they thought they might do better in North America and then, when they found out that life really wasn't that great in Massachusetts, they went back home. At that time, Massachusetts was the main textile producing state. Maybe Francis had some special expertise and had taken a short term contract to set up a mill and get it running.
Did Francis die in the United States? I don't see a death in Massachusetts.
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No Francis died in 1909 in Wharfdale Yorkshire.
Marj
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The mills in Boston plus other areas needed skilled workers and many from the mill areas in England were recruited to go and work there.
Your ancestor was a mill foreman could it be he went there to
help set up production at a new mill, I expect many of his fellow passengers were mill workers.
Unfortunately the 1890 census was destroyed I had hoped to find them in Boston.
Francis Harker was back in England ref: 1901 census age 52, wife Marjory 48, Alexander 19
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The mills weren't located in Boston. They were in towns along rivers to provide water power. Lowell, Lawrence, Fall River and Taunton were some of the most important mill towns.
http://historyofmassachusetts.org/massachusetts-textile-mills/
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That's a shame about the census record, i would've loved to have seen it too.
The Harkers of Yorkshire were heavily involved in the woolen mill trade both in Yorkshire and Gordon's Mill in Aberdeen owned by Alexander Haddon and Son's where Francis' brother John was manager until he retired and went to USA in 1910.
I still don't understand why the different dates (1884- see attachment) but 1887 sounds about right as Alex was listed as 5yrs old and he was born 1881 Alloa Clackmannanshire-registered 1882 Lancashire.
Marj
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Probably just a mistranscription from the original record.
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That's ok. Just a shame I couldn't find them with relatives in Boston as there are heaps of McDevitt's there and thought some may be Isabella's aunts and uncles because I can't find out what happened to her and hubby Charles Wilson.
Only found one death in 1882 South Shields Durham with an age about what Isabella would've been had she died and it was a drowning but the Aberdeen Press newspaper doesn't mention a husband or baby as next of kin and Charles seems to have just disappeared completely. He was my gt.grandpa's younger brother.
Marj
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I found 2 more records for Francis Harker - 1899 Immigration to Boston and a 1900 Us Census record.
See attachments.
Marj
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In a Worcester, Mass. city directory from 1888, there is this entry:
Harker, Francis, overseer, Brussels, house 555 Southbridge
It may be easier for others to view the census and passenger list through these links:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9B8-R9K
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:23F4-132
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Lawrence, Massachusetts, City Directory, 1881 - Francis Harker removed to England.
Sandra
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I couldn't see a link from Findmypast for the documents I found and wasn't sure what to do. I'll have a look at the other record today. Thank you. Marj
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Is there somewhere else I can find the Massachusetts City Directories as I'm not on Ancestry?
Marj
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If you do a Google search for (Worcester or whatever town) Massachusetts city directories, some links to free options may come up. It looks like the Worcester public library has digitized some.
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Thank you. I'll try that. I did google Massachusetts City Directories but none of the ones digitised were for the date time frame I'm after and those that were are on ancestry.