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John Riley Hood was born in Derby on the 2.5.1841 and appears on the 1841 uk census with his parents Samuel and Elizabeth,brothers William, George, and twin brother James. By 1851 his father Samuel is living with another woman called Matilda with whom he has had a further two children and John is with them. By 1861 John is with his mother Elizabeth in London-artist painter born Derby.John being a very good artist was sent to Paris to develope his artistic natures with a view to going into the family business of designing ornamental railings and ballastrads. However, being over qualified he was commissioned by a French Drawing house to go to Adelaide Australia and work there. There he met Mary Martha Hubbe and had four sons. Mary died in 1881. John re-married a widow Ruth Wright nee' Dollman and had a furtherfour children with her. The Google ref is rather misleading and I believe is taken from when a book that was written about John. His father Samuel lived in Reading and died there in 1900 aged 94. John is also mentioned in his uncles will in 1893-a William Hood who was mayor and also lived in Reading. This research is bomb proof.
Hi John, yes the story of John Riley HOOD is certainly interesting - I'd not heard of him before. Incidentally, when I Googled him yesterday, I found quite a lot of references - including at least one which indicated that the information in published accounts was, at least in part, defective. That indeed seemed to be the case when I then had a quick check of censuses, FreeBMD and the NSW BMD.
As for George's first wife her name was Anne Murch. After Georges disapperance between 1861-71 she appears on the uk census in1881/91/1901-all as a widow. It appears George went to Australia between 1861-71 same time as his brother John. Hope this is not to long winded and possibly a litte interesting.
That's certainly interesting.
Keep asking me awkward questions guys as I may well be missing something.
Well, John, you asked for it
1. It would be really good to see proof positive that George HOOD who married Jane GOLDING is the same person as George HOOD who married Anne MURCH
and is the brother of John Riley HOOD.
Please understand that I'm not saying that they are not all one and the same person - just that, as far as I can see, there doesn't yet seem to be any clinching evidence.
A pity that Mayor William did not make a bequest to George!
2. The 1841 census did not give relationships. So, unless you have marriage and birth information from other sources, there's no
proof that Eliza was Samuel's wife, or that William, George, and twins James & John were sons of Samuel. Of course, it's very very likely that they were (and especially as a John appears as Samuel's 9yo son in 1851) but I always think it a good idea to try to avoid assumptions.
3. Now a
really awkward question.
If your George's age (91) at death in 1915 was correct, this gives a birth year of ca
1824.
However, the George whom you mentioned in the 1841 census was aged 7 i.e. a birth year of ca
1834.
You did not mention ages on the marriage cert of your George & Jane GOLDING - I take it they were not listed?
Also, you did not make any reference to anything on George's death cert which might indicate how long he'd been in Australia (perhaps NSW doesn't have this info?).
Cando's Jenn's suggestion of looking for a 1915 death/funeral notice is a good one.
4. Do you have a copy of the marriage cert of a George HOOD & an Anne MURCH in 1856 - might have relevant information?
Well, that will do for now ...
All the very best,
JAP
