Child Migrants to USA - How did Kerenhappuch Wootton get to USA before 1847?

[paslwigr]

To Minnesotan,
Not all children were baptised soon after birth in England, Keren was baptised on the same day as her baby brother, Samuel 27th December 1835, but he died in infancy. Another of my families, in Buckinghamshire had four of their children baptised on the same day of varying ages. And two others not until they were in their teens. Keren states that she was born February 1832 in the 1900 census for Illinois. This would fit with her age, 9 years, in the 1841 census for Tring Hertfordshire, England.
No, I have not got certain proof that her mother was the Mary Wootton who died in 1842 and registered In Aylesbury, as no age was stated. So you may be right, perhaps her father left the family home and Mary took her three daughters to America/Canada. I would be happy to be wrong about that. The two brothers William born in Shropshire, where the Wootton family hailed from and Joseph also born in Staffordshire, were easily found marrying and having children in Staffordshire and Yorkshire, one of whom named his daughter with the 'family' name of Kerenhappuch, which I'm sure you know is Hebrew.
I found Keren in Illinois in the American censuses, after I gave up trying to find her married/died in England after 1841. Simply by putting her unusual name into the search. I did not find the marriage however, through my own efforts, but by eventually looking at the Public Member Trees for other people researching the name. I found a family where they had discovered, presumably, that Moses W Boyd had married Keren 8th October 1847 in Port Huron, St Clair, Michigan. There was no copy of the actual certificate shown, so again, I personally have no proof that this was true.

To Lisa in California,
I did wonder if the other girls had married around the same time as young women, but their common names didn't help. I haven't checked all the census for Lockport, but its worth a try to see if any Jane or Margaret of similar ages turns up also the town in which she married, which was Port Huron, St Clair Michigan. It's interesting that Moses & Keren called their first daughter Margaret Jane. See above how I learnt of Keren's marriage.
Thankyou both for going to the trouble to try and get some answers about Keren and family for me.
paslwigr

[Lisa in California]

When researching, I tend to suggest things that otherwise might be ignored, but that is how I've found some information about my brickwall ancestors.     There most likely isn't a connection here, especially since you mentioned that the sisters didn't have middle names, but I didn't want to ignore this:

Online trees suggest that Catherine Margaret Wooton/Wooten married George William Bowman on 5 March 1849, Port Huron, Michigan.  She apparently passed away on 26 October 1856, St. Clair, Michigan.  She apparently was born on 16 May, 1830, England.

I've only briefly searched Port Huron records, but so far I've not found any other Wootton/Wooton names c1850.   

Given that Keren named her first daughter possibly after her sisters, I wonder if she was remembering her sisters (either they died, or were not living close to her) or if she was just passing down family names.

[Minnesotan]

OK, this new detail is a game changer for me. My revised research plan would be all about getting a look at an image or ordering a photocopy of Keren's Port Huron marriage record. That's because it may include how long she had been living in Port Huron at the time she married, her mother's maiden name and maybe even if mom was alive or not.

If it were me, I wouldn't do any more research until after I have an image or photocopy of the original handwritten marriage record or I have confirmed that the indexed info is the most complete marriage record.

Based on the marriage date and locale, here is the most direct migration path from the UK to Michigan.

Exit Port in the UK>>>New York Castle Garden>>>Port Huron

All of it by water thanks to the Erie Canal which was opened 1825.

Also potentially important is the fact that Port Huron at that time was basically the terminus for said migration path. Keren marrying very young around age 15, at the port closest to the groom's stomping grounds makes me wonder about arranged marriage.

Just as an fyi, at that time there was no over-land westward migration path to Michigan. There were trains to Buffalo, NY but that would have added a lot of expense. Water transport was significantly less expensive than over land. U.S. migration paths at that time. http://etc.usf.edu/maps/pages/3300/3328/3328.pdf

You will probably never find Keren listed on a Great Lakes ship manifest because very few survive and because they were not good about keeping ANY of who boarded. But this link on the maritime history of the Great Lakes is a goldmine if you want to come up with a short list of ships that could have dropped her off in Port Huron. http://maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/  Thanks to this man, I obtained the names of the only 2 ships that could have transported my ancestors to Superior WI in 1857.

[Minnesotan]

Yeah, I did not know Kerenhappuch was Hebrew. I figured Gaelic. That's my default assumption whenever I see a long name from the UK. But then I think everything tastes like chicken too. So there's that.

[paslwigr]

 :)To Lisa in California,
What you have discovered about the Catherine Margaret Wootton in Port Huron is very interesting. Although the baptism register at Sedgley Parish Church in Staffordshire England simply says 'Margaret', I know that her mother Mary's mother was called Catherine. Also her baptism date of 30th May 1830 is very close to the birthdate you have found. You might just have found a very important piece of this jigsaw. Thankyou, I am so appreciative.
To Minnesotan,
I can't tell you how much all this wonderful information means to me. I agree that I need to find the original marriage record somehow. I suppose I could contact the person who put the information on her public tree. But all the info. about migration to USA, I would never have found all that myself. Whether it was an arranged marriage, had crossed my mind, and you may well be right. A young girl, 15 years of age or younger when she arrived, with or without her sisters, she would need protection. On a lighter note, perhaps Moses Boyd was on the lookout for a healthy young bride when the boat came in! So many thanks for all your help, to both of you.

[sallyyorks]

Yeah, I did not know Kerenhappuch was Hebrew. I figured Gaelic. That's my default assumption whenever I see a long name from the UK. But then I think everything tastes like chicken too. So there's that.

It is an Old Testament name, and not just strictly "Hebrew".
These OT names were not that uncommon in England's industrial regions, due to the popularity within  the working class communities of  Nonconformist churches. The Wesleyan and Methodist non-con denominations for example. The Primitive Methodist church was popular in Staffordshire in particular


What were the occupations of Kerenhappuch's extended family, who were still back in England?

[Galium]

No hard information, but two things which might be of interest:

I have an instance in my tree of a couple emigrating in 1851. The ship's manifest shows five children with them, but although they are all listed with the family name, Brickett, only two children are their own, and the others appear to belong to different couple who did not emigrate with them, and are not related so far as I can tell. (I think they were friends, as one of the parents of these girls was a witness at the Bricketts' wedding). They show up later in US censuses with their real surname.
So it might be worthwhile looking for Kerenhappuch and perhaps her sisters travelling with another family.

re Kerenhappuch's marriage.  A cousin of my father emigrated to Vancouver in the early 20thC.  She told us that because there were a great many more young men than women around at the time who had emigrated, she quite often got proposals of marriage from strangers who would strike up a conversation with her, and take only a matter of minutes to get to the point. (She never married!)

[jorose]

Bowman to Wootton 158 indexed here but don't see Boyd/Wootton?
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01h1s/

On the original (
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01h1u/   image 106 bottom right)  they are listed as George Bowman, aged 25, and Margaret W. Wottum, aged 19, married 4 Mar 1849. Witnesses were U.E. McNeil and Eliza Wigginson, and the wedding was performed by John McNeil, justice of the peace.

Given how close they were to Canada, I would also be looking in Ontario.

[paslwigr]

  To jorose,
Thank you for guiding me to a part of Family Search I didn't know was there. You were quite correct, there is no marriage entry for Moses W Boyd & Kerenhappuch Wootton on 8th October 1847 at Port Huron, St Clair. It was on one of the public trees that I acquired that information, but it must not be correct. That has thrown me, as another kind Rootschatter advised me to check out the marriage and with your help I find its not there! However I would have expected names of fathers to be entered on the certificates and they were obviously not required. Now I wonder where, if at all, they married.
To Galium,
Thank you for your information, it all adds to the picture of life back then.
To Sallyyorks,
You are right about the biblical names, even though the Wootton family is baptising, marrying, and burying in the Church of England, many of the names crop up in the area. Kezia, Elijah, Job, Samuel etc. The Wootton men, as far back as I have been researched in Shropshire, mid 18th century, all seem to be lead miners or have jobs connected to the lead mines. Kerenhappuch's father John Wootton left Shropshire after his eldest son was born in 1817, and went to Staffordshire where all the other children were born. After that he went to Hertfordshire, where in 1841 he and his two sons are all described as miners. Both sons were connected to mining for the rest of their lives.
To Minnesotan & Lisa in California,
What a can of worms, my questions have opened! why did the persons on Public Member Trees, give a false marriage date or a false place. The plot thickens.
Thanks to everybody who keeps helping me, you are all so kind.