For those who are new to this family line, or have been banging their heads against this particular brick wall, a TREMENDOUS amount of work has been done by several people over the past ten years or so, aided IMMEASURABLY by a number of wonderful and tireless RootsChat members who have responded to all sorts of lookup requests, and have come back with a whole load of invaluable material.
This invitation is for anyone who is researching the King-Spooner line, which may be known to them simply as Spooner, or King Spooner, or Spooner King, or King ... or most likely a frequent and confusing switching between these different names for no immediately apparent reason! That is to say, anyone who has traced their descent to any of the following:
* Mary Spooner, daughter of Edgar and Jannot, born at 16 Theobald's Road on 27 July 1842 and baptised on 4 March 1857 at St James, Westminster; married to a Mr Streat who worked for Reid & Cos brewery in London and had at least 5 children
* Francis Spooner, son of Edgar and Elizabeth, born at 23 Arlington Street, Clerkenwell on 15 October 1854
* Thomas Escott Spooner (alias Thomas King Spooner, alias Thomas Spooner King), son of Edgar and Elizabeth, born at 1 East Place Clerkenwell on 21 February 1857
* Elizabeth Holland Spooner, daughter of Edgar and Elizabeth, born at 5 Pool Terrace Saint Luke on 19 September 1858
* John Spooner, son of Edgar and Elizabeth, born at the Union Workhouse, Christchurch on 1 January 1861 (it is possible that his mother and he reverted to her maiden name of Escott ... we simply do not currently know anything about what became of him)
* Theresa Eve King, daughter of Edgar and Eliza, baptised at St Peter's Church, Bethnal Green on 30 September 1866
* Adam King, daughter of Edgar and Eliza, born about 1870
* John King, daughter of Edgar and Eliza, born about 1873
Theresa and John sailed with their father to New Zealand on the Wellington, leaving London on 3 October 1881 and arriving in Auckland on 2 January 1882. Mary Streat and her five children sailed to join him in 1883 or 1884, her husband following once he had completed 30 years' service at the brewery.
We are also particularly interested in linking up with anyone who is descended from any of Edgar's siblings (children of Michael Thomas Spooner 1785 - 1853; we as yet know nothing of his wife or any children apart from Edgar; but we do know that Michael Spooner was a tailor, was born in Colchester, and moved to London where he can be seen in the 1841 and 1851 censuses).
Anyone descended from any of Edgar's uncles and aunts is also welcome to join the party. Those that we know of are:
* Mary Spooner, daughter of Joseph and Mary born in Colchester on 10 February 1784
* Rebecca Spooner, daughter of Joseph and Mary, born in Colchester on 14 July 1787
* Joseph Adams Spooner, son of Joseph and Mary, born in Colchester on 17 April 1789
* Martha Spooner, born in Colchester on 6 January 1791
* James Spooner, born in Colchester on 13 October 1792
* John Spooner, born in Colchester on 14 July 1797
