HUTCHINGS FAMILY - FROM ENGLAND TO THE UNITED STATES

     The young Hutchings brothers were excited about the new lives they were about to begin in the United States. They were leaving their small village of Merton, England, in Devonshire. James Henry Hutchings was 21 and John Lewis was 19 years old. They had their tickets for the Titanic, in April, 1912.

    They were so excited about the trip, in fact, that they exchanged their tickets on the Titanic and took an earlier voyage on the Olympic on March 20, 1912, and arrived safely. So, I can continue their story...

     The young men who arrived in New York in March of 1912, came from a large family. Their father, Frederick William Hutchings, born in 1853, and, mother, Ann Andrews, born in 1855, probably married sometime before December of 1875, when their first son, Mark, was born. They eventually had 13 children, all born in Merton at the family home. Their last child, Charlotte Winnie, was born on December 25, 1899. Both Frederick and Ann lived to be 86 years of age and remained in England.                
                               

    Mary Jane, George, Edith, Mark, Gertrude, F. Wm, James
    Charlotte, Ellen, Frederick, Ann, Elizabeth, Frances                             Arthur, John

     The picture shown was taken the only time the whole family was together in one place before some of the children began traveling to new homes elsewhere. It probably was taken between 1905-08, as the youngest girl, Charlotte Winnie, (on the left in white) was born in late 1899. They were a handsome family. The young man in uniform, the oldest, Mark, and the two youngest girls in white, Charlotte Winnie and Frances May, both of whom became nurses, all died during or shortly after WW I, according to family stories.

     Frederick was the Manager of a Lord's Estate in Merton. The family lived in a home provided by that estate called Beer Cottage. Frederick was responsible for managing the farm land and livestock. James told his grandchildren that he remembered plowing the fields with a team of horses at the age of twelve. Merton is a small village five miles from Great Torrington in Devon County. Devon reaches from theBristol Channel (north) to the English Channel (south). It is bounded by Cornwall (west), Somerset (northeast), and Dorset (east). It is a very picturesque area.

     James and John were not the first of the family to come to the United States. Their older sister, Edith, immigrated in 1908. Mary Jane and her husband, William Pickard, married in England in 1908, and arrived in the States in 1910, according to later US Federal Censuses. A younger brother, Arthur Isaac, arrived about 1913. They all settled in Jackson, Michigan in Jackson County. It is unclear why they picked Jackson, but Edith was the first to settle there and the others eventually joined her. A fourth brother, George, may have settled in Canada and another, probably Frederick William, Jr., in Australia.

     John Lewis Hutchings was killed on June 28,1917, in a trench cave-in while installing some municipal pipelines in a Jackson street. His death certificate states "suffocation resulted when sewer, on which he was working, caved in; accidental." He was 24 years old.

     The following is a list of the names and birthdates of all the children of Frederick and Ann Hutchings. Death dates are given if known:

Mark - December, 1875;

Fanny Ellen (Ellen) - 1877 (married Albert Balch in 1905 in Devon);

Elizabeth - 1879 (married a Mr. Piper);

Mary Jane - 2 Jul 1882 (married William H. Pickard before immigrating to the US). Died on 4 Jun 1948 in Jackson;

Frederick William -  6 Dec 1883;

Gertrude - 1885 (married John Lake in 1906 in Devon);

Edith Ann - 25 Apr 1887 (married Charles Sussex in 1909 in Jackson);

George Andrew - 22 May 1889;

James Henry - 13 Mar 1891 (married Albertina "Tina" Bahr before 1917 Jackson). Died on 7 Jan 1971 in Jackson;

John Lewis - 2 May 1893. Died on 28 Jun 1917 in Jackson;

Arthur Isaac - 10 Jun 1895 (married Florence M. Hicks in 1920 and died on 11 Jun 1984 in Jackson;

Frances May - 1897 (married William H. Hodgetts in 1919 in England). Possible death date 1922;

Charlotte Winnie  - 25 Dec 1899 (married a Mr. Parnacott). Possible death date 1923.

There are seven known grandchildren of Frederick and Ann Hutchings.

Thank you to my cousin, George Hutchings, for his wonderful information, the family photo, and help with this post. We are hoping we will hear from other Hutchings relatives.