Saturday, October 03, 2009

Who was on the Hitchcock?

One of the English family puzzles, that affects the last chapter of my book, is whether or not Joshua brought all his children with him from Ireland to S.C. in 1753.

Most secondary sources draw the conclusion that the family came from Whitehaven on the ship Hitchcock. Nobody I know of has found a manifest, or any record of the ship leaving Whitehaven. But I think it's a good conclusion because the arrival of a ship of Irish settlers was noted in the Charleston news in July, and Joshua was among other Irish Quakers who applied for land in Charleston that August.

The puzzle is that Joshua only got enough land for himself, his wife and the two oldest children. He came back to Charleston the next January to get land for the four younger ones. In my draft book, I assumed that they all came over together, but Joshua sent the young'uns ahead with other families to Fredericksburg whilst he and a few stayed in Charleston to wait for court to be in session. But knowing how long and risky ship travel could be, perhaps he did leave the younger children back in Ireland, to come over with very trusted friends?

With no manifest, I haven't yet accepted defeat in finding the facts. During my trip I plan to look through the meeting (church) minutes to see if they mention this immigration.

Thanks to Genea-Bloggers and We Tree for prompting this post with their weekly challenge.

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