So I don't know if you remember, but if you look back a few posts ago, you will see that Susannah's marriage to Thomas Hughes documents who her father is. Do you remember yet?? YES! It is Timothy Tonks!
Looking back to the Susannah Tonks census search, I found that no other Susannah Tonks had a father named Timothy. Do you know what this means?! We have evidence that the same Susannah Tonks who married Thomas Hughes, also married Aaron Hill!
Since I haven't been able to find a marriage document that proves this connection, this evidence is as good as any. While not all our questions are answered, we have concrete evidence about who the parents of Susannah Tonks are.
Now that we have this confirmed, we have a brand new question to answer.... What happened to Thomas Hughes? I have come up with three semi-logical conclusions:
He died,
Susannah left him, or
Aaron Hill married a different Susannah (which we have already ruled out)
Tune in next week to see what I find out!
Monday, February 27, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Podcast
Even after our discussion in class about our podcasts and how it did not count as our post for the week, I still spaced it... So I'll make sure to post twice this week.
I guess I will talk about my podcast and how to all ties in to my research. I'll go into more detail later, but here is the reason the information in this podcast is so important. One day as I was searching the Harold B. Lee Library catalog to see if there were any published family histories on my family, I came upon this book called The Jobe Hill Journal. I knew that Aaron Hill and Susannah Tonks had a son named Job, so I decided to take a look at the journal. On the first page, Job says that his parents are Aaron Hill and Susannah Tonks. He also mentions that his grandfather's name is Timothy Tonks. While it seems like this is just simple information, in my case, it was of great genealogical value.
Because there were many Susannah Tonks that Aaron could have married, getting the information of who Susannah's father proved which Susannah Aaron married. Listen to the podcast to hear some of Job's words. (You can find it on the right bar of my blog)
I guess I will talk about my podcast and how to all ties in to my research. I'll go into more detail later, but here is the reason the information in this podcast is so important. One day as I was searching the Harold B. Lee Library catalog to see if there were any published family histories on my family, I came upon this book called The Jobe Hill Journal. I knew that Aaron Hill and Susannah Tonks had a son named Job, so I decided to take a look at the journal. On the first page, Job says that his parents are Aaron Hill and Susannah Tonks. He also mentions that his grandfather's name is Timothy Tonks. While it seems like this is just simple information, in my case, it was of great genealogical value.
Because there were many Susannah Tonks that Aaron could have married, getting the information of who Susannah's father proved which Susannah Aaron married. Listen to the podcast to hear some of Job's words. (You can find it on the right bar of my blog)
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Questions...
We left off with Susannah Tonks marrying Thomas Hughes. At some point they had to have separated because she married Aaron Hill, right? But now the problem becomes, who is Susannah Tonks really? Did Susannah Tonks really marry both Thomas and Aaron during her lifetime? Or did Aaron Hill marry a different Susannah Tonks. The only thing I could think of to do is complete a census search for all Susannah Tonks in Staffordshire.
After completing a census search, I found that there were four Susannah Tonkses in the 1841 census born in Staffordshire. There were only three in the 1851 Staffordshire census. The Susannah Tonks that married Thomas in 1850 would not appear in the 1851 census as Susannah Tonks, so that means there are three candidates who could possibly be the Susannah who married Aaron Hill (if Susannah (Tonks) Hughes did not remarry). Now the trick will be to figure out if any of these Susannah Tonkses were around to marry Aaron Hill...
After completing a census search, I found that there were four Susannah Tonkses in the 1841 census born in Staffordshire. There were only three in the 1851 Staffordshire census. The Susannah Tonks that married Thomas in 1850 would not appear in the 1851 census as Susannah Tonks, so that means there are three candidates who could possibly be the Susannah who married Aaron Hill (if Susannah (Tonks) Hughes did not remarry). Now the trick will be to figure out if any of these Susannah Tonkses were around to marry Aaron Hill...
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Susannah Married Who??
Sorry I built up the anticipation for so long...crazy week.
We left off with finding the marriage record for Susannah Tonks. This record gives some good information so we know this is the right Susannah.
Father's Name: Timothy Tonks
Bride's Birth: 1832
Bride's Age: 18
Marriage Place: St. Giles', Willenhall, Staffordshire, England
Marriage Date: 21 January 1850
Groom's Name: ....... (I'll let you look for yourself. If you click on the image, it will come up bigger in a new screen.)
Does that say THOMAS HUGHES??
Yep, it sure does. This was not quite the information I was looking for when I was looking up her marriage, but it works! This obviously brought up tons of questions, but I decided that the next best thing to do would be to look them up on the 1851 Census. This is what I found:
It says that Thomas Hughes and Susannah are married. Thomas is 23 and Susannah is 19, and they were both born in Willenhall. Thomas is a locksmith (just like Susannah's father).
The next step was to look them up in the 1861 Census. But here's the thing... I couldn't find them anywhere! At all. In all of England. hmm....
We left off with finding the marriage record for Susannah Tonks. This record gives some good information so we know this is the right Susannah.
Father's Name: Timothy Tonks
Bride's Birth: 1832
Bride's Age: 18
Marriage Place: St. Giles', Willenhall, Staffordshire, England
Marriage Date: 21 January 1850
Groom's Name: ....... (I'll let you look for yourself. If you click on the image, it will come up bigger in a new screen.)
Does that say THOMAS HUGHES??
Yep, it sure does. This was not quite the information I was looking for when I was looking up her marriage, but it works! This obviously brought up tons of questions, but I decided that the next best thing to do would be to look them up on the 1851 Census. This is what I found:
It says that Thomas Hughes and Susannah are married. Thomas is 23 and Susannah is 19, and they were both born in Willenhall. Thomas is a locksmith (just like Susannah's father).
The next step was to look them up in the 1861 Census. But here's the thing... I couldn't find them anywhere! At all. In all of England. hmm....
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Susannah Tonks?
Timothy's daughter, Susannah, has been quite an interesting and confusing person to research. Susannah was born in 1833. We know she married my ancestor, Aaron Hill, but we don't have an exact date for that. To start gathering information on Susannah, I decided to do a census search for Susannah and her parents in 1841 and 1851 in Staffordshire, England. In 1841, when Susannah was about seven years old, I found her with her parents and some of her siblings in Willenhall, Staffordshire, England.
I then searched for Susannah Tonks in the 1851 census, and I came up with nothing. I wasn't too concerned because Susannah would about have been about 18 years old, so she must have gotten married. I then looked up the marriage of Susannah Tonks in the FamilySearch Historical Database. And what I found was quite the surprise....
I then searched for Susannah Tonks in the 1851 census, and I came up with nothing. I wasn't too concerned because Susannah would about have been about 18 years old, so she must have gotten married. I then looked up the marriage of Susannah Tonks in the FamilySearch Historical Database. And what I found was quite the surprise....
Monday, January 16, 2012
Timothy Tonks: A convert to the LDS Church
It all started out with my mother's story. When she was eleven years old, she and her parents and siblings began to take discussions with the LDS missionaries. Although it required her family to makes some big changes, they embraced the gospel and joined the church together. Four and a half long years later, her parents were able to save up enough money to travel from Michigan to the closest temple, which was in Washington D.C. They were finally able to be sealed as a family. It was because of my mom's conversion to the gospel that allowed me to grow up in the LDS Church. And I think it was my mom's love for the example of her parents that led me to my interest in family history work.
While my area of emphasis is the British Isles, I have always had a great interest in Latter-day Saint converts and pioneers. I have always wondered which ancestors of mine brought the great blessing of the gospel into my life. While doing some research on the Tonks in Staffordshire, England, I came across records suggesting that Susannah Tonks (Timothy's daughter) joined the LDS Church in England. I later found out that Timothy and his wife had also joined the church. This information brought a world of questions to me about this family. I have since decided to spend some time discovering more about the Tonks family who brought the gospel to me. This blog is a way for me to begin sharing the information I have found.
While my area of emphasis is the British Isles, I have always had a great interest in Latter-day Saint converts and pioneers. I have always wondered which ancestors of mine brought the great blessing of the gospel into my life. While doing some research on the Tonks in Staffordshire, England, I came across records suggesting that Susannah Tonks (Timothy's daughter) joined the LDS Church in England. I later found out that Timothy and his wife had also joined the church. This information brought a world of questions to me about this family. I have since decided to spend some time discovering more about the Tonks family who brought the gospel to me. This blog is a way for me to begin sharing the information I have found.
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