George Watson Sr. (1808-1900) was born in England in Port of Rye, Sussex, England, in February 1808. He married Sarah Filegar / Fullagar (or a similar last name) on July 24, 1836. Sarah was born in 1807, They had 5 Children: Sarah Fullager (b. 1837), Hannah Francis (b. 1841), George Jr (b. 1842), Stephen (b. 1845), and Mary Jane (b. 1950)
1851 George brought most of his sons and daughters to America, landing in NYC on the “Delta Queen” on July 10, 1852. One aspect that needs to be added is that he did not arrive with his first wife Sarah Fullagar. I have found two possibilities, One is that Sarah died in childbirth in England in 1851, and the second that he left his wife to take up with a younger woman Albania Stone (b 1833, 25 years younger) who he married in England in 1851.
On the manifest for the arrival in New York, it shows George Sr his children by Sarah Fullagar; George Jr (20yo), Stephen (17yo), Francis (21yo),
and on the next page, Albania his new wife (19 yo), Sarah (15yo), and the youngest Mary (2yo).
The reason to think his first wife Sarah had died is that, to me, It would be difficult to bring the whole family if his wife was still alive and able to take care of them. Times, I am sure, were much different then, but it seems odd to me.
The reason to think that he left his wife are mostly passed down from my Grandfather George, who was George Sr’s grandson. I never spoke to him directly but from family members I have heard that grandfather George would never talk about that part of history. He did not like it and dealt with it not talking about it, and never mentioning that part of his past.
Artifacts
I have two items given to me by my Grandfather, “Grandpa George.” The first was a small long box that contained some tools. On the top of the box, he had written, “Some of these tools were my Grandfather’s shoemaking tools. Perhaps brought from England in 1852.”
My grandpa George also gave me a watch fob, which he said belonged to George Sr and was brought over from England.
To get some more information, I did a web search (accurate or not) on the cost of passage from England to America. The Ocean Queen was lost at sea in Feb 1856. More can be seen at this link. I find that it typically takes 10 days to get from Liverpool to New York. The cost for steerage was typically 5 pounds, but at times, it could be as low as 3.5 pounds due to competition. Adults were considered anyone over 14, and the cost for the six adults and one child would have been in the range of 30 pounds. The estimated wage of a shoemaker in England at the time would have been about 20 shillings or 1 pound per week. This means that the cost of the passage was probably 6-9 months of wages. This is also unusual as it was more common for the Breadwinner to first come over, followed by the rest of his family later.
Once they arrived in New York, they “disappeared” until the 1860 census put them in Woodcock, south of Cambridge Springs.
However, most of the children who came over are not listed, with George Jr (15, act 18) and Stephen (13) being the only ones. Sarah Watson was married to Jeremiah Stanford, living in Rockdale/ Richmond with four children in 5 years.
The other children of Albania and George Jr were born in the US were Caroline, Charles, Fanny and June, Oddly it does not show Launton (Tont) who was born after Charles. He does show up on the 1870 Census along with younger children Doctor and Albania. By the time of the 1870 Census both George Jr and Stephen have moved out.
Stephen had married Mary J Shilling in 1869 and was still Living in Rockdale Township. George Jr was also married to their 1 year old child, William. It appears that both wives were 17 at the time of the census. The header on the census page indicated they lived on Brown Hill and being next to each other indicates they were neighbors.
By the time of the 1880 Census, Stephen had moved to Union Township (south-west of Meadville) and his occupation was listed as a plaster.