Thomas Hutchens

Thomas emigrated to Australia in 1848, but his siblings John, Sarah, Nanny and Edwin remained in Cornwall. Parish register records of their marriages survive, and in each case their late father's occupation is given "farmer". The Encyclopedia of South Australia (1909) includes a biography of Thomas, which says that his father was John Hutchens, the owner and host of "the Logan Rockin Inn", but also refers to Thomas "working on his father's farm for some years" before emigrating. I presume that this "farm" must have been a small piece of land associated with the Logan Rock Inn, but how John Hutchens acquired this land and the inn is unclear. He surely did not inherit it from his father, who, as we shall see, was a cordwainer (shoemaker), and did not live in St Levan; moreover, John was not the eldest son. It seems more likely that Sarah was the source of this property.

Thomas HUTCHENS born12 May 1826 in Treen, Cornwall, England, died 27 Dec 1914 in Woodside. His occupations included shoe maker, farmer, auctioneer and land agent. On the 20 Aug 1850 he married Elizabeth JAMES in Adelaide. She was born 9 Jul 1826 in Sancreed, Cornwall, England and died 4 Aug 1883 near Woodside. Her occupation was listed as drefomatter. Thomas arrived in South Australia on 15 Oct 1848 aboard the Santipore and Elizabeth arrived on 23 Mar 1847 aboard the Phoebe. They had 3 children.

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• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Oct 2 2016, 20:22:48 UTC