Family Vignette—Thomas Hemingway and Martha Levious
Family Vignette—Thomas Hemingway and Martha Levious
Little is known of his early life. Thomas
was a tailor and it is recorded that he fought against Napoleon in the battle
of Waterloo. His commander was the Duke
of Wellington who defeated Napoleon.
He later married Martha Levious,
who was the daughter of William and Annie Saxton Levious, and they married
August 21, 1817 at Nethergree, England. To
them were born seven children:
1.
William L Hemmingway 1819–1899
2.
Thomas Hemingway Jr. 1821–1849
3.
Robert Hemingway 1823–1829
4.
George Hemingway 1826–1860
5.
Mary Hemingway 1829–1906
6.
Joseph Hemingway 1832–
7.
Samuel Hemingway 1835–1835
A great tragedy came into the
Hemingway household in 1829. It was the death of six-year-old Robert. In that day, little boys wore kilts. While his mother was out getting a bucket of
water, Robert’s kilt caught fire and he was so severely burned, he died.
Shortly after hearing the testimony
of the Mormon missionaries in England, Thomas and Martha were baptized into the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1849. Thomas and his family became fervent
followers of their newfound religion.
Thomas saw his daughter leave for America to join the growing throng of
religious zealots as they made their way across the American plains, heading
for the Utah territory. He longed to go
travel to America, but the ties that held him in England were very strong; it was his home, his friends and relatives
were there, his work was there, and he was no longer a young man. His wife was old and she feared the ocean
voyage. All this persuaded him to hold
onto his native shores.
Yet, in spite of it all, at the age
of seventy-four years, he set out on the voyage to join his daughter. His wife, Martha, had great desires to come
to America, but she could not overcome her fear of crossing the ocean. In 1864, Thomas Hemingway set out alone to
come to Utah.
The hardship that must have been
his is not recorded, but those were the days of sailing ships upon the stormy
seas. Two to three months on the ocean
were not uncommon. Finally, when solid
land was reached again, there followed hundreds of miles of walking from the
Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains.
At length, those of the strong body and heart arrived in the Utah valley
as did Thomas Hemingway. He went to the
home of his daughter, Mary Hemingway Healey, in Alpine, Utah, where he resided
until the end of his life.
Some seven years after his arrival
in Utah, at the ripe old age of eighty-two, he died. His date of death was May 29, 1872 and he is
buried in the old cemetery in Alpine, Utah.
His beloved wife, Martha, died in England within six weeks after the
death of her husband. She died on April
14, 1872. Letters announcing their death
probably passed each other on the ocean.
Thomas Hemingway is the 5x great
grandfather of Sarah Cook through his eldest son Thomas Hemingway, Jr. who did not move to America like his younger
sister Mary.
Genealogy: Thomas Hemingway 1790-1872 was the father of
Thomas Hemingway Jr. 1821-1849 and his daughter was Zillah Hemingway 1847-1907
and her daughter was Maria Holmes 1868-1914 and her daughter was Elsie Harrison
1902-1962 and her daughter was Audrey Alice Nilan 1923-1999 and her daughter
was Marie J Schofield 1951- and her husband was Cyril "Dick" Edward
Field 1948-2016 and his mother was Ruby Adams 1923-2001 and her father was
Francis "Frank" Henry Adams 1884-1965 and his father was William
Frederick Adams 1848-1907 and his son was George "Pikey" William
Welch-Adams 1867-1940.
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