John Huntington and Elizabeth Pinch

According to information obtained from the Devon Family History Society, a John Huntington and an Elizabeth Pinch were married at Plymouth Charles on 14/1/1799. Since I have no information about the origins of these people, it is rather frustrating that the DFHS supplied information says that the parish register entry for this marriage contains some extra notes, but does not give the contents of these notes. It may be that the notes merely say that John Huntington was in the Royal Navy, which I know from other sources; however, parish register notes frequently specify the home parish of the groom or the bride, information I would really like to have. It seems to me to be rather likely that neither John nor Elizabeth were born in Plymouth; in fact, I conjecture that Elizabeth was from St Kew, despite the fact that I can find no corresponding St Kew baptism record.

Elizabeth Huntington died in 1849, and was buried at St Kew on 27/5/1849. The burial record says that she was 67, which would mean that she was born in 1781 or 1782, and was only 17 when she married. An 1841 census record gives her age in 1841 as 60 to 64, consistent with the burial record. Information from the DFHS says that John Huntington, R.N., was buried at Plymouth Charles on 2/6/1837, and was 76 when he died. So he would have been born in 1760 or 1761, and was twenty years older than his wife.

There are baptism records from St Germans (Cornwall, quite near Plymouth) for Amelia Huntington and Jane Huntington, daughters of John and Elizabeth Huntington, dated 20/2/1802 and 8/4/1805 respectively. Even though Huntington was a rather uncommon name in the southwest of England, we certainly cannot ignore the possibility that the parents of Amelia and Jane were not the John and Elizabeth Huntington who were married in Plymouth. However, there is evidence, which I regard as convincing, that these two couples were in fact the same.

Both Amelia and Jane lived for most of their lives in Endellion, as census records show. Amelia did not marry, but Jane married one Thomas Worden, a farmer who was born in Endellion in 1794 and whose death was registered in the Bodmin district in 1868 (as one would expect if he died in Endellion). Parish register information obtained from the Devon Family History Society shows that Jane Huntington and Thomas Worden were married at Plymouth St Andrew on 1/10/1833, and their eldest son, another Thomas, was born in Plymouth on 27/6/1835. I take this as evidence that Plymouth was Jane's home town, supporting the conjecture that her parents were the the couple that were married in Plymouth. But the most convincing evidence comes from the following 1881 census record.

Heath Row, Egloshayle, 1881:
Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
Amelia Huntington	Head	U	F	79	Annuitant Royal Navy	St Germans Cornwall
Elizabeth J. Worden	Niece	U	F	35		St Endellion Cornwall
Cordelia W. Guy	Cousin	U	F	61	Independent	St Endellion Cornwall

How can it be that the never-married Amelia Huntington was a Royal Navy Annuitant? The only possible explanation is that her father was in the Royal Navy. As mentioned above, the record of John Huntington's burial in 1837 includes the information that he was in the Royal Navy. Moroever, I obtained a copy of the document ADM 45/8/865 at the National Archives: "John Huntington, Master, who died: 28 May 1837. Notes on executor's application for money owed by the Royal Navy." The document consists of two pages, both brief. One says

    John Huntington
    Master on H. Pay

    Wages Office
            25 July 1837

The other page provides the following details:

               Half Pay — £20.6.0 due
    Claim recd. 30 June 1837
    Name of the deceased, Mr John Huntington Master RN Died 28th May 1837
                                                                 Med Certif
    Name and Address of the Claimant. Mrs Elizth Huntington
    33 Cambridge Street Plymouth           Widow

There are a couple of other lines saying when various forms were sent, and down at the bottom of the page where it says "claim admitted" and "certificate examined" there is a signature and the date 22 July 1837.

My understanding is that in the Royal Navy a "Master" was a usually a non-commissioned officer – so not a gentleman! – but had the primary responsibility for sailing and navigating the ship. In this the Master would have outranked a Lieutenant. It seems to me likely that if John Huntington really was born in about 1760, as his burial record indicates, then he could well have seen active service in the Napoleonic wars.

The Elizabeth J. Worden appearing in the 1881 census record of Amelia Huntington's household (see above) was the youngest of the three children of Thomas and Jane Worden (the other two being sons). The third person in the household, Cordelia Worden Guy, was the daughter of Thomas Worden's sister Cordelia, who had married Warwick Guy on 6/3/1817. Thus she was actually Elizabeth J. Worden's cousin, and not related – as far as I can tell – to Amelia Huntington.

For more information about Thomas and Jane Worden (great great grandparents of mine), see the Thomas Worden and Jane Huntington page, and the Samuel Worden and Jane Calloway page.

At the time of the 1841 census Elizabeth Huntington, widow of John, was living with her daughter and son-in-law Jane and Thomas Worden at Endellion. Her age is given as 60, and it says that she was born in Cornwall. As mentioned above, she was buried in St Kew on 27/5/1849.

St Kew is near Endellion, and in fact Thomas Worden's parents were originally from St Kew. But if Elizabeth Huntington lived out her final days with her daughter and son-in-law in Endellion, then it is somewhat surprising to me that she was buried in St Kew rather than Endellion. Furthermore, her daughters Amelia and Jane were also buried in St Kew, even though Jane's husband was apparently not: there is no St Kew burial record for Thomas Worden. (I conjecture that Thomas was buried at Endellion, but I cannot check this since I cannot find any transcriptions of Endellion burial records.) So I am led to conjecture that Elizabeth Huntington was originally from St Kew. There certainly were families named Pinch living in and around St Kew, but – unfortunately for my theory – I cannot find any baptism record for an Elizabeth Pinch of the right age.

There were some other Huntingtons or Huntingdons in Cornwall in the late 18th century and early 19th century, but not many. An Elisabeth Bennet Huntingdon, daughter of John, was baptized in Madron on 23/12/1789. Presumably her parents were the John Huntingdon and Margaret Bennet who were married in Stoke Damerel on 5/9/1783. At first sight it may seem conceivable that this was the same John who later married Elizabeth Pinch, but I believe that it was not, since it looks as though his wife Margaret was alive when the marriage of John Huntington and Elizabeth Pinch took place (in 1799). An 88 year old Margaret Huntingdon was buried at Penzance on 15/12/1839. I conjecture that the John Huntingdon who married Margaret Gregg in Madron on 2/6/1810 was a brother of Elisabeth Bennet Huntingdon. The 1841 census shows eight Huntingdons in Cornwall, all in Madron Penzance, and clearly all belonging to the same extended family. The only Huntingtons appearing in the 1841 Cornwall census are Elizabeth and Amelia.

One cannot attach much significance to the spelling – "Huntington" or "Huntingdon" – since there are several examples of different records of the same person using different spellings. For example Amelia's burial record uses a "t" while the inscription on her gravestone uses a "d".

As already mentioned, two of the Penzance John Huntingdons had wives named Margaret; another (in the 1841 census) had a wife named Mary. I think that this accounts for all the Penzance John Huntingdons, and so I think that the John and Elizabeth Huntington of this page were the only husband and wife with those names in Cornwall between 1800 and 1810. If this is correct, then – as well as the daughters Amelia and Jane already mentioned – they had two sons: John Thomas Huntingdon, baptized at St Kew on 26/1/1800, and William Huntingdon, baptized at St Kew on 20/1/1805. But the dates and places of the baptisms are serious problems for this theory: the parents are married in Plymouth on 14/1/1799, their first child is baptized in St Kew on 26/1/1800, their second child is baptized in St Germans on 20/2/1802, their third child is baptized in St Kew on 20/1/1805, their fourth child is baptized in St Germans on 8/4/1805.

The dates of the first two baptisms are OK: each child would have been baptized within a few weeks of its birth, the first would have been conceived in the first month or two of the marriage, and the second a couple of months after the birth of the first. We then need to assume that William was born in 1803 or early 1804, and his baptism was for some reason delayed until the birth of the fourth child was approaching. It is possible, but strange. And the fact that the locations alternate – St Kew, St Germans, St Kew, St Germans – really is bizarre if the children really were all siblings.

I still think that they were all siblings. Since there were so few Huntingtons about, I think it unlikely that there were two John and Elizabeth Huntingtons producing children alternately between 1800 and 1805. Given that the father, John, was in the navy, he would no doubt have often been at sea. Maybe Elizabeth stayed with her parents in St Kew when he was away, and maybe she or her husband had other relatives in St Germans.

Note that the Rame Peninsula OPC's also have a record of a burial of a 1 year old Samuel Huntingdon at St Germans in 1809, but no matching baptism record.

I have not found any English records concerning William Huntingdon born in St Kew. However, I have found American records concerning a William Huntington who was living in Chelsea, Massachusetts, in the 1850's and 60's, and who was born in England in 1803. There is some circumstantial evidence, to be discussed below, that he may be the one from St Kew.

John Thomas Huntingdon (or Huntington) can be found in English census records, living in Liverpool.

Plumb St, Liverpool, 1841:
Name	Sex	Age	Occupation	Born in county
John Thoms Huntingdon	M	41	Accountant	N
Sarah Huntingdon	F	35		Y
William Huntingdon	M	15		Y
Amelia Huntingdon	F	13		Y
John Huntingdon	M	10		Y
Sarah Ann Huntingdon	F	8		Y
Jane Huntingdon	F	6		Y
Thomas Huntingdon	M	4		Y

The IGI includes baptism records for all of the children appearing in this record with the exception of Thomas. All of these the baptisms were at Liverpool St Peter, and in each case the father's name is given as John Thomas Huntington and the mother's name as Sarah, except that for William's baptism the father's name is just given as John Huntington. William was baptized on 1/8/1825, Amelia on 30/6/1828, John on 6/8/1830, Sarah Ann on 1/1/1832, and Jane Nicholson Huntington was baptized on 27/8/1833. Perhaps we can conclude that Sarah, wife of John Thomas Huntington, was Sarah Nicholson before her marriage.

There was also an Amelia Huntington, daughter of John Thomas and Sarah, baptized at Liverpool St Peter on 1/8/1826. She must have died in infancy. And there were four more children after Thomas, as later census records show.

12 No 4 Court, West Derby, 1851:
Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
John Thomas Huntington	Head	M	M	50	Accountant	Cornwall St Kew
Sarah Huntington	Wife	M	F	45	House Keeper	Lancashire Walton Le Dale
William Huntington	Son	U	M	25	Comedian	Lancashire Liverpool
Sarah Ann Huntington	Dau	U	F	18	House Servant	Lancashire Liverpool
Jane Huntington	Dau	U	F	16	House Servant	Lancashire Liverpool
Thomas Huntington	Son	U	M	14	Tobacco Stripper	Lancashire Liverpool
Mary Huntington	Dau	U	F	9	Scholar	Lancashire Liverpool
Eliza Huntington	Dau	U	F	7	Scholar	Lancashire Liverpool
Hannah Huntington	Dau	U	F	3	Scholar	Lancashire Liverpool
Samuel Huntington	Son	U	M	10m		Lancashire Everton

56 Circus St, St Annes, Liverpool, 1861:
Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
John T Huntington	Head	M	M	61	Bookkeeper	Cornwall St Kew
Sarah Huntington	Wife	M	F	55		Lancashire Preston
Samuel Huntington	Son		M	10	Scholar	Lancashire Liverpool

Harrietts Bldgs, St Ann, Liverpool, 1861:
Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
Jane Huntingdon	Head	U	F	21	Laundress	Lancashire Liverpool
Mary Huntingdon	Sister	U	F	19	Cigar Maker	Lancashire Liverpool
Eliza Huntingdon	Sister	U	F	16	House Servant	Lancashire Liverpool
Hannah Huntingdon	Sister		F	14	Cigar Maker	Lancashire Liverpool

8 Lawrence St, All Saints, Liverpool, 1871:
Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
John Thos Huntington	Head	M	M	71	Bookkeeper	Cornwall St Kew
Sarah Huntington	Wife	M	F	65	Dressmaker	Lancashire Preston
Samuel Huntington	Son	U	M	19	Printer Pressman	Lancashire Liverpool
Elizabeth Duffey	Lodger	U	F	20	Bookbinder	Lancashire Liverpool

84 Anthony St, Everton, 1881:
Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
Walter Rosser	Head	M	M	50	General Labourer	Suffolk Stratford
Sarah Ann Rosser	Wife	M	F	40		Liverpool
John Huntington	F In Law	W	M	82	Accountant	Cornwall St Kew
Ann Dible	Sis In Law	W	F	30	Tobacconist	Liverpool
Walter Dible	Nephew	U	M	9	Scholar	Liverpool
George Dible	Nephew		M	6	Scholar	Liverpool
John Dible	Nephew		M	4	Scholar	Liverpool
Mary Ellen Horrocks	Lodger	W	F	52	Upholstress	Liverpool

Sarah A. Huntington married Walter Roasher at Everton St Peter in 1869. Annie Huntington married George Dibble at Everton St Peter in 1868.

The occurrence of the names Amelia and Jane among John Thomas Huntington's daughters perhaps lends some extra credence to the theory that he was the brother of Amelia and Jane Huntington.

The name Huntington was certainly much more common in Lancashire than it was in Cornwall. It is therefore quite conceivable that John Thomas Huntington had relatives in Liverpoool, and his decision to move from Cornwall to Liverpool may have been partly influenced by this. But unfortunately I have not been able find a Lancashire baptism record that matches John Huntington senior, born (probably) in 1760 or thereabouts.

I have had only limited success tracing the descendants of John Thomas Huntington. See below for more details.

The IGI contains six records that people have submitted relating to an Elizabeth Ann Huntington who was allegedly born in Devon on 25/10/1807. Four of these records name her parents as John Huntington and Elizabeth Pinch. Two give the date of her death as 8/12/1869, and three give it as 8/12/1889. The records are otherwise consistent with one another. One record gives the information that her death occurred on 8/12/1889 at "Douglas, New Brunswick, Yorkshire, England", but undoubtedly they meant "Douglas, New Brunswick, York County, Canada". Two of the records say that she married Stephen Peabody on 25/7/1836 at Sunbury, New Brunswick, and another says additionally that she had previously married Isaac Peabody in Boxford, Essex, Massachusetts, in about 1824.

It seems likely that the source for much of this information is a book called "Peabody (Paybody, Pabody, Pabodie) Genealogy", published in 1909 by Charles Henry Pope. This book tells us that Stephen and Isaac Peabody were sons of Samuel Peabody, who was born in Boxford on 24/3/1743, and married Molly Hildrick in Boxford on 4/3/1773. The book also says that he later married Hannah Gallishan, but does not give the date of this marriage; so it is not totally clear that Stephen and Isaac were sons of Molly and not Hannah. The book says that Samuel moved to Maugerville, New Brunswick, where the children were born. This is what it says about Isaac:

      Isaac, b. Sept. 29, 1799; m. Elizabeth Ann Huntington of
         Devonshire, England; d. July, 1828, on a voyage to the
         East Indies.

It says this about Stephen and Stephen's wife:

                born at Maugerville, N. B., Feb. 16, 1782;
      married at Eastport, Me., July 25, 1836, Elizabeth Ann (Huntington),
      widow of his brother Isaac, born in Devonshire, Eng.,
      Oct. 25, 1807, and died in the parish of Douglas, N. B., Dec. 8,
      1869. He died there June 31, 1856. Was a magistrate for
      Sunbury County, New Brunswick.

The Peabody book says nothing about the parentage of Elizabeth Ann Huntington or about the time and place of her first marriage. So the people who submitted the records to the IGI must have done some further research. In particular, I suppose that someone found a New Brunswick death record saying that Elizabeth Ann Peabody died on 8/12/1889, deduced that the date given in the book was a misprint, and submitted new a record to the IGI to correct one submitted previously. And presumably, using the book's information that Elizabeth Ann Huntington was from Devon, Devon Parish Registers were consulted and it was deduced that her parents were John Huntington and Elizabeth Pinch.

Much of the information in the Peabody book is confirmed by New Brunswick newspaper records included in Daniel F Johnson's New Brunswick Newspaper Vital Statistics database. In particular, the crucial information that Elizabeth Ann Peabody was from Devon, which had initially seemed to me to be suspect, is confirmed by these newspaper items. For example, the newspaper notice of the marriage of Stephen Peabody and Elizabeth Peabody says that she was from Devon. So also do the notices of Elizabeth Ann Peabody's death, one in the New Brunswick Reporter and Fredericton Advertiser and one in the Carleton Sentinel (both of which also confirm the year of her death as 1889 and not 1869).

There is also a newspaper record of Stephen Peabody's death, giving the date 31/5/1856, not 31/6/1856.

Information kindly supplied to me by Hugh Wallis, OPC for Stoke Damerel, says that Elizabeth Ann Huntington, daughter of John and Elizabeth, was baptized in Stoke Damerel (near Plymouth) on 12/12/1806. It is unfortunate that this is not consistent with the birth date of 25/10/1807 given in the Peabody book. I suppose that it is conceivable that the Elizabeth Ann baptized on 12/12/1806 died shortly after her baptism, and a replacement who was not baptized was born on 25/10/1807. But I think it more likely that the birth date given in the book is out by one year. It may have been a misprint.

The Peabody book begins with the following words.

About fifty years ago Mr. Horatio G. Somerby, the genealogist, a native of Essex County, Mass., and a personal friend of Mr George Peabody of London, made considerable research to discover the origin of this family. What he found was noted and his manuscripts came to the Mass. Historical Society which loaned them to the N. E. Historic-Genealogical Society. The latter courteously permitted Dr Selim Hobart Peabody to study these notes and still later the present writer was allowed to review them. He then went to England in the summer of 1909, and carried the search further; examined documents at Somerset House, in the Public Record Office and the British Museum, traced through printed indexes and lists published within the past few years and through the manuscript indexes of several counties and dioceses ...

Much of the original data was therefore compiled when Elizabeth Ann was still alive, and her date and place of birth may have been supplied by Elizabeth herself, or by a close relative. So the book's information about Elizabeth Ann is almost certainly reliable. However, it appears that there are some misprints or transcription errors, perhaps indicating that Charles Pope had difficulty reading Selim Hobart Peabody's handwriting.

The Peabody book gives this list of the children of Stephen and Elizabeth Peabody:

• Maria Huntington Peabody, born 7/5/1837 (Maugerville, N. B.), married Ephraim L. Dean;
• Frank Henry Peabody, born 14/5/1839 (Maugerville, N. B.), a druggist of New York City;
• Stephen Peabody, born 1/7/1841 (Maugerville, N. B.), died 11/3/1884, did not marry;
• Isaac Peabody, born 25/5/1843 (Maugerville, N. B.);
• Thomas Warick Peabody, born 9/3/1845 (Douglas, N. B.), died 1865 in U.S.A., did not marry.

There are misprints here: in fact Stephen Peabody junior died on 11/3/1864, not 1884; Maria Peabody married Ephraim Dunn, not Ephraim Dean; Thomas Warwick Peabody died at Friar's Point, Mississippi, on 26/7/1867.

A newspaper item records that Frank Peabody disappeared in strange circumstances in 1875.

The book also says that Isaac Peabody married Kate Patterson in St. John, N. B., on 19/4/1881, that she died on 3/11/1881, and that he married Clara Ann Stead of St. John, N. B., on 9/11/1887. Isaac and Clara had the following children (born in Fredericton, N. B.): Mabel Huntington Peabody (born 31/8/1888) and Frank Matthew Peabody (born 10/9/1890).

The 1881 Canadian census records for Douglas Parish, New Brunswick, show a household consisting of Elizabeth Peabody and her son Isaac, and an adjacent household consisting of Elizabeth's daughter Maria Dunn and Maria's four children:

It is a minor worry that this document gives Elizabeth's middle initial as "M" and not "A"; I suppose it must be a transcription error committed by the census enumerator. Note that Elizabeth's age, 74, is exactly right for a baptism date of December 1806. Isaac's age as given in the census is not in agreement with the information given in the book, but perhaps it is close enough given the notorious unreliability of census data concerning ages.

The IGI record that said that Isaac Peabody and Elizabeth Ann Huntington were married in Boxford, Maine, was apparently based on someone's incorrect guess, because the Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerks' database includes what appears to be the marriage in question:

    Marriage: 5 Sep 1826 St George, Derby Square, Liverpool, Lancashire, England
    Isaac Peabody - Mariner of Liverpool
    Elizabeth Ann Huntington - Spinster of Liverpool
    Witness: George Lenox; Jane Huntington
    Married by Licence by: Wheeler Milner
    Register: Marriages 1813 - 1837, Page 22, Entry 64
    Source: LDS Film 1656195

At first sight it would seem unlikely that this Elizabeth Ann Huntington was born in Devon in 1806, but the evidence from Canada that Elizabeth Ann Peabody originated in Devon is convincing. Moreover, if all my other deductions are correct, then the Devon-born Elizabeth Ann had a brother who lived in Liverpool from at least 1825, and presumably a year or two earlier than that to give him time to meet and marry a Lancashire woman. And Elizabeth Ann would have had a sister Jane who could have been the marriage witness. So I am inclined to accept it all.

Perhaps we can perhaps conjecture that Jane and Elizabeth were visiting their elder brother John in Liverpool, perhaps to attend his wedding, when Elizabeth met the American sailor Isaac Peabody, and the sisters decided that Elizabeth should marry Isaac before he escaped!

As though this whole story were not already sufficiently surprising, there is yet another mystery to explain. Courtesy of New Brunswick Canada Census Records Online one can obtain an 1851 census record for Stephen and Elizabeth Peabody and family, including images of the original record. Here is what it says.

York County, Douglas Parish, New Brunswick:
Dwelling	Name	Sex	Relationship	Age	Race	Rank or Occupation	Date of entering the Colony
House	Stephen Peabody	M	H	69	Native	Farmer prop	birth
	Elizabeth	F	W	44	....	....	....
	Mariah H Peabody	F	D	14	Native	....	birth
	Francis	M	S	12	....	....	....
	Stephen	M	S	10	....	....	....
	Isaac	M	S	8	....	....	....
	Warwick	M	S	6	....	....	....
	Catharine Huntington	F	Visitor	20	....	....	....
	Elizabeth Huntington	F	Visitor	18	....	....	....
	Mary A Gulison	F	Servant	20	....	....	....

Who on earth were these Huntington girls? Surely some relatives of Elizabeth Peabody, but it was surprising to discover that she had Huntington relatives in Canada. This led me to wonder if her brother William survived, made his way to the New World, and raised a family.

It is very possible that the Catharine Huntington in the above census record was the 23 year old Catherine Huntington who died in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on 15/9/1853. A death notice was published in the New Brunswick Reporter and Fredericton Advertiser on 7/10/1853, and it tells us that the Catherine who died was the eldest daughter of William Huntington, a mathematical instrument maker. If this William was indeed the one born in 1803 or 1804 and baptized in St Kew, then 1830 sounds about right for the year of birth of his eldest daughter.

Stimpson's 1845 Boston Directory lists William Huntington, mathematical instrument maker, at 10 Oliver Street, and he also appears in the Boston Directory of 1860, which gives his business address as 134 Broad Street, residence at Chelsea, and says "nautical instruments" rather than "mathematical instruments". Perhaps, as the son of a ship's master, William learnt about nautical instruments at an early age.

I would think it unusual for a notice concerning the death in Chelsea, Massachusetts, of the daughter of a resident of Chelsea, Massachusetts, to be placed in a New Brunswick newspaper. Whoever placed the notice about Catherine Huntington's death must have thought that Catherine had many acquaintances in New Brunswick. Hence I conjecture that the Catherine who died in Chelsea was indeed the one in the New Brunswick census record above.

I have found a record of the household William Huntington, mathematical instrument maker, in the 1860 US census records from Chelsea, Massachusets. It says that William was born in England in 1803 or thereabouts, and had a wife named Mary, born in Ireland, and of a similar age to William. Their unmarried daughter, Elizabeth A., a 23 year old dressmaker, was also in the household.

Apparently William owned real estate worth $1000 and had a personal estate worth $5500. I do not know what this translates to in today's terms, but it sounds to me as though he was rather well off. Elizabeth Ann's age of 23 is inconsistent with the age of 18 given in the 1851 New Brunswick census, casting some doubt on the theory that it is the same person. But perhaps she did not want to admit to being 27 and unmarried.

I have also obtained the 1870 and 1850 census records for the same family, again in Chelsea, Massachusetts, in both cases. In 1870 William and Mary, both aged 66, were the only members of the household. In 1850 the daughters Catherine and Elizabeth were there, aged 21 and 16 respectively, and we find that whereas Elizabeth was born in Massachusetts, Catherine was born in New Brunswick. So perhaps William and Mary had first lived in New Brunswick after leaving the United Kingdom, before moving to Massachusetts in the early 1830's.

Elizabeth A Huntington married Timothy A Conley in Boston on 10/7/1862, and they had a son named William H Conley, born in Boston in August 1862. The 1870 and 1880 censuses show Timothy, Elizabeth and William living in Chicago, and in 1900 William, still unmarried, was living in Washington D.C., working as a clerk in the War Department. It could well be the case that this line died out.

There is perhaps some additional evidence that William Huntington the instrument maker was Elizabeth Ann Peabody's brother. In the database of the Huntington Family Association – a group that aspires to discover and record the history of Huntingtons in America – there is a record of a John Huntington who allegedly had children named William, born in Liverpool, and Elizabeth, who married a Peabody. And they say that this William had a daughter named Elizabeth Ann. They also say that he had sons named Joseph and Thomas, and that Thomas also had a son named Thomas. I do not know the source of this information, but since the Huntington Family Association claims to have published Huntington genealogical data in 1915 (and earlier) it is conceivable that it was supplied by one of the Thomases.

A search of the Massachusetts Archives found that there are records of deaths in Chelsea in 1882 of William Huntington and of Mary Huntington (although I have been unable to locate them in 1880 US census records). Nor have I been able to find any traces of the sons Joseph and Thomas that the Huntington Family Association mention. I would really like to obtain a copy of the 1840 census record of William Huntington and family to see if these sons appear in it, because at present I do not believe in their existence.

One other mention of William Huntington that I located on the internet was in a 1984 catalogue of "Historical Technology Inc.", which listed a quadrant that apparently William sold at some time.

Descendants of John Thomas Huntington

In the 1881 census I can only find two William Huntingtons who were born in Lancashire between 1820 and 1830. One is a farmer who was born at Wyersdale, definitely not the son of John Thomas. The other was born at Liverpool and his age in 1881 is 55, making it possible that he is the son of John Thomas. He is a printer, living in Halifax, Yorkshire; the only other person in the household is his wife, named Mary, who was also born in Liverpool. However, I think that there were a couple of other William Huntingtons born in Liverpool in about 1825, and I see no particular reason to believe that the comedian of the 1851 census evolved into the printer of the 1881 census. There does not appear to be any record of a William Huntington marrying a Mary in Liverpool between 1851 and 1881.

In the 1861 census there are three Liverpool born William Huntingtons of about the right age, two in London and one in Lancashire. The Lancashire one can be ruled out: his father, who appears in the same household, was named Joseph. One of the others is a 38 year old farmer; he is married, but his family is not with him in London. Presumably he was on a short-term visit to London. Surely our William would not have been a farmer, and anyway 38 is too old for him. The other one could well be the William we are looking for.

31, Grocers Shop, Hasting Street, St Pancras, London, 1861:
Name	Rel	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
William Huntington	Head	35		Liverpool
Mary Huntington	Wife	35	Grocer	Ireland

I have not been able to trace these people any further.

I conjecture that John Thomas Huntington's daughter Amelia is the Amelia Hintington who at the 1851 census is a 23 year old dressmaker lodger in the household of a nurse named Ann Unwin, at 5 Church Street, Soho, Everton. Amelia Huntington married George Bayley at Liverpool, Barnabas, in 1859. At the 1881 census Amelia Bayley is a 55 year old widow, a dressmaker, with a 21 year old son named James who is a lithographic printer.

As mentioned above, Sarah Ann Huntington married Walter Roasher or Rosser in 1869. Since there are no Rosser children in their household in 1881 it seems possible that they did not have any children.

Eliza Huntington married Diedrich Finck at Liverpool St Peter in 1866. Apparently Diedrich decided to adopt a more English-sounding name, since in the 1871 and 1881 census records he appears as Frederick rather than Diedrich. It also seems that their eldest child, William, was born before Eliza and Diedrich were married, since his age in 1871 is given as 8 and his age in 1881 is given as 18. In 1871 Frederick, Eliza and William were still living in Lieverpool, but by 1881 the family had moved to London:

8 Ship St, West Ham, 1881:
Name	Rel	Status	Sex	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
Frederic Fink	Head	M	M	40	Labourer	Germany
Eliza Fink	Wife	M	F	36		Liverpool, Lancashire
Wm Fink	Son	U	M	18	Labourer	Liverpool, Lancashire
Geo Fink	Son	U	M	9	Scholar	Liverpool, Lancashire
Margaret Fink	Dau	U	M	5	Scholar	Liverpool, Lancashire
Frederic Fink	Son	U	M	1		West Ham, Essex
Nora Sullivan		W	F	56	Labourer Garden	Ireland
Margaret Sullivan	Dau	U	F	17	Slide Box Maker	Camberwell

It is possible that John Thomas Huntington's son Thomas emigrated to the USA. There is an 1880 US census record of a household in Chelsea, Massachusetts, consisting of a 43 year old cigar maker named Thomas Huntington, his wife and three children.

Chelsea, Suffolk, Massachusetts, 1880:
Name	Rel	Status	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
Thomas Huntington	Self	M	43	Cigar Maker	England
Eliza Huntington	Wife	M	34	Keeping House	England
Alfred T. Huntington	Son	U	12	At School	Massachusetts
Lizzie M. Huntington	Dau	U	8	At School	Massachusetts
Edith F. Huntington	Dau	U	2		Massachusetts

A Thomas Huntington was married in Chelsea, Massachusetts, in 1867. His wife's maiden name may have been Eliza Petchet, but I have not checked this. Searching the Massachusetts Archives reveals that records of the births of the children in the above census record do exist: Alfred T. Huntington was born in Chelsea in 1867, Lizzie May Huntington was born in Charlestown in 1872, Edith Florence Huntington was born in Boston in 1877.

The same family can be found in the 1900 and 1920 censuses, both of which indicate that Eliza would have been 43 in 1880 rather than 34. Alfred T. Huntington is missing, and the 1900 record says that Eliza was the mother of three children, of whom only two were still living. So apparently Alfred died. The 1920 record gives the year of immigration to the United States, for both Thomas and Eliza, as 1870; this is obviously wrong, suggesting that whoever filled in the original form made a very uneducated guess at this point. The 1900 form gives 1862 as Thomas' year of immigration and 1861 as Eliza's. (To me the 6 in 1861 looks more like a 4, but in this person's handwring it is nothing like a 4.)

Another search of Massachusetts vital records indicates that Edythe F. Huntington was married in Chelsea in 1907. Since one Henry A Sellar was also married in Chelsea in 1907, and since Henry and Edythe Sellar were living right next door to Thomas, Eliza and "Ell May" in 1920, it looks like a good bet that Edith Huntington married Henry Sellar. It also seems likely that neither of the daughters of Thomas and Eliza had children; so this line also seems to have died out.

As mentioned above, Hannah or Annie Huntington married George Dibble or Dible in 1868. A message posted to a genealogy forum gives substantial information relating to George and his Dibble, Dible or Diable relatives. Apparently George was born in Dublin in about 1843. FreeBMD shows that his death at age 33 was registered in West Derby in the March quarter of 1877. It also lists the registrations of the births of the sons who appear in the 1881 census record: Walter (Liverpool, December quarter of 1871), George James (West Derby, June quarter of 1874) and John Joseph (West Derby, December quarter of 1876). The marriages of these sons also appear in FreeBMD: Walter married Margaret Ellen Smith (West Derby, December quarter of 1896), George married Mary Jane Myers (Liverpool, June quarter of 1894) and John married Mary Kelly (West Derby, June quarter of 1905).