Relationship 20: Thomas Hancock & Mary Anne Howells

Relationship Record 20

Male/Husband} Hancock, Thomas

Family History} Hancock

Female/Wife} Howells, Mary Anne

Relationship Type} Marriage

Marriage: Date} Exa 6 Mar 1866

Place} The Parish Church, St. John Evangelist,
Westminster, Middlesex, England

Ended: On Date} Exa 6 Feb 1922
By} Death of husband

Source 1}	1611 = Genealogy
Source 2}	141 = Marriage rec
Source 3}	709 = 1871 GBR cen
Source 4}	937 = Passenger list
Source 5}	485 = Family hstry
Source 6}	1123=Birth certif
Source 7}	134 = Title abstr
Source 8}	493 = Land deed
Source 9}	100 = 1891 CAN cen
Source 20}	116 = Newspaper
Source 11}	94 = 1910 USA cen
Source 12}	170 = Invitation
Source 13}	733 = Photographs

1st Household No.} 131 = Burnsford's Mill, Alcester, England

Photos}
Thomas &
Mary Anne
photo 1
photo 2

Last Updated
by} Karen Hancock

Date Updated} 9 Mar 2023
Date Created} 17 Jun 1994

Source 14} 313 = Newspaper
Source 15} 298 = 1920 USA cen
Source 16} 34 = Death certif

Source 17} 39 = Death certif
Source 17} 861 = Death record
Source 18} 83 = Cemetery rec

Source 19} 1588 = Cemetery rec

Notes: Thomas Hancock and Mary Anne Howells were married 6 March 1866 in the Parish Church, St. John Evangelist, Westminster (near Westminster Abbey, London), Middlesex, England. Thomas was then 24 years old and an itinerant preacher residing at Kingston on Thames. Mary Anne was 22 and a schoolmistress residing at Old Place Yard.

Thomas and Mary Anne moved frequently, and their children were all born in different locations. Henry was born in Twickenham, Middlesex; George in Alcester, Dorset; and Frank in Sturminster Marshall, Dorset

In the 1871 English census, Thomas, 29, and his wife Mary A., 27, were living in Alcester, Dorset. Thomas was a temperance missionary for the Dorset Temperance Association. Their children were Henry P., 4, George J., 3, and Frank T., 1. Their last English born child Fannie was born in Ross'nhill, Devon.

Henry died in May 1873 at 6 years of age. After having four children in England, Thomas and Mary Anne family left Bristol with their three children for America on the S.S. Arragon They arrived in New York on 9 May 1873.

The family made their way to Ontario, Canada, where their fifth child, William, was born in Dec 1874 in Parkhill, Middlesex County, Ontario.

In January 1877, Thomas was deeded 32.5 acres in Bosanquet Township, Lambton County, Ontario, by the Canada Company. He worked the land as a farmer. At the time, only 20 of those acres were cleared. Their farm was a couple of miles from the town of Forest.

From the mid-1870s to the mid-1880s Thomas and Mary Anne had five more children. They built a large windmill on their farm and, during the next decade, raised their children, wheat, and oats — and had hollyhocks around their yard.

Thomas and Mary Anne later tired of farming and sold their farm in 1896. Apparently attracted by dramatic promotional advertising, they purchased a farm, mortgage free in the Maywood Colony on River Road, 3.3 miles NNE of the center of Corning, California. Thomas and Mary Anne immigrated to the U.S. in 1900, but remained British citizens. In the 1910 US census, Thomas, 68, and Mary, 66, were living here. He was 'working out' and they were listed as alien. At the time of the 1910 US census, eight of Thomas and Mary Anne's ten children were still living.

On 6 Mar 1916, Thomas and Mary Anne celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary. They were then living in Corning, California. Over 70 people attended — including Fannie, James, and Walter from Canada. The lavish food included artichokes and crab salad, abalone with potatoes, olives and pickles, mashed potatoes and turnips, roast spring chicken with dressing, grandma's English plum pudding desert, cheese with toasted crackers, and tea, coffee, and milk. A detailed newspaper story and the following nine photographs recorded the event.

Again attracted by dramatic promotional advertising, Thomas and Mary Anne bought land from the Shore Line Investment Company in El Granada, California, on 1 Feb 1916. They then sold their property in the Maywood Colony in Corning on 12 Feb 1917. Finally, in June 1917, they moved to Granada, California. In the 1920 US census, Thomas, 78, and Mary A., 75, were listed in Granada, Twp. 4, San Mateo. Now Thomas was no longer working.

Thomas died on 6 Feb 1922 in El Granada — three weeks after his 80th birthday. The marriage had lasted for nearly 56 years. Mary Anne followed him a year later on 28 Mar 1923. They rest together in the IOOF section of the Pilarcitos Cemetery at Half Moon Bay in California. Their black marble headstone says Thy will be done.

Children:

Total # of Children} 10

Seq. # of Primary} 3

1st Child}	Hancock, Henry P.
2nd Child}	Hancock, George Joseph
3rd Child}	Hancock, Frank Thomas
4th Child}	Hancock, Fannie Jane
5th Child}	Hancock, William John
6th Child}	Hancock, Nellie Matilda
7th Child}	Hancock, Maud Ellen
8th Child}	Hancock, James Edward (Jim)
9th Child}	Hancock, Mary
10th Child}	Hancock, Walter O.

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