Migrants from selected local villages
Among the 1800+ migrants who travelled on the Petworth Emigration Scheme ships, local villages contributed as follows:
Bepton 13 in 1835
Cocking 10 in 1836
Easebourne 7 in 1836
Graffham 6 in 1836
Heyshott 16 in 1837
From Bepton, two brothers, George and William Howick, both farm labourers, travelled with their wives and children in 1835. Described as “a quiet man and wife” and “poor”, the two families received £21 from parish funds for clothing, plus £75 for their conveyance to Upper Canada.
George Howick was baptised at Bepton on 10 December 1797. In July 1820, he appeared at the Sussex Summer Assizes on a charge of larceny, but the case was dismissed with no evidence presented. On 29 January 1821, aged 23, he married 21-year old Mary Ann Hewitt at her parish church in Cocking. By July 1834, the couple had six children, all of whom were baptised at Bepton. They emigrated to Canada in 1835 on board the Burrell with George’s brother, William and family. Sadly, George died in Woodhouse Township, in Norfolk County, Ontario in May 1838, aged 40. His widow is believed to have died in Canada in January 1875.
William Howick was baptised at Bepton on 24 July 1803. On 26 February 1827, when he was 23, he married 18-year old Jemima Southerton at the parish church in Aldingbourne. The couple had three children by 1834 who emigrated with them, with six further children born in Woodhouse Township. Jemima died in Simcoe, Ontario in April 1855; William survived her by 27 years and died in December 1882.
From Cocking, 18-year old William Hewitt, an agricultural labourer travelled in 1836 with the Budd family. His passage was assisted by Charles Caplen, a Midhurst linen draper. He settled at Blandford Township, in Oxford County, in Ontario.
Soon after his arrival, he wrote to his parents, William and Elizabeth Hewitt in Cocking. After describing his journey, he continues:
I tell you, that I have got a very good place. I have hired for 5 months at 10 dollars per month, board and lodging. I am about 4 miles from Blandford, where I go every Sunday in the waggon to my own church. … Here is plenty of work for men, and women; and boys you may apprentice; they will take them, keep them, and clothe them, and wash for them.
In his letter he also talks about James Budd and his family, who travelled with him from Cocking.
James Budd was originally from Harting, where he had been baptised on 17 December 1794. He married Mary Carter, from Treyford, at Bepton on 11 June 1818, when he was 23 and she was 18. [Mary was the sister of Harriet, the wife of James Cooper.] They emigrated in 1836, with their seven children (all baptised in either Bepton or Cocking). Like Hewitt, their passage was funded by Charles Caplen, who made a loan to Cocking parish of £100. The vestry minutes record that the family was “sent in great distress”.
The Budd family are mentioned several times in the letter from James Cooper, published in the Brighton Herald on 25 August 1838.
Budd, his wife and his family … are all settled at the Blandford Town plot in in the county of Oxford.
Budd has got a town lot of five acres, most of which is cleared, with two houses on it.
Henry Budd [now 20] is apprenticed to a cabinet maker; he is a sturdy lad and getting very handy; he has about 3½ years to serve; he was bound for 5 years; he has 50 dollars the first year, to board himself, and an increase of 20 dollars every year.
John Budd [now 18] is bound to a blacksmith, for 5 years, and got 50 or 60 dollars the first year, besides his board, having learned some before, and to increase every year; but he forgets how much.
James Budd [15] and George [12] are both bound to a tailor, but he forgets on what terms.
The other three children [twins Joseph and Mary, 9, and Barbara, 6] are at home.
Budd had three of his fingers frostbitten, while thrashing this winter, which made them very bad, taking the nails and skin off; but they are getting better fast.
Mrs. Budd made some excellent elder wine last year, and upwards of 200 lbs weight of sugar.
By 1847, James had established himself as a blacksmith in Woodstock, Ontario, when he sold up. He died in Oxford County in May 1850.
From Easebourne, Henry Stevens and his wife and five children emigrated in 1836. Henry was baptised at Midhurst on 15 May 1896. He married Jane Lawrence, from Selham, at Easebourne on 5 October 1818, when he was 22 and she was 20. Before 1936, they had eight children, three of whom died as infants. The family had been receiving “considerable” poor relief from Easebourne parish. In Canada, the family settled in Norwich Township, Oxford County where a further child was born in 1840. Henry died at Norwich in November 1863; Jane survived him by 19 years and died in Norwich in 1882, aged 84.
From Graffham, Thomas Marshall and his wife and four children emigrated in 1836. Little is known about Thomas. He was baptised at Graffham on 31 January 1802. The baptism register describes him as the illegitimate son of Elizabeth Marshall. He married the delightfully-named 18-year old Rhoda Magick [probably Madgwick] at Graffham on 4 February 1828. The couple had four children before they emigrated. Their expenses were met by the Graffham and Woolavington Poor Law Commissioners. Nothing is known about their life in Canada.
Frm Heyshott, two brothers, George and John Edwards and their wives and children sailed in the last ship chartered by the PEC in 1837.
George Edwards was baptised at Heyshott on 26 April 1795. He married Esther Burchell at Sutton on 14 December 1819, when he was 24 and she was 20. On the marriage register, he is described as “of this parish” and her parish is recorded as Barlavington. Up to 1837, they had 8 children although one died as an infant. All their children were baptised in Heyshott. Their eldest son, George, who was then aged 16, did not travel to Canada. Three further children were born in Canada. Esther died in Aurora (now a suburb of Toronto) in 1861. George remarried in 1870 to Rebecca Pointer (40 years his junior); she died in Aurora in 1875 followed by George in March 1877, aged 81.
John Edwards was baptised at Heyshott on 27 May 1792 and married Mary Crowter in her parish at Donnington, near Chichester, when he was 30 and she was 18. The couple had five children before they sailed to Canada; apart from the eldest child, who was baptised at Donnington, the children were all baptised at Heyshott. A further five children were born in Canada. John Edwards died in Aurora, Ontario in September 1860, aged 68; Mary died there in 1879.
The brothers were both agricultural labourers and were described as “most respectable families”. They had cost the parish of Heyshott “about £25 during last year”; their passage was paid for in part by the Earl of Egremont. The two families appear to have settled in King Township in Aurora, York County, now a suburb of Toronto.
Although James Cooper was born in Graffham, he was living at Tillington in 1836, when he and Harriet with eight children migrated to Canada. His younger brother, William had settled in Adelaide (150 miles west of Toronto) in 1832, and wrote to his brothers advising them to join him. “Here is plenty of work”. In January 1836, James received a letter from friends, John and James Walden, who had migrated in 1835, advising James and Harriet to come to Canada, “as soon as you can”, “for the sake of your family, and do not stay there in that distressed state”. Here, “we can have anything we wish for”.
James and Harriet had a further five children in Adelaide, although four died as infants.
In May 1838, James wrote to his parents in Graffham. His letter was published in the Brighton Herald on 25 August 1838.
After describing the difficulties of his first summer in Canada, he goes on to say: “thank the Lord, we are better provided for this year, having had plenty of grain for seed, for flour, and to fat our hogs”. He then describes in detail his farm and the large quantity of crops he now has planted (at least 23 acres in total), plus a substantial amount of livestock, including four cats and two dogs. The letter also talks about various friends and acquaintances from Sussex who have settled locally, including James Budd and his wife Mary (Carter), the sister of his wife, Harriet.
Soon after his arrival in Adelaide, James began to hold religious services at his home, described a a log cabin. In 1839, James left the Anglican church and became a Wesleyan Methodist; he was the first person in the Adelaide area to convert to the Methodist faith. The following year, he was one of the men who assisted in building the first Wesleyan Methodist Church in Adelaide. He was appointed the leader of the first class formed at the church, a position he held for the next 45 years, until his death in May 1883, aged 90.