Menu
Searching for ancestor
Dear Editor,
I wonder if your readers would be interested to hear of a voyage made by my great-grandparents from England to McCook in 1885?
They were an unusual couple who had already had quite a dramatic life. It started in 1858 when young Henry Ellison, who had grown up in a farm near Swindon, Wiltshire, England, ran away with his childhood sweetheart Martha Duck who lived on a neighbouring farm. They gave false ages to the Registrar in order to marry without their parents' permission.
During the next 25 years they produced thirteen children, sadly losing the first two in infancy. They began to farm, and were doing quite well until Henry's interest in racehorses and racing began to lose them money. Things went from bad to worse, and finally the bailiffs came to remove their furniture in order to pay off debts. My grandmother remembered opening the door to them, but not letting them know that the best racehorse was hidden behind a high hedge, or that her mother had hidden the mattresses in the loft!
The now very impoverished family had to look for an alternative way of life, and as happened with many families at the time, looked to the "land of opportunity" across the Atlantic. Someone from the family had already made that journey, and had written home to tell of a good life there. The village people took pity on them, and collected money to help them on their way.
So in the summer of 1885 Henry and Martha and their eight youngest children, which included a six month old baby, boarded the Helvetia in Liverpool, a cattle boat on its last voyage. They arrived in New York on 7th July. They traveled in steerage class, which must have been not only unpleasant but also unhealthy. Apparently the sailors teased the young children who were seasick telling them that they would throw them overboard with a line tied round them to cure the seasickness. The girls in the family had all had their hair cut short for the journey.
Once in America they made their way, presumably by wagon, to McCook, where their relative had already settled. My grandmother, who was 11 at the time, remembered seeing a field of sunflowers and was about to wander through it when someone shouted to her to stop, and she saw a rattlesnake beside her. The baby of the family was given the nickname "Frontie," because she was a child of the frontier.
Henry Ellison, unpredictable as usual, didn't take to the new environment "because there were no trees like there were at home," and dragged the whole family back to England, where they settled back to a poor life in their home town.
Why am I telling this story to your readers?
I wonder if any of them could help trace that first relative who came out to McCook and made a good life there? Family records call him either Henry (Harry) or John (Jack), and his surname would be Ellison or Duck. I wonder if he has any descendants living in the area today? I would love to hear.
Ann Brown
11, East Castle Street,
Bridgnorth,
Shropshire, WV16 4AL,UK