As our research progressed we became aware of the uniqueness of the surname Emptage and a growing belief that the ancestors of all the Emptages and Emtages spread across England and the rest of the world today not only originated in the small Isle of Thanet, on the eastern tip of the county of Kent, in England but that they were probably here in Anglo-Saxon times. And so began a worldwide study of the name.
The story of the rescue of the crew of the Northern Belle and the loss of nine Margate men gets a wider audience.
Family History Detective Kit
Researching family history can be a long process but it can be so very well worth while and I’d encourage anybody to have a go, to learn about their roots.
To help us as we spend long hours slaving over a hot computer endeavouring to track down elusive ancestors, I have developed the Family History Detective Kit.
Was James the longest living Emptage?
When the average life span for an adult male born in the early 1800s was not much above 50 years, James Robert Emptage defied all the odds and lived to be 101.
Was his great age attributable to his genes or to something else?
The mystery of Emily Henrietta Emptage’s marriage
Emily Henrietta Emptage married in Hull in 1886, when she was supposedly 21. Her husband, William Edmonson Chafer jumped ship in Melbourne, Australia in 1887. Emily joined him in there in 1889. But a family myth disputes the facts.
Avis Emptage and Harold Harding
Avis Emptage had a difficult and complicated life but in 1913 she married Harold Harding and could have hoped for years of happiness to come. Alas, it wasn’t to be.
The Elephant Trainer and the Missing Husband
John William Benjamin Emptage was 20 when he married Emily Dixon Philpott, 17, in 1876 in Margate. In 1881 they were together with their young daughter but, as far as the records show, that was the last time the family was together and John William had disappeared. What had happened to John and what came next for Emily?