A dispute between the members of a Ramsgate family over the disposal of some furniture occupied the attention of his Honour Judge Clements for some hours at Margate County Court in May 1943.
Francis Walter Emptage
Francis took after his father and became a gardener. Aged 20, he emigrated to Canada in 1904, settling in Meaford Township, Ontario. By 1911 he had changed careers and become a grocery wagon driver. When he enlisted into the army in 1917, he gave his occupation as credit manager.
Elijah Emptage
Born in Birchington, Thanet, in 1795, Elijah was 40 when he and his wife Sarah decided to emigrate to Ohio, USA with their five daughters though their eldest child, Daniel, chose to remain at home in Thanet. The son of an agricultural labourer, Elijah became a respected gardener and prominent figure in his new community.
Frances Alice Emptage
Frances’ brother Alfred and sister Rosamond had emigrated to the USA in 1882 and 1884. In 1887, aged 16, Frances followed but rather than join her siblings in New York she travelled west to California. In 1890 a San Francisco newspaper published an article describing a rather difficult position she had got herself into.
Eliza Louisa Emptage
In 1905, at the age of 40, Eliza and her husband, William Russell, a butcher by trade, emigrated to Australia. They settled in a mid sized town called Taralgon, in Victoria. Unfortunately lack of records give no clues to their life there
Rosamond Hopkins Emptage
Rosamond was just 14 when she left England and sailed to join her brother, Alfred James in New York. She joined Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (pictured) as a stenographer.