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.
Henry Joseph Emptage
Aged 17, Henry Joseph decided to emigrate. He arrived in New York on 18 June 1871 to start his new life but the next 15 years of Henry’s life were to become rather complicated.
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.
Elizabeth Emptage
Five years after her husband, Thomas Hepburn, had been convicted for his part in the Swing Riots of 1830 and had been transported to Australia, Elizabeth took advantage of the British government scheme to send wives and children to join their husbands once the convict had served his sentence.
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.