Emptages of Thanet

Emptages of Thanet

and Emtages of Barbados & New Zealand

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From the Isle of Thanet to the Isle of Sheppey

That the Emptages of the Isle of Sheppey were genetically linked to at least one branch of the Emptages of the Isle of Thanet has been proved by DNA tests.

Whilst the chances of finding a documented paper trail confirming the link are highly unlikely, the study of the baptism and marriage parish registers, coupled with the use or re-use of certain names, has identified the Emptages who probably migrated from Thanet to Sheppey, the place that they stopped at along the way and when the migration happened.

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Emptages in 1841 and before

We can trace the origins of all the Emptages in the UK at the time of the census in 1841 back to three places in Kent: the Isle of Thanet, the Isle of Sheppey or Dover.

But between 1560 and 1840 there were many baptisms elsewhere, both in the wider Kent county and outside of Kent including the London/Surrey/Middlesex areas. What happened to those children and to their descendants?

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Caroline Jane Emptage

Caroline married William Mynheer when she was young and pregnant. He worked on fishing trawlers but through the 1880s William was often in court for drunkenness, incurring fines or having to do hard labour.

Caroline ran a lodging house and worked as a rope-maker to keep the family out of dependence on the parish and the workhouse.

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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.

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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.

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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.