Samuel Eakins, born about 1830, elusive!

[Colin Parkinson]

I am researching the Eakins family as I descend from Mary Jane Eakins born Ireland 1832. Mary married William Parkinson and lived in England and in the 1861-1901 census indicates born Ireland but of course not where, my brickwall.

I have recently had an AncestryDNA match with someone who descends from Catherine Ivy Eakins born Philadelphia about 1868.
Catherine had 3 siblings, Walter Scott born 1861, Emma born 1867 and Laura Virginia born 1872. There mother is definitely Margaret Leonard born New York 1831, the daughter on Allen & Margaret Leonard, Margaret jnr appears with them on the 1850 & 1860 Census in Philadelphia. Catherine Ivy Eakins married William Cosgrove and Laura Virginia Eakins married a William Heffneyer. Emma Eakins married late in life around 1939 to Burdsall Johnson, they appear in the 1940 census but Burdsall died 1942.

In the various death certificates it suggests father (Margaret Leonard's husband) was Samuel Eakins. In the 1900 census it shows Margaret is a widow and in a 1910 City Directory Margaret wid of Saml.

I cannot find the family in the 1870 or 1880 US census other than in the 1870 census appearing in Philadelphia under the name of Leonard?, Margaret's maiden name as follows:-
Samuel Leonard 45 Jeweller, born Missouri
Margaret Leonard 35 born New York
Walter Leonard 8 born Pens
Kate Leonard 6 born Pens
Emma Leonard 3 Pens.
I am sure this is the same family but why shown as Leonard? Other than this I cannot find Samuel Eakins in any other census and no birth or death record. Very elusive! Where Margaret and the children appear on the census in the 1900's it generally shows 'Father' born Pennsylvania and not Missouri.

I am anxious to find Samuel to see if he or his father may descend from my Irish Eakins.

Any help or guidance will be appreciated.
Colin

[christanel]

Hi Colin
This is not about Samuel but you say
"I am researching the Eakins family as I descend from Mary Jane Eakins born Ireland 1832. Mary married William Parkinson and lived in England and in the 1861-1901 census indicates born Ireland but of course not where, my brickwall."

Do you have Mary Jane and William's marriage certificate? If so does it name a father?

Christina

[Colin Parkinson]

Hi Christine,
Mary Jane married William in 1853, her father is shown as James Eakins, a weaver. William died in 1873 and Mary Jane married John Houston in 1876, on marriage certificate her father is shown as James Eakins, a Linen Weaver.

Colin

[Colin Parkinson]

Just to add anybody particularly looking for Mary Jane Eakins birth direct other than in Ireland a daughter Adelaide M Salloway appears in the US census in Wayne Detroit with her daughter Martha P (Parkinson) and son in law Charles Tennent she shows her mother (Mary Jane) was born in what looks like Northern Ireland. For the Republic Ireland the enumerator seems to use Free Ireland or Irish Free State. So a strong case that Mary Jane Eakins was born in what is now Northern Ireland.

Colin

[Colin Parkinson]

I should have added the above reference refers to the 1930 census for Wayne Detroit.

Colin

[Colin Parkinson]

Anyone following this thread I have found Samuel's wife Margaret Eakins (nee Leonard) and the children in the 1880 census for Philadelphia as follows:-
Margaret Whiteside 39 Keeping House born New York
Horatio Whiteside Husband 39 Lawyer born Pen
Walter S Aiken Son 18 born Pen
Kate Aiken Daughter 15 born Pen
Emma Aiken Daughter 13 born Pen
Laura V Aiken Daughter 9 born Pen
I am sure this is Margaret and the children as next door on the Census is her brother and mother, Allen Leonard 50 and Margaret Leonard 73.
I think Aiken is a transcription error by the enumerator. I have no idea who Horatio Whiteside is as I can find no other reference to a Horatio anywhere. Have found a Elisha M Whiteside Lawyer but not sure if he ever married.
In the 1886 City Directory for Philadelphia found this entry
Margaret Eakins wid Walter S h 1735 N 11th
and
Walter S Eakins Jr h 1735 N 11th.
I am reading this as Margaret was a widow living with son Walter S who was a Jeweller?

Any suggestions as to who Mr Whiteside was would be appreciated. Was Margaret over stating her relationship with him?
Colin

[Lesley Robertson]

Aiken(s) is a common variation for Eakin(s). it's the old game of saying a name aloud and then seeing how many ways you can write it, purely on the basis of what you heard and remembering that whoever was giving the name probably had a different accent to whoever was hearing it.

If he was a lawyer, there would have been a lot of pressure on him to be visibly respectable. If he's listed as "husband" in the census, I'd read it as him being Margaret's 2nd husband. If she's listed as HoH, maybe she owns the house and he moved in when they married? At 18, surely Walter would have been an apprentice jeweller?

[Colin Parkinson]

Hello Lesley,
Thank you for your thoughts & comments.
In the 1880 census Margaret is shown as Keeping House and not Head. If they were married would 'Horatio' appear as 'Head' and the others their relationship to him, step-son or whatever. Son Walter S then 18 appears as 'No occupation' and unemployed for 12 months.
This family is a conundrum but the answer is there somewhere!
Colin

[Elwyn Soutter]

Eakin(s)/Aiken(s) and variants are common surnames in what is now Northern Ireland. Mostly descendants of Scots who settled there in the 1600s. However 1832 is long before the start of birth registration in Ireland (1864) and without a specific parish or area to search you may struggle to find any record of Mary Jane in Ireland. You would need to rely on church baptism records. However not all survive, and of those that do, not all are on-line. If you do find where she came from, the church records will probably be in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast.

[Colin Parkinson]

Thank you Elwyn,
My best hope is Northern Ireland based on what her daughter declared on the US census for 1930. I do wonder that under the circumstances I may never find Mary Jane's birthplace but that is the beauty of genealogy trying to knock down those brick walls.
Colin