 |
| Susanah Drummond Robb |
They made their home near Susannah's folks and there their first daughter was born on 13 November 1837, after they had been married about two years. They called her “Little Susannah”. They were very happy together. George had a private income from his family (“or some other source”, said Grandpa) which he received each month by going to the city to collect it in person. All seemed well. They were expecting their second child when George made his usual trip to the city for funds and did not return. Family members and friends tried to find out what had become of him with no success.
After Sarah Ann, their second daughter was born, 14 September 1838, Susannah didn't not recover her strength. Auntie Hawkins told Grandpa that she “just grieved herself to death.” Again the family tried to find George Drummond with no better luck than at first. Relatives took the two little girls to raise. When Auntie and Uncle Hawkins (Eliza Wakefield and William Hawkins) emigrated to Australia, they took the two girls with them.
Years later in an English newspaper, there was an advertisement asking for information of the girls, Sarah and Susannah Drummond, daughters of George and Susannah Drummond. They were to inherit from some relative who had died in England. William Robb (Susannah's husband) would not let the family answer. He said, “No Drummond would help the girls when they were young and needed help, now be dommed to them, no one needs nor wants their money.”
We find in the 1851 census of Hatherop, Gloucestershire, England (film #087,368) on page 751, Sarah Hawkins, widow, 55, and her sons, Henry age 25 and John age 23, grooms, Susannah Drummond age 13 yrs and Sarah Drummond age 12. On page 748 of the same record we find, living at Hatherop Mill, William Hawkins, Head of house, married, age 31, a farm laborer and Eliza Hawkins, his wife, age 24, a dressmaker.
William and Eliza eventually decided to move to Australia, and when they left they took the Drummond girls with them. Some say they made the move out of fear that the Drummond family would one day try to claim the girls. We don't know for sure their reasons for leaving England, or the year they left, but the girls would have been in their mid to late teens at the time. Although the Hawkins' were the girls' cousins, they were like parents to them. Susannah and Sarah called them “Auntie and Uncle Hawkins”.
 |
| Eliza Wakefield Hawkins Monument 1827-1898 Beaver Utah Cemetery |
 |
| William Hawkins Monument 1819-1890 Beaver Utah Cemetery |
George Drummond & Susannah Jenkins
The story as it is unfolding: George Drummond was the son of an English gentleman, a man of high social standing and wealth. Susannah Jenkins was the pretty daughter of country folk, from the poor labor class. One day as George was out riding or hunting along the countryside with a party of his friends, they became thirsty. They saw a cottage with a well nearby and stopped to ask for a drink of water. The cottage belonged to the Jenkins family, and their daughter Susannah, or Hannah as she was called, gave each man a dipper full of water to drink. George immediately took notice of Hannah's beauty. The hunting party moved on, but George's mind stayed with Hannah. He later returned to the Jenkins home and began courting Hannah, eventually winning her for his bride. They were married about 1835 in __________. George's family was against the marriage however, because of the difference in social class, and so the couple settled near Hannah's parents.
The first years of their married life were mostly happy ones, although Hannah was snubbed by George's family and friends because of her low birth status. She was never allowed to attend the rich society socials, despite her marriage to a Drummond. As the son of a gentleman, George had a private income which he acquired each month by traveling into the city, and so they didn't suffer materially. He also ran a Public House, where food and drink were likely served.
Their first daughter was born around two years later, on 13 November 1837, in Lansdown, Bath, Somerset. They named her Susannah, after her mother. All seemed well, and they were expecting their second child, when one month George made his usual trip to the city for his funds and never returned. Hannah's family and friends tried to find out what had become of him with no success.
As the birth of her second child neared, Hannah went to live in the nearby town of Bibury, in Gloucester County. Here she gave birth to her second daughter on 14 November 1839. She named her Sarah Ann. Hannah became consumed with grief over the disappearance of her husband, and lost her will to live. Again her family tried to find out what had happened to George, with no better luck than at first.
This is where the story gets confusing. Susannah and Sarah were told that their mother died of grief soon after Sarah's birth, and their father was never seen again. They were raised by their Aunt Sarah Hawkins, Hannah's sister, in Hatherop, Gloucester. However we now know that wasn't exactly the case. The 1841 census finds Hannah still living a few miles away in a wealthy home in Bath, without her children. Her daughters would have been 3 and 4 years old. We find a death certificate for Hannah two years later. She passed away in the town of Stowmarket, Suffolk County, all the way on the other side of the country. Her husband, George, was present, and was the one who reported her death. He claims she died on 14 September, 1843, of Hydrothorax, which is fluid around the lungs. She was 32 years old.
What happened to George? Where had he been, and why did he return for Hannah but not his daughters? Susannah and Sarah continued to be raised by their Aunt until their teens, when they immigrated to Australia with their older cousins, William and Eliza Hawkins, who acted as parents to them for the remainder of their lives. In each official record George gives a little different occupational title. In Susannah's birth record he's called a Publican – someone who runs a Public House, or Pub. In her Baptismal record he's called a Victualler, which is a food shop keeper or seller. When Hannah filled out Sarah's birth certificate she states George's occupation as Gentleman, with Service written in below. A Gentleman was a man of high birth who didn't need to work. Could Service mean that he was in the army? On Hannah's death certificate George states his occupation as a Pensioner. This title had several different meanings. It could be he was a member of a formerly ruling family who is paid compensation money by the government after giving up ancestral claim to a native throne. That could be where his monthly income had come from, instead of an inheritance from his father. The word was also used for a retired soldier. Did George join the army, and that's where he disappeared to before Sarah was born? Did she wait in Bath for him, knowing that he would come for her when his service was completed?
And what happened to George after Hannah's death? He was still quite young, and was probably remarried. Some family members think that the Hawkins' took the Drummond girls to Australia out of fear that the Drummond family would try to take them one day. Was George looking for them, or content to let his late wife's family finish raising them? I don't know if we'll ever find the answers to these questions.
Publisher's Note:
Richard Rillstone, Sarah Ann's husband died 1869 in Albion, NSW, Australia and
Sarah Ann died in 1917 in Waverley, NSW, Australia
_____________________________
Sources:
Mabel Robb Robinson, as told to her by her grandfather, Samuel Robb, the son of Susannah Drummond Robb. film# 087,368 – 1851 England census, film #1517606 item #15-16 – 1837 Baptism record Certified copies of original records: birth of Susannah Drummond, birth of Sarah Drummond, death of Susannah Jenkins Drummond
Findagrave.com
