Richardson Migration

My maternal grandmother, Nell Andrew, was born a Richardson and had a keen interest in family history.  I wasn't her only granddaughter to later show an interest, and  I am so glad that one of my first cousins wrote down the following story when she was talking to "Granny" about our Richardson ancestors.  This particular short segment of oral history (and accompanying notes) gives us priceless clues to the Richardson emigration and travels in the 1800s, although I am still trying to unravel some of the "facts" at the heart of this story:

“Granny’s grandfather Henry Proctor Richardson b. 24 Feb 1825 Sussex Co. inherited Granny’s gr. grandfather’s money. Edward (Syd’s uncle) took Henry out to Australia when he was young and just escaped from Maori’s, then brought him back to England, then brought Lewis [Louis crossed out] James at age 18 to Canada.  Lewis James was educ’d in England by church of England minister or tutor, settled in Ontario, m’d a widow woman with 2 children.”  Under the name Lewis James it says “same person *” and under the name of “Henry Proctor Jr. Richardson Dec 22 1855, had 3 children: Proctor, Fred & Daisy (address Detroit MIchigan)” there is a circled note “* (Ed., Louis & Henry) bros., sister Damarus m’d)”

To help with the relationships:
Granny   
Granny's father
Granny's grandfather
Granny's great-grandfather

Eleanor Louise (Nell) Andrew (nee Richardson) (1894-1992)
Sydney Richardson (1862-1951 )
Henry Proctor Richardson II (1825-1905 )
Henry Proctor Richardson I (1789 - 1850 )

So how to make sense of this?  This story would fit what we now know about the family if the “Edward” was actually “Edmund”, uncle of Sydney and the brother of Louis Richard (b. 1836, a different person than Louis James b 1864, Sydney’s brother). There seems to be a bit of ambiguity here as to the generations, as Ed, Louis Richard, Henry and Damaris were some of the children of Henry Proctor Richardson I (1789-1850) and not the children of his son Henry Proctor Richardson II (1825-1905)  Also, the Maori’s are in New Zealand rather than Australia (so where did they really travel)?  The travel dates are not specified is this story, and it is unclear whether “Edward” took his brothers and/or his nephews on travel adventures because the names appear in both generations. So let's look at the options:

Regarding Ed’s first trip with Henry to Australia:  

• If it was with Ed’s brother Henry Proctor II, he was born 1825, only 2 years after Ed.  They would both have been young men in the early 1850’s, having a travel adventure with inherited money before settling down.  We don’t yet know if or when Edmund married, but we do know that his brother Henry Proctor II married Elizabeth Harris in Mar 1853 in Lambeth London, leaving Edmund free to travel with another relative to Canada in 1854.  
• If it was a younger Henry (his nephew and Sydney’s brother Henry Proctor III b. 1855), they probably wouldn’t have traveled until the 1870’s or 1880’s when Henry was old enough . We believe that Henry Proctor III was born in England and  married a Jane Denning in Metcalfe Ontario in 1880, but don’t yet know when he emigrated.  So if he is the Henry who traveled to Australia and back to England, he would have had another trip to Canada in time to marry Jane in 1880

Regarding Ed’s second trip with Louis to Canada:  

• If it really was Louis James, his nephew b 1864, then he would have been 18 in 1882 - this would have been about the time that his brother Sydney emigrated to Ontario.  
• If it was Edmund’s younger brother Louis Richard b 1836, he would have been 18 in 1854 - this is an appropriate date to be traveling with money possibly inherited in 1850. We have found a Lewis Richardson age 35, born in England and a cheesemaker, listed in the 1871 Canada census, living in Adelaide Ontario with his wife Catherine (age 45, 10 years his senior) and 5 children: Ann 14, Emily 13, Henry 9, Catherine 7, and Lewis 4.  All children are listed with the surname Richardson and born in Canada, but it is possible that the first 2 are from her previous marriage (marriage record not yet found).

Another part of the puzzle here is that the above Sydney Richardson, son of Henry Proctor II, "moved from England to Ontario Canada in 1880 as a teenager, learned the cheese-making business there before moving to PEI in 1882. He bought his house in St. Eleanor's from Jacob Howatt. The house was then situated on the south-east corner of the school playgrounds - it has now been moved to Glenn Drive."  This information likely came from Nell Andrew as well (I probably recorded this back in the 1980s when Granny was one of my few sources - I am now much better at recording sources!).  Later when trying to substantiate Sydney's immigration, I found him still in England in 1881, living with his parents in Weston Longville, Norfolk.  The most promising passenger list I've found contained the following entry on ancestry.com:
"Sydney Richards   Male   [age:] 17   [Date of Arrival:] 21 Aug 1882   [vessel:] Thames   [port(s) of arrival:] Halifax, Nova Scotia; Montreal, Quebec   [departed from:] London, England   [Roll:] C-4532 - film says destined for Montreal."

So although the dates in the story are a tiny bit off, it is likely that Sydney lived for a short time in Ontario (probably 1882-1883) to learn the cheesemaking craft, then moved to PEI sometime before 1885 when he married Miss Ella Compton.  I have uncovered a letter from 1883 which likely instigated Sydney's move to PEI.  The letter was from a Charles Andrew, on behalf of the St Eleanors Farmers Club, to Samuel Wood at Newtonville, Ontario, asking that he (Samuel) take the letter about the cheese factory to “some factory that you know”, looking for someone to start up a cheese factory in Prince County, PEI.  The letter was apparently fowarded to John Waddell in Orono, Ontario, who replied.  [Note that the Charles Andrew was the grandfather of Harry Charles Andrew who later married Sydney’s youngest daughter Eleanor.]

But why did Sydney immigrate to Ontario and learn the cheesemaking trade?  It now seems likely that other Richardson relatives came before him, and if they were also in the cheesemaking trade, so much the better.  As noted above, Sydney's uncle Louis Richard Richardson b 1836 was living in Ontario in the 1871 census, and may have been there since the 1850s, judging from the ages and birth locations of his children.  I think it a very good bet that Louis helped Sydney get settled with a job when he first came to Canada.

Sydney and his family on PEI lost track of his English and Ontario relatives - he rarely talked about them, although he was likely the one who returned to England for a visit in 1899  and made notes of family names and dates from the parish register.  Sydney's mother died in 1902 and his father in 1905, both in Derby.  When I was growing up, I never heard anything about Richardson relatives in Ontario or England.

So back to sorting out the first story, now that all my clues are on the table.  I think that Edmund's second trip (to Canada) was with his younger brother Louis Richard Richardson [not Louis James as the story says] sometime in the 1850s.  Louis likely stayed on in Ontario and was recorded in the 1871 Canada census with his family.   That means that Edmund's first trip (to Australia) was with his brother Henry in the early 1850s (before Henry was married in 1853; his nephew Henry was born in 1855).  Thank goodness that Henry and Edmund escaped the run-in with the Australian aborigines, or I wouldn't be here today!  I still don't know what happened to Edmund.