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c1900, High Street, Wandsworth, Surrey, Englandwhere William Scoons BOORMAN was born in 1842
I’m switching over to my husband Terry’s side of the tree again to tell the story of his great-grandfather, who found his way to Victoria BC Canada in 1892 from Wandsworth in what is now London, England. William Scoons BOORMAN was born 26 Aug 1842 on High Street in Wandsworth, the son of Mary Ann GREEN and Thomas BOORMAN (1810-1894, a wheelwright from Headcorn Kent, and from a long line of Thomas’s).
William's middle name SCOONS (sometimes written as SCOONES) was an unusual and much appreciated distinction, although the reasons for this name are somewhat obscure. His father Thomas’s sister Ann BOORMAN married Dalby SCOONS. His other sister Jane Eliza BOORMAN married a William LILLYWHITE who named their youngest son Edward Scoons LILLYWHITE, and their daughter Mary Ann”Polly" married a John SCOONS. So they seemed quite partial to honoring this surname, apparently only associated by marriage. A clue to the reason why is provided by a family story published in “Notes on the Life and the Descendants of Thomas Boorman” compiled by Caroline Dyer c1954 (a granddaughter of Thomas through his oldest daughter Mary Ann):
William's middle name SCOONS (sometimes written as SCOONES) was an unusual and much appreciated distinction, although the reasons for this name are somewhat obscure. His father Thomas’s sister Ann BOORMAN married Dalby SCOONS. His other sister Jane Eliza BOORMAN married a William LILLYWHITE who named their youngest son Edward Scoons LILLYWHITE, and their daughter Mary Ann”Polly" married a John SCOONS. So they seemed quite partial to honoring this surname, apparently only associated by marriage. A clue to the reason why is provided by a family story published in “Notes on the Life and the Descendants of Thomas Boorman” compiled by Caroline Dyer c1954 (a granddaughter of Thomas through his oldest daughter Mary Ann):
"Grandfather Boorman's sisters … were always referred to by my Mother as Aunt Scoons, Aunt Lillywhite and Aunt Fairbridge and Aunt Louisa, as the last named remained unmarried … Aunt and Uncle Lillywhite immigrated to Australia in or about the year 1850, taking with [them] ten of their eleven children. One daughter, named Mary Ann, they left behind with Aunt and Uncle Scoons who, being childless themselves, wished to adopt her. She was generally known as Polly Scoons and she eventually married a nephew of Uncle Scoons and had three sons.”
So it seems that Thomas was so impressed with his sisters’ multiple associations with the SCOONS family that he gave that name to his own son William as well.
William (minus his Scoons middle name) first appears in the 1851 census as a boy of 8 living with his parents and 4 siblings on High Street in Wandsworth, Surrey, a “scholar at home”. In 1861, William is found living in the BEVERLY household on High Street in Wandsworth, working as a servant and grocers’ assistant.
Four years later on 31 Aug 1865, William married Frances Jane “Fanny” ROBSON in the Congregational Church on the corner of Geraldine Road and High Street, Wandsworth. William was listed as bachelor and clerk residing at 3 West Street, Wandsworth. By 1871 they were living at 2 Cedar Terrace in Fulham with three young daughters who had been born, in succession, in Wandsworth Surrey, King’s Cross Middlesex, and Fulham Middlesex. So the family was obviously moving frequently while William gained work experience and looked for the right placement. In 1871 at age 28, William was already a master grocer with his own grocer’s assistant and a general servant in his employ.
A decade later in 1881, William was working as a clerk for a coal merchant in Battersea, living at 31 Ashbury Road with daughters Henrietta EA and Amelia A, and sons Walter W and Albert S. Their oldest daughter Frances Eliza “Lillie” was living with (or visiting) her Grandfather Thomas and Aunt Sarah in Wandsworth at this time. By 1891 William and family were still living in Battersea, and their youngest son Harry E (age 9, Terry’s grandfather) had been added to the household. Son Walter William had already left home and daughter Frances was living in Staffordshire with her Aunt Jane Hookey and family.
William (minus his Scoons middle name) first appears in the 1851 census as a boy of 8 living with his parents and 4 siblings on High Street in Wandsworth, Surrey, a “scholar at home”. In 1861, William is found living in the BEVERLY household on High Street in Wandsworth, working as a servant and grocers’ assistant.
Four years later on 31 Aug 1865, William married Frances Jane “Fanny” ROBSON in the Congregational Church on the corner of Geraldine Road and High Street, Wandsworth. William was listed as bachelor and clerk residing at 3 West Street, Wandsworth. By 1871 they were living at 2 Cedar Terrace in Fulham with three young daughters who had been born, in succession, in Wandsworth Surrey, King’s Cross Middlesex, and Fulham Middlesex. So the family was obviously moving frequently while William gained work experience and looked for the right placement. In 1871 at age 28, William was already a master grocer with his own grocer’s assistant and a general servant in his employ.
A decade later in 1881, William was working as a clerk for a coal merchant in Battersea, living at 31 Ashbury Road with daughters Henrietta EA and Amelia A, and sons Walter W and Albert S. Their oldest daughter Frances Eliza “Lillie” was living with (or visiting) her Grandfather Thomas and Aunt Sarah in Wandsworth at this time. By 1891 William and family were still living in Battersea, and their youngest son Harry E (age 9, Terry’s grandfather) had been added to the household. Son Walter William had already left home and daughter Frances was living in Staffordshire with her Aunt Jane Hookey and family.
BOORMAN - Victoria BC Canada - c1900.
Standing L to R: Albert Sidney, William Scoons, Walter William and Harry Eustace BOORMAN.
Kneeling in front: Jim ROBSON (son-in-law and nephew of William Scoons).
Standing L to R: Albert Sidney, William Scoons, Walter William and Harry Eustace BOORMAN.
Kneeling in front: Jim ROBSON (son-in-law and nephew of William Scoons).
There is no sign of this family in the 1901 England census. So where and when did they go? And why did they move? Being William's descendant, we know they ended up in Victoria BC Canada. But so far we have not been able to find them on any passenger lists to pinpoint the exact date and route of the immigration. We have, however, found their eldest daughter Frances arriving in Montreal Canada later in 1912 aboard the “Ultonia".
The 1901 Canada census lists the others already in Victoria BC. It tells us that William immigrated in 1892, and his wife and 3 children Alice, Albert and Harry followed in 1894. Henrietta arrived in 1893. Son William (this would be Walter William) is listed in his own household in Victoria with wife Mary, young daughter Kate E, and sister Kate E (Where did she come from? We have her 1877 birth certificate but can’t find this child in any England census, and thought she had died as a young child.) The 1901 Canada census also says that the siblings William [Jr.] and Kate E both immigrated in 1889. So it looks to me that Walter William was the one who initiated the exodus to Canada.
The 1901 Canada census lists the others already in Victoria BC. It tells us that William immigrated in 1892, and his wife and 3 children Alice, Albert and Harry followed in 1894. Henrietta arrived in 1893. Son William (this would be Walter William) is listed in his own household in Victoria with wife Mary, young daughter Kate E, and sister Kate E (Where did she come from? We have her 1877 birth certificate but can’t find this child in any England census, and thought she had died as a young child.) The 1901 Canada census also says that the siblings William [Jr.] and Kate E both immigrated in 1889. So it looks to me that Walter William was the one who initiated the exodus to Canada.
From the Victoria City directories, the earliest that I have found any of this family is in 1894, when William BOORMAN [Sr] is the only one listed (although there is a W H BOWMAN working as a clerk for E J Salmon & Co, residing on Johnson who could be his son). William [Sr] was living at 274 Johnson Street and employed as a clerk in the Driard Hotel, newly built in 1892. In 1895 there were four Boorman names listed, all living at 26 Beechy, Victoria: Wm (clerk at the Driard), Wm (assistant furniture store, Salmon’s), Miss H, and Albert (cabinet maker). William is listed a second time under the last name “Boarman”, a night clerk at the Driard Hotel. Beechy street no longer exists but seems to have been in the Fairfield area near Rupert and Vancouver streets.
In 1897 the family (Albert, Harry, Wm J, Wm and WW) had moved to 129 Michigan Street in the James Bay area. Again there appears to be a duplication of one of the Williams. William [Sr] was still working as a clerk at Driard House. His son W W Boorman was working as a clerk at 44 Johnson street, which might be the location of E J Salmon used furniture store on Johnson where also a Wm J was working (I am assuming that these 2 entries were for the same person in spite of the variances). Others living with the family on Michigan Street were sons Albert and Harry. The four of them were still listed there in 1900.
Fortunately, at least part of the reason for their move from England has been provided in the family history written by cousin Caroline Dyer in about 1954:
In 1897 the family (Albert, Harry, Wm J, Wm and WW) had moved to 129 Michigan Street in the James Bay area. Again there appears to be a duplication of one of the Williams. William [Sr] was still working as a clerk at Driard House. His son W W Boorman was working as a clerk at 44 Johnson street, which might be the location of E J Salmon used furniture store on Johnson where also a Wm J was working (I am assuming that these 2 entries were for the same person in spite of the variances). Others living with the family on Michigan Street were sons Albert and Harry. The four of them were still listed there in 1900.
Fortunately, at least part of the reason for their move from England has been provided in the family history written by cousin Caroline Dyer in about 1954:
“NOTE: William [son of William Scoons Boorman] immigrated to Canada when quite a youth intending to take up a Government grant of land and go in for farming. He found, on arrival there, that he was too young to be given a grant of land. His father (Uncle William) decided to go out to him, being then a middle aged man who had been a clerk most of his life. He went and was followed by his wife and all his family except for Lillie who then had a boarding house in Ventnor. Cousin William and Uncle William having died, Lillie decided to go out and join the rest of her family and she took with her Dorothy Freeman.”
1904 - View of Victoria BC Canada from the Driard Hotel on View Street.
This story also mentions the death of William Sr, who in fact died in Victoria BC on 16 Feb 1909 from cancer at the age of 66. His son William Jr died two years earlier at age 36 in the typhoid epidemic of 1907. Both of William Sr’s two surviving sons married in 1910, the year after his death, so it must have been sad indeed not to have their father as witness at their weddings. (1910 was also the year of a large fire in downtown Victoria in which the Driard Hotel, where William Sr. had worked, narrowly escaped destruction.) His daughters Frances “Lillie" and Amelia “Alice" never married, but William did live to see his daughter Henrietta marry her cousin James ROBSON in 1897, and his son Walter William marry Marian GUTHRO in 1898. William would also have welcomed four grandchildren into the world before he died.
It is indeed heartening to realize that this family found a way to stay together as long as life allowed, taking turns crossing the Atlantic ocean and (probably) the American continent on their way to its Pacific west coast where they reunited. They likely journeyed across Canada by train because, in 1885, the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed between Ontario and BC, making it much easier for people to travel west by land. We are so very grateful that they first forged the trail to such a beautiful country that we now call home.
It is indeed heartening to realize that this family found a way to stay together as long as life allowed, taking turns crossing the Atlantic ocean and (probably) the American continent on their way to its Pacific west coast where they reunited. They likely journeyed across Canada by train because, in 1885, the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed between Ontario and BC, making it much easier for people to travel west by land. We are so very grateful that they first forged the trail to such a beautiful country that we now call home.
I have posted additional information on these BOORMAN families elsewhere on this website, also
Descendants of William and Sarah Boorman - 9 Generation Family Tree
For additional Boorman blog posts, click on the "Boorman" category to the right.
Descendants of William and Sarah Boorman - 9 Generation Family Tree
For additional Boorman blog posts, click on the "Boorman" category to the right.
"52 Ancestors" is a reference to the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge I am participating in.
Reference the No Story Too Small blog by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow for more details.
It is giving me the much needed incentive to write and publish my family stories.
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