William, Benjamin & Thomas Kingshott
William & Benjamin Kingshott
There are less well-known Kingshott families in Canada too, not least of which are the families of two brothers, William & Benjamin Kingshott, who came from Treyford, Sussex, England.
William & Benjamin were the two eldest sons of William & Ann Kingshott of Treyford. William Senior was baptised at Harting on 12th February 1843, himself being the seventh youngest of eight children of William (even more senior!) & Sarah Kingshott of Harting.
You will have noticed that this particular branch of the family was not particularly imaginative when it came to naming their sons! Anyway, I will look at the two brothers in turn, then follow with a third brother.
These brothers would have been my 6th cousins twice removed.
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William Kingshott
This particular William Kingshott was born in Treyford, Sussex, England on 22nd September 1866. He was baptised on 28th October the same year and grew up in and around Treyford. By the time of the 1871 census, the young William can be found with the rest of his family in a cottage in the main street in Treyford. His father is recorded as one of the ubiquitous agricultural labourers.
By the 1881 census a now working-aged William was himself an agricultural labourer and had not moved from the village of his birth. However, it would appear that the prospect of adventure took hold and over the next eight years this ambition grew culminating in him boarding the SS Polynesian and emigrating to Canada. This is a copy of the passenger manifest for that ship, showing William Kingshott as the fourth passenger on the list, bound for Manitoba.
The SS Polynesian arrived in Quebec on 11th May 1889 and, as far as I can tell, William never left Canada again.
He made his way to Manitoba and by the time of the 1891 Canadian census, taken on 24th June 1891, William was a farmer in the township of Lansdowne. He was surrounded by other farmers, almost all of whom were immigrants of English origin, much as he was. Indeed, it was clear that he found the lifestyle agreeable, as he had communicated as much to his brother, Ben, who followed in his footsteps.
On 28th December 1899, a lady called Ruth Eames made an honest man of William. They were married in the church in Lansdowne. They were clearly a good sort, as their child came along almost exactly 9 months later, on 9th September 1900. Sadly, this child, who does not appear to have been named, died on the 12th of that month. Ruth followed two days later, clearly having suffered during childbirth.
It appears that William never really got over the loss of his wife and child. He is found in the 1911 census, still widowed, with no female companion, living with another of his brothers, Thomas, who had also come to Canada.
William died in McCreary, Manitoba, Canada on 22nd December 1937. He did not re-marry.
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Benjamin Kingshott
Benjamin Kingshott was born in Treyford, Sussex, England and was baptised there on 7th March 1869.
Much the same as William, he is recorded in the 1871 and 1881 census as living in Treyford, again following in the footsteps of his father, and grandfather, as an agricultural labourer. Benjamin also sought out the good life and, two years after his brother William, Ben decided to emigrate to Canada too.
He left on the SS Circassian and arrived at the port of Quebec on 18th May 1891. Note the similarity between the design of this ship, and the one that William sailed to Canada on.
By the time I next catch up to Benjamin, it is 1901, and he is recorded with his brother in Manitoba, in the census taken that year. Both are recorded as farmers, which is a huge step-up in status from a lowly agricultural labourer.
At some point after this, Benjamin meets and marries a lady called Edith Carpenter, also an immigrant from England. I have not managed to locate their marriage details yet, but I am aware of at least two children that arose from this union. These were Rosa Mary Kingshott, born 2nd January 1908 in Rosedale, Manitoba and William George Kingshott, born 27th September 1909 in McCreary, Manitoba and who sadly died on 4th November 1910.
Rosa married a chap called Clifford Edward Browning on 17th September 1930, in Neepawa, Manitoba and there the Kingshott name, at least from these branches, died out.
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Ben died on 27th January 1931 at McCreary, Manitoba, Canada.
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Thomas Kingshott
Edward Thomas Kingshott, the youngest brother of William & Benjamin Kingshott, was born on 21st June 1879 in Treyford. He was baptised on 21st September of the same year.
Edward, who was known as Thomas, would only have been ten years old when he said goodbye to his older brothers, and it would be another twenty years before he would see them again.
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Happily, he did see them and in 1909, Thomas emigrated to Manitoba too. He can be found, in the 1911 Canadian census, living with his widowed brother William.
Thomas is still in Manitoba, in McCreary township, on the voter's list for 1962. He is found in the Portage la Prairie Estate Index for 1970. He does not appear to have married or to have had children.
I would love to know more about him and would be very pleased to hear from anyone who knows anything. To date, I have not managed to locate a death for him.