Ellen Edkins (1853-1937) was born at Murcot, Gloucestershire, in 1853, the third of eight children of George Edkins and his wife, Elizabeth (née Neal). She was baptised (at the same time as her younger sister, Betsey) at Childswickham Church on 25th May 1856 when she was three years old. The Edkins family remained at Murcot until about 1858. The next move was to Wickhamford where, some time in the late 1860s, her father took up market gardening. Ellen would have attended the National School in Badsey, and would have walked across the field each day with her sisters to get to school.
At the time of the 1871 census, Ellen was working in Sonning, Berkshire, as a general servant in the household of Henry Pearce Withers, a shipping merchant. Three years later, following in the footsteps of her older sister, Ellen took the decision to emigrate to America. Aged 21, she arrived in New York on board “The Queen” on 15th June 1874 having departed from Liverpool. The following year her parents and five youngest siblings emigrated. They settled in the state of Ohio, where a number of Badsey and Wickhamford families were already living.
At the time of the 1880 Federal Census, Ellen was working in the household of farmer, Byron James, in Troy Township, Geauga County, Ohio. On 14th March 1886 she married William Nelson Harvey, a farmer. In 1900 they were living in Perris Township, Riverside County, California, and had two sons: Cecil (1890) and Clyde (1895). By 1910 they had moved to Salinas Township, San Luis Obispo, California, and in 1920 they were at Templeton Precinct, San Luis Obispo, with just Clyde at home. Ellen appears in the census returns as Nellie. They were still at Templeton in 1930.
William died at San Luis Obispo on 19th July 1931 and Nellie died there on 8th February 1937.
See also:
- George Edkins – emigrated 1875
- Elizabeth Edkins – emigrated 1875
- Betsey Edkins – emigrated 1875
- Caroline Edkins – emigrated 1875
- Jane Edkins – emigrated 1875
- Alice Edkins – emigrated 1875
- Oliver Edkins – emigrated 1875
- Emma Jelfs (née Edkins) – emigrated 1874
- Thomas Jelfs – emigrated 1874
- Jesse Jelfs – emigrated 1874
- George Edkins – Wickhamford’s First Market Gardener