Alice Edkins (1862-1940) was born at Wickhamford on 12th Jasnuary 1862, the seventh of eight children of George Edkins and his wife, Elizabeth (née Neal). Some time in the late 1860s, her father took up market gardening in Wickhamford. Jennie would have attended the National School in Badsey, and would have walked across the field each day with her sisters to get to school.
In 1874, Alice’s two elder sisters, Emma Jelfs and Ellen Edkins, emigrated to America. The following year, 13-year-old Alice and her parents and four of her siblings left Liverpool in steerage class on “City of New York”, arriving in New York on 15th October 1875, so now the whole family was in America. They settled in the state of Ohio, where a number of Badsey and Wickhamford families were already living. By 1880, they were living in Bainbridge, Geauga County, Ohio, where Alice’s father was a farmer.
On 2nd June 1888, Alice married Fred Montgomery in Geauga County, Ohio; they had no children. In 1910 they were living in Cleveland Township, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. A “roomer” by the name of Anna Edkins also lived there. This was Alice’s widowed step-mother, who had married George Edkins, but she was also listed on the census return for Alice’s sister, Jennie, so presumably she moved between the homes.
Fred Montgomery died on 23rd December 1921 in Geneva, Ashtabula County, Ohio. He was buried at Evergreen Cemetery, Painesville, Lake County, Ohio. By 1930, widowed Alice was working as a housekeeper in Cleveland and in 1940 she was living alone in Geneva Township. Alice died on 7th June 1940, aged 78, and was buried alongside Fred in Evergreen Cemetery.
See also:
- George Edkins – emigrated 1875
- Elizabeth Edkins – emigrated 1875
- Betsey Edkins – emigrated 1875
- Caroline Edkins – emigrated 1875
- Jane Edkins – emigrated 1875
- Oliver Edkins – emigrated 1875
- Ellen Edkins – emigrated 1874
- Emma Jelfs (née Edkins) – emigrated 1874
- Thomas Jelfs – emigrated 1874
- Jesse Jelfs – emigrated 1874
- George Edkins – Wickhamford’s First Market Gardener