A Tribe of Israel
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Sandra my wife likes to call this branch of the Vingoe family "The Tribes of Israel" because as can be seen from the main tree they have put down roots in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and the USA. The family also moved within the United Kingdom and I have chosen to follow the American story because it gives an insight into the wanderings of the family. Let us start the story with Israel Vingoe whose family tree we have traced back to John Vingoe who was born around 1580 in the reign of Queen Elizabeth the 1st of England. You can find this tree by going HERE and clicking on "Israel 1790" in the index. Israel was baptised at the Parish Church in Sennen, Cornwall on March 21, 1790 the twelfth child of James Vingoe and Amey Courtney. His early life was spent on the border of the parishes of Sennen and St Just where his father was a fisherman. The family probably lived within the small settlement of Escalls where countless generations of Vingoes had lived, or on the nearby Tregiffian cliff, both of which have strong links to the Vingoe family. In May 1826 Israel married Jenifer CLEMENCE , who was just nineteen, in her home parish of St Buryan. The first record we have of Israel and his family other than the parish registers is in the 1841 census, when they are shown as living in St Just Church Town. Israel Vingoe 47 Ag Lab Jenifer Vingoe 34 Israel Vingoe 14 Agricultural Labourer Elizabeth Vingoe 13 Caroline Vingoe 12 Maria Vingoe 5 James Vingoe 3 John Vingoe 2 months We are going to follow the line of his son Israel, age 14 on the 1841. He was baptised on 12 November 1826 Sennen just six months after his parents marriage. He had followed his father into the farming life perhaps with the prospect that when his uncle, William Vingoe of Escalls in Sennen died with no family of his own to carry on working his land some of his holdings and property would be passed on to him or his father. This was not to be as fate took a hand. William VINGOE, died unmarried in 1845 and a Will was produced, in which he left a few small legacies and annuities to his Vingoe siblings, payable out of his Escalls property rents, which would cease on the deaths of of these beneficiaries. He then stated that "The rest of my freehold and leasehold estate situate in Escalls and all other real and personal estate and effects, money and securities for money, goods, chattels, estate and effects of what nature or kind whatsoever and wherever situate lying and being of which I shall die possessed or become entitled unto at my death, I give, devise and bequeath the same and every part thereof ,unto my nephew, Richard Nicholls of the parish of Germoe in the said county, shopkeeper................" Apparently William's intentions were clear but this will was written in December of 1842. He had removed from Sennen, after a lifetime of living there, to Gulval where perhaps his sister Grace or her son Richard NICHOLLS and son in law LAWRY had exerted pressure on him to leave them his property. However, Israel Vingoe and the rest of the family decided to pursue this issue in the courts and presented the later Will dated 1 Sep 1843. At the hearing in the Archdeaconry Court of St Buryan Israel's lawyer failed to prove this second will legitimate. The court declared: "that the second pretended will of the said deceased bearing the date the first day of September one thousand eight hundred and forty three, in which the said Israel Vingoe is pretended to be one of the Executors, to be null and void and invalid to all intents and purposes and to have no force or validity in law whatsoever....." The decision was declared in the parish church of St Mary's, Penzance. I think the proceedings are in the records held at Truro Record Office: another project for research some day. Update: Nov 2009 This earlier will of 1842 was contested by the Vingoe family in the Civil Courts. They won their case in 1848 and the proceedings were reported extensively in the 'West Briton'. Unfortunately, William was proved to be suffering from a form of dementia in his final years and had been removed from his sister's house in Gulval into the care of his brother Israel in St Just. He did, however, according to the medical witnesses presented, have periods of lucidity and it was deemed by the Jury that he had made the later Will during one of these episodes. The Jury found for Israel and his other Vingoe kin, who were the plaintiffs. What had happened to the property and finances in the meantime I have yet to find out but, as can be seen from the rest of this article, times were bad and many left Cornwall for good in the ensuing years never to return.
In 1853 Israel and Mary had another child whom again they named Israel. They do not appear to have had this child baptised. as so often happened with such second children named the same as one who had died. Two years later in May of 1855 another child, George Hocking Vingoe, was baptised. In 1858, Mary was to suffer both joy and tragedy. Firstly came the death of her mother in law, Jennifer, buried on the7th of May, and then the birth of a son Nicholas Hocking Vingoe, baptised 13th of May in St Just. This was followed just weeks later with the death of her husband Israel, who was buried on the 30th of May 1858. A further blow came with the death of her baby son Nicholas H before the year was out. In 1860 Mary and her sons, Israel and George, were living at the Church Town, St Just when she married her second husband, James Foss. The marriage records show the following: 08 Mar 1860 by Banns James Foss age 20 Miner of Church Town (Father: William Foss, Farmer) to Mary Vingoe age 36 widow of Church Town (Father: Nicholas Hocking, Miner) Witnesses: Samuel Veal, William Curnow Following the marriage we know from the 1861 census RG9/ 1598 / ED 15 folio 55 page 4 schedule 15 that the family set up home on Fore Street, St Just and the census entry is as follows:
It is interesting to note that both Mary & James have different ages to those shown at the time of their wedding. I have no idea what happened to George's mother Mary and her new husband James FOSS, or to his brother Israel. They are not listed on the 1871 in Cornwall and I have found no trace of them in the UK on the 1881 The St Just of the 1860's was a place of great depression. In May 1867 the West Briton newspaper reported: During the last twelve months, Cornish miners to the number of 7,380 have left the county, 1,155 of whom settled in America, 670 in Australia and New Zealand, 450 in California, while the iron mines of Scotland and the coal and iron mines of the North of England have absorbed 1,090; 1,390 have left Gwennap, Stithians, Illogan and Phillack; 1,590 the district of Lelant, St Ives and St Just; 80 Wendron and Sithney; 205 the district of St Agnes and Perran; 220 the district of St Austell; and 1,200 the district the districts of Liskeard and Callington, The returns from other districts are not so correctly ascertained, but must fall little short of 2,000.
West Briton 17 May 1867. and again in August: At Wheal Owles meeting on Friday last, Mr R Boyns has beheld a sight a day or two ago he had never seen before, and one he hoped he would never see again in St Just.On his way to Hayle, this side of Penzance, he had overtaken 15 women – all on their way to the workhouse. He knew the faces of many and believed that genuine penury had driven them to seek parish relief.
West Briton 23 August 1867 The 1871 Census for St Just shows the following: ROWE, JOHN, Head, Married, Age 55, MINE AGENT, born 1816 in ST. JUST, Cornwall ROWE, LOUISA, Wife, Married, age 55, born 1816 ST. JUST, Cornwall ROWE, GEO H, Son, Unmarried, age 25, MINE ENG. DRIVER, born 1846 ST. JUST, Cornwall ROWE, ALMOND, Son, Unmarried, age 23, MINE ENGINEER, born 1848 ST. JUST, Cornwall ROWE, WM, Son, Unmarried, 19 MINE ENG, DRIVER, born 1852 ST. JUST, Cornwall ROWE, HARRIET, Daughter, Unmarried, 17 - born 1854 ST. JUST, Cornwall ROWE, RD, Son Unmarried, 15, MINE ENG DRIVER, born 1856 ST. JUST, Cornwall ROWE, JAMES, Son, 13, SCHOLAR born1858, ST. JUST, Cornwall VINGOE, GEO H Nephew - 16 BLACKSMITH, born 1855 ST. JUST CornwallBy 1881 George Hocking Vingoe had moved north to Cumbria and married Margaret ARMSTRONG. GRO marriages Sep 1/4 1879. VINGOE George Hocking Cockermouth 10b 674 ARMSTRONG Margaret
The record shows the following: George H Vingoe Head Married 25 St Just Cornwall occ. Engine Driver (Rail) Margaret Vingoe Wife Married 21 Workington, Cum. George E Vingoe Son - 4 months Workington, Cum. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Between 1880 and 1887 George H and Margaret had two daughters, Margaret & Mary Louisa, and two sons, George Ernest & Almond. [copy of Birth Cert] For generations back Almond was a name particular to the ROWE family of St Just . Almond Rowe was a cousin of George H and must have been like an elder brother to George H when he went to live with his aunt and uncle Rowe George E. Vingoe [1880] was apprenticed into the butchery trade and was shown on the 1901 census as being a Pork Butcher age 20, living with his mother Margaret. Also in the home is sister Margaret age 17 : I do not know where sister Mary Louisa [c1885], or brother Almond [c1887] are, neither do I know what happened to George H, as I have found no Death Cert for him. Immigration records at Ellis Island, USA, show the following entry on the ships manifest of the "Campania" which sailed from Liverpool 24th of June 1911. She was carrying passengers hoping to build a new life in the USA. Amongst these were a group from Workington, Lancashire. Although the spelling on the ships manifest appears to be 'Vingae' I have no doubt that this is the Vingoe family. The type faces of typewriter in those days would often get blocked up with carbon especially the "o" Number Name Gender Age Married Ethnicity Place of Residence 0002. Vingae, George E. M 30y M England-English England, Workington 0003 Vingae, Ellen F 28y M England-English England, Workington 0004 Vingae, Elsie F 6y S England-English England, Workington 0005 Vingae, George M 3y S England-English England, Workington 0006 Vingae, Almond M 23y S England-English England, Workington
The Cunard Ship Campania
The Campania was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Glasgow, Scotland in 1893. She was 12950 gross tons with a length of 622 feet long and was 65 feet wide. The ship carried 2000 passengers ( 600 first class, 400 second class, 1000 third class ). She sailed on the Liverpool-New York route until she was sold to the British Admiralty at the start of the First World War in 1914 and renamed HMS Campania. The original manifest shows that they were going to stay with their sister Mrs Louisa Eggleston at 137 Baldwin St, Youngstown, Ohio. This was a steel town and it was probably the attraction of jobs in the mills that had persuaded the brothers to follow their sister and her husband, who had left the previous year. George and his family, together with brother Almond travelled on to the home of Louisa & William Egglestone. They gave as their address in England that of their sister Mrs Sloan.This was Margaret Armstrong Vingoe who had married Joseph William Sloan in 1905. It would not have been long before a postcard similar to these showing the famous Idora Park would have been on its way to England to tell their sister that they had all arrived safely. Their mother Margaret had died sometime in the Dec 1/4 of 1909.I have no knowledge of the death of George H Vingoe.
Mary Louisa Eggleston and her daughter, Margaret were to visit England again in 1914 as Ellis Island records confirm her return to the US in November of that year. Her descendants still live in Buffalo New York. George E Vingoe also returned to UK before 1920 and he was not listed on the US census for that year. He appears on the 1930 UK census as a butcher. His descendant were still butchers in Warrington until very recently. Almond Vingoe was naturalised as US citizen in 1918 and returned to UK as a US Serviceman. At some point he changed his name to Albert and is recorded as such when returning to the US on 28 Feb 1921, still single and again on board the "Carmania" He married Jennifer FRY about 1922 and they had a son Albert E c1924. Almond/Albert 1887 died during WW2 and his son Albert E was not allowed compassionate leave from the US Services as they were just about to invade Japan. Albert E Vingoe died 10 Oct 2007 Age 83. The family is listed on the 1930 US census in Buffalo Erie New York. 1930 US FEDERAL CENSUS
Albert VINGOE
Buffalo, Erie, NY abt 1889 England Head The George Vingoe c1913, living with the family was not a son of Almond/Albert [according to Mark Vingoe son of Almond E] I think he was George H VINGOE b 1913 to Henry Thomas VINGOE and Violet BRECKON. Henry Thomas was a son of John Clemence VINGOE by his second wife Mary THOMAS [a sister to his first wife Elizabeth THOMAS]. Israel VINGOE [1825] & John C. VINGOE [1840] were brothers - sons of Israel VINGOE and Jennifer CLEMENCE. Henry and Violet went to Canada and Henry enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. I have a suspicion that this George Vingoe c1913 [son of Henry & Violet] was adopted by Almond/Albert and his wife in Buffalo, N.Y. and brought up with their own son Albert. [1924-2007] George Vingoe also enlisted in WW2 but I have no record off his death. Albert E Vingoe died 10 Oct 2007 Age 83. His descendants also still live in Buffalo, N.Y.
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Israel
Vingoe [1826] married Mary Hocking, the daughter of a St Just miner,
Nicholas Hocking. The marriage took place at St Just on the 2nd
September 1851 and a year later a son, whom they called Israel, was baptised
at the Bible Christian Chapel in St Just. Within three months, however, this
child died and his death was recorded at Penzance. 
The
1881 census shows George H Vingoe working as a Railway Engine driver. He may have been
employed by the London and North Western Railway Company (LN&WR) who
operated the lines in and out of Workington. On the left is a photo of the
type of Locomotive used on the line at that time. An Engine Driver in a
mine was a skilled job and well paid: the transfer to Rail Engine driver
was often a natural progression. railway companies wer expanding and
looking for skilled engineers to drive their new passenger trains. In
the early 19th century large deposits of Haematite [iron ore] were
discovered in the Cleator Moor and Egremont districts of West Cumberland
and by the 1840's they were being rapidly exploited. Railway lines were
constructed by the Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway running from
Whitehaven to Cleator with branches to Sellafield and Distington to
carry the ore. An extended network was opened in 1861 to
carry iron ore and coal from all the nearby mines and this was later to
also carry passengers when it was extended to meet the Cockermouth and
Workington Railway at Marron Junction. The Whitehaven, Cleator and
Egremont Railway was taken over in February 1878 by the
London & North Western & Furness Companies. George H was
about this time set to marry Margaret so it's likely he went to
work for this company, if not already in their employ. A photo of a
handsome young man in the a uniform of the LN&WR has come to light in
the possession of a descendant of Mary Louisa VINGOE: can this be
her father, George H VINGOE?
