From Somerset to the USA

Robert Escott (1815-1896) was born in Winscombe (Somerset) in 1815. Robert and 8 or perhaps 9 of his 15 children emigrated to various parts of the USA. His parents were Henry Escott and Hester Vowles. As I have explained elsewhere, I haven’t seen any evidence that Hugh is related to my ancestors of Axbridge (Somerset), but a connection seems likely. https://birdsofcressingham.wordpress.com/2020/12/10/escotts-in-axbridge-and-the-rest-of-somerset/

In 1841, Robert was in Christon (Somerset) with his parents Henry (a farmer) and Hester and his brother Charles, sister Ellen and married sister Emily (and her husband). The census records no occupation for Robert or the others, but presumably they helped on the farm.

First marriage: to Betsy Ford

Robert (a yeoman) and Betsy Ford (1818-1849), both said to be residing at a horse fair, married on 10 November 1841 in Bristol. Robert and Betsy had 4 children:

• Henry Escott (1843-??). I’m not sure what happened to Henry after 1861.
• Anna Maria Escott (1844-1931). Anna married James Mitchell Baxter (a Scot from Edinburgh) on 10 June 1869 and they immediately emigrated to the US, arriving in New York on 3 July 1869, with Anna’s sister Ellen. She died in Philadelphia on 5 March 1931.
• Ellen Escott (1847-1898). She married Charles Watson Baxter (brother of James Mitchell Baxter) in Camden (New Jersey, USA) on 23 February 1873. Ellen died in Haddonfield, Camden (New Jersey) on 3 January 1898
• Robert Escott (1848-1930). He died in Chester, Delaware (Pennsylvania) on 31 August 1930. Although the death record gives his mother’s name as Annie Ford, not Betsy Ford, it seems likely this is the same man. I’m not sure when Robert crossed the Atlantic or where he lived before 1930.

In 1851, the widowed Robert (senior) was in Wolvershill, Banwell (Somerset) with children Henry, Ellen and Robert (all born in Banwell), a housekeeper and 2 servants. Robert was a farmer of 75 acres employing 2 labourers. The fourth child, Anna Maria, was with Robert’s parents in Compton Bishop. Banwell is slightly north west of Axbridge and Compton Bishop, separated from them only by the parish of Winscombe.

Second marriage: to Jane Price

Robert’s second marriage was to Jane Price (of Banwell, but living in Radcliffe at the time of the marriage). They married on 10 November 1852 at St Mary Radcliffe, Bristol. Robert still described himself as a yeoman. The witnesses were Thomas Price and Hannah Price.

Robert and Jane had 11 children:

• Charles Escott (1853-1929)
• Alice Hester Escott (1854-1949)
• Frank Escott (1856-1863)
• Thomas Price Escott (1859-1865)
• Emily Jane Escott (1862-1890)
• Frances Escott (1864-1927)
• Tom Price Escott (1865-1939)
• Frank Escott (1867-1877)
• George Vowles Escott (1869-1936)
• James Vowles Escott (1872-1960)
• Ernest Escott (1875-1877)

Robert and Jane lived in Banwell at Wollvershill in 1861 and again in 1881, and at Cannaway in 1871. (I’m not sure whether these are two different addresses or two names for the same place). Robert was a farmer working on 75 acres in 1861 and 1871 and 65 acres in 1881. He employed 2 men in 1861 (with one farm servant living there, not sure whether he is one of the 2), 2 men and a boy in 1871 (and a female farm servant and a nursemaid) and 2 labourers in 1881.  

Emigration to the US

Robert, Jane and 3 of their children (Frances Escott, George Vowles Escott and James Vowles Escott) emigrated in 1885, arriving in New York on 22 April.

Some of their other children emigrated separately:

• as already noted above, Anna Maria and Ellen arrived in New York on 3 July 1869.
• Emily Jane Escott was an assistant in the inn run by Robert Bagg Card and Emily’s sister Alice in 1881. She emigrated to the US in 1888 and on 23 January 1891 married her cousin Arthur Kirkbride in Reed City, Osceola (Michigan). Arthur’s parents were Emily Elizabeth Escott (1818-1907, daughter of Escott and Hester Vowels and thus Emily Jane’s aunt) and her second husband John Kirkbride (1820-1879).
• Tom Price Escott married Mary Norman of Banwell in Camden (New Jersey) on 2 April 1888. He died in Chester, Delaware County (Pennsylvania) on 14 March 1939.
• I don’t know when Robert (1848 -1930) emigrated.

Children who stayed in the UK

Of the children who survived to adulthood, the following stayed in the UK:

• Charles Escott was still in Banwell in 1881 (having married in 1874 in Bristol). Then his family was in Cardiff in 1891, 1901 and 1911. https://birdsofcressingham.wordpress.com/2022/05/17/charles-escott-1853-1929-from-banwell-somerset-to-cardiff/
• Alice Hester Escott married Robert Bagg Card (1848-1900) in Banwell in 1878. They stayed in Somerset, keeping a hotel—Burnham / North Highbridge in 1881, 1891 and 1901, Huntspill in 1911, and Bridgwater in 1939 and Huntspill again in 1949 (when Alice died). North Highbridge is part of the Parish of Burnham and is 10 miles south west of Axbridge. Huntspill is just south of Burnham.