William and Mary Craven Emigrate

            William Craven, born in Fridaythorpe, Yorkshire, was baptized there on May 8, 1826. He was the son of Mary Ann (Lumley) and Thomas Craven, an agricultural labourer and, in his later years, a shepherd. By 1830, the Craven family had moved to Thixendale. When he was fifteen, William apprenticed as a blacksmith to James Jebson of Bishop Wilton for seven years.

            Mary Burnett, born in Coxwold, Yorkshire, was baptized there on November 24, 1826. She was the daughter of Elizabeth (Kirby) and Thomas Burnett, a stone mason. William Craven and Mary Burnett married at St. Crux’s Church in York on June 15, 1850. By the time the couple left England in 1853, they were the parents of three children (John, Elizabeth, and Hannah) and were living in York.

            Most likely, William and Mary (Burnett) Craven’s decision to leave England for America was influenced by Mary’s younger sister Hannah and her husband John Thornburn. The latter couple, along with John’s parents, had sailed on the Flora McDonald from England on April 16, 1851 and arrived at Baltimore, Maryland, on May 31, eventually settling in Barnesville, Ohio. Later, a second Burnett group of two brothers and a sister emigrated.

            However the decision came about, William, Mary, and their three small children joined Mary’s father Thomas Burnett, mother Elizabeth (Kirby), brothers and sisters (one married sister, Elizabeth Edwards, with her own family) and, as a group of sixteen, left Liverpool on October 31, 1853 aboard the City of Manchester.

            After arriving in Philadelphia, the group traveled to Barnesville, Ohio. Everyone, except for William and Mary Craven, went on to Illinois where they made their homes. William and Mary stayed in the Barnesville area until 1864 when the family moved to Hamblen Township, Brown County, Indiana.

            Here, William owned many acres of land and served the township as a justice of the peace for many years. William died in Brown County on January 29, 1900. His wife Mary died at a daughter's home in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 22, 1907. Undoubtedly, the decision to emigrate proved to be a good one, for the family was provided many opportunities that were not possible in England.

[From the family records of Laurie Huey]