What Do We Know About John Sargeant

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT…John Sargeant

SON OF BENJAMIN & AMELIA (Original November 2006)

COMPILED BY JIM SARGANT (5)
Benjamin (1), William (2), Jesse (3), William Henry (4)

!http://www.familytreecircles.com/user_img/scott_j//John_%281%29-20100604-223416.png!

Destined to become the founder of a new dynasty of Sargeants in the New World, John was born on December 3 1853. He and most of his descendants spelt the family name Sargeant. John and his twin brother William (who adopted the Sargant spelling) were the youngest children of Benjamin and Amelia. They were christened at St Katherine’s Church, Merstham two days after their birth.

He first appears on the census in 1861 as a child living with his parents and siblings. Ten years later he is living-in as a 'farm servant indoor' for Sarah Brown of Merstham. Some time afterwards, he went to work in the local lime pits. It was there that he was employed when he married Jane Blaker on May 19 1877. The marriage is recorded as being at Reigate, but this could mean Reigate District, which included Merstham.

At the 1881 census, John was a labourer at the chalk pit and was living, with Jane and children Olive Elizabeth (2) and Thomas Frederick John (1), plus a lodger, James Carpenter, at 115 Worsted Green, Merstham, which was also the home of Jane’s father, John Blaker, and her brother George. Whether the family abode changed frequently or Jane had her children in nursing homes or hospitals is unclear, but sequentially Olive was born in Merstham(1878), Thomas in Oxted (1880), Alice Amelia in Oxted (1881), George in Merstham (1884), William in Woldingham (1887), May in Tatsfield (1894) and Ruth Emily in Oxted in 1896. Two further unidentified children were born in 1889 and 1891 ; presumably they did not survive their birth.

By the 1891 census, the family was living in Chalk Pit Road, Oxted, and John was foreman at the nearby lime works. It was in this same road that John’s nephew Jesse Sargant, son of John’s twin brother William, brought his new bride, Kathleen to live after their marriage in 1903.

!http://www.familytreecircles.com/user_img/scott_j//John_%281%29-20100604-223445.png!
Around the turn of the century. Left to right: Back row : William, Thomas, John, George. Front : Alice, Jane, Olive. Children: Ruth, May & Doll

The family were still in Chalk Pit Road, Oxted, with John foreman at the lime works at the 1901 census, but John’s in-laws, the Blakers, started to get ‘itchy feet’ around the turn of the century, leaving England for the United States of America. By 1907, John’s sons William and George had followed them, joining Joe Blaker at Church Villa, Mumford, in Monroe County, New York State an area close to Lake Ontario.

On April 25 1909 John, Jane, Thomas, William and May arrived at Ellis Island aboard the ss Arabic, to start a new life in America.

!http://www.familytreecircles.com/user_img/scott_j//John_%281%29-20100604-223542.png!
ss Arabic

Only John’s eldest daughter Olive Elizabeth remained in England, having married Pharoah Brown Lucas in 1897.

The US census for 1910 records John and Jane plus Ruth and May living with their daughter Alice and her husband William Habgood, who came from Oxted, in Wheatland, Monroe County. William was a farmer and John a farm labourer.

By 1920, the Habgoods, William and Alice, had moved to Leroy, Genesee County, New York State. Living with them were John and Jane, Ruth and John’s granddaughter Elizabeth, daughter of George and Maria. John’s occupation was farmer.

The Ellis Island records show a William Sargant arriving aboard the Majestic in November 14 1922. It is tempting to think that this could have been John’s twin brother visiting after the pair not seeing each other for many years.

!http://www.familytreecircles.com/user_img/scott_j//John_%281%29-20100604-223608.png!
The family in Leroy c1920.
Back left to right : Ruth, George, John, Jane, Rose (George’s wife), May, William Habgood, Alice.
Front : Elizabeth (George’s daughter), Wanda Hammond (May’s daughter), Myrtle Habgood.

Sadly, Jane died on January 30 1923. John continued to live with Alice and William in Leroy. He passed away in Batavia, Genesee County on August 28 1933. He and Jane were buried in Machpelah Cemetery, North Street, Leroy.

John has many descendants today living in New York State and elsewhere in the United States and Canada, as well as descendants of his eldest daughter Olive in the UK.