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Albert Henry (1) Woodhurst was born in 1867 of parents Daniel Woodhurst and Priscilla Hales. His birth certificate [Birth Index: Tunbridge 2a 506, 1867 (Dec)] states that he was born on October 10th 1867 at his parental home Grange Farm in Tonbridge, Kent. His mother was the informant and his father was occupied as a general labourer.
The 1871 Census finds him at age "3" living with his parents at 20, Springfield Road in Tunbridge, Kent.
The 1881 Census finds him at age "13" living with his parents at 210, Shortlands Road in Sittingbourne, occupied as an agricultural labourer. His birthplace is given as Tunbridge Wells.
In 1883 he emigrated with his brother Earl George (1) to America, travelling first to Amsterdam and then sailing from there on the steamship SS Zaandam, arriving at New York on December 7th 1883. The ship's manifest describes him as a labourer aged "16" and having two boxes with him.
A descendant's report states the following: Grange Farm was situated near Pembury Road in Tunbridge Wells; Albert Henry (1) attended school at both Murston and Sittingbourne; he married Hattie Abigail Brown in Michigan on September 2nd 1894; he bought a house for his parents to live in and cared for them throughout his life; he died in Jackson, Michigan from rectal cancer on July 1st 1938, after being bed-ridden for two years; his daughter Hattie Anna was born on November 12th 1895, married George Clinton Storm and died on June 28th 1955; his other daughter Bertha Bess - who preferred to be known as "Bee" - was born around 1902, married Clifford B. Wightman and died in October 1997; he and Hattie Abigail were buried in the Woodland Cemetery in Jackson.
Hattie Abigail was born to parents John Ebenezer Brown and his second wife Anna Mariah (nee Andrews), who had married in Jackson Co., Michigan in 1852. A great-great-grand-daughter of John has kindly supplied to the site author photographs depicting Hattie Abigail, her parents, her husband Albert Henry (1) and their daughters.
The US 1880 Census appears to find Hattie Abigail at age "7" in the household of her parents John and Ann in Onondaga, Ingham Co. in Michigan. The record states that John (a stone mason aged "57") and Ann (aged "47") were born in New York and that their own parents were born in Vermont.
A fuller account of Albert Henry (1)'s life is given in his autobiography, written not long before he died.
The US 1900 Census finds him at age "32" living with his wife and first child at 229, Oak Hill Avenue, Jackson City in Jackson Co., and occupied as a coachman. The record states that he had immigrated in 1884 (but actually 1883) and that he had filed his first papers for naturalization. It describes his wife as born in Michigan in September 1872 of parents who were both born in New York.
The family has not been found in the US 1910 Census.
The US 1920 Census finds him at age "52" living with his wife in the 3rd Precinct of Jackson City in the household of his married daughter Hattie Anna. The record cites no employment for him and states that he was not naturalized. Hattie Abigail was working as an inspector in a corset factory. Here her mother's birthplace is given not as New York but as Michigan.
Hattie died on May 11th 1929 and was buried at the Woodland Cemetery in Jackson.
The US 1930 Census finds him at age "62" living in the household of his married daughter Hattie Anna in N. West Avenue, Jackson City and occupied as a gardener.
On January 5th 1931 he remarried in Steuben Co., Indiana to a divorcee Gertrude Amy (nee Hobson) Powell. Born in Kansas on February 1879, she had been married five times previously, to William Thomas Harris (in 1899), to Joe Payne (in about 1910), to Oscar Elmer Braley (in 1915), to Van M. George (in 1917) and to George L. Powell (in 1921). Even Albert Henry (1) would not be her last husband. She had divorced Powell on January 3rd 1931 for the usual reason of "extreme cruelty" and then married Albert Henry (1) two days later; their marriage was noted briefly in the Angola Herald (Angola, Indiana) on January 9th.
A city directory for 1931 finds them living at 1913, W. Washington Avenue in Jackson where he was occupied as a landscape gardener. Similar directories for 1933-37 find her living as "Gertrude Woodhurst" at 2330, Cortland Boulevard in Summit township, Jackson Co. with no mention of her husband. By 1933 he was living separately at 846, N. West Avenue in Jackson.
He died in Jackson on July 1st 1938. His death certificate states that he was aged "70 years and 8 months" and gives his birthdate correctly. The cause of death was "carcinoma of rectum with numerous metastases" over a period of 6 years. He had been living at 846, N. West Avenue and had been retired. He too was buried at the Woodland Cemetery.
Six days later Gertrude Amy married for the seventh time, to Charles H. Armbruster.