Came to America as a stow away

  52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 7 (Feb 12-18)
Prompt: Immigration
#52ancestors

Have you heard the story of the ancestor who stowed away on a ship to come to America?

My Dad was pleased to share how his great-grandfather stowed away on a ship. As the youngest son, he was not going to receive any inheritance, so he left to earn his own way never to see his family again.  Primogeniture was the English Common Law which dictated that the eldest son should inherit, which left any other son to find his own livelihood. 

Sadly, this romantic version of John being "disinherited" and stowing away on a ship to make his fortune in America is not exactly true.

He did become successful in America, owning a large farm, two houses in town and a house on the farm. He  seemed to have successfully stayed in contact with his family in England. There are several newspaper accounts in Wellington, Kansas of his siblings visiting from England. 

 Another portion of the story has been proven wrong.  Before census records were available online, I found in the Sedgefield, County Durham, England library the 1841 and 1851 census with John Golightley and his parents.  John was not the youngest son. He was the oldest son. His father was the innkeeper of the Black Bull Inn. 

According to the 1900 and 1920 census, he immigrated in 1871.  The 1920 census states he was naturalized in 1876. He may have been naturalized in Wisconsin before settling in Kansas.

 Since his status in the family was proven wrong, does that mean he really did not stow away? I haven’t found conclusive ship records for him yet.  There is one possibility of an arrival in Canada with the right year of immigration. That John Golightley’s age is 10 years off, but we all know how often ages are listed wrong. Since his father was a successful innkeeper, it stands to reason that he may have helped his oldest son immigrate. 

Many of the stories I was told about my ancestors have proven to be wrong in some ways, but there is usually some truth.  Like the game of gossip, as information is passed down through several generations and over a long period of time, details tend to be misremembered or enhanced. I use those stories as a guideline to various records and enjoy the chase to discover how much of the story is correct.