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Sarah Christian 1841-1872

Agnes Hook

Helen Hook

Adelaide Hook                   'Memories of Childhood' -
A Poem written in memory
of her Grandfather

George Christian Hook

Photographs supplied courtesy
of Mrs R Price

Sarah was the third child of Hannah and John Christian.  She was born in Bexhill on 3 April 1840, and baptised at St Peter’s Church on 18 May 1840. 

On 20 June 1859 she married George Hook in Bexhill.  He was born c1833.  Shortly after their marriage the couple moved to Kent, where their children were born.

The family appear on the 1861 census living in Railway Street, Gillingham.  It is believed that George was in the building trade, and when his business failed he went to New York to begin a new life, arriving there on 3 December 1870.  Sarah and the children stayed in England, where they appear on the 1871 census living in Mayfield, Sussex next door to Sarah’s sister Elizabeth.   

Sarah and the children sailed from Liverpool to New York aboard HMS Batavia, arriving on 9 October 1871.  It was not a pleasant journey for the family traveling in steerage, and they became ill on the journey.  

Upon his arrival in New York George had adopted the name Spencer Barrow, and Sarah and the children also became known as Barrow.  Sadly, a few months after arriving in New York to begin a new life, Sarah fell victim to a flu epidemic and died in May 1872.  She was buried in New York City.

After Sarah died Spencer was unable to care for the children and they were put into care.  He became a US citizen on 11 October 1888, and continued to work in the building trade.  He was later reunited with his eldest daughter Agnes, and lived with her and her family in Edgewater, New Jersey.  It is believed that he later lost a leg, and became depressed, before taking his own life in 1894. 

Agnes then bought a family plot in an Edgewater cemetery, where her parent’s remains were buried together in an unmarked grave.