Family History, Onyett Chart 0605 John Henry Onyett and Amy Gilbert

3
Mary
Ann
ONYETT
born about
25th March
1830
Pidley
Huntingdonshire
England
occupation
1870
Keeps House
died about
1904
Medocino
County
California
USA
buried
1904
Valley View
Cemeery
Medocino
County
California
USA
Aged 74

married
16th February
1854
Butte County
California
USA
Saunders
HORNBROOK
born about
1828
Kentucky
USA
occupation
1870
Farmer
1910
No Occupation
died about
24th February
1911
Medocino
County
California
USA
buried
1911
Valley View
Cemetery
Medocino
County
California
USA
Aged 83

4
Martha
Eliza
ONYETT
born about
10th January
1833
Pidley
Huntingdonshire
England
died
1st April 1925
Butte County
California
USA
buried
3rd April 1925
Old Oroville
Cemetery
Oroville
Butte County
USA
Aged 91

married(1)
Joseph L
KESTER

married(2)
15th September
1868
Butte County
California
USA
George
Washington
UNDERWOOD

5
Elizabeth
(Billy)
(Betty)
Ann
(female)
ONYETT
born about
5th March
1836
Utica, Oneida
New York
USA
died
25th January
1927
Butte County
California USA

married
16th August
1864
Butler, Ohio
USA
James
Hartford
KIRBY
born about
1830
Missouri
USA
died about
6th December
1876
Butte County
California

6
Esther
ONYETT
born about
18th
December
1838
Evansville
Vanderburgh
Indiana
USA
died
4th February
1879
Medocino County
California, USA

married
16th October
1856
Prairie House
California
USA
Peter Kelly
O'FARRELL

7
Sarah
(Sally)
ONYETT
born about
28th December
1839
Evansville
Vanderburgh
Indiana
USA
died
January
1906
Ukiah
California
USA

married(1)
Smith
(GAMBREL)
GAMBRIEL
died about
1876

married(2)
John
O'NEIL

8
John
Harry
(Henry)
ONYETT
born about
3rd April
1844
Evansville
Vanderburgh
Indiana
USA
died
14th May 1880
Butte County
California, USA
buried
May 1880
Old Oroville
Cemetery
Oroville
Butte County
USA
Aged 36

married
8th September
1871
Oroville
Butte County
California, USA
Margaret
Louisa
HEDGE

9
Charles Thomas (W/T/H/O)
ONYETT
born about
23rd August
1848
Evansville
Vanderburgh
Indiana
USA
died
27th January 1924
Sacramento, California, USA

married
14th June
1879
nr Oroville
Butte County
California, USA
Mary D
CHILDS

10
Amy
Emma
ONYETT
born about
23rd June
1851
Indiana
USA
died
9th June
1913
Medocino County
California, USA

married
18th July
1867
Butte County
California, USA
Horace Alexander
ELDRED

11
Saunders Benton
(Sanders)
(Sandy)
(son)
ONYETT
born about
17th December
1853
California
USA
died
2nd May
1924
Butte County
California, USA

married
about
1882
Hattie B
BROMLEY

KISTER/ UNDERWOOD
Chart 0500

KIRBY
Chart 0500

O'FARRELL
Chart 0500

GAMBREL/ O'NEIL
Chart 0500

ONYETT/
RILEY
Chart 0521

ONYETT
Chart 0516

ELDRED
Chart 0500

ONYETT
Chart 0519

1850 US Census - Pigeon Ward 8, Vanderburgh, Indiana, USA. John's wife is down as Emma on this Census, but certain correct as with the family is Sarah GILBERT aged 60 born England, who I would think was Amy/Anna/ Emma's mother. There were three other people with the family, Joseph KESTER who was a Tobacconist and aged22 with his wife Eliza aged 18 born in England. I think Eliza was the daughter of John and Amy. The other person was a Robert GUNTON aged 20 a Drayman born in England. 186o US Census - Butte, California, USA. There were two other people in the household. A Mary Ann SAUNDERS aged30 born England and a Him Took, aged 28 a Cook born China. The census is smudged so difficult to see everything, but the first child is down as being born in NY the next appears as Ia?? and then I think the next are ditto's of this with the last child being born in California. We have the wife of John through information from Pat HARRIS first name was Amy but on this Census it is Anna 1870 US Census - Ophir, Butte, California, USA. Amy is down as Amy on this Census. 1880 US Census - Ophir, Butte, California, USA. Told by Pat Harris that John and Amy had five daughters and three sons. The 1860 US Census shows three sons and three daughters. There is a marriage, date as shown, on the IGI, details supplied by a member of the LDS church and not an actual record extracted from the records. They have the marriage down as being in Putney, but I do think this is unlikely and that is was more likely in Pidley in Cambridgeshire, Putney in at that time in Surrey and now in SW London. An Article by Linda ORAMS in the Huntingdonshire Family History Society magazine: FENS TO FEATHER FALLS: The Story of John Onyett & Family by Linda Orams John Onyett was born in Pidley in 1812, the son of Thomas Lovel Onyett and his wife Elizabeth Mackness. In 1829 John married his sweetheart Amy Gilbert, the daughter of William Gilbert and his wife Sarah Hall who lived in Colne, John was only 17 but Amy was pregnant and their first child Mary Ann was born four months later. In the spring of 1834 Amy's parents and two of their children, John and Esther decided to emigrate to America. They sailed from London to New York on the ship Meteor and arrived in New York on 26 June. Another daughter, Elizabeth, emigrated the following year. Also in 1835 John and Amy followed the rest of the family, departing on the ship St Lawrence from London. There were 73 passengers listed on the ship's manifest and it must have been a gruelling journey for the young couple together with Mary Ann only 5 and a new baby Eliza just a few months old. Arriving in America, John and Amy settled in New York State and John worked on the construction of the Erie Canal. According to family legend John was a very large man, 6' 4" tall and weighing 250 lib - "all bone and muscle". Labourers were paid by the cubic yard of earth shifted and by building himself a very large wheelbarrow and using his superior strength John was able to shift much more earth than the other workers and his earnings were much greater. With his hard-earned money carefully saved, John and his family decided to travel west to Evansville in Indiana where John's uncle William and his family had moved in 1820. The journey was a tough trek by wagon and took three months. Evansville was a frontier town at this time standing on the banks of the great Ohio River. A great deal of trade was carried up and down the river and the stagecoach lines went east and west. John went into the draying business starting with one dray pulled by two horses. As time went on he expanded until he owned all the draying business in Evansville. By 1850 John and Amy were parents to seven surviving children and the eldest Mary Ann married James Millard a tavern keeper who had also been born in England. In 1852, after living in Evansville for nearly 17 years, John sold his draying business and organised a wagon train to head even further west to California. As well as John and Amy's children, her mother Mary Ann and James Millard and other extended family members joined the wagon train. The journey was long and boring and often hazardous and the chief daily preoccupation was finding fresh grass and water for the animals and fuel for cooking fires. A full account of the journey is a story all of its own but one mishap stand out from the many others. When John sold his business in Evansville he was paid in cash and Amy rode the wagon train with the money in a barley sack placed at her feet. One night whilst Amy slept some of the money was stolen and the next morning James Millard was missing. He had stolen the money and headed back east. John and some of the other men rode back to try and catch him and here there are two versions of the tale. The first is that James got clean away and was never heard of again, the other that John caught up with him and hanged him for the theft! Whatever did happen, poor Mary Ann was left distraught, her husband had turned out to be a callous thief who abandoned her. She carried on to California with her family, sadder and wiser. Eventually the wagon train reached its destination, but not everyone survived the journey. Amy’s mother Sarah, her brother James Gilbert and his family and Amy’s little grandson William all died on the journey, probably from cholera, and were buried alongside the trail. John and Amy first settled south of Oroville and set up a stage stop called “Prairie House”. They served good meals, sold hay and grain and prospered. They also continued to produce more children and in 1853 their ninth surviving child was born.. Just a year after setting up Prairie House John bought land next to the Feather River, built himself a large log cabin and began to farm. At the age of 41 he had finally found the place he wanted to settle in for good and he worked the ranch for the rest of his life. He became a popular and respected member of the community and became known as ‘Captain John’ as he had been leader of the wagon train. The years passed and in November 1878 the local newspaper, The Oroville Weekly Mercury, printed a long and detailed account of John and Amy’s Golden Wedding Party. They actually celebrated the event a year early because after all their years of travel and adventure they miscalculated the date! The anniversary party was the social event of the year with tables laden with food and dancing late into the night. John and Amy renewed their marriage vows in front of County Judge W S Safford who made a very long speech and John was presented with an engraved gold watch by the citizens of Oroville. Disaster occurred two years later when the house caught fire but it was rebuilt and John lived for a further nine years after his anniversary. He died on 27 September 1887. Amy lived on until 1897 and had an even grander obituary than had John. It stated that she had 35 grandchildren and 52 great grandchildren and, together with her own surviving children, (Amy outlived some of them) she left behind 95 living direct descendants! John and Amy lived long, amazing, exciting lives and saw great changes. They were true pioneers. From the hardships of rural England they travelled to and then across the new and fast developing land of America. They saw many changes; the discovery of gold and the rush of the mining days, the rapid building of towns as the Great Plains became dotted with homes and the land brought under cultivation and the production of immense crops. The couple are buried side by side in the Pioneer Cemetery on Lincoln Boulevard in Oroville and John’s memorial reads, “His good work is done”. 1850 US Census - Pigeon Ward 8, Vanderburgh, Indiana, USA. Amy is down as Emma on this Census. 186o US Census - Butte, California, USA. There were two other people in the household. A Mary Ann SAUNDERS aged30 born England and a Him Took, aged 28 a Cook born China. The census is smudged so difficult to see everything, but the first child is down as being born in NY the next appears as Ia?? and then I think the next are ditto's of this with the last child being born in California. We have the wife of John through information from Pat HARRIS first name was Amy but on this Census it is Anna 1870 US Census - Ophir, Butte, California, USA. Amy is down as Amy on this Census. 1870 US Census - PO Covelo, Round Valley, Mendocino, CA 1880 US Census - Round Valley, Mendocino, CA 1900 US Census - Round Valley, Mendocino, CA 1910 US Census - Round Valley, Mendocino, CA. With his niece Amy Bell REDWINE, née O'FARRELL and her husband and family. 1850 US Census - Pigeon Ward 8, Vanderburgh, Indiana, USA. 1850 US Census - Pigeon Ward 8, Vanderburgh, Indiana, USA. 1850 US Census - Pigeon Ward 8, Vanderburgh, Indiana, USA. 186o US Census - Butte, California, USA. There were two other people in the household. A Mary Ann SAUNDERS aged30 born England and a Him Took, aged 28 a Cook born China. 1850 US Census - Pigeon Ward 8, Vanderburgh, Indiana, USA. 186o US Census - Butte, California, USA. There were two other people in the household. A Mary Ann SAUNDERS aged30 born England and a Him Took, aged 28 a Cook born China. Details found on a Web Site about Sarah and her two husbands and family In the fall of 1863, Mr. and Mrs. Gambrel rode on horseback to Round Valley. Mrs. Gambrel was the first white woman to enter the valley. The Indians were hostile, and troops were stationed there. They located one hundred sixty acres and engaged in stock-raising. Mr. Gambrel died in Nevada about 1876. Mrs. Gambrel was later married to John O’Neil; and she died in Ukiah, in January, 1906. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Gambrel: Lena, who is Mrs. Fred Faul; Edward, a hop-grower at Largo in Mendocino County; Charles, who resides in Oroville; Smith, who lives at Oro Vista; Mary Ann, who is Mrs. Frank Faul, and who has her home at Oroville. From the marriage Mrs. Gambrel and Mr. O’Neil three children were born: May, who is Mrs. Edsall, of Bly, Ore.; Esther, who is Mrs. McLaughlin, of Ukiah; and William P., who lives down on the Bay. 1850 US Census - Pigeon Ward 8, Vanderburgh, Indiana, USA. 186o US Census - Butte, California, USA. There were two other people in the household. A Mary Ann SAUNDERS aged30 born England and a Him Took, aged 28 a Cook born China. 1870 US Census - Ophir, Butte, California, USA. Amy is down as Amy on this Census. 1850 US Census - Pigeon Ward 8, Vanderburgh, Indiana, USA. 186o US Census - Butte, California, USA. There were two other people in the household. A Mary Ann SAUNDERS aged30 born England and a Him Took, aged 28 a Cook born China. 1870 US Census - Ophir, Butte, California, USA. Amy is down as Amy on this Census. 1885 Central House, California, (details from a directory) 1900 US Census - Ophir, Butte, California, USA. 1901 Sacramento, California directory. r901 8th 1910 US Census - Granite, Sacramento, California, USA 1920 US Census - Charles is with his daughter Amy and down as father-in-law. This second initial appears to change on the various places I have found Charles, but on balance I think is was T. 186o US Census - Butte, California, USA. There were two other people in the household. A Mary Ann SAUNDERS aged30 born England and a Him Took, aged 28 a Cook born China. 186o US Census - Butte, California, USA. There were two other people in the household. A Mary Ann SAUNDERS aged30 born England and a Him Took, aged 28 a Cook born China. 1870 US Census - Ophir, Butte, California, USA. Amy is down as Amy on this Census. 1880 US Census - Ophir, Butte, California, USA. 1885 Sanders appears on a Directory in 1885 and is down as a Farmer 1900 US Census - Ophir, Butte, California, USA. One child on this Census. There was also a sister-in-law, Kate I BROMLEY, single, born June 1863 in Ohio, USA, so giving us the maiden name of Saunders wife, a nephew, a Chester BROMLEY born September quarter 1890 in California. There were five boarders with the family. 1910 US Census - Ophir, Butte, California, USA. One child on this Census, Floyd aged 19 born California, USA, no occupation. Kate BROMLEY was still with the family. Next door or same property there is a Horace M ONYETT aged 26 born California, USA a Miner Dredge, with his wife Amy C aged 22 born California. I would think a son of Saunders ONYETT. On the 1900 Horace is at a Naval Training Station, San Francisco, California, USA, the 1890 US Census is only very limited and he was born after 1880 so nothing to confirm he is part of this family. He was registered in the US Army and he is down as Horace Martin ONYETT born 25th September 1883 and address Palermo, Butte County, California, USA with wife Amy C ONYETT, still does not give us any clue who his parents were. 1920 US Census - Ophir, Butte, California, USA NOTE - At the beginning of the line the name is UNNIOT and through the years it changes until today it is ONYETT. At present we are not certain as to when the name actually became ONYETT. As there are several variants in the spelling I have put the name ONYETT first on all the charts and then followed that with the spelling for that particular chart and indexed the whole line under ONYETT. ie ONYETT/UNYAT Chart 0700. The actual name as we have it appears for the actual people on the Chart.

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This is a Chart for John Henry Onyett and Amy Gilbert