| Notes |
- One of the Great Unsolved SLAUENWHITE Mysteries (GUSM) is the true identity of the husbands of Susanna SLAUNWHITE b. 12 Oct 1822 and Susan Grono b. 23 Feb 1823. After ruling out other possible candidates, the most likely candidates seem to be John Frederick s/o of John Jacob and Maria (Allen), and John William s/o John Martin and Mary Ann (Garrison). One of the reasons for homing in on these two is that the records point to 1826/1827 as the year of both their births and this matches the records for John Hooper SLAUNWHITE.
We know that the real John HOOPER lived (at least from 1881 on) and died as an Anglican, whereas the husband of Susanna lived (at least from 1881 on) and died as a Catholic, although both were born Anglican. So at some point, the husband of Susanna may have formally converted to Catholicism. Also, we know that John HOOPER's age at death matches that of both John Fred and John William.
The husband of Susan Grono was known as John Frederick SLAUNWHITE, John Cooper SLAUNWHITE, John Hooper SLAUNWHITE, and finally, John HOOPER. This seems to be a part of the tradition whereby some number of Terence Bay residents adopted their father's nickname as an alias. This seems mainly to have been a (not always successful) attempt to avoid (or, perhaps sometimes, sow) confusion since the majority of Terence Bay residents were, at one point in the 19th Century, named SLAUNWHITE. The usual aliases seen are MARTIN, for the descendants of John Martin SLAUNWHITE, and HARRIE, for the descendants of John Henry Matthew (Harry) SLAUNWHITE. But there was also a HOOPER alias.
Now we also know that the children of John Martin SLAUNWHITE who adopted an alias (not all did), adopted the surname MARTIN. Given that these aliases traced back to their father's nickname, it seems unlikely that John the husband of Susan GRONO would have adopted the HOOPER alias if he were a “Martin” SLAUNWHITE. On the other hand, the descendants of John Frederick SLAUNWHITE, the third of the SLAUNWHITE brothers whose descendants settled in Terence Bay, have no associated alias unless it is HOOPER.
We also know that on 29 May 1850, one William SLAWNWHITE was conditionally baptised at OLMC “in the presence of John Martin Slawnwhite and Mrs. Martin Slawnwhite”. This can only be John William, so now we know that John William is Catholic, which seems to argue against him being John HOOPER.
Now, in the 1881 Census, the husband of Susan Grono is listed as John F. (not John W.) SLAUNWHITE. But on the other hand, both in the Terence Bay Deaths manuscript and on his headstone, the husband of Susanna SLAUNWHITE is given as John F. (not John W.).
It is also possible that there existed another “John F. SLAUNWHITE” born 1826 or 1827 who is otherwise unknown; but this seems unlikely. Thus in the end, although we have only circumstantial evidence which sometimes points in either direction, that which points in a specific direction all seems to point towards John Frederick and away from John William as being the “real” John HOOPER.
And finally, Edith Marie SLAUNWHITE is quoted by her doaughter-in-law as saying that Susan GRONO was her grandmother, and John Frederick HOOPER was her grandfather.
So, pending discovery of further evidence, John Hooper will be he identified as John Frederick s/o John Jacob, and the husband of Susanna will be identified as John William, s/o John Martin. [Bob H]
|
1827 - 1907 (80 years)
[1]