Rodborough Parish Minute Book – 9th April 1840
“At a special vestry meeting held this day according to a notice fixed on the church door and pursuant to the Act of Parliament it was resolved that the application of Jacob Haines to be sent to Australia with his family of six sons and one daughter should be acceded to and notice then sent to the Board of Guardians.”
(Provision for the emigration of the poor, with the cost being borne by an emigrant’s home parish, was included in section 62 of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act. http://www.workhouses.org.uk/emigration/.)
It seems, however, that Jacob didn’t go, as the family are found on later census records at Houndscroft. He was a woollen weaver born in 1796 and lived to the age of 84. With all those sons there must be lots of Haines descendants around – wondering if they know how close they came to being Aussies!
