John William Freeth was the fourth child of George Henry Freeth & Margaret Riley born January 28th, 1877 at Warrington, Lancs.
In 1881 John was living with his widowed father George & brothers & sister at 253 Warwick Road, Warrington.
John was still living at home in 1891 with his father & step mother Martha, & brothers & sisters at 27 Oxford Lane, Warrington. John was a labourer.
John married Sarah Ann Kelly in Oct-December 1896 in Warrington & presumably lived in Warrington as their first child’s birth was registered there in 1898. Sarah was born Sarah Ann Kelly in 1875/6 in Wigan, Lancashire, the daughter of Catherine (Kate) Noon & John Kelly. After the death of John Kelly, Sarah’s mother Catherine remarried in April-June 1878 to Joseph Griffiths.
Sarah was found in the 1901 census living with sons Thomas (3) & John (2) at Longford St, Warrington. Husband John was not with her & as the family are known to have emigrated to the US it is possible that he had already gone to America. Sarah was described as a newsagent & she was living with her uncle Martin Dooley (39), a labourer in the iron industry & his wife Julia (41), a fustian cutter.
There are passenger lists for 1905 & 1907 showing that Sarah & 2 children, Thomas & John, sailed to Philadelphia on the S.S. Merion & S.S. Friesland respectively. The 1907 record states that Sarah’s nearest relative in the UK was her mother Mrs Griffiths of 57 Laira St, Warrington.
In 1917/18 John’s registration card for WW1 shows his address as 2529 N. Lawrence St, Philadelphia & he was working as a chief engineer. Son John B served as a private during WW1 & was severely wounded as reported on July 21st, 1918.
Son Thomas Joseph’s immigration card of 1919 shows him coming from Montreal, Canada to join his father in Philadelphia. He gave the name of his nearest relative in England as his uncle John Massey of Longford St, Warrington.
In 1920 John (41) & Sarah (44) were living in Philadelphia & John was a stationary engineer working in the production of cigar boxes. Son Thomas J was a machinist at a machine shop & son John B also worked at the cigar factory as a shipping clerk.
Son Thomas married May Radford, a catholic born in Philadelphia of English parents, in 1921 in Philadelphia & by 1930 they had a son Joseph, aged 7.
Son John married Mary E Garst (nee Connor) in 1929 & in 1930 they were living in Philadelphia with Mary’s twin daughters, Elizabeth & Gertrude Garst, aged 8.
John & Sarah were still living in Philadelphia in 1930 at N. Fifth St. John was now a dealer on a newspaper stand. They owned their house with a declared value of $7,000, & both John & Sarah were naturalised.
In 1940 John, a newspaper courier, & Sarah were still living in Fifth St, Philadelphia & with them at the time of the census was son John B, a labourer. Son John was listed as married but his wife Mary was also living in Philadelphia with her 2 daughters using her former name Garst & listed as widowed! Son Thomas’ whereabouts in 1940 are unknown, but his wife May was listed as head of the household & still living in Philadelphia with their son Joseph, a newsworker.
The children of John William Freeth & Sarah Ann Kelly were:
fh.4.6.1.2.12.4.1 Thomas Joseph Freeth born January 18th, 1898 at Warrington, Lancs
fh.4.6.1.2.12.4.2 John B Freeth born August 28th, 1899 at Warrington, Lancs; died July 18th, 1955, buried Beverly National Cemetery, Burlington County, New Jersey, USA