Samuel Wesley DEAKIN
(1886-1956)
Samuel Wesley DEAKIN was the eldest son of William Robert DEAKIN and Betsy HODSON. William was born on 16 July 1886 in Wigan, Lancashire[1].
After leaving school, for a short while Sam worked in the Deakin family business but later emigrated to the United States. In 1915, Sam boarded the SS Orduna (chartered by the Curnard Line) at Liverpool bound for New York arriving on 10 February 1915.[*]
Whilst in the United States, Sam went to Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, USA, to study Theology. His father William Robert DEAKIN, brother Billy, sister Bessie and cousin Muriel Sarah Deakin ALSTEAD all visited him in the States.
During the First World War Samuel (single and a student at Drake, living at 1321 26th Street, Des Moines) signed up as a Private in the US Infantry[2]. After the war, Sam applied for US citizenship and was issued with a US passport on 13th October 1919[3].
Sam returned to England in the early 1920s. He married Norah Gertrude Fox in Pershore in 1923. In 1924, Samuel and Norah are recorded as living at Boxbush Farm, Stoulton, Worcestershire, just a few miles from the family home at Norton Hall. Sam later attended Wycliffe Hall, an evangelical theological college set within the University of Oxford, graduating in 1930. Sam was appointed a Deacon in 1931 and at that time was living at 16 Church Street, Golborne, Lancashire[4] and later at 17 Highfield Avenue, Immingham, Lincolnshire.
Samuel died in Hackney, London, in 1956.
[1]: Source: WWI Draft Card completed by Samuel W. Deakin.
[2]: Source: FHL Roll no. 1643000.
[3]: Source: www.ancestry.co.uk.
[4]: Source: Crockford Clerical Directory.
[*]: Records also show a Samuel W Deakin from Wigan travelling on the SS Teutonic from Liverpool to Montreal, Quebec, Canada arriving on 20th August 1911.