Hingstons in Buffalo

This document has been compiled by Chris Burgoyne from newspaper obituaries found in Buffalo by Jane Sweet, and by information supplied by Gordon Stimmell

Generation No. 1

21. WILLIAM HINGSTON was born on 6 Sep 1778 at Whitehall, Skibbereen, County Cork Ireland, one of 21 children of Lt. Edward Hingston and Lucretia Small. He married JANE CARROLL on 3 Mar 1807; she had been born 25 Feb 1783 at Old Court, County Cork. She died Feb. 2, 1837 in Wexford, Ireland.. William was employed by the English Custom House Service and, at least for a time, was lighthouse keeper at Cape Clear Island, seven miles off the west coast of Ireland. After he was pensioned off by the lighthouse service, he moved to Buffalo where he died 3 Dec 1854.

William Hingston and Jane Carroll had numerous children:-

Generation No. 2

25. EDWARD HINGSTON was born in 1810, the son of 21. William Hingston and Jane (Carroll). He was, according to his son's obituary, a master ship-builder of Dublin, who built some of the finest merchant vessels ever constructed in that port. In 1841 he married ELIZABETH JENKINS of Whitehaven, Cumberland. The family emigrated to America in 1843, with his brothers, but he died in about 1844 in Rockland, Maine. Elizabeth returned to Liverpool and subsequently married.

They had two sons:-

22. WILLIAM H. HINGSTON was born on 11 Jan 1820, the son of 21. William Hingston and Jane (Carroll), died 9 Apr 1900 in Buffalo. In 1843 he went to America with his two brothers, Samuel and John, where they settled in Rockland, Maine, where they took up in the ship-building industry, staying for about a year. He returned to England with his brother Edward's widow, and while in England studied shipbuilding at Woolwich for about a year. He supposedly returned to America in 1844 (This does not add up, since Edward's son was not born until January 1844, so there is no time for them to return to England, spend a year in Woolwich and to come back to the US the same year - however, this may not be that critical). William married CHARLOTTE CUMMING on 20 May 1850, who had come from Ireland with his sister (about whom we know nothing at present). They settled at Lynn, Mass. Charlotte died 18 Jan 1877. They had seven children of whom four survived.


24. JOHN TOWNSEND HINGSTON was born in Ireland July 1, 1822, the son of 21. William Hingston and Jane Carroll, died in Buffalo on 26 Aug 1879. He married on 28 July 1849 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Buffalo, CHARLOTTE SEYMOUR BIRD, born Aug. 11, 1824, died in Buffalo, Aug. 26,
1904.

John Townsend Hingston and Charlotte Seymour Bird had five children:

Generation No. 3

26. WILLIAM EDWARD HINGSTON was born in Kingston, Ireland 28 Jul 1842, the son of 25. Edward Hingston and Elizabeth (Jenkins). The family moved to the USA where they settled in Rockland, Maine. His father died in about 1844 and shortly afterwards he returned with his mother and young brother to Liverpool, where she married JOHN WADE, a printer. On leaving school William worked in his stepfather's printing works. He spent some time in the English army. In 1863 he returned to the US, arriving in Buffalo on 4 July, where he worked for his uncles (22. William and 24. John) who had a shipyard at Jersey St, Buffalo. He saw active service in the Civil War, after which he moved to Dubuque, Iowa. He married in 1871 ELIZA P. HALL, of Orange, New Jersey. He returned to Buffalo in 1874, where he became an assistant in the freight office of the Erie Railroad Company. He later worked for a patent medicine business, a manufacturer of fly-plates and in the building trade. Eventually, be became a foreman in the marine contracting business of his brother, 27. Edward Hingston. He died 25 Feb 1906 in Buffalo. This is the W. E. Hingston who produced the family history, part of which we know as the Vine Tree.

William Hingston and Eliza Hall had seven surviving children:-

27. EDWARD J. HINGSTON, born in Rockland (later known as Thomaston), Maine 22 Jan 1844, the son of 25. Edward Hingston and Elizabeth (Jenkins), about six months after his father's death. He went with his mother to Liverpool, where he attended the National Schools. He taught at school in Liverpool from 1858-62. He returned to the US in 1862, settling in Buffalo. He learnt the shipbuilding trade 1862-67 (presumably with his uncles William and John). He worked for a Buffalo dredging firm, later joining in partnership with Arthur Woods to form the firm of Hingston and Woods. He married MARY E. REES of Buffalo on 22 Jul 1872.

Edward Hingston and Mary Rees had two daughters

28. WILLIAM EDWARD HINGSTON, born Buffalo Aug. 29, 1851, the son of 24. John Townsend Hingston and Charlotte Seymour Bird, and died Wallaston, Mass. Oct. 3, 1942. Married, firstly, Oct. 25, 1876, to ANNA MATILDA LEE, daughter of James Isaac Lee (from Scotland) and Ann Finley (of Montreal), born Dec. 28, 1856, died Feb. 19, 1890. Anna was a schoolteacher in Buffalo who died young at age 33.

William Edward Hingston and Anna Matilda Lee had two children, both born Buffalo:

WILLIAM EDWARD HINGSTON married, secondly, CARRIE ELOISE HILL, daughter of Thomas Hill and Mary E. Bullock of Buffalo N.Y.

William Edward Hingston and Carrie Eloise Hill had one child:



Updated 22nd January 2002. Chris Burgoyne