There are many Calkin family members in America, most of whom have taken the spelling of "Calkins".
Most of these are of the belief that they are descended from Hugh Calkin(s) of Chepstow.
I have not yet been able to properly connect the Chepstow branch of the family with those you see on my currently published
Calkin family tree, but we should acknowledge the aforementioned Chepstow branch and discuss the origins of the Calkins in America.
To this end I was pleased to receive a document from Ken Calkins of Golden, Colorado from which the following text was taken:
Thank you Ken.
Note: The name is also spelled variously as Calkin, Caulkin, Caulkins, Corkins, Corkings, and numerous other forms. The spelling “Calkins” is used here only because that is the most common form in use in America. It is not suggested that this spelling is any more “correct” than any other.
Early researchers, such as Frances Manwaring Caulkins in about 1840, investigating the history of the Calkins family determined fairly readily that most members of the family were descended from a couple, Hugh and Ann Calkins, who had come to the New World with a group called the “Welsh Party”, also called the “Blynman Party” (or Blinman Party !).
From papers left by the leader, Reverend Richard Blynman, it was clear that this group had left from Chepstow, Monmouthshire, on the southern border between England and Wales by the River Severn, primarily to escape the religious persecution that was common in England.
The name of the ship that they sailed on is not known. One individual’s family records say it was the “Spotted Cow”, but this is unproven. Also, the date of their arrival in America is unknown. Dates as early as 1638 or as late as 1642 have been quoted by different writers, but later on in this text we will see that we can probably discount the first few years from that range.
The first written record of the group is at Plymouth, Massachusetts, on 2nd March 1641. Most experts feel that that date was too early in the Spring to have arrived that year. Their most likely arrival time is late in the summer of 1640.
Over the next ten years, members of the Party, including both Rev. Blynman and Hugh Calkins with his family, moved on to Green’s Harbor (now Marshfield) and Gloucester, Massachusetts, and then founded the city of New London, Connecticut.
It is known that some members of the “Welsh Party” had lived in Chepstow. With no other information about Hugh Calkins available, it was assumed by these early researchers that Hugh and his wife and children had also been “born” in Chepstow. Indeed, over the next hundred or more years, almost all family historians used the phrase “born in Chepstow” for Hugh and his family until it seemed to be accepted as fact. However, some began to question this point. A family genealogist of the Calkins, Helen Turney Sharps, visited Chepstow shortly after the Second World War to search the local records for any name similar to Calkins which might have been entered in the early 1600’s. She could find none.
Other researchers, including the author of this text, also attempted without success to find some indication of a name similar to Calkins in Chepstow records. Such surnames were found at about that time in surrounding counties including Gloucestershire, Staffordshire, and Cheshire. The given name Hugh was not initially found, however.
It was not until the Church of the Latter-Day Saints began its massive worldwide effort to microfilm genealogy records that the opportunity came for the search for Hugh to be successful. In about 1997, Mr. Roy Edwards, a resident of Hayes, Middlesex, England, and the husband of a descendant of Hugh Calkins, received some information that spelling variations of the name had been found in some of the microfilms of records from the early 1600’s in Cheshire. Mr. Edwards obtained microfilm records of Parish Registers and Bishops Transcripts for the city of Chester and its suburbs, covering as many as he could of the years 1550 to 1650.
Despite the normal problems associated with reading such records (torn pages, blurred ink, poor handwriting, missing years, etc.) Mr. Edwards found many references involving spelling variations of the name Calkins, and some which were clearly applied to the family of Hugh Calkins.
Key entries were the following, all from the parish of Waverton, southeast of Chester:
Deborah, the last child listed, was a previously unknown baby that died at a few months of age. Her death date provides a strong argument that the family could not have sailed to America before 1640. The other children were all known to be children of Hugh and Ann Calkins, and the dates of these christenings are within a few years after the birth years later calculated from their stated ages. It seems clearly established, therefore, that this Hugh is their father, and the son of Rowland and Elen (Payne) Calkins.
Unfortunately, no entries were found relating to the two sons of Hugh Calkins, John and David, nor to his marriage to anyone. These absences could be explained by missing years of the records. Also, no entries were found for the family name Eaton (or any spelling variation) which is often given for the surname of Hugh’s wife Ann. Incidentally, is it any coincidence that Eaton is the next village to Waverton to the east ?!
Numerous other Calkins entries were found in Waverton, and also in the nearby parishes of Christleton and Tattenhall. It was found that Rowland and Elen also had sons William Calkins (chr. 1601) and Peter Calkins (chr. 1605.). Other families were probably all related in some way, but relationships could not be discovered, nor could Rowland’s parents be determined.
In addition to the question of Hugh Calkins’ birthplace, several other family history traditions should be addressed. As alluded above, many family genealogies give the surname of Ann, wife of Hugh, to be Eaton, Easton, Eston, or similar spelling. To our knowledge, no proof of this has ever been discovered. For many years, the International Genealogical Index (IGI) has given the fathers of Hugh and Ann as William Calkins and Laurentine Eaton, respectively. Again, we know of no proof of either one.
Other traditions say that Hugh is descended in an “unbroken line” (if descended at all, the line would be unbroken, wouldn’t it?) from Sir John Calkin, a Magna Carta Baron, and also from Sir William Colkin, who founded a hospital in Canterbury. These statements might be true, but we know of no proof to back them up, so it is misleading to present them as facts.
Another inaccurate statement is that Hugh and Ann Calkins were the ancestors of all the Calkins, by any spelling, in the United States and Canada. Although they were certainly ancestors of a great majority of them, a few other immigrants by that name have been found - several from Ireland in the mid-1800’s - who also had descendants.
For further details of the life and activities of Hugh Calkins and his family in the first several decades in America, we recommend reading the introduction to “History of New London, Conn.” and “History of Norwich, Conn.” both by Frances Manwaring Caulkins.
If readers disagree with any of this presentation, or have additional facts to add, the author (Ken Calkins) would like to hear of them.
Ken Calkins.