Monday, February 19, 2007

James Horton Pask

This information relates to the Purple-Icon tree - descendants of John & Frances Pask née Haffinden who originated from Thundersley, Essex.

As previously mentioned, Colleen Willis wrote from Australia, and mentioned the Assisted British Immigration Index to Registers of Assisted British Immigrants 1839-1871, available at the Public Record Office Victoria. There was a reference to a James Pask aged 44 who arrived in February 1855 on the ship IDA, Book 088 Page 005.

This may well be James Horton Pask, the founder father of the large Australian-New Zealand Pask families.

James' wife Julia née Asplin, had died in 1848. In the 1851 census, James' children James, George, and Frances were inmates in The Rochford Union Workhouse. Therefore it is likely that James Horton was provided with assisted passage to Australia. This is purely assumption, and needs to be verified.

James Horton's sons James and George went on to join the Navy. However James also immigrated to Victoria Australia, and then to New Zealand.