James Swinton Spooner
James Swinton Spooner (Jim) was a son of James Spooner and like Edwin was a good amateur painter [1].. He became an engineer. He married Julia Wade in Scotland in Sep 1842 sailed with her to New Zealand in February 1843. He was a surveyor for the New Zealand Company discovering the Buller River and some of his paintings are preserved in museum collections there. They sailed to Sydney in November 1844 and were back in Wales by May 1845. He carried out survey work for the FR including the deviation at Tanygrisiau by the Wrysgan Quarry incline, but his main work seems to have been Agent for Mr W.A. Wakefield, a supplier of explosives for the quarries. He is renowned for being the Surveyor for the Tal-y-llyn Railway.
His second marriage to Cecilia Easton (1873) antagonized his children by his first wife Julia, who thought it too soon after her death and (so?) disliked Cecilia. Only after his death did they discover that his London estates had been handled by brother Thomas John and so neglected that not only were thousands of pounds of rent due, but some properties had been claimed by tenants under squatters' rights. All his children gathered in London to sort out the mess, and a faint family memory (and no written record) remains of an American family belonging to his eldest son, Sam. So there may just be some American or Canadian Spooners not accounted for here.
Children:
Charlotte Louise b 1843 d 1922 = Edward Johnstone b 1817 d 1880 of tetanus, Chief Civil Engineer to Government of India.
Jane Louisa b1844 d1870
Elizabeth Emily Sydney b 1844 d 1916 = B Coleman.
Samuel Myles b 1846
James Douglas b 1848 d 1910 of cancer, Commodore of Royal Mail Line = Mary Elizabeth Casson née Chessell b 1850, d 1908. Father of Ernest John (Jack) Spooner, Rear Admiral.
Amy Gertrude b 1849 = Henry Gray
Gladys b 1850 d 1851.
John Harold b 1851 d 1877.
Julia Ide b 1852 d 1938.
Alan de Swinton b 1854 d 1901 artist = Susannah Draffin née Callender b 1853.
Eva b 1856 d 1938, Nun IOW.
Burnis b 1875
Sonie Adelaide de Swinton b 1881 d 1926
Robert Orton Easton de Swinton b1881 d 1926
Harriett died young.
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- ^ Wilson D H (1977) Spooners up to Date, FRM No. 77, pages 21 and 24.