A questions of faith….

What is my family’s faith?

This is a subject that may be better left alone, but alas, that’s never been my style. I’m just too inquisitive by nature so let me begin back in early 1800s England. My sources are as secure as one can get, with documentation, written items from newspapers, the testimony of living relatives and the help of a professional genealogist. 

I’ll start with my great, great grandfather, John Hunter as that is where my story begins ( at least for the purpose of this entry )

John Hunter was a Quaker, a member of the Friends at Barrow Wife, Height, Yorkshire.

Friends Meeting House at Barrow-Wife

The tree actually goes back further, to his father James and his father, another John, but it gets far too repetitive. I believe James Hunter actually resided at the meeting house pictured above. So, for argument’s sake, we had at least three generations of Quakers, the fourth being my great grandfather William Leyland Hunter, hereinafter called “WLH” and the gentleman responsible for our Asian links.

I’ll assume for now that WLH was also a Quaker, or at the very least a Non-conformist.

So in 1865 WLH sets sail for China and in the bustling city of Foochow, with 600,000 Chinese and about 100 Europeans, he begins his new life.

Short version; the next 15 to 20 years fly by. WLH takes a friend, has 4 children, returns to England, marries Ellen Johnston, has two more children and dies! All this is accomplished before he turns fifty.

The next sign of faith is the marriage of May Hunter, the youngest  of the China born children, which takes place at St John’s Cathedral in Hong Kong, Mar 15, 1903. St John’s is Anglican.

The next to marry was George Hunter, who married at Wortley, Leeds, at St John the Evangelist, Jan 11 1909. This is also Anglican

The next to marry was my grandfather, 6 years later at St Andrews Church, Kowloon, Apr 15, 1909. St Andrews in Anglican

The remaining son, James Hunter, I assume was also Anglican, however there is no record of his birth or marriage. He did however marry a Catholic, and was baptized as a Catholic himself at age 37, on Dec 22, 1911. James and his wife Emma had a daughter, Ellen, born in 1899 who was raised a Catholic. James was buried in the non-Catholic cemetery at Happy Valley and his wife and daughter are both interred at St Michael’s Catholic Cemetery, in Hong Kong.

Then a change of faith took place! Around 1911 grandfather joined the Christian Science Church. It seems that CS arrived in Hong Kong about the time my mother was born. So why the switch? My grandfather and grandmother had lost a daughter in 1910, and another in 1913. Did their church not supply the comfort they needed during this troubled time? What or who influenced the change?

So my whole life, the family as I knew it, was Christian Scientist, and good ones at that. As a youngster I was taught CS and I went to Sunday school at local CS churches. My grandfather, my mother and her sister all practiced the religion and were firmly ensconced in it’s doctrine. Over my first twenty years I never questioned their beliefs, although by the time I married and had a family of my own, I’d long given up on formal religions. Only since looking into the history of my family, have I come to wonder about the whys and wherefores of faith. 

Throughout all this shuffling of religious affiliations it’s easy to forget the mysterious Anne Hunter alias Kot Choy. She was a Catholic. The family residence at 11 Shelley Street, Hong Kong was hers home and on the land registry as such from the late 1800s. She lived there always from what is known. Her son James and his wife also lived there. Their daughter Emma lived there. All of them died there. I would think they were all Catholic with the possible exception of James, but even he eventually converted, possibly only for the sake of household accord.

So in 1903 after her marriage to Tom Cock, May moved north to Shanghai. Her brothers George and Tobias moved to Kowloon and the eldest, James stayed at the family home on Shelley Street. After WW1, my grandfather moved his family again, joining his brother in law in Shanghai. Each had their own religious affiliations. 

Recently I’ve wondered more about the Christian Science part. It seemed to spark to life in the 1800s, blazed for a century and was popular and well viewed. Their newspaper, the Christian Science Monitor was well respected as an unbiased source of reporting. Today, CS has fallen from grace and many of it’s imposing churches are now being demolished. I’m sure it’s  be partly due to being mistakenly confused with Scientology and other cult-like followings. In any respect, CS numbers have definitely diminished. 

Follow the money!  It seems that way back in the day, the CS Church had a strong core following of well to do business people. Banking, insurance and shipping companies executives; mechanical and electrical engineering firms owners, all had a firm footing in this new church. Was CS a religion that brought social and economic advantages to it’s members? Was that it’s raison d’etre?