Contents |
Lavina was born in 1806 in Somerset, England. She was the daughter of John Atkins and Jane Williams.
She married Thomas Lake in 1831. [1]
They came to the US in 1832. [2]
They lived in Ohio for a few years, then came to Rockford, Illinois in 1836. A few years later they bought a farm in Guilford and farmed there until they died. [3][4]
Lavina passed away in 1893.
LAVINA LAKE IS CALLED HOME
She had resided in this County Since 1836.
Her Husband, Thomas Lake, who Died Six Years Ago, Erected One of the First Frame House on the East Side-The Deceased was a Christian Woman loved and Admired by Everyone--the Funeral will be Held Monday Afternoon.
Mrs. Lavinia Lake, widow of the late Thomas Lake, and one of our earliest settlers died Thursday at her home in Guilford, where has had resided for more than fifty years. Deceased survived her husband only six years.
Mrs. Lake, whose maiden name was Lavinia Atkins, was born at the village of Whitcomb, near Minehead, England on June 4, 1806, and was at her decease nearly 87 years ago. Her parents were prosperous farmers. Her husband (previous to leaving England), and his father before him, successfully followed the same occupation.
She was married to Thomas Lake in 1831, and in May 1832, sailed with her husband from Bristol in the bark Charlotte for America, reaching New York after a tedious voyage of seven weeks. The young couple, leaving New York City, went to Troy where they remained but a short time, there is little employment to be had in that locality. After several changes of residence in the nature of prospecting, Mrs. Lake, with her husband and one child, reached Chicago in 1835, and in March, 1836, came to Rockford. Here Mr. Lake obtained employment at his trade, that of a carpenter, and built the first or one of the first frame houses erected in East Rockford, for Daniel S. Haight, who had entered the land where that part of the city now stands. In 1836 Thomas Lake located the claim where he afterward lived with his family, the well-known farm where his widow has just died.
Mrs. Lake...leaves two children, Robert W. Lake, who resides in Iowa, and Eliza J. Lake, who has long lived on the farm with her mother.
The funeral will be held at the house in Guildford on Monday, the Rev. Thomas Kerr, of this city conducting the services. The pall bearers, selected from old friends and neighbors will be Major P. Flynn, Russell Marab, John Smith, Averill Marsh J. G. Lyford, H. P. Holland. [5]
![]() |
See also:
This week's featured connections are Redheads: Lavina is 19 degrees from Catherine of Aragón, 16 degrees from Clara Bow, 25 degrees from Julia Gillard, 16 degrees from Nancy Hart, 13 degrees from Rutherford Hayes, 13 degrees from Rita Hayworth, 19 degrees from Leonard Kelly, 21 degrees from Rose Leslie, 20 degrees from Damian Lewis, 19 degrees from Maureen O'Hara, 24 degrees from Jopie Schaft and 35 degrees from Eirik Thorvaldsson on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
A > Atkins | L > Lake > Lavina (Atkins) Lake
Categories: Minehead, Somerset | Migrants from Somerset to Illinois | Guilford Township, Winnebago County, Illinois | 1850 US Census, Winnebago County, Illinois, Guilford Township | Guilford Union Cemetery, Rockford, Illinois