In December 1910 other members of James' family and members of the Gallienne Family, left Guernsey to join him in Huntington Beach.
They departed from Southampton on 3rd December and after arriving at Ellis Island and being cleared they were taken by freighter to New Orleans, where they were put on a train for Los Angeles, arriving there on the 18th December, a journey of 15 days, it now takes under 11 hours by plane. They travelled from LA to Huntington Beach on the Pacific Red Car and were met by James with a large 4 seated Surrey and two horses and he took them to his house on 17th & Yorktown in Huntington Beach.
The picture on the right shows the Lake & Gallienne families outside a house in Huntington Beach, we believe that far left is George Lake & Albert Ernest Lake behind their wives Lilian Clara Lock & Annie Elsie Lock, on the far right sitting is James Arthur Lake, the children are all part of the Lake family, Elsie, James, Cyril & Wilfred children of Albert & Annie plus Ivy the daughter of George & Lilian.
The young couple far right middle is Frederick De Carteret Lock, the brother of Annie & Lilian, with his wife Ellen. The rear is the Gallienne family.
In 1923 more members of the Lake family travelled to California. Nellie Lake my Aunt with her husband Willis Shipway plus Eliza Travers Lake & her husband Thomas John Falla and their daughter Dorothy (Dot).
They sailed on the President Filmore to Boston before travelling across the country to California. They all made their homes originally in Long Beach before Eliza, Thomas & Dorothy moved to San Diego when Dorothy married Henry Kruse who was in the navy before becoming a mariner captaining ships used in film making.
Nellie is the longest living member of my family to date living to the grand age of 97.
​
USA WESTERN SIDE
The first person in my immediate family to hit the West coast was my Great Uncle, James Arthur Lake, b 1871 in Guernsey.
He set sail from Southampton in April 1895 on board the
SS Philadelphia arriving in New York on 4 May 1895. We don't know much about his early life in the USA except that he married Orlina M Cronk abt 1905 and they ended up in Huntington Beach California. In 1910 James & Orlina travelled back to the UK to try and persuade other members of his family and friends to make also make the move. A family story is that whilst here he slept with a gun under his pillow. They returned in September 1910 taking with them his nephew, also called James Arthur Lake, b 1905, the son of brother Albert Ernest Lake & Annie Elsie Lock.
After first arriving in Huntington Beach, Annie & Lilian hated it and wanted to go home. They said it was very dark and they could only see one visible light but they eventually settled. Annie & Albert are the main source of my relatives on the West Coast today and they lived in Huntington Beach the rest of their lives. They had 10 children and our first contact with relatives in America came via their youngest daughter Jackie, without her our story of American cousins would not be complete.
Frederick De Carteret Lock & his family also stayed in Huntington Beach.
George & Lilian & Ivy, after spending their initial years in Huntington Beach, moved to Long Beach in 1920, where they lived the rest of their lives.
But that was not the end of the story for my immediate Lake family on the West side because more were to take the boat and travel across the Atlantic
​
On the next page you will find more stories of families in the USA. Click on the appropriate button below to continue you journey
​
​
​
​