Elizabeth Margaret Hobbs (née Fulcher)

Headstone GPS Coordinates: Burial Location Unknown

Birth: 13 Jan 1851, England

Death: 29 Jan 1927, Bremerton, Kitsap County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Charles Albert Hobbs, Edward Hobbs

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: None

Elizabeth Margaret Hobbs, née Fulcher, was born on January 13, 1851, the daughter of James Fulcher, a master mariner who was deceased by the time of her marriage. Little is known about Elizabeth’s early life, but her background reflects the maritime working class of mid-nineteenth-century England.

Elizabeth married her first husband, whose surname was Allison, sometime before 1890. By the time she married again, she was a widow, using the surname Allison. On September 11, 1890, she married Charles Albert Hobbs in England. Charles, a skilled joiner and carpenter, was four years her junior. This was the second marriage for both parties, and the union joined two adults who had already experienced loss.

The 1891 census places Elizabeth living in Enfield, Middlesex, with her husband Charles and his young son from a previous marriage, Charles Albert Hobbs Jr. In 1892, Elizabeth gave birth to her only known biological child, a son named Edward. Shortly after Edward’s birth, Elizabeth made a major transition in her life when she and her family emigrated to the United States, settling in Washington Territory, where Charles’s siblings had already established themselves.

In America, Elizabeth became part of a growing Hobbs family network in Kitsap County. In 1903, land was granted to Charles Hobbs, and by 1910 Elizabeth and her husband were living on and working a farm along Stavis Bay Road in Seabeck. Their household reflected the rural, labor-intensive life common to early twentieth-century settlers in the region. Elizabeth’s stepson, Charles Jr., was grown by this time, while her son Edward worked at a nearby logging camp, likely connected to the Port Gamble Mill.

Elizabeth’s life was marked by profound personal loss. In October 1910, her eighteen-year-old son Edward died from acute anterior poliomyelitis (polio). The absence of parental information on his death certificate suggests that he may have died away from home, possibly after being taken to Port Gamble for medical care. Edward was buried in Seabeck Cemetery, joining other members of the extended Hobbs family laid to rest there.

Despite this tragedy, Elizabeth remained in Seabeck with Charles, where they continued to operate a poultry farm. Throughout the 1920s, the couple gradually sold off portions of their land, reflecting changes in age, labor capacity, or economic conditions. Elizabeth spent her later years in Kitsap County, remaining rooted in the community she had helped build.

Elizabeth Margaret Hobbs died in Bremerton on January 29, 1927, at the age of seventy-six, following surgery for breast cancer. She was cremated, and her remains were likely placed near those of her son and niece in Seabeck Cemetery. Her death prompted a probate case in Kitsap County in September 1928, in which her husband, Charles, successfully petitioned to be appointed administrator of her estate. The land they had held jointly was assigned to him as his homestead exemption, likely avoiding property or estate taxes.