George Champion, Sea Captain Bristol UK
I am interested in information about the Champion family of Bristol, Gloucestershire, England. My ancestor George Champion was born on February 24, 1840 in Bristol, England. He died in 1928 in Normal, Illinois. He came from a long line of George Champions which continues to this day. His father was a sea captain, probably a rum runner/slave trader who died off the coast of Africa in about 1844. The mother was Eleanor Ellis, daughter of Thomas Ellis and _______? Bright of Bridgewater. In 1854, the widow, Eleanor Ellis Champion, moved the children George, Thomas E. and Athaliah Victoria Bright to Elgin, Illinois. Their was also a half-brother, Philip, who became a seaman and died at sea and buried in the Gulf of Mexico. [This is taken from The Biographical Record of McLean County, Illinois.]