Page 312 - Just another English family (Sep 2019)

Before launching ahead with these tasks, definitional issues must be confronted. In short, who should be considered as living abroad? I wanted to avoid including those who were simply holidaying in foreign parts. While few would do so in earlier times, there are likely to be many Soothills who have been abroad on holiday since, say, the 1960s. In fact, I want to concentrate on those who make a rather more permanent commitment to going abroad. Mainly I had in mind those who had permanently emigrated. However, there are those, such as missionaries, who probably always envisaged coming back to England but who made an impact on the countries while they were there. Also by focusing on those who had permanently emigrated, I would miss mentioning those who had intended to emigrate but the experiment had failed in some way and they had decided to return to England. In the end, I decided to try to include in this chapter those who had established a home in a foreign country and had stayed there beyond a holiday.
Having said all that, there are still some Soothills who are mentioned in the important Passenger Lists, but who are neither holiday-makers nor those who have homes in the various countries. There are at least two categories of these people. Firstly, there are those who are visiting relatives who have more permanent establishments abroad and, secondly, there are those who are working in some capacity – such as playing in the orchestras of the Atlantic liners or attending academic conferences. These persons will certainly be mentioned, but only insofar as to distinguish them from Soothills who have made a more permanent commitment to the countries where they now reside.
The Pioneers
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It is difficult making an educated guess as to the first Soothill who went 308
Seth Sothill and the United States