The first of my lineage to settle in Ireland was Richard Atkins reputed to have been the second son of Sir Jonathan Atkins of Grimthorp Park, Yorkshire (UK Genealogy Archives transcribed from Burke's Landed Gentry, 1862) .
My Great Great Grandfather Stephen Hastings Atkins moved his family from Ireland in about 1847, stopping first at Tasmania Australia. Leaving his wife, two daughters and one son (my Great Grandfather William Atkins) in Australia he continued on to Hawaii and Canada leaving his sons Remus Henry and Edmund Arthur at each place respectively. He also too his youngest daughter, Henrietta with him. She eventually returned to Australia and married Robert Shekleton in Victoria in 1866. Tracing his steps and those of his remaining son Romulus Robert thereafter has been shrowded in mystery, before Stephen Hastings returned to Ireland where he died in 1870.
William Atkins remained in Tasmania for some years before moving to Victoria and eventually to Western Australia. The Australian decendants are spread over several Australian states. Stephen Hastings' widow Mary Anne remained in Australia and died in Sydney New South Wales in 1903.
I have generally relied on published secondary sources for the predecessors of my gg grandfather Stephen Hastings Atkins, consequently, the information on his predecessors becomes increasingly unreliable. Occasionally I have found conflicting genealogy when comparing secondary sources. Further work is required to verify the claims made in this tree.