'A Self Made Man May Prefer a Self Made Name'

November 14, 2013, 5:17 pm

≫ Next: 'The very Touch of a Letter....'

Friday, November 6, 2009

'A self made Man may prefer a self made name.' Learned Hand (1872-1961)

'What's in a name.' wrote William Shakespeare in 1595 in his play Romeo and Juliet. Clearly he had encountered as much difficulty in tracing his elusive ancestors as I have during the past 11 years. 'A Rose by any other name' may smell as sweet but let me assure you will not be as easy to find!

In 1998 I embarked on my first search for my roots. After sending away for the marriage certificate of my great grandmother Barbara Lena Heberling to John Nargar in Maryborough, I thought that my search would be simple. Both surnames were unusual and so, I assumed, would be easy to trace. Nothing could have prepared me for the surprises that lay in wait for me, or for the amount of 'detecting' that was to be required of me.

I knew that the Heberling family had come from Switzerland and I knew roughly the year in which the family could have arrived, from a five generation photograph taken in 1955, in which my great grandmother was turning 88. I estimated her birth to be in approximately 1867 as the newspaper clipping said she was 8 years old when she arrived, ( I was new to family history and as yet unaware of the importance of checking the facts) so I guessed the arrival to be in the year 1875.

After months of fruitless searches on the internet, I decided to start again and rethink a new strategy. I began to suspect that the name Heberling may have been for some reason, changed on arrival in Australia. I had heard from a friend that his grandparents had shortened a long Hungarian surname to anglicise it. Then there was the tale of a non english speaking immigrant, who, when told by the the clerk on arrival in Australia, to 'make his mark', misunderstood and literally adopted the surname Mark! Suddenly, I remembered from the German language I had learned at school, that the letter 'a' with two dots above it (an umlaut) was pronounced as 'e' would be in English. Thus Haberling with a umlaut above the 'a' would be pronounced Heberling.

Another search of the passenger lists from Hamburg through http://www.ancestry.com/presented me with the Haberling family who arrived in Maryborough Queensland in 1871 aboard the ship 'The Reichstag'. I found my great grandmother Barbara Lena aged 4 years (not 8) with her sisters Rosetta, Amalie, Bertha and Herminnie. Her father Jacob was a boot maker and he, his wife Anna Barbara and daughters had come from Zurich. These records had been provided by the Maryborough District Family History Society (MDFHS).

My search for the Haberlings spread its wings with the help of the Archives in Zurich (I had to seriously brush up on my German as the Archive replies were in written in that language) and also through the MDFHS. I now have a Haberling family tree that goes back to 1520 and sideways to Germany and the USA.

' Now,' I thought, ' this is easy'. And I set off in search of the Nargar family. Alas, there seemed to be no Nargars anywhere in the world! The birth certificate of my great grandfather showed that his father Gottlieb Nargar was born in Prussia and his mother Christiana Siegler, in Weuttemberg, Germany. The German lessons now being pursuing with a passion were to prove very useful.

I had never known that I had a German background. Perhaps around a decade after the end of WW 2, it was still a sensitive subject to this side of my family and so never spoken of. My mother had 'persuaded' my sister and I to study the German language at school despite our protests that French was much prettier!. "You won't regret this,' our unrelenting mother replied."German is the language of the future!". If my mother had known then how useful this language would prove to me in the future I am certain she would have been thrilled but I do believe it was the only thing that she could think of to say, at the time, without admitting to having a German heritage. My mother's prediction proved not quite true. But for me, my knowledge of German became literally the language that, in 'the future', enabled me to travel back into the past.

I worked on the principle that if the letter 'e' had been the key to finding my Haberling family then I would start with the same letter and work from there. I found a similar German name of Nerger and I reasoned that my great great grandfather, probably named Gottlieb Nerger, a German immigrant arriving on the 'Caeser Goddfrey" in 1853,would gave pronounced the letter 'e' as 'ay'. The clerk would have thought 'ay' was the letter 'a' thus Nerger became Nargar. The name Nerger has appeared as Nurjur on one child's birth certificate and as Narjar on another because of the language barrier between the german speaking immigrant and the clerks who recorded the passenger's name, births and mariages. I was correct in assuming the name was Nerger however the change had nothing to do with mispelling by a clerk. I was to discover much later that it had been changed for yet unknown reasons by my great grandfather, John. My great grandmother's surname Siegler was recorded on a number of documents differently as well, as Segler and Seglen and even her christian name was recorded as Christina, Christine, Anna and Christiana. I discovered that she was born Christiana Siegler, arrived in Brisbane on the 'La Rochelle' in 1863 as Seglier but that her parents were married under the name of Segler. I began to realise the significance of names and name changes when searching into the past.

Little did I realise that even my own maiden surname of MacDade had been altered, but for quite an different reason again. I was told as a child, NEVER to leave out the 'a' to distinguuish the protestant Scottish surname MacDade from the Irish catholic surname of McDade. (to my grandmother who hailed from Northern protestant Ireland I am certain that this was an important detail). I had often admonished my father for being lazy and using McDade. When I began to search for the MacDades in Scotland I found that there weren't any MacDades! In fact, it seemed there were no MacDades anywhere at all! They were all McDade. 'Perhaps my great grandparents were the last MacDades,' I proudly thought. When I found a catholic marriage of a John McDade and an Elizabeth Gibson, the names of my great grandparents, I put it away regarding it as the 'wrong' one. On a trip to Scotland, years later, armed with my research, my 'MacDade' aunt visited the General record Office in Edinburgh. She was so excited that she phoned me from Scotland to tell me that I had in fact found the right marriage all those years ago, and that we were, in fact, MCDADEs and in her words, ' We are catholics after all!'

My grandmother, born in Co Tyrone, Ireland, who had maried Colin Hamilton McDade (pictured above)from Glasgow, Scotland, had 'popped' the 'a ' into the surname to make it look less catholic. How I laughed. I myself had married a catholic man as had one of my two sisters. In fact more than half of my grandmother's grandchildren were attending catholic schools. From this discovery it was a short hop, step back to the late 1700's when my catholic Irish ancestor, James McDade moved to Scotland from Ireland. In Scotland in the 1800's, I added to my family tree, MacDairmids also spelled McDermid, McCleary that has appeared as Mc Clury and McClure, Moore with and without the 'e' and Andrew Smith formerly Antonios Ustila! "What's in a name?' Shakespeare asked. Where do I start!

Today the use of Mc and Mac can be a source of considerable confusion to the family historian. In the case of my husband David's MacDonalds from the Isle of Skye in Scotland, they have dispersed all over the world becoming McDonalds, McDonnels and MacDonalds just to name a few. The MacDonald ancestry is well documented however, going back to John, Lord of the Isles and the Scottish Kings and before them to the ancient Irish Kings.

On my Hoyes side of the family,( the 'Welsh side' of the family who we discovered were from Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire), ( always remain somewhat dubious of the 'we have a Welsh Castle in our background or the' your grandfather was in the Royal Welsh Fencibles' family boasts until you have verified them) there have been quite a number of interesting name changes, for a number of different reasons (some yet to be discovered!) ...Great uncle Rex Morley Hoyes, for example, left New Zealand and went to England where he added a hyphen (Morley-Hoyes) and then an extra Morley (Morley-Morley) not to mention a title that is quite a puzzle. At least Rex's grandmother, my great great grandmother Elizabeth Morley would be pleased to see her own maiden surname being carried on! My mother was born a Reece-Hoyes, the 'Reece' having been added to the Hoyes name to change it yet again. I spent many years trying to find my grandfather, who was Rex's half brother. That was quite a challenge as had changed his name from Reece- Hoyes to O'Dare. We are still trying to work that one out!

In search of my Weston family (no name changes there at least) I found the name Frame/ Frain/ Frane which finally turned out to be Frayne! Spelling mistakes made somehow in the context of my colonial Irish /Australian history perhaps? Or was it that he, as a convict, attempted to remake himself a number of times?

Sometimes a look at the history behind a surname will help to determine its 'correct' spelling. 'Correct' may not be the correct way to view the spelling of names given that many ancestors who were illiterate quite probably did not know how to spell their own name. In the case of immigrants who were unable to write, a clerk given the task, often had to guess the spelling. Once a name was mispelled on a passenger list, for example, some people just chose to keep the new name. A new name, a new country and a new start in life! My Frayne family (before their fall from grace as 'Dublin burglars' -and yes there were more than one - burglar that is!) descended from the surname Freyne or de Freyne, The Baron de Freyne from France, so I am told. It's a great story and it might be true but before I go passing the name Freyne on to any grandchildren I will need to verify that tale!

'What's in a name, 'Shakespeare asked? A good number of self made men , new beginnings, hidden pasts and well kept secrets, and some simple spelling mistakes, I suspect! That and some very interesting tales still waiting to be told. To be continued....... Sharn

↧

'The very Touch of a Letter....'

November 14, 2013, 5:22 pm

≫ Next: 2013 Accentuate The Positive Geneameme

≪ Previous: 'A Self Made Man May Prefer a Self Made Name'

Monday, December 21, 2009

'The very touch of the letter was as if you had all taken me into your arms.' Anais Nin 1903-77: letter to Henry Miller, 6th August, 1932

What love and comfort, a letter from James MCDADE's mother Elizabeth, pictured left, must have brought him as he bravely endured the horrors of war. I can only imagine the joy and relief a letter from their son would have brought to my great grandparents, John and Elizabeth as they waited for news of him, in their home in Cumbernauld, Scotland. letters are a wealth of information. Throughout the years they have delivered good tidings, sad news, the happy announcement of a birth and news of the death of a parent. They tell of the trials and triumphs of long voyages far from home, send news of safe arrivals, describe the horrors of war and extraordinary tales of comradeship. Letters pass on recipes, exchange knitting patterns, offer heart felt apologies, carry forth declarations of love, reveal secrets; treasured emotions all tucked inside an envelope and sent around the world to loved ones awaiting contact.

Letters, for the family historian are a wonderful portal to the past. They provide the human stories behind names and dates on the family tree. Words, written by hand, and from the heart, are an irreplaceable wealth of information. They tell us where our ancestors lived, who their friends were and how they lived their lives. Letters reveal much about the personality of an ancestor, his or her degree of literacy and sometimes just tell some jolly rollicking yarns. A death certificate is able to provide us with a date and cause of death, but a letter written to a relative provides a window through which we are privileged to view the emotions and reality of deaths, births, marriages, illness and the daily life of our predecessors. The humble letter is a window to the past.

My family members don't appear to have been prolific letter writers. Unlike myself, perhaps they were just not prolific hoarders. Of course, there is the very strong possibility, that in my family, letters were not preserved in order to hide some 'tiny' untruths! If my family had kept letters, I might have discovered earlier, that a very grand old family Welsh Castle does exist, but definitely not in my family! A letter might have saved me from years of searching for the grandfather in the Royal Welsh Fencibles.. who wasn't! These stories were myths, created to carefully guard well kept family secrets. ( I understand the desire for secrecy, and I do admit that the Royal Welsh Fencibles does sound a touch nicer than jail!) I might have discovered that letters were sent to Australia from Northumberland and Nottinghamshire and not from Wales where contrary to family tales, we have no ancestors at all. Not one! Disappointingly, no Fencibles, no Castle, no Welsh ancestors!

I know that letters arrived from America in the 1980's, and that, had they not been destroyed, they would have informed me that my grandfather's youngest brother, Alexander, was not a brother at all, but actually a nephew. He was the son of my grandfather's younger sister Mary by the husband of his older sister Maggie, (phew!). I would have known the reason that the entire family left Scotland and came to live in Australia (family 'scandals' are a popular reason for emigration!) and why poor Maggie and her straying husband emigrated to America to have no contact with their family for over 40 years. A letter might have told me that my grandfather on my mother's side was not a politician but instead, a bit of a rogue - quite possibly why there are no surviving letters ! How much easier my job would have been if letters had been stored away for me to read.

Documents such as divorce papers and shipping records and even photographs provide some useful information, but the letter remains the family historian's best friend. Letters are rich in detail, they are a part of the real fabric of life in the past and sometimes they are more importantly, proof of identity,and a key to unlocking the past, as in the case of my husband David's great, great grandfather.

David's side of the family, fortunately were both prolific writers and horders. Such a treasure trove for me! There are letters from Bedfordshire, England to the BEARD family, some from South Africa from Polly Brown (nee Beard) to her family in the Gippsland area of Victoria, letters from Kent, England to the DUNSTER family who settled in the Kiama area in NSW, letters from New Zealand to the WHITE family that tell of farming life on the Canterbury Plains and the most important a letter of all which proves a family story of Royal connections.

Mathew MACDONALD, great, great grandfather of David White, was born in about 1812 in Sleat, Isle of Skye, Scotland. There has been no birth record found for him, although this has been well checked. Family lore says that he was born on his grandfather Alexander MacDonald's farm, Gillin Farm on the Isle of Skye. His death certificate states that his father was Charles MacDonald of Ord, David's father, Brian was proud to tell everyone that he was descended from the great Lord John of the Isles through Charles of Ord. There is no marriage record for Mathew to Mary McPherson who travelled with him on the ship 'William Nichol' to Sydney, Australia, in 1837. It is only from a letter to Mathew, when he

was almost 90 years old from a half brother in Scotland, that we can verify this ancestry. The author of the letter, Keith Norman MacDonald was a well known musician and writer of Scottish Reels and Spreys, as well as being a medical doctor. He was also the son of Charles MacDonald of Ord House, Ord, on the Isle of Skye, by his wife Anne McLeod who he married in 1828 and therefore a half brother to Mathew. In his letter, Keith referred to Mathew as his brother and informed him that 'their' father, Charles was buried in the churchyard of Kilmore, as were both his mother, Anne and Mathew's mother. So here was proof that Keith and Mathew were half brothers and that Mathew was the son of Charles MacDonald of Ord, whose ancestry is well documented, not only back to John, Lord of the Isles but to the Royal Stewart Kings and the McKenneth Kings. Unfortunately the letter did not tell us who Mathew's mother was. The letter also revealed that Mathew's wife, Mary McPherson, was a nanny to Keith and the other MacDonald children and that Keith still remembered her fondly. It is obvious that Keith's letter was in reply to a letter from Mathew and that this had been Mathew's first contact with his family since leaving Scotland some 60 years earlier. We might deduce from this that Mathew had a falling out with his father, possibly over his relationship with Mary McPherson. Keith Norman's letter describes beautifully, the scenery in Skye that Mathew might have wistfully recalled and offers colourful character sketches of local identities. This letter is a valuable document, without which, David's MacDonald ancestry could not have been traced back to Scottish Royalty. The photograph above, pictures Mathew and Mary (McPherson) MacDonald with their children, at their farm at Crookwell which is still in the MacDonald family today. It is sad to think that Mathew and Mary had no contact with their families for so many years and one wonders whether old age prompted Mathew to write to his half brother. It is a blessing that he did, for without that letter the Royal MacDonald connection would have been lost with the passing of time.

Some years ago, in a clean out, I threw away a bundle of letters from my mother and from friends. Now, I regret that I do not have those precious letters, the contents of which are lost forever. As for the MacDade 'scandal' previously mentioned (hardly a scandal worth mentioning these days!) the letters from Maggie in America were also thrown away and with them any hope of finding her three daughters.

Letters, for most people are now a thing of the past. I do receive several typed 'news letters' from friends who live overseas or in other parts of the country. Although these are, strictly speaking, letters, they are missing that special touch of a hand written personal letter. They are 'speaking' to many and not just to me. I am fortunate enough not to have to wait long weeks or even months for news of a loved one at war or to learn of the death of a family member. I can contact instantly on Skype, relatives in London and New York and not only speak to them but see them as well. My sister and I correspond by telephone or by email daily. Our emails are a record of our daily lives. They concern our families, the antics of our pets, the swapping of recipes, gossip and news of family and friends. Often our emails are quite silly and sometimes very humorous and they give us great pleasure. Then we press the delete button on our computers and any record of our conversation is lost. No one is going to find old deleted emails nicely tied with ribbon in a drawer one day in the future.

Now, I have to admit, that I am not likely to take up letter writing as I am quite comfortable living in an age of instant communication. I have, however, come to appreciate the value of communications of the past to the preservation of history, whether it be world, local or family history.

In keeping with technology, through my blog entries, I hope that my stories will be written from the heart, for the future. I am trusting that somewhere out there in cyberspace, my good tidings and recipes and family stories and even some secrets will be discovered by someone who will appreciate them and perhaps even discover a family tree through them. These blogs are a record of lives past and present. They are my 'letters'.

'Letters of thanks, letters from banks, Letters of joy from girl and boy, Receipted bills and invitations To inspect new stock or to visit relations, And applications for situations, And timid lovers' declarations, And gossip, gossip from all the nations. W. H. Auden 1907-73: 'Night Mail' 1936

↧

2013 Accentuate The Positive Geneameme

December 29, 2013, 5:33 pm

≫ Next: It's all In the Numbers

≪ Previous: 'The very Touch of a Letter....'

2013 Accentuate The Positive Geneameme

Thankyou to my good friend Jill Ball, better known in the genealogy world as Geniaus, for challenging bloggers to take stock of their genealogy discoveries for 2013. I, in particular, appreciate this challenge, since 2013 has not been what I consider a very productive blogging year for me. University studies and the joyous birth and sad passing of my beautiful grand daughter Primrose have taken precedence over my writing temporarily.
I will choose the prompts which most fit my genealogical year and I am hoping that by taking up your challenge Jill, I might find that I did indeed achieve more than I think!

An elusive ancestor I found - Although I did not find any of those tricky ancestors who have been stubbornly eluding me, this year I did manage to place quite a few new relatives on the branches of my family tree. Significantly, I discovered many (actually many many) LEONARD/ MCDADE relatives who descend from the sister of my Scottish great grandfather. An exciting outcome from this find has been new friendships formed with lots of wonderful cousins who live in Illinois, America. Stubbornly, my most elusive ancestors remain firmly embedded amongst my tangled roots. On the positive side, they are yet to be found, thus providing me with brick walls to demolish in 2014!

A precious family photo I found - In a trunk left to me by an elderly great aunt, is her wedding dress. The beautiful gold lace dress which she herself sewed, was worn for her second marriage to Major Alexander Wallace Johnston. The marriage took place at the Army Barracks in NSW where he had been stationed following his active involvement in World War 2. Very recently whilst cleaning out a storage cupboard, I discovered in a box, an old photograph frame which I had not even realised that I possessed. In the long white frame,to my delight, were three pictures of my great aunt's wedding and the dress which she wore to her wedding. (and I must confess, I HAVE tried the dress on!)

photo sharnwhite ©

photo sharnwhite©

photo sharnwhite ©

One other very exciting photograph I found was one discovered on a School Facebook page for the first school I attended in Brisbane, Queensland. This class photograph, taken in my first year of school, was a significant find for me since all of my school photographs and many other childhood photos were lost in the 1974 Brisbane floods. I wasn't even certain that it was actually myself in the photograph until I noticed my 'peter pan' style collar and T- bar school shoes, both of which I recall disliking because no one else wore them. My mother had sewn my school uniform and preferred a pretty rounded collar to the usual pointed one that everyone else wore. I hated being different then, but now I treasure that peter pan collar because I might not have otherwise been able to recognise myself in the photograph!

Me, aged 5 years second from the right.

An important vital record I found - The Queensland State Archives has put online some orphanage records and this year I dicovered my great great grandfather, John NERGER's name in the Reformatory School for Boys Index 1871-1900. To my surprise, I found that in 1876, at the age of 12 years, John was charged in the Brisbane Central Court with being 'neglected' and was sentenced to five years on board the hulk, Proserpine. This hulk, moored in the Brisbane River at Lytton, , was previously used to house convicts. The record showed that my two times great grandfather had been in an orphanage prior to this 'sentence'. A trip to Brisbane and the State Archives allowed me to search the original admittance registers of several orphanages, not yet available online. From these old records, I learned that John and his younger brother George Nerger were both admitted to the Diamantina Orphanage in Brisbane in 1873, aged 9 and 7 years. In 1876 when John was sent to the hulk, George, aged 9. was 'reclaimed by his mother', my great grandmother. Christiana Siegler had lost her husband Gottlieb Nerger in 1869, in Gympie, where the family had moved to from Toowoomba for the Gold Rush. Christiana's youngest son Herman Nerger died in 1870, aged one year, and in that same year Christiana remarried an Irishman named Michael Hogan. I was saddened to realise that at the time she placed her two boys from her first marriage in the Diamantina orphanage, my two times great grandmother had two more children to her second husband. She went on to have six children to Michael Hogan.

John Gotlieb NERGER

A newly found family member who shared my family history has been a third cousin who lives in Illinois, USA. My cousin found me through Ancestry.com and my blog FamilyHistory4u . Together, we discovered that we share three times great grandparents who lived in Scotland. Since we subsequently connected via Facebook, I have been introduced to many more wonderful cousins in America and exchanged stories with them, both genealogical and about our family lives. We 'chat' on almost a daily basis and this connection and sharing has been one of the most joyous and rewarding outcomes of my journey into family history. In 2013, I have also been contacted by people unrelated to my family but who have generously shared stories about the ships my ancestors immigrated on, their home towns, and one very generous gentleman offered information about a garden in a family home in Ord, Scotland. Blogging has put me in touch with some wonderful people and taught me much about researching family history and history.

A genea surprise I received was being voted in the top 10 Australasian Rockstar Genealogists 2013, by fellow bloggers and readers of my newest blog Family Convictions - A Convict Ancestor . Alongside some well respected people in the genealogy world I felt most humbled by this award and very grateful.

My 2013 blog post I was particularly proud of was a post on my Family Convictions - A Convict Ancestor blog, entitled 'Escape from Barrenjoey - Customs House Boat Crew. This post in March of 2013 was a significant challenge to me as I learned that my great great great grandfather, Michael Frayne, had been one of the five convicts who constructed the stone steps which still today provide the long and winding climb up the steep Barrenjoey Headland to the lighthouse. He was given this arduous task as punishment for escaping from the customs house station in a long boat.

After making this discovery I could not resist the 45 minute climb to the top of Barrenjoey Headland, to walk in my g g g grandfather's footsteps. The climb was was quite a feat as I had only just recovered from a debilitating bout of pleurisy for which I was hospitalised. It is amazing what ancestor hunters will do to follow the path of an forebear.

Walking in the footsteps of my ancestor ©

My 2013 blog that that received a large number of hits or comments was a post which I wrote in November of 2013 on Scottish Valuation Rolls on my FamilyHistory4u blog. This post described what the Valuation Rolls are and what they can tell us about ancestors and their lives through the mid to late 1800's and early 1900's. Although 2013 has not been as prolific as usual a year of geneablogging for me, I was pleased that my research was able to help others with their own searching. My favourite posts are always the ones which involve historical research. I enjoy learning about the past and in particular discovering ways to find out how our ancestors fitted into our historical past.

My ancestor John McDade on the 1895 Scottish Valuation Roll

A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy was Pinterest. I have been making use of Google Plus, Twitter and Facebook for some time with regard to genealogical social networking. Although I have had a number of Pinterest interest boards, including one entitled Australian History, since 2012, I have only recently begun using Pinterest as a social media tool for my family history. I have now added genealogy related Pinterest Boards entitled Family History, My Scottish Heritage, Things Irish, Family History Blogs, Genealogy Blogs and Convicts - A Convict Ancestor. In case anyone would like to have a peek at my many Pinterest boards, my user name on Pinterest is sharnwhite.

A genealogy conference/seminar/webinar from which which I learned something - Although I have not yet taken the leap and participated in a Google Plus hangout, I have watched a number of very interesting hangouts, in particular, those conducted by Jill Ball and Julie Goucher. From these I have discovered new websites and genealogical societies, sources and ideas which I have added to my exciting 'look forward to exploring' list for 2014.

I taught a friend how to find Scottish genealogy records and I showed several friends how to begin researching their family history. Through my adventures in geneablogging in 2013 I presented tips and advice through my anecdotes on how to research convict ancestry, Scottish ancestry and local history amongst other topics.

A journal/magazine article I had published - Apart from my blog posts, I had nothing published in 2013, however, I have several magazine articles in the pipeline and two very interesting books I am researching. I will offer a hint.... one involves correspondence with the Hyderbad Falaknuma Palace Historian, a journal written in 1948 by General Peter El Edroos,( head of the Nizam of Hyderabad's army) and gun running....so stay tuned!

The Seventh Nizam of Hyderabad

An exciting Archive I visited was the Queensland State Archives in Brisbane. As much of my family history research centres on Queensland, especially, Maryborough (1871 onward), Toowoomba, Dalby and Drayton (1852 onward), and Brisbane, I never seem to be able to visit this repository of wonderful records of the past, nearly often enough. This year I was fortunate to make three trips north to undertake research at the Qld State Archives. The QSA has many records online and is always on my list of things to do when I visit my home city of Brisbane.

Queensland State Archives

A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed - This year I returned to studying history through the University of New England so I read quite a significant number of history books, although I must admit that most books I read tend to have a genealogical or historical flavour. My favourite books in 2013 included The Kelly Gang Unmasked by Ian McFarlane, Ned Kelly- a short life by Ian Jones, The Floating Brothel by Sian Rees and Breaking the Bank by Carol Baxter.

A geneadventure I enjoyed was a trip to Toowoomba to research my German ancestors. Whilst there I joined the Toowoomba and Darling Downs Family History Society. Making use of rate notices as well as old topographical maps, on this 2013 trip, I found the land which my great great great grandfather, Gottlieb Nerger purchased and farmed in the 1850's and 1860's before the lure of the Gold Rush took him to Gympie.

My great great great grandfather's land in Toowoomba ©

Another positive I would like to share is that I have realised that it is not the frequency with which I blog that is important. It is more the passion I have for genealogy and history that is significant as this is the motivating force behind my desire to share what I discover, through my blogs.

I would also like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and positive New Year filled with exciting family 'finds'. I look forward in 2014, to meeting in person more of my wonderful geneablogging friends.

↧

It's all In the Numbers

January 15, 2014, 12:33 am

≫ Next: Family in Historical Context..

≪ Previous: 2013 Accentuate The Positive Geneameme

IT'S ALL IN THE NUMBERS

I am quite late in responding to Alona from the LoneTester HQ Blog with her 'It's all in the Numbers'. geneameme. As the old saying goes.. better late than never so I am putting pen to paper... well fingers to keyboard in fact, although that doesn't sound quite as enchanting! The challenge offered by Alona was to chose ten or more numbers which have some meaning personally, because of the way in which they relate to our own family history research. Thankyou Alona for your creative meme which has made me think somewhat outside the family box!

1. Fifteen is the largest number of generations I have on a branch of my family tree, beginning with myself. Fifteen generations takes me back to my maternal 12th great grandfather and grandmother in Switzerland. Xander Ryser was born in 1546 in Affoltern, Emmenthal, Bern, Switzerland and died there in 1614. Xander Ryser's wife Trini Gruetter was my 12th great grandmother. Another line of Swiss ancestors goes back 14 generations to Christian Häberling who was born in Ottenbach, Zurich in 1527, and although born earlier, he is an 11th great grandfather, making 14 generations of family including myself.

2. Leading on from the number above, is Twelve, the most number of greats I have before a grandfather and grandmother.

3. Three is the most number of name changes one ancestor has made deliberately, which means, not through spelling mistakes or change due to immigration and language difficulties or illiteracy.

I have a number of ancestors whose names changed after migrating to new countries. The German surname NERGER became NARGER, Häberling became phonetically spelled Heberling. In Scotland Farrins became Farren, Fearns, and Ferns, most likely because of mistakes made by clerks filling out records. My great uncle Rex Morley Hoyes, however, led a 'colourful' life and changed his name legally three times to hide from MI5, the British Press, the Law and possibly four or more wives! Rex was born Rex Morley (his middle name being his mother's maiden surname) HOYES, in 1902 in Auckland, New Zealand. He left new Zealand in 1933 with his first wife Muriel Bates, bound for the more prosperous shores of England. By 1935 Rex had divorced Muriel and married Lady Margaret Patricia Waleran (Blackadder). He purchased a large estate called Marwell Hall, in Hampshire, once owned by King Henry VIII. As the CEO of an aircraft company, Cunliffe-Owen Pty Ltd in Eastleigh, at the commencement of World War 11, Rex acquired government contracts to convert Seafire aircraft to Spitfires and to repair aircraft damaged in battle. With a secret airfield constructed on his Marwell Estate, and a team of women pilots, this contributed considerably to the war effort. MI5 then developed a serious interest in him and he was charged with bribery and corruption, although later acquitted. After the war, my great uncle changed his name to Rex Morley-Hoyes. There was speculation that Rex was also a spy with extensive air travel during the war years and exotic addresses such as Majorca, Formentor, Balearic Isles and others. Around the time he married his third wife Irene Arbib, and following a spot of illegal gun running to Hyderabad in conjunction with Australian pilot Sidney Cotton in 1948, Rex once more changed his surname, this time to Rex Morley-Morley. I found him in Kelly's Blue Handbook of Landed and Titled persons under this name. After a fourth marriage and another arrest this time at the King George V Hotel in Paris for failing to pay his bill, ( and indications that he had not been paid for his gun running activities by the world's richest man, the Nizam of Hyderabad) I finally found his death recorded under the most colourful name of all....Viscompt Fessenden Charles Rex Morley-Morley de Borenden! If nothing else , he had a vivid imagination!

4. Five is the most generations I have had living at one time (that I know of). When I was aged 10 months old, a photograph was taken at my great great grandmother's 88th birthday party held in Maryborough, Queensland. The photograph celebrated five generations of mothers and daughters. Pictured were myself, my mother Alwynne Jean MacDade (Reece-Hoyes), her mother ( my grandmother) Hilda Lillian Green ( Reece-Hoyes nee Weston), her mother ( my great grandmother) Lillie Herminnie Weston (Nargar) and her mother ( my great great grandmother) Barbara Lena Nargar (Häberling).

Five is also the fewest number of generations I have on any branch of my family tree beginning with myself. On my father's mother's Irish side of the family I have been unable to trace family back further than my great great grandfather William White of Brookend, County Tyrone.

Five seems to be a significant number for me also, as I have five convict ancestors.

5 & 6. I have Twenty Two people on my family tree with the name John. If I add Seventeen ancestors named the Swiss equivilent of John, which is Johan or Johannes and another Thirteen who used the abbreviated form of the name John, being Hans... in two languages and spread over England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany and Switzerland I have a total of Fifty Two ancestors named John in one variation or another.

7. Eleven appears to be the most number of children born into any of my ancestors' families. My MORRISON great great grandparents from Aberdeen Scotland and Nottinghamshire and who immigrated to Australia in 1868 had 11 children, comprising 8 daughters and 3 sons.

8. Eight is the number which crops up the most number of times on my family tree as the number of children ancestors had. The following forebears are some of my ancestors who had eight children.

CUPPLES, Alexander and Agnes. Five times great grandparents. (Ireland). Between 1775 and 1793 they had six sons and two daughters.

MCDADE, John and Elizabeth (Scotland to Australia). Between 1896 and 1911 my grandparents had five sons and three daughters.

HÄBERLING, Jacob and Anna (Switzerland to Australia). My great great great grandparents had two sons and six daughters between 1850 and 1868.

9. 1303 is the number of people currently on my family tree.

10. 1484 is the number of records I have collected to date to support my family history research... possibly more....

↧

Family in Historical Context..

January 16, 2014, 10:17 pm

≫ Next: Courting Ancestors - Valentine's Day

≪ Previous: It's all In the Numbers

Placing Family within Historical Context- History and your Family History

Photo NSW C Class Tram built by John Morrison in the mid 1890's ©

The key to understanding what life was like for our ancestors, is to place their lives into real historical context. By understanding the economic, social and political events relevant to the period in which our ancestors lived, we can open a window of insight into the circumstances which impacted upon their personal lives.

WW1 photo taken by a family member ©

Studying history provides us with a backdrop for our ancestors' lives. Investigating historical events assists us in constructing a more complete and accurate story about our forebears within the context of the time in which they lived. History is not, as is commonly interpreted, 'the past'. History is how historians interpret events of the past. Our family histories are a wealth of individual and personal narratives of the past, which cannot be separated from the historical events which shaped them. Our family stories allow us to interpret our personal past, and collectively, our individual family histories become a significant part of the bigger picture of history.

Image - Wikipedia

It is exciting to discover where ancestors lived, when they married and what their occupations were. It is significant to record the dates of voyages and the names of the ships upon which ancestors travelled when they emigrated. These facts, however, are the just the introduction to an ancestor's story. By looking at the events which occurred in a forebear's lifetime we may discover circumstances and events which affected our families' lives and rationalise the decisions they made. Placing your family into historical context can help you to understand much more about your family's personal lives, values, economic circumstances, work ethics and even hardships endured.

To understand the lives of ancestors, we should not just search for WHAT happened, but importantly, we should discover WHY.

WHY?

The following story demonstrates the way in which, through my research into Australian history, I came to fully appreciate events which significantly affected the lives of my Morrison great great grandparents. By understanding the events which saw Australia ride a wave of economic boom in the 1870's and 1880's, and the severe economic downturn in the 1890's which plunged the country into crisis, I turned a framework of facts about the life of my great great grandfather, John Morrison into a detailed and elaborate biography which sits comfortably within the authentic Australian historical narrative.

The Bare Facts

John Morrison, house carpenter by trade, arrived in Melbourne, Australia on December, 31,1878, on board the ship Kent, from Northumberland, England, with his wife Hannah (Gair) and four children. After living in Melbourne for one year John moved the family to the leafy suburb of Strathfield in Sydney, where by 1882 he had established himself as a builder of considerable repute. From newspaper articles accessed on Trove (National Library of Australia website), I followed John Morrison's career with great interest. With significant buildings such as Chapter House, adjoining St Andrew's Cathedral, the Strathfield Council Chambers, and numerous large Gothic Style churches to his credit, John Morrison, builder, turned his attention to the construction of tram and rail carriages in around 1880. John commenced a new chapter in his life as he operated a large carriage works at Strathfield, in Sydney where the name J Morrison earned a reputation for fine craftsmanship in the construction of trams and rail carriages in New South Wales. John and Hannah had, by this time, added seven more children to their family. Suddenly in 1894, John Morrison lost everything. Advertisements in the Sydney Morning Herald for the auction of his home and contents as well as his business interests, proffered evidence of the considerable wealth he had acquired. Amongst items listed for auction were, a large number of paintings by famous artists, expensive jewellery, made to order quality furniture and furnishings, and two grand pianos, reportedly for sale, due to circumstances caused by 'the cancellation of a government contract for 180 rail carriages'. I can only imagine how heartbreaking this situation was for the Morrison In 1900, John moved his family to Queensland where he took up the role of Foreman at the Ipswich Rail Works. After leaving the Rail Works, John invested and worked in the Stuart River Saw Mill with his son John William Morrison. John Morrison died in 1927, in Cooroy, Queensland.

The question which needed answering, was, WHY did John lose a government contract for a large number of rail carriages. The period of Australian history in the 1890's was not one with which I was familiar. I looked for answers in articles published in the Sydney Morning Herald between 1890 and 1891, where John Morrison's railway carriages were described as being of excellent quality and nicely finished (April 19, 1890). Bad workmanship was most certainly not the reason for John Morrison's sudden descent into financial trouble. The next step was to research Australian history in the 1890's to look for any historical circumstances which might throw light upon John Morrison's financial disaster.

J Morrison's C Class tram at Sydney Tramway Museum, Loftus ©

John Morrison's story remained unfinished as I undertook a history course through the University of new England, which gave me little time for my family history. Then came one of those delightful genealogical, serendipitous moments......
Whilst studying Australian Colonial History, and in particular the events of the last three decades of the 19th century, I inadvertently discovered the cause of John Morrison's business failure. The first clue was the introduction to Topic 9 in my Australian Colonial History course:
The 1890's are a crucial decade in Australia's history, a time when major social, economic and political change occurred in a relatively short period.
The reality of John Morrison's situation hit me when reading a paper by B K Garis, I read :
In the third major area of boom-time investment, railway construction.... massive expenditure of overseas capital on such facilities as roads, bridges, harbours, telegraphs, and above all, railways, had been an integral and valuable feature of the thirty years between 1860 and 1890... but in the end the colonial governments had carried their railway building to excess...
Despite concerns in the 1880's about government expenditure on railway lines and rolling stock, the expansion of railways continued until in about 1891, British funding ceased. No Australian railway system had expanded more rapidly than in New South
Suddenly, I was able to fill significant gaps in John's story and to place John Morrison's life within a real historical framework, amidst real historical events.

A Rail Carriage constructed in John Morrison's Carriage Works at Strathfield
now located at the NSW State Rail Museum ©

On the 1871 UK Census, John Morrison is listed as living in Byker, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland and his occupation, a house carpenter. John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazette, 1870-1872, describes Byker as,

a Township... Population 7663, Houses, 1046. The inhabitants are employed variously in potteries, glassworks, quarries, collieries and other manufactories and works.

From Wilson's description, I know that at the time that my great great grandfather worked in Byker, the area was very much a working class environment. John Morrison, as a house carpenter would have been an integral part of that working class environment, however, since the family arrived in Australia as unassisted immigrants, it can be assumed that John Morrison had the means to pay for his and his family's passage.

Byker, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland, England

After living in Melbourne for one year John moved his growing family to the leafy suburb of Strathfield in Sydney. By 1882, he had built for himself, a reputation as a builder of some renown in Sydney. With buildings of significance to his credit, including St Andrew's Cathedral's Chapter House, the Strathfield Council Chambers, and a number of large Gothic style churches, it seems that John Morrison was astute enough to realise that there were important opportunities for him as a builder, amidst the railway boom which began around 1878, especially in New South Wales. From the late 1880's to the mid 1890's, he owned and operated a large carriage works at Strathfield, which fulfilled government contracts for trams and rail carriages. J Morrison was one of the big rail carriage contractors in New South Wales and a self made man of considerable wealth. From advertisements in the Sydney Morning Herald, found on the National Library of Australia's website Trove, I discovered that John Morrison's good fortune came to an abrupt end in 1893, when according to newspaper advertisements he was forced to sell his home and contents, as well as his business due to the cancellation of a Government contract for 180 rail carriages.

An interview given by John Morrison in May, 1890, which appeared in the Launceston Examiner ( the nature which was his opinion of Tasmanian Blackwood and Huon Pine timbers in the construction of rail carriages), I discovered that Morrison's carriage Works employed almost 200 people.

↧

Courting Ancestors - Valentine's Day

January 16, 2014, 10:22 pm

≫ Next: Military Medals and Records

≪ Previous: Family in Historical Context..

Courting Ancestors - Valentine's Day

My paternal grandparents (right) courting on the bank of the Brisbane River 1929, 17 Mile Rocks

"To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,

All in the morning betime,

And I a maid at your window,

To be your Valentine.

Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,

And dupp'd the chamber door,

Let in the maid, that out a maid,

Never departed more."

- William Shakespeare - Hamlet Act IV Scene 5

Saint Valentine's Day, more commonly known as Valentine's Day, is celebrated around the world on February 14. It is a day when lovers of all ages give gifts of flowers, chocolates and such, to demonstrate their love for each other.

↧

Military Medals and Records

January 21, 2014, 3:42 pm

≫ Next: The 4th Unlock the Past History/Genealogy Cruise - Part 1

≪ Previous: Courting Ancestors - Valentine's Day

Military Medals

Military Medals belonging to my great uncle Major AlexanderWallace Johnston

Military Medals are a significant event in history and undoubtedly will have affected or changed the lives of members of your family and it's history. Researching my family military medals has been something I have planned to do for some time since since I am fortunate to have in my possession, two complete collections of military medals belonging to two great uncles. This blog post will discuss both, however, I will focus mostly on my research into the medals of Major Alexander Wallace Johnstone.

On display on a small desk in my study, are displayed my maternal great uncle's World War II medals. They are mounted in a frame and accompanied by a name plaque which reads, Maj. A W Johnston. (pictured above) Although I see these medals almost every day, I have not yet investigated anything about them, or even what military services they were awarded for.

I am also in possession of a collection of war medals which belonged to my paternal great uncle, (Samuel) John Clarke White. A very old box which my great uncle gave to my father contains not only World War I medals, but it is a Pandora's box of war relics. There are sock garters, a feather from my great Uncle John's army hat, badges, a belt buckle and other paraphernalia from his service in World War One. This box holding my great uncle's military medals was passed on from my father to myself. Although not framed and on display like the other medals, I very much treasure them. Until now, I have never found time to research the medals themselves or my uncle's war

This blog post will investigate the records which assisted me to understand the medals of Major Alexander Wallace Johnston.

The Military Medals awarded to Major Alexander Wallace Johnston.

A photograph of Alexander W Johnston

I consider it fortunate that, when my great uncle, Major Alexander Wallace Johnston passed away, the Australian Army arranged to have his medals framed for his wife. Uncle Lex, as he was known to me, was afforded a military funeral at Casula, NSW, following his death on May 31, 1966. Alexander Johnston died from a brain tumour, aged only 51 years. My great aunt always stated that the tumour had been caused by radiation exposure Lex received whilst stationed in Japan, following the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in 1945. Certainly his Army Service Records confirm that he was serving in Japan for 'various periods' from February 23, 1946 to April 11, 1954. At the time of his death, Alexander Johnston was to be promoted from Major to a higher ranking officer.
The following paragraph is the introduction to a detailed exposition of Australian troop involvement in Japan from 1946, which can be found on the Australian War Memorial website.

On 13 February 1946, Australian troops, the vanguard of a 37,000-strong British
Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF), disembarked at the war-devastated Japanese port
city of Kure, almost four years to the day (15 February 1942) after Singapore, the bastion of
the British Empire in the Far East, surrendered to the Japanese Army. At its peak, there were
some 12,000 Australians serving in BCOF.
From 1946 to 1952 Australian forces were responsible for the military occupation of
Hiroshima Prefecture, site of the first atomic bomb attack in history. During this time the role
of the Australian forces changed from that of an “occupying power” to a new role of
“protective power”; in 1950 Australian forces in Japan were deployed, under UN command,
to operations in Korea.

Prior to this blog post, I had not researched much about my great uncle ( by marriage) and it was from his military records that I discovered that Alexander Johnston was born on February 16, 1915 in Fitzroy, Melbourne, Victoria. He was the son of Scottish born Alexander Wallace Senior (1886-1950) and Alice Jean Radley (1884- 1979). Army Service records can be searched online through the National Archives of Australia's website, although some are still not open for access.

SERVICE RECORD for Alexander Wallace Johnston ( Service Number 2126)

PERMANENT MILITARY FORCES: 7 June 1937- 29 June 1942

CITIZEN MILITARY FORCES: 30 June 1942 - 26 June 1942

AUSTRALIAN IMPERIAL FORCE: 27 July 1942 - 30 June 1947

INTERIM ARMY: 1 July 1947 - 14 August 1952

AUSTRALIAN REGULAR ARMY: 15 August 1952 - 31 May 1966

OVERSEAS SERVICE

Morotai - 3 November 1945 - 17 February 1946

Japan and Korea - Various periods between 23 February 1946 and 11 April 1954

Singapore - 6 December 1959 - 12 December 1961

From the Australian War Memorial's Nominal Roll I discovered that my great uncle enlisted on June 7, 1937 at Paddington, NSW. His place of residence at that time, was given as Coogee, NSW, where I know from anecdotal evidence that his parents were living. Significantly, this particular record informed me that my great uncle had never been a prisoner of war. This is a detail which I find quite comforting, considering his record of active duty overseas in WWII and The Korean War. Sadly my great uncle's date of discharge from the Australian Army, just short of a promotion, was the date of Major Alexander W Johnston's death, on May 31, 1966.

UNDERSTANDING MEDALS THROUGH AVAILABLE RECORDS

I found a number of websites which offered excellent information about war medals as well as the significance of the ribbon and depictions on the faces of the medals. The Australian War Memorial website provides a search facility for researching Australian military persons, relevant service records and information about military medals for all wars involving Australian defense force - Army, Navy and Air Force. I also discovered some fascinating sources of information about military medals on the following websites:
http://www.defence.gov.au/medals
http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_campaign_medals

THE MEDALS EXPLAINED FROM LEFT TO RIGHT

MEDAL 1.

The War Medal. This medal was awarded for full time service between 3 September 1939 and 2 September 1945. This cupro- nickel medal features King George VI on the front and the rear depicts a lion standing proudly on a fallen dragon. The ribbon's colours of red, white and blue represent the colours of the Union Jack.

Alexander Johnston would have received the above medal for his participation in the Battle of Morotai, which as part of the Pacific War, commenced on September 15, 1944 and ended in August 1945. Many websites provide information about the Battle of Morotai and it is worth researching the places where your military ancestor served to gain a more appreciative understanding of the significance of not only their military medals but importantly their military experience. The following paragraph is from Wikipedia. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Morotai

The fighting began when United States and Australian forces landed on the south-west corner of Morotai, a small island in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI), which the Allies needed as a base to support the liberation of the Philippines later that year. The invading forces greatly outnumbered the island's Japanese defenders and secured their objectives in two weeks. Japanese reinforcements landed on the island between September and November, but lacked the supplies needed to effectively attack the Allied defensive perimeter. Intermittent fighting continued until the end of the war, with the Japanese troops suffering heavy loss of life from disease and starvation.

Allied landing at Morotai - Wikipedia

MEDAL 2.

The Australia Service Medal. This medal was introduced in 1949 to recognise the service of the Australian Armed Forces and the Australian Mercantile Marine during the Second World War. The colours of the ribbon on the medal, second from the left, are a khaki stripe in the centre representing the Australian Army, narrow red stripes either side of the khaki, representing the Merchant Navy, a dark blue stripe on the left representing the Royal Australian Navy and the light blue stripe on the outer right which recognises the Royal Australian Air Force. To be eligible for this medal, personal had to have served a minimum of 18 months full time service or 3 years part time between 3 September 1939 and 2 September 1945. The Service Medal is made from nickel and features the effigy of King George VI on the front and the Australian Coat of Arms on the rear of the medal.

MEDAL 3.

The Korea Medal. This medal was awarded to troupes from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK, who served in Korea during the Korean War ( 25 June 1950 - 27 July 1953). This cupro-nickel medal was created when King George VI was monarch, however, he died in February 1952 and the medal exhibits an effigy of his daughter, Queen Elizabeth II on the front. On the back of the Korea Medal is illustrated Hercules wrestling the Hydra (the symbol of Communism) and the word Korea below. The ribbon displays five vertical stripes of alternating yellow and blue ( blue to represent the united nations).

This medal would have been awarded to my great uncle for his active role in the Korean War. ( June 1950 - July 1953) from the Australian War Memorial website I discovered that Alexander Johnston is likely to have been a part of one or more of the following Regiments in Korea.

3rd Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, September 1950 - November 1954
1st Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, March 1952 - March 1953, April 1954 - March 1956
2nd Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, March 1953 - April 1954

The Liberal government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies, immediately responded to the UN resolution by offering military assistance. 17,000 Australians served in the Korean War between 1950 and 1953, and they suffered 339 dead, and 1200 wounded.^[3]

With the commitment of Australian forces to the Korean War, the Australian government called for 1000 men who had prior military experience in World War II ^[4] to enlist in the army for three years, with one year of overseas service in Korea. They were called Korean Force or K-Force.^[5] Their previous military experience would facilitate rapid deployment to Korea. Wikipedia.

The Australian War Memorial Out in the Cold Exhibition featured the following description of the Korean War.

War on land: the Australian Army in Korea

“The Korean War was overwhelmingly a land war, in terms of numbers of participants, casualties and material costs. It was fought across rugged terrain through which ran only rough, narrow roads and tracks. Operations were further complicated by extreme conditions of heat and cold, rain and snow for long periods.”
Robert O'Neill, Official Historian of Australia in the Korean War

Korean War Image -Wikipedia

MEDAL 4.

The United Nations Service Medal (UNKM). The United nations established this medal in December 1951 as its first ever International award to honour those who served in the military forces of an Allied army in the defense of Korea between 27 June 1950 and 27 July 1954.

MEDAL 5.

The General Service Medal (1918-1962)This silver medal was awarded for service in minor army and Air Force operations for which there was no existing award. The 1962 medal pictured above bears an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II on the front and the back of the medal features the winged figure of Victory wearing a Corinthian helmet and bearing a trident.

MEDAL 6.

The Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. This commemorative silver medal, on the far right, was awarded to selected persons chosen by the heads of states and countries of the Commonwealth. Of the 138,214 medals produced, 11,561 were awarded to Australians.

Major A W Johnston wearing his medals.

My great aunt's marriage to Alexander Johnston was her second marriage and a second marriage for him also. I am privileged to have possession of the gold wedding dress Dorothy May Cameron (nee Weston) wore when she married Major Johnston in the 1950's. As a child I listened to my great aunt reminisce about life in Malaya as the wife of an Australian Army Officer. I have a photo album of black and white photographs which follow their years in Singapore. I am now planning to research more about my great uncle's army career and will follow up this blog post with an update on the Singapore years.

A photo from the Sydney Morning Herald showing Major and the new Mrs Johnston cutting their wedding cake.

The Military Funeral in 1966 of Major A W Johnston

↧

The 4th Unlock the Past History/Genealogy Cruise - Part 1

February 13, 2014, 11:11 pm

≫ Next: Putting into Practice what I learned on the 4th Unlock The Past Cruise...

≪ Previous: Military Medals and Records

What a Cruise!.. Part 1

Although I had harboured (metaphorically) grand designs to blog frequently from the cruise ship, Voyager of the Seas, and although I dutifully kept account of the daily activities and conference talks, my internet connection behaved so badly that I eventually gave up and simply enjoyed the cruise, the conference and the days spent in the ports we visited. Now, safely (but not entirely steadily) back on land, rather than present a precise day by day recount post cruise, I have decided to write an overview and my own thoughts regarding the nine days I spent on the 4th Unlock the Past History/Genealogy Cruise from February 4- February 13, 2014. The cruise took a large and enthusiastic group of genealogists and historians from Sydney to Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart and I am certain I can speak for everyone, when I say that we returned with heads overflowing with new information, enthusiasm to put into practice new technological abilities, new friends, and for me particularly, an inability to stop rock and rolling! ( and I don't mean the partying kind).

Image : wikipedia

Tuesday, February 4th, dawned grey and wet on the heels of perfect blue skies and sunshiny weather. Sydney failed to bedeck her spectacular harbour in fine weather on our day of departure but the rain did not dampen my enthusiasm to embark upon not only my first Unlock the Past Cruise, but my first EVER cruise! When I arrived at the Cruise Terminal at Circular Quay to board the Royal Carribean Line Ship, Voyager of The Seas, any thoughts of disappointment that I would not be sailing out of the magnificent Sydney Harbour in glorious sunshine were quickly replaced by sheer awe as I gazed upon the magnitude and grandeur of this huge vessel.

Voyager of the Seas at Circular Quay

Despite the wet weather, the view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge as the ship pulled slowly way from the passenger terminal was exhilarating to say the least. Standing on deck 12 (of 15 decks ), I felt as though I was eye to eye with traffic on the bridge. I have been boating on the harbour many times, but it is certainly the first time I have been privileged to appreciate such a magnificent view from a ship of this size.

Photo taken from deck 12 as we left

As we left behind the shores of Sydney Harbour and headed out to sea through The Heads, through quite rough and choppy water, I struggled to gather my sea legs. Few people braved the windy, wet weather out on deck to watch us pass through The Heads.

Deck 11 was almost deserted in the rough weather

Inside the rocking (far more than I had expected) ship, I could not help but be reminded of my ancestors who voyaged in the past, to distant places, in ships no where near as glamorous or as comfortable as the one I was on board. Voyager of the Seas carries over 3,000 passengers and boasts entertainment which includes an ice rink, rock climbing wall, mini golf, basketball, a large casino as well as numerous bars, restaurants, swimming pools and a conference centre. With some time to spare before our 8 pm Meet and Greet in the Lounge known as Cleopatra's Needle, I acquainted myself with the many luxurious decks of this ship, all the while wondering what the voyages of forebears had been like for them.

The most recent ship on board which an ancestor of mine arrived in Australia, was the Largs Bay in 1923. Built in 1921, this passenger/ cargo steamship must have seemed very modern to my grandfather at the age of 19 years when he traveled from Scotland to Brisbane, Australia with his parents and seven of his eight siblings.

Image wikipedia, creative commons

With some time to spare before our 8 pm 'Meet and Greet' in Cleopatra's Needle, one of the ship's numerous lounges, I meandered through the ship acquainting myself with the many decks and places to entertain or pamper oneself. There is no doubt that Voyager of the Seas is certainly much more luxurious than the passenger ship La Rochelle on which my courageous three times great grandmother sailed to Australia from Hamburg on, as a young unmarried woman of 22, in 1862. I wondered what my Christiana Siegler would have thought of a ship with such indulgent extravagances as a beauty spa for facials, manicures and hot stone massages, a large hair salon, movie theatre, state of the art comfortable staterooms, parades and non stop entertainment.....I have a new found admiration for the long voyages my ancestors made from Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, Scotland and England with none of the above mentioned hedonistic pleasures and often in the most confined and unsanitary conditions.

I regress..... but after all, I am a genealogist and I am reminded that but for the courage of ancestors I would not be enjoying the opulence of a ship such as Voyager of the Seas.

La Rochelle Image: StateLibQld. commons.wikipedia.org

One of the staircases on board Voyager of the Seas

The Promenade on deck 5

At 8 pm on the first night aboard, all members of our large (around 240 people) group met in Cleopatra's Needle for an initial get together. Many were, as was I, finding the rocking of the ship difficult to get used to, however, once we were all seated with a wine or cocktail or any fortifying drink, spirits ran high and the conference was undoubtedly off to an excellent start. Represented were were family historians and historians from all states of Australia, from New Zealand, the UK, Africa, and America. Group photographs were taken and these included, speakers, geneabloggers, members of Genealogists for Families (Kiva) among others.

Meet and Greet in Cleopatra's Needle

Meet and Greet

The meet and greet was an opportunity to catch up with friends, to be introduced to new like minded people and to finally put faces to names well known in the vast world of social media. I was pleased at last to meet in person, Thomas MacEntee from Chicago, USA. Thomas is well known in the genealogy world for his Geneablogger fame and I have chatted to him on Facebook and have long admired his enthusiastic and knowledgeable presence in the areas of genealogy, technology, social media and blogging. fellow bloggers and Twitter friends Jill Ball better known as Geniaus , Pauleen Cass, ( Cassmob, whose blog is Family History Across the Seas), Jackie van Bergen, Kerry Farmer, Shauna Hicks , Helen Smith were among people I always enjoy catching up with at genealogical events and I quickly realised that I was travelling in excellent company. There were many cries of 'Oh that's YOU!' throughout the evening (and the entire voyage) as people who had only known each other by social media names, met for the first time in person. That is one of the great benefits of conferences, and where better to cement friendships, make new friends and share knowledge, than a nine day cruise along the eastern coastline of Australia, following literally in the 'wake' of many of our own ancestors' voyages.

The first day ended in anticipation of an interesting conference to begin on Day 2, which boasted a wide range of topics and excellent speakers from all around Australia, in addition to overseas guest speakers including Chris Paton (Scotland), Jane Taubman (UK), Kirsty Gray (UK), Jan Gow (New Zealand) and Thomas MacEntee (USA).

Conference centre on board Voyager of the Seas

Thankyou to everyone involved with Unlock the Past for organising these genealogy/history cruises and for the enormous amount of planning which must go into such events. I for one, am hooked!

Part 2 coming soon.....

↧

Putting into Practice what I learned on the 4th Unlock The Past Cruise...

March 2, 2014, 3:14 am

≫ Next: St Patrick's Day Post

≪ Previous: The 4th Unlock the Past History/Genealogy Cruise - Part 1

What did I learn on the 4th Unlock the Past Cruise?

It was probably just as well that internet connection on the ship Voyager of the Seas was non- existent in our suites, since at the end of each day I am certain every conference attendee would have been sitting at laptops, smart phones and tablets, late into the night, putting into practice the wealth of information taken away from the many and varied talks on board. In a series of blogs I hope to demonstrate how the knowledge I brought home from the cruise conference has been purposefully applied to my own research.

I have only just today, had an opportunity to take out my copious conference notes which filled three A4 notebooks. Reading back through the information, I have had great difficulty in choosing a place to begin. Jill Ball's talk on Evernote inspired me to get my family history in order; Kirsty Gray's talks on the One Place Studies organisation (of which I am now a member) was of great interest to me as I already have two one place studies underway; Lieutenant Colonel Neil Smith's knowledgeable talks on Military research energised me to learn more about my own military ancestors; Chris Paton's entertaining talks which explained Scottish marriages and inheritance has galvanised my appetite for finding more about my Scottish ancestors; Kerry Farmer's fascinating talk on DNA for genealogists sent me home with a new determination to contact my most relevant DNA matches through FamilyTree DNA; Pauleen Cass's inceptive descant on FANS (friends and neighbours used as resources) has given me wonderful ideas for future research resources; Thomas MacEntee's brilliant information about technological applications for genealogy left me with a compulsion to add more social media and technology tools to my ever growing list of genealogy playthings; Helen Smith's illuminating talk on Medical Health has made me more determined than ever to write up a 'cause of death' chart... There were so many more speakers whom I will mention in later posts and so many new things I learned from the many informative talks on board the Voyager of the Seas. As well, I was reminded of research resources I may have more previously found but inadvertently overlooked. But where to begin.....

A talk underway in the conference centre

Whilst contemplating my remarkable and overwhelming amount of cruise conference information, I opened up my Ancestry Tree on my laptop for inspiration. As I perused my forebears, all perched comfortably on the branches of my online tree, with some still hiding among the foliage of the past, as is wont to happen, all thoughts and intentions of blogging flew out of the window as I became distracted by ancestral things. From there my journey took its own direction...

Prior to the 4th Unlock the Past Cruise in February of this year, I had added to my family tree, a three times great uncle named Joseph Turner who was born in Ipswich Suffolk, in 1820. I knew only the first names of his two wives from census records. Despite admirable intentions...a blog to write...Joseph's two wives coaxed me from my purpose, urging me to find them... and as is so often the case with family historians, I forgot all else! Then suddenly, whilst absorbed in searching and not easily finding Joseph's marriages on Ancestry.com, Rosemary Kopittke's talk on The Genealogist came to mind. I was reminded of Rosemary's comprehensive discussion regarding the benefits of this website, with aids such as first name only searches, a search by occupation or address facility, and extras such as links to click on which might show a map reference for an address, or explain an occupation one has never heard of.

Although I have had in the past, a subscription to The Genealogist, I have, in recent times tended to conduct my English research through sites such as FindMyPast, Ancestry, FamilySearch (a free search), and Origins. I realised, during Rosemary's talk on the cruise, that I had overlooked some useful applications with regard to The Genealogist website. So, now, Joseph Turner's two wives offered me the perfect opportunity to put into practice and explore Rosemary's very enticing description of how to access the most out of this website. I was also reminded of the benefits of searching far and wide rather than falling into the habit of relying on one or a few favourite genealogy sites such as Ancestry.com for research.

*The successful outcome of this search, impressed upon me the advantages of The Genealogist as a family history research site and of the age old saying 'never put your eggs (or search for your ancestors) in one basket'! Of course, not everything is online and certificates need to be ordered to authenticate findings. With this in mind, I set out to compare The Genealogist with sites I more commonly make use of.

Look for every possible source of information...

The first thing which I found interesting and a reminder to check multiple sources to verify information, was the confusing fact that Ancestry and The Genealogist had transcribed different parishes for Joseph's address in the 1851 census. The address I found on Ancestry was St Mary's of the Quay, Ipswich, Suffolk. The address provided in my search on The Genealogist, was Terrace Lane, St Mary's of the Elms. These are completely different parishes in Ipswich, Suffolk and obviously a transcription error on the part of one site. The Genealogist did have the added advantage of giving me the street name whereas on Ancestry.com I had to decipher this myself from the original census image and with the writing being almost illegible, this proved impossible. Adding insult to injury, I now had two different parishes as well as two different wives for Joseph!

Searching the address on FindmyPast confused the issue even more as I found the address transcribed as Tunnel Lane, St Mary Key. A further search for Joseph Turner on the British Origins website also listed his address as Tunnel Lane St Mary Key. Familysearch listed the address as St Mary Key, St Clement, Ipswich. From my own examination of the original image despite the hard to decipher old handwriting, I could clearly read St Mary Key. According to Geograph both the name Key and Quay have been commonly interchanged for this medieval church which is situated next to Ipswich's quayside. Google map searches to find old maps and street names close to both St mary's parishes, suggested to me that Joseph Turner in fact lived in neither Terrace nor Tunnel Lane but rather lived in Turret Lane, which is situated very close to the Church of St Mary's of the Quay, however that is a puzzle for another day.....It is Joseph's wives I am searching for! Another reminder though, of the importance of searching in more than one place.

St Mary's of the Quay © Copyright Adrian S Pye and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

From the 1851 UK census which I had accessed on Ancestry.com I knew that Joseph Turner's first wife was named Sarah. By the 1861 census his wife's name was Rosanner. In the 1871 census transcription on Ancestry, the second wife's name was shown as Rosina and in 1881, just to confuse matters even more, she appeared as Rosena. I set out to find out more about Joseph's first wife Sarah. By 1851, Joseph and Sarah Turner had two children - Sarah Turner born in 1849 and Eliza Munnings, born in 1845 and both according to the 1851 census, born in Ipswich, Suffolk. From Eliza's surname of Munnings I proposed that this may have been Sarah's maiden name.

Joseph Turner on my Ancestry tree

I commenced my search on Ancestry for the marriage of Joseph Turner, his birth year, between the years 1844 and 1849 (covering the childrens' birth years) in Suffolk. The eldest child, Eliza, having the surname of Munnings indicated that she was Sarah's daughter from before her marriage to Joseph, although she was stated to be Joseph's daughter on the census record. Finding no marriage to a Sarah, I narrowed the search to the years between 1846 and 1849. Joseph Turner, it seems is a very common name in Suffolk. After scrolling though several pages of possible marriages, I finally found the only likely marriage, in the October to December quarter of 1847, in Ipswich, Suffolk, to a Sarah Manning.

When I searched The Genealogist website for a marriage for Joseph Turner using the same information, his name, date of birth, and place Ipswich, Suffolk, between the years 1844 and 1849, I found a likely marriage immediately and rather than having to search several pages of results, it was the second entry on the first page of hits. This time the surname was transcribed as Munning.

A quick search found the marriage to Sarah Munning in 1848

Clicking on this result showed me that Joseph Turner married Sarah Munning in the October to December quarter of 1847. I discovered by an additional search on FamilySearch, that Joseph Turner and Sarah Munning were married on October 10, 1847 at St Matthew's, Ipswich, Suffolk. Saint Matthew, Ipswich, Suffolk was the same parish in which Joseph's parents were married which further suggested that I had found Joseph's first wife. This result recorded the surname as both Munning and Manning. Now feeling that I had a surname for Sarah I found the marriage on FindmyPast and more easily on Ancestry.com. My search had been surprisingly easy using The Genealogist and I was impressed to say the least! The Genealogistalso provided me with a link search for potential children of this marriage. Of course I will be ordering a copy of the marriage certificate to verify that this is my Joseph Turner, but my hunch tells me my Joseph's wife was Sarah Munning.

St Matthews Ipswich © Copyright Geoff Picks Creative Commons

My search for Joseph's second wife was slightly more complicated, since Ancestry's transcriptions of census records gave her name as Rosanner in 1861, Rosina in 1871 and Rosena in 1881 and her death in 1883 gave her name as Rosina. Out of interest, I compared searches for the marriages on Ancestry and The Genealogist. On Ancestry I had two methods of searching. Firstly, I had the advantage of being able to search records for Joseph directly from my tree (by clicking 'search records' at the top of the page) or alternatively, I could to go into the UK records and then into the England and Wales FreeBDM marriage index to enter my information: Joseph Turner, born 1820, County Suffolk, and look for the second marriage between the years 1851 and 1861. On the first page of hits and the fifth entry down I found a marriage for Joseph Turner in Ipswich, Suffolk, April to June in 1855 to a Rosa Cleveland.

Using The Genealogist website was slightly easier with a drop down menu to filter my search for marriages on the initial search page. So, no going into UK records, then finding marriage records before entering information. I found the same marriage (which was the only one with a female name anything like Rosina, Rosena or Rosanner) on the first page of results and as with Ancestry it was the fifth entry.

The marriage of Joseph Turner to Rosa Cleveland in 1855 using The Genealogist

Searching for Rosa Cleveland's birth and whereabouts on earlier census records on Ancestry, I discovered a Rossie Cleveland aged 8 years living in Ipswich, Suffolk in the 1841 census but with no parents present. On examining the original census record I could clearly read that the name was Rosina and had been incorrectly transcribed. No birth or Christening record showed up. The same search on The Genealogist for Rosa Cleveland showed no result at all, however, after changing the name to Rosina, I found the 1841 census record which showed her sister Julia aged 3 years to be living with her. This hit also gave me the address of Chapel Yard in the parish of St Nicholas, with a clickable link, which I found to be a most useful added benefit on this site. I found Julia Cleveland in 1851 living in an Almshouse in Foundation Street, Ipswich, Suffolk, aged 14 years, her occupation a milliner, and living with her grandmother Mary Croft aged 72 years. Foundation Street is also in the parish of St mary's of the Quay, further supporting my earlier assumption. Added research to me that Foundation Street is named for Tooley's and Smart's Almshouses. 'Henry Tooley, Portman of Ipswich by his will dated Nov 15 1550, left several estates for the purpose of erecting Alms houses ... for the main finance of poor persons therin.' (Words from a Plaque in Foundation Street.). Sadly, it appears that Rosina and Julia Cleveland were orphaned at a young age. Before I become too attached to Rosa, I must apply for the marriage certificate which will verify that this is my own Joseph Turner, by the names of his parents.

There is much more to discover about Joseph Turner and his two wives, including their backgrounds, families and the children of both marriages. Rosemary Koppitke's talk on using The Genealogist as a source of UK records has pointed out to me some quite unique and worthwhile features for research on The Genealogist website and I will certainly not be overlooking it in my future UK research.

I have also been reminded since the cruise, to organise my sources (thankyou to Jill Ball and Thomas MacEntee for their excellent suggestions with regard to doing this in their respective talks). In this way, when I am researching, I will not overlook or forget about any resources that I have used in the past.

It is worthwhile searching more than one site to check for transcription errors

↧

St Patrick's Day Post

March 17, 2014, 12:22 am

≫ Next: Knocking down Northern Irish Brick Walls using Wills.

≪ Previous: Putting into Practice what I learned on the 4th Unlock The Past Cruise...

My Irish Ancestors

Image Wikimedia ©©

Saint Patrick's Day, March 17, is traditionally an Irish day of celebration for the Feast of St Patrick - La Fheile Padraig . Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. Although officially a Catholic feast day, people all around the world, especially those of Irish descent, enjoy celebrating Irish heritage and culture.

I have Irish ancestry, on both my mother's and my father's branches of my family tree, although until the 1990's I only knew of my Northern Irish Protestant connection. My paternal grandmother, Jemima Florence White who was born in 1902, in Brookend, County Tyrone was Orange through and through despite marrying a Catholic Scotsman. I had no idea of my Scottish Catholic background until researching my family history much later. My grandmother was a very important influence in my life so I grew up with a strong sense of my roots being firmly planted in Ireland. Being young and having no knowledge of the Ulster Plantation, I was unaware of just how 'planted' those particular Irish roots were. If anyone asked me what nationality I was, whilst growing up, I always answered proudly - "Irish"! In fact I have German/Swiss/Irish/ Scottish/English ancestry, but for the purpose of this St Patrick's Day Blog post, I am Irish!

Jemima Florence MacDade (nee White) Image S.White ©©

Jemima Florence White pictured above, may not have true Irish roots, however, to my surprise, I discovered through my family history research that her husband Colin Hamilton McDade, born in Cumbernauld, Glasgow, Scotland in 1901 had very Irish catholic ancestry. I had found a marriage for Colin's parents John McDade and Elizabeth Gibson in 1894 in the Maryhill Catholic Church, but believing the family to be Presbyterian I filed this 'wrong' certificate away in a drawer. It was only when my aunt traveled to Scotland and visited the GRO in Edinburgh some years later, that we realised that this was indeed our own John McDade and that he was indeed catholic. Going back a further two generations, I discovered that my 4th great grandfather, James McDade was born in Ireland in around 1780. My McDades were Irish!

Elizabeth Gibson McDade Image S.White ©©

This was not the only Irish branch of family I discovered hiding amongst the foliage of Scottish leaves on my tree. Elizabeth Gibson's mother, Mary Fearns ( surname also Farrins) although Scottish born, in Falkirk, Stirling in 1821, was the daughter of an Irish father, named George Farrins. Her mother, Mary Cupples born in Falkirk also was the fifth child of Alexander and Agnes Cupples of County Down in Northern Ireland. My Irish family tree was sprouting branches rapidly.

Image Wikimedia ©©

Just as I thought I had unearthed all of my Irish forefathers, I came across a surprise Irish connection on my mother's family line. The discovery of my two times great grandfather, Michael Frayne, born in Dublin in 1820 has led me on an exciting Irish convict journey. A family of Irish Frayne and Kelly convicts, in fact who are the inspiration for my newest blog called Family Convictions - A Convict Ancestor.

So on The feast day of Saint Patrick himself, 17th of March, 2014, I feel quite qualified to call myself Irish. At least in part. I wish a very happy St Patrick's Day to my all of friends of Irish descent.... and to my cousins descended from the Irish McDades and Leonards, and who all live now in Illinois, USA.

'May good fortune be yours, may your joys never end' and may your river be as green as the hills of Ireland.

↧

Knocking down Northern Irish Brick Walls using Wills.

August 13, 2014, 4:35 pm

≫ Next: Genealogy Photo Challenge 2014

≪ Previous: St Patrick's Day Post

"In the name of God, Amen, I William White of Brookend, Arboe... declare this to be my last Will and Testimony" and... Who was Sarah Jane Thompson?

Jemima Florence White - daughter of Sarah Jane Thompson and Hugh Eston WHite, grand daughter of William White and great grand daughter of Samuel Clarke

BREAKING NEWS: Not one, but two seemingly impenetrable Northern Irish Brick walls have recently crumbled through the finding of Wills of ancestors.

As anyone with Irish or Northern Irish ancestry will attest, the journey towards finding Irish and Northern Irish ancestors has long been fraught with difficulty. Despite websites such as Emerald Ancestors, Ancestry Ireland, FindmyPast Ireland, The Ulster Foundation, and Irish Origins, just to name a few, my Northern Irish ancestry was not easy to trace until I recently found the Wills of Northern Irish ancestors. PRONI, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland must be congratulated for its project to digitalise Will Calendars. The records attached to the website's facility for searching Will Calendars were updated in March 2014, to cover the period 1858-1965. Will transcripts have been digitalised and images are currently available for Londonderry 1858-1899, Belfast 1858-1909, and Armagh 1858-1918. If you haven't visited the PRONI website for a while, it may be well worthwhile conducting a new search.

The discovery of the Last Will and Testimony of my great great grandfather, William White of Brookend, County Tyrone and also the Will of my three times great Grandfather Samuel Clarke of Ballycomlargy in County Londonderry, threw wide open, a window to my Northern Irish ancestry. Samuel Clarke's Will was kindly sent me to me by a previously unknown Irish cousin who found me through Ancestry.com. It is now available for me to download on the Proni website as well. I have also recently found the Will of my great great grandfather, William White on the PRONI website. Prior to reading the contents of these Wills, I knew frustratingly little about my County Tyrone and Londonderry ancestors.

Hugh Eston White, son of William White of Brookend and Sarah Jane (Thompson) grand daughter of Samuel Clarke of Ballycomlargy

WHAT INFORMATION MIGHT BE FOUND IN A WILL

Wills are an invaluable resource for family historians. Depending on the detail included in your ancestor's Will, you may find singularly exclusive information concerning such assets as land,farms,businesses and homes owned by ancestors. Will Calendars inform you of the date of death of an ancestor as well as when Probate was proved. Wills also disclose which family member inherited the family property. This is especially meaningful information if you are interested in a history of the land or house. Wills also importantly detail where an ancestor lived. In the writing of a Will, one of my Northern Irish ancestors helpfully provided a most detailed description of the location of his farm in Ballyblagh, Omagh. He named the roads between which it lay, the river which ran through it, its acreage, a description of the house and farm buildings, and even the number of cows he owned. This is particularly useful data since I am researching from Australia and therefore unable to search the land registry in Belfast in person.

Wills often include the occupations of ancestors and the employment of other family members. Other particulars of interest which may be listed are family possessions. These may range from details of farm equipment, household items and furniture to personal items such as jewelry. If you have any precious family heirlooms in your family, it just might be that an ancestor's Will could provide the clue to tracing its origin. I have established the provenance of a family eternity ring through its mention in three generations of Northern Irish Wills. If you are fortunate enough to have had a particularly loquacious ancestor, his or her Will might make mention of such personal items as a family bible, books, a piano, special items of furniture, or every day things including beds, bedding and even brushes and combs! Wills can provide much or meager information, depending upon the writer. I have found progenitors' Wills which are so devoid of detail as to straightforwardly 'leave all my belongings to my wife', and others which are an indubitable bounty of information.

Wills often include the names of spouses and children and often, significantly, married names of daughters. Frequently the writer of a Will names grandchildren and other relatives or family friends. Depending upon the amount of information a person has chosen to include in his or her Will, it may disclose places of residence of relatives and the names of their spouses. Sometimes a Will is a veritable wealth of information you would not find anywhere else. One example of information likely to be found only in a Will, are the names of children born outside a marriage. I have one Northern Irish ancestor who kindly included the name of his 'illegitimate' son in his Will, thereby informing me of a previously unknown branch of family to trace. It is doubly rewarding to discover that an ancestor of the wandering kind was charitable enough to provide in his Will for offspring of a liaison. Not only do you learn that he was a fairly decent chap, but importantly, he has divulged to you a possibly well kept a family secret.

A wonderfully wordy Will might furnish you with crucial clues regarding the whereabouts of other descendants of your ancestors. When family members immigrated to different countries, they frequently lost contact over several generations. As a consequence, later generations may have no knowledge of their whereabouts. Much research time can be saved if your ancestor benevolently imparts this information in a Will. In my great great grandfather William White's last testament, he generously bequeathed me much valuable information regarding the countries, cities, towns and addresses to which each of his offspring had immigrated, as well as affirming the addresses of several daughters who had remained in Northern Ireland.

It is important to note that there can also be misleading omissions in Wills. For varying reasons, the name of one or more offspring might be absent, as was the case in the Last Will and Testament of my three times great grandfather, Samuel Clarke. The absence of a crucial name in his Will generated a perplexing mystery for the Irish branch of my Clarke family, although it was this very omission which eventually brought two branches of our family together.

THE WILL OF SAMUEL CLARKE OF BALLYCOMLARGY, COUNTY DERRY, FARMER - AND WHO WAS SARAH JANE THOMPSON?

The Last Will and Testimony of my three times great grandfather, Samuel Clarke, was discovered not by myself, but by someone in Ireland who I now know to be my third cousin. We both descend from Samuel Clarke, (1808-1889), a farmer of Ballycomlargy, Londonderry, in Northern Ireland. My cousin found me while attempting to solve a family mystery. Samuel Clarke's Will had named a granddaughter, Sarah Jane Thompson, but inexplicably, had made no mention of who her parents were. Although Samuel named his children in his will, he had no daughters with the married name of Thompson and none of his children had a daughter named Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane Thompson, although stated in the Will to be Samuel's granddaughter, did not appear to fit into the Clarke family anywhere and her identity remained a mystery to the family in Ireland until the search led to my Ancestry Tree.

Sarah Jane Thompson sits elegantly on a paternal branch of my family tree, as my great grandmother, Sarah Jane White, nee Thompson. Sarah Jane immigrated to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in 1912 with her husband, my great grandfather, Hugh Eston White and their five children, one of whom was my grandmother Jemima Florence White. Sarah Jane Thompson's mother was the only offspring of Samuel Clarke not named in his Will.

Contact between my cousin and I through Ancestry.com generated an exciting exchange of information which connected two branches of a family who lived on opposite sides of the world, each who had no previous knowledge of the other. There was a reason why Samuel Clarke's daughter was not mentioned in his Will but his granddaughter was named.

Samuel Clarke wrote his will in 1887. His daughter Sarah Jane Clarke, the eldest of his eight children, had predeceased her father, in 1873, at the age of 40 years. In his Last Will and Testimony Samuel Clarke mentioned only the names of his living offspring. He made provisions for one child of his deceased daughter because he himself had raised her. Sarah Jane Thompson's four older siblings had remained with their father, who remarried the same year that their mother died. Years later, with older generations of family gone and with them, any first hand knowledge of family history, Sarah Jane Thompson had become an enigma for my Irish Clarke cousins. On my side of the world, in Australia, I had no knowledge of my great grandmother's siblings or that I had Clarke relatives who were Clarke descendants in Northern Ireland. I know from the Will, that Sarah Jane was the only one of Sarah Jane Clarke's and Joseph Shaw Thompson's five children to be raised by her Clarke grandparents, after the death of her mother when she was a year old. My Irish cousin and I have now become friends, learning about each other's branch of our family, exchanging precious family photographs on Facebook and corresponding by email.

Title :		Date of Death :	22 October 1889
Surname :	Clarke	Date of Grant :	17 February 1890
Forename :	Samuel	Reseal Date :
Registry :	Londonderry	Effects :	Effects £189 10s.

I had no way of knowing, until I read Samuel Clarke's Will, that Sarah Jane had been separated from her siblings and lived with her mother's parents, following her mother's death. I had assumed that since her father had remarried quickly after his wife died, that she had been raised along with her siblings, by her step mother, Eliza. It is this type of personal family history, which if not passed on orally through generations of families, might only be discovered in a Will.

At the time that her grandfather Samuel Clarke wrote his Will, Sarah Jane was 12 years old. It is quite moving to read about the personal items that Samuel Clarke bequeathed his granddaughter. In addition to money, he listed items which he must have felt were important to her, including a brush and comb set, a bed and items of bedding. He provided for her care after his death by one of his sons, her uncle John Clarke. John Clarke was named in Samuel Clarke's Will to inherit the family farm. The carefully considered provisions made for his granddaughter in Samuel Clarke's Will, were a declaration of his love for her. It is a wonderful thing to see in writing, an emotional connection between ancestors. Samuel Clarke chose well, since the bond between Sarah Jane Thompson and her uncle John Clarke is demonstrated by the fact that he later in life, lived with her, her husband and her family at Brookend, County Tyrone. Quite often emotional interactions between ancestors are something abstract that we must imagine for ourselves. It is often only the words written in a letter or diary or a Will, that truly expose warmth and affection between forebears. Samuel passed away two years after writing his Last Will and Testimony and it is comforting to know from this Will, that he had provided for his granddaughter's care and her future. Often, it is information included in a Will, which can provide the ingredients for an authentic story about ancestors.

Sarah Jane White nee Thompson as a married woman at the White's Dairy Farm, 'Carrig-na-gule', Seventeen Mile Rocks, Qld

The information in the Last Will and Testimony of my three times great grandfather, Samuel Clarke of Ballycomlargy, Desertlyn, County Derry, set in motion, a journey to discovering four generations of Clarke family members. But for Samuel Clarke's Will, I would be still completely unaware that my great great grandmother, Sarah Jane Clarke, had seven siblings, or that her youngest daughter had been raised by her parents following her death. I might never have discovered my many cousins in Northern Ireland who like myself, descend from Samuel Clarke. Information found in Wills can provide valuable clues that might not be found anywhere else.

THE LAST WILL AND TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM WHITE OF BROOKEND, COUNTY TYRONE, FARMER

The 1887 Last Will and Testament of my great great grandfather, William White of Brookend, County Tyrone, provided me with the information I needed to crash through a brick wall which I had all but given up on. Credit for this find, must be afforded to the PRONI website. William White was the father of my great grandfather, Hugh Eston White, who married the granddaughter of Samuel Clarke, Sarah Jane Thompson, in 1896, in Woods Chapel, Magherafelt, Londonderry.

Looking across the land that was William and then Hugh White's farm in Brookend, Co. Tyrone

WHAT I KNEW PRIOR TO READING THE WILLS OF WILLIAM WHITE OF BROOKEND, COUNTY TYRONE

Prior to finding the Will of William White, I knew very little of my Northern Irish White family (who bear no relation to my husband's County Down Whites ...... we think!). I had nothing more than a possible sibling for my great grandfather and an anecdotal indication of a connection to a County Tyrone family named Watters.

In June of 1913, my paternal grandmother, pictured above top, arrived in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, aged 11 years. According to the passenger records for the ship Ayrshire, Jemima Florence White was travelling with her family. With her on the journey from Ireland to Australia were her father Hugh Eston White, her mother, Sarah Jane nee Thompson White, sister Violet Victoria Maud, 16, and brothers William Thomas aged 14, Samuel John Clarke, 12, and Andrew Hugh Thompson, the youngest child aged 7 years.

From his marriage certificate, I knew that my great grandfather, Hugh Eston White was born in County Londonderry in around 1866, and that his father's name was William White. Family anecdotes informed me that Hugh Eston White had departed County Tyrone, Northern Ireland because of ailing health, and that he relocated his family to a country with a warmer climate quite reluctantly, on his doctor's advice. My great grandfather, Hugh White and his family lived on a flax farm at Brookend, near Loch Neagh in County Tyrone before immigrating to Australia. I heard many stories from my grandmother as a child about her life on the farm named Carrig-na-gule' at Brookend. My grandmother's anecdotes never included the names of aunts or uncles or grandparents and as a child I did not think to inquire. I had little information about my Northern Irish White family.

Marriage records informed me that Hugh White was born in County Londonderry and that he married Sarah Jane Thompson in Woods Chapel, Magherafelt, in Derry. I had little difficulty in finding my great grandmother's Thompson family in the Griffith's Valuation and other Londonderry records.

CLUES THAT LED NOWHERE BEFORE FINDING THE WILL OF WILLIAM WHITE

The only information that I could find about my two times great grandfather, William White, was that he had married in County Londonderry and that his son Hugh, was born in this same county. Since Hugh and Sarah White had lived in County Tyrone, I had no idea whether my Whites originated in Londonderry or in County Tyrone. I had the name of my great grandfather William White, a wife named Matilda, and that is where my knowledge of this family ended in Northern Ireland. Other clues, led nowhere. I had the name Matilda Junk, with whom my great grandfather Hugh was staying with in Londonderry, in the 1911 census, along with two of his five children. Despite harbouring a strong hunch that Matilda Junk's name was a clue, I was unable to find any information about who she was. ON the night of the 1911 census, Hugh's wife Sarah ( Thompson) was at home on the family farm at Brookend, with the rest of their children and living with her was her uncle John Clarke. I also had the name Isabella White as a possible sister for my great grandfather, Hugh. Isabella White had married a Robert Orr of Lisnamorrow, and although I felt that she was Hugh's sibling, I was unable to substantiate this. The names Robert Orr, Matilda Junk, Isabella White and John Clarke should have been keys to unlocking a door to the past, however, since my search was in Northern Ireland, they remained clues that did not lead to any evidence. To further complicate my instinct regarding Isabella White (Orr) , I was contacted by someone in Canada who had an Isabella Brown ( nee White) on her husband's family tree, as the daughter of my William White of Brookend. Isabella Orr began looking less likely to be the sister of my great grandfather.

Many years ago, my grandmother told me that 'two generations of Whites in County Tyrone, married tow generations of Watters'. For some reason this comment stayed with me and a I wrote about this in one of my blog posts. Not long afterwards, I was contacted by a man with the surname Watters, who lives in County Tyrone. He informed me that his mother had been a White who married a Watters and that his grandmother, Sarah Louisa White had also married a man named Watters. This revelation supported my grandmother's story, which was substantiated, when we discovered that his mother was my grandmother's first cousin. For the life of us, however, we could not work out where Sarah Louisa White fitted into my White family or exactly how we were related through her, beyond my family anecdote. We had no success researching, despite my cousin collecting parish records in Northern Ireland, and my researching online. No birth record could be been found for Sarah Louisa White and were unable to prove our connection. That is.... until I found the Will of William White.....

THE WILL OF WILLIAM WHITE REVEALED A WEALTH OF INFORMATION

Although the death certificate of my great grandfather, Hugh Eston White states that his mother's name was Matilda, I have been not been to find any record of their marriage. Finding William White's Last Will and Testimony not only confirmed her name to be Matilda, but almost unbelievably, it handed me the names of all of their children and their spouses as well as the places where most of them had immigrated to. Places such as Allegheny City, Pittsburgh, Penn, USA and Toronto, Canada, suddenly became places where I might search for relatives.

THE ISABELLA WHITE/ ISABELLA BROWN MYSTERY SOLVED

My grandmother once told me that her father had never wished to leave Ireland, but had only done so because of ill health. When his doctor asked where he might choose to go he answered, "Canada". His doctor had been amused at his choice of a country as equally cold as Ireland and advised him otherwise. I have long wondered why he thought of Canada. Australia seemed to me to be the obvious choice, since the eldest brother of his wife Sarah, had earlier immigrated to the Darling Downs in Queensland. Reading William White's Will, my excitement could barely be contained. William White's daughter and Hugh's sister, Isabella Brown, had gone to Canada to live with her husband, Thomas Brown. And all at once before my eyes, the pieces of a puzzle began to fall into place. as grandson, Hugh Orr,was mentioned as the son of Robert Orr of Lisnamorrow. This was the husband I had for the Isabella White on my tree. My contact in Canada and I have now pieced together that Isabella first married Robert Orr and after his death, remarried Thomas Brown. They immigrated to Canada, leaving two of the Orr children in Tamnavalley, who joined their mother later, in Canada. It turns out that we both have the correct Isabella White on our trees as Isabella Orr and Isabella Brown because she married both Robert Orr and Thomas Brown, but we might never have known this fact except for the information in Will.

THE SARAH LOUISA WHITE MYSTERY SOLVED

Nothing could have quite prepared me for the thrill of finding Sarah Louisa Watters nee White, in William White's Will. My cousin in Ireland and I had all but become resigned to the fact that we might never understand our relationship - and there it was right in front of me in William White's Will. 'to my daughter, Sarah Louisa Watters, married to John Watters of Tamnavalley...'
I had had thought that Sarah Louisa might be the sister of my great grandfather but until their father,William White confirmed this as evidence in his Will, it had remained nothing more than a hunch.

OTHER INFORMATION IN THE WILL

Prior to finding this Will, the only information I possessed, were the names of my great grandfather Hugh Eston White, and his father William White, the name Matilda as a possible mother and a potential sister named Isabella. All at once, this Will confirmed Matilda as my great great grandmother, Isabella as my great grandfather's sister, as well as six more sisters and two brothers. - Jemima, Matilda, (Isabella), Thomas, Annie, Robert, Eliza, Sarah Louisa, and Eleanor. To further discover the addresses where they lived, was astonishing. Finding one of these names in particular, has had immense meaning for my family. My grandmother's name, Jemima has been passed on to one of my daughters and one very special granddaughter, Primrose Jemima Florence [5/9/2014-6/9/2014], as middle names, and now that we have found an even earlier generation of namesake, for whom my grandmother was obviously named, the name Jemima has assumed even greater significance.

Jemima Florence White (left with her sister Violet) was named after her paternal aunt Jemima White

HOW HELPFUL ARE THE CLUES FOUND IN WILLS

Wills provide unique information about our ancestors' lives. I have found it interesting to discover that some of my Northern Irish ancestors who were farmers, owned more than one parcel of land or farm. Names mentioned in Wills can provide much needed evidence for the family historian, on which to base further research. The relatives and friends mentioned in Will, can become vital ingredients in an authentic account of our ancestors' lives.

William White's Flax Farm, left to Hugh White and later the Quinn Farm Brookend, County Tyrone

Prior to finding the Wills of Samuel Clarke and William White, the name Matilda Junk meant little to me, other than that she was the person with whom my great grandfather was staying in Londonderry on the night of the 1911 census with two of his five children. After discovering that Matilda Junk, nee Clarke was my great great aunt in the Will of Samuel Clarke, I began to construct a story around the fact that Hugh Eston White and his son and daughter (my grandmother Jemima Florence were visiting Portstewart in Londonderry. If one takes the time to think about the everyday activities in the lives of ancestors, such as shopping, visiting a doctor or holidays, we can only understand their lives by placing them within historical context as well as researching the places they lived and visited. I could easily assume, that whenever the White children required new clothing or shoes or needed medical appointments, the family might have taken them to nearby Cookstown. Now that I know the family had relatives in Londonderry, I can ponder that they might have travelled a the larger commercial centre such as Londonderry for these errands, because they had relatives with whom to stay.

Portstewart, pictured below, is a seaside resort town in County Londonderry. The address at which Hugh White and his children were staying on the night of the 1911 census was 14 Victoria Terrace which was almost on the waterfront of Portstewart. I have deduced that there may be another reasonable explanation for why Hugh White was in Portstewart on the 1911 census night.

Portstewart, Londonderry

A search for the will of Matilda's husband, John Campbell Junk, who died in 1893, showed me that John bequeathed to his wife and son Robert, his house and farms in Gortigal and his smaller farm in Ballyblagh, known as 'Paddy's Land.' John ordered that yet another larger farm in Ballyblagh was to be sold to pay any off all debts. In the 1901 census Matilda, 58, Robert 19, and Minnie 17, were living on the farm at Gortigal. The address at which Hugh was staying along with Matilda Junk in 1911, 14 Victoria Terrace, Portstewart, overlooked the sandy two mile long beach known as the Strand. It is entirely possible, given his ill health, that perhaps my great grandfather was holidaying with his two young children at the seaside to recover. I am now able to begin to build a narrative of my family's life beyond their flax farm; a story founded on clues found in the Wills of ancestors.

CONSTRUCTING A PICTURE OF THE BROADER FAMILY FROM WILLS

Wills can be an exclusive source of names on which to base further research regarding your family and social network within which they lived. The names you find in a Will can be as momentous as an obvious missing piece of a puzzle, or as obscure as a mysterious cue to point you in a certain direction. There can be something to discover about your own ancestors and the places they lived and visited, through researching their relationships with other people who were a part of their lives. The people mentioned in Wills as executors, for example would have most likely been a relative, a close friend or business partner or perhaps even a godparent to an ancestor's child. Seeking knowledge about the relatives, friends and other people within an ancestor's social and community network can enhance and enrich your understanding of your own forebears and their personal and social relationships.

When I discovered, through Samuel Clarke's Will, that Matilda Junk, who my great grandfather, Hugh White was staying with at the time of the 1911 census, was the aunt of his wife, Sarah Jane (Thompson), I thought about the importance of names in Wills and their significance as fragments of evidence. I began investigating the people mentioned in my ancestors' Wills. Matilda's husband, John, in his own Will, named his brother, the Reverend Thomas W. Junk, of Six Mile Cross, as executor of his will. In reading the Will of the Reverend Thomas William Junk, I discovered the names of his children and that he was the Minister of the Presbyterian Church at Sixmilecross, Omagh, County Tyrone. Since the Junks were cousins of both my White and Clarke families, by extending my knowledge to the lives of these relatives, I am gradually constructing a picture of the wider family community beyond my great and great great grandparents. Since they all lived within a reasonably close distance of each other, it is reasonable to think that my family visited the places in which relatives lived, therefore, these places and people become an authentic and compelling part of our ancestors' life stories.

The Presbyterian Church at Sixmilecross, Omagh where the brother in law of my twi times great aunt, was the minister.

My husband also descends from a family with the surname of White in Northern Ireland as I do. Family anecdotes place his White ancestors in County Antrim although I have not found any sign of them there. I have a niggling hunch that they might be secretly lying low in County Down, so I'm off to search the Will Calendars on the PRONI website to test my rationale......

↧

Genealogy Photo Challenge 2014

August 22, 2014, 9:47 pm

≫ Next: HOW GREAT THOU ART...OR IS IT GRAND?

≪ Previous: Knocking down Northern Irish Brick Walls using Wills.

Genealogy Photo Challenge 2014 for World Photo Day

The Family Curator has issued a challenge to genealogists and family historians around the world to celebrate World Photo Day by creating a photograph which blends pictures of the past and the present in a single photo. Thankyou to Pauleen for her Genealogy Photo Challenge blog post which reminded me to delve through my photographs to find something suitable for this challenge.

Houses, like all buildings, are constantly altered and adapted over time, for families and their changing needs and purposes. Every home is the heart of the family and as such is the keeper of memories. As a home changes and people move in and out of it, the house becomes an archive of collective memory. I am pleased to take this opportunity to tell just a snippet of this home's narrative.

My first home was at 24 Crescent Avenue in Enoggera, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. My parents built a brand new house in a newer suburb when I was seven years old but the home at Enoggera has always remained significant as the source of my earliest important childhood memories.

While on holidays in Queensland, several trips down memory lane, have found me driving past my first family home. Over the years since I lived in the house, it has undergone some significant alterations.

1950's

The home pictured above, was built in the 1950's, as a two bedroom weatherboard house with a brick base at the front but was higher at the rear with timber slats, in typical Queensland style. Shown in the photo below (and above in the 2000 and 2014 photographs) are the cassia trees which my mother planted along the side boundary fence. Now, in late 2014, these trees have been removed.

Rear of the house 1960's

During the seven years during the 1950's and 1960's when I lived in the home at Enoggera, it was painted a pale grey/green colour. It had a balcony with an ornate wrought iron railing and wide brick stairs at the front of the house.

The balcony at the front of the house ©

The fence was made of wire and white timber with white metal gates. Image Sharn White ©

2000

In 2000, when I saw my first home, I was surprised to see that it had changed considerably from the time when I had lived in it as a young child. New owners had modernised the house, enlarging it and replacing the brick balcony with a timber deck at the front. The window to the living room was the very same window however, as when I had lived there decades earlier. I recall climbing upon our lounge to watch through that window for the ice cream van. The colour scheme was vastly different with its bright yellow weatherboards and blue trimmed windows. What had seemed to me as a young child to be an enormous backyard had been reduced in size by a new extension to the rear of the house.

My first home in 2000 Image SharnWhite

2014

The latest view of my first home made me wonder if I had driven along the wrong street! It wasn't just that the colour scheme had altered but the roof line had changed significantly and the house bore little resemblance to the one I had lived in. It was only the brick base that was still recognizable from the past. The roof which had been a hip roof now looked very different with new gables. The 1950's built house had gone full circle and even back in history with its new transformation, giving it the appearance of a home reminiscent of the 1920's.

↧

HOW GREAT THOU ART...OR IS IT GRAND?

September 11, 2014, 12:07 am

≫ Next: ONE LOVELY BLOG AWARD

≪ Previous: Genealogy Photo Challenge 2014

'It's a Grand Mistake to Think of Being Great...' Benjamin Franklin with apologies for borrowing only an exerpt of his quote.

This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.

GRAND UNCLE noun Another name for Great Uncle (British Dictionary)

Have you ever found a distant relative and had difficulty in determining whether he or she is a third cousin once removed or a first cousin three times removed? One only needs to peruse numerous online family history discussions, to discover collective confusion about how to calculate family relationships based upon a common ancestor. As a family historian, when compiling your family tree it is important to familiarise yourself with family relationships and to understand the terms which accompany them. A number of family history programs will provide those calculations for you, to assist you in determining who is a first or second cousin, a first cousin once, twice or thrice removed, or whether your relative is a 5 times great aunt or a 5 times great grand aunt.. Because terminologies used by family history websites and programs vary, you can resolve any confusion by acquainting yourself family relationships.

Image State Library Qld In Public Domain. Wikimedia

There are numerous family relationship charts available online, to help you to understand and determine your confusing family relationships. I find it practical to keep several of these charts on hand to familiarise myself with cousin, grandparent, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, step, half and the general befuddlement of all family relationships. It has put an end to nights lying awake, almost pulling my hair out whilst trying to contemplate the exact nature of relationship between myself and the daughter of a daughter of the brother of a four times great grandmother. You might be wondering why I think it essential at all to understand distant kinships. And I can only admit by my own confession, that, one day, like myself, you just might be caught out, describing your relationship to an uncle incorrectly, on an international television program... and by jove you will wish you had made more of an effort. (For more on my misadventure, read on...)

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License.

GREAT AND GRAND RELATIVES

Now, if cousins aren't confusing enough, family historians invariably encounter other relatives on a grand scale. Some relatives... if you perchance to descend from Nobility... are undeniably grand, but there is still that perpetual genealogical pettifog concerning uncles,aunts, nieces and nephews and whether or not they are great or grand... or both! And it is this very confusion between grand and great which recently caused me to execute a grand familial faux pas, whereby I called an uncle by less than the number of greats he deserved. Of course, no one would be the wiser regarding my error, but for my broadcasting it here in this blog post, however, as a researcher I believe that my mistakes can become learning tools which might assist others their own research.

In Australia, the word grand is not commonly applied to uncles and aunts, nieces or nephews. The only grand relatives I possess, are the parents of my parents and the children of my children - grandparents and grandchildren. As for my great aunts and uncles, no matter how much they have notions of grandeur, and despite Ancestry.com's dedication to confusing me, they remain as great family members. After saying this, I must admit that I personally, have come to regard the use of the term 'grand' for uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces, as quite useful for genealogical purposes, however, the use of different terminologies can lend itself to some frustration unless you understand them.

Ancestry.com bestows the nomenclature, grand, upon my uncles and aunts on my public tree. Since Ancestry.com is an American based company, I assumed that the use of Grand, was a specifically American terminology for Great. GREAT, according to dictionaries, is indeed interchangeable with GRAND for the siblings of grandparents, however, my many and widely dispersed American cousins have assured me, that my McDade kin in the USA have for generations been GREAT but definitely not GRAND. Intrigued by the origins of the now, in my mind, 'Great Grand Debate', I turned to Irish, Scottish and English genea-friends for help. To further muddle my mind, they have all unanimously confirmed that their British and Irish aunts and uncles may be great but not one is the slightest bit grand.

MY PERSONAL CONFUSION WITH GRAND AND GREAT - AND....my faux pas

Recently I was confronted with a great/grand conundrum after taking part in the filming of an episode of a television series, where throughout the filming I referred to a convict relative as my great great great uncle. The episode focused in part on the second penal settlement on Norfolk Island and in particular on a convict, to whom I am related. I have also referred to the same convict in my blogs as my great great great great uncle or 3rd great uncle. Lawrence Frayne was the brother of my convict three times great grandfather, Michael Frayne. No doubt those who have conscientiously studied their relationship charts will note my error immediately! In hindsight, (which always makes its appearance far too late) I see now that I did not give the relationship the thought that it deserved. Nor had I taken the time to determine accurately the relationship. Sometimes, however, it is not until we are actually confronted with a reason to do so, that we bother to to calculate family relationships correctly. Everyone is a cousin or an uncle and in a busy life with limited research time, that seems to suffice!

After filming and during the editing of the episode, I was asked to confirm the relationship with my uncle, as there appeared to the show's researchers to be some confusion. They had determined me to be the great great great grand niece of my convict relative, whereas I, (a family historian who should have known better), had referred to him as my great great great uncle. Although I had on my late nights awake, given a great, perhaps even grand deal of thought to my cousins, I had sadly neglected the aunts and uncles on my family tree. After a number of emails back and forth, further confusing everyone, I consulted relationship charts, several of which seemed to disagree. Finally, I drew up my own chart for my 3rd great grandfather, Michael Frayne and beside him, his brother, Lawrence... and discovered my error! I found that I am indeed the three times great grand niece of Lawrence Frayne. If I do not wish to use the term grand, then I am this convict's four times great or great great great great niece. I have no idea how many times throughout two days of filming I called Lawrence Frayne my three times great uncle but all I can say is,,,,thank heavens for editing!

My Great Grandmother Florence Reece-Hoyes nee Morrison. She looks rather grand I think!

THE USE OF GREAT AND GRAND

Grandparents (the parents of your parents) are afforded the prefix GRAND not great. What I had forgotten, WITH REGARDS TO MY UNCLE, crucially, was that grandparents always have the prefix GRAND, which effectively means great. So when it comes to the siblings of grandparents GREAT and GRAND MEANS THE SAME THING. Your GRANDfather 's brother is your GREAT Uncle or your GRAND Uncle.

Family relationships would be so much simpler if we had greatparents and great uncles or grandparents and grand uncles. GREAT and GRAND both signify a generation above your parents. So GREAT GREAT or GREAT GRAND would indicate two generations above your parents. Confusion often results from the interchangeable terms great and grand.

I have traced one branch of my Swiss family back to my 11th great grandfather, Christian Häberling, born in Zurich in 1527. Because the 'grand' in grandfather is interchangeable with 'great', my 11 times GREAT GRANDFATHER, in fact, possesses the equivalent of 12 GREATS. (11 greats + 1 grand)

From this logic comes the calculation that the brother of my 11 times great grandfather would also have 12 greats and therefore be my 12 times great uncle. If I use the term GRAND toreplace great, then the brother of my 11 times great grandfather is my 11 times great grand uncle. The brother of my 3 times great grandfather is both my 4 times great uncle and my 3 times great grand uncle. Because of the confusion caused by the difference in the number of greats between grandparents and great uncles and aunts, I can see why Ancestry finds it much simpler to apply grand to relatives sideways on your tree.

Image Sharn WHite © My great grandmother in Glasgow Scotland and my great/grand uncle John McDade

In a recent discussion about the use of great or grand for aunts and uncles, genea-friend Kirsty Gray gave me the following excellent advice for remembering greats and grands. 'You have to be grand before you are great'.

I have decided that like the term GRAND. It seems logical to use when calculating relationships for genealogical purposes because grandparents and their siblings have thesame number of greats plus one grand. The brother of my three times great grandfather is then my three times great grand uncle.

If you prefer to use GREAT for uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews, you simply need to remember to add one extra greatfor the grand that is your grandparent. The brother of my three times great grandfather in this case, is my four times great uncle.

USING GRAND FOR UNCLES AND AUNTS

GRANDPARENT-----------------------------GRAND UNCLE

GREAT GRANDPARENT------------------GREAT GRAND UNCLE

GREAT GREAT GRANDPARENT-------GREAT GREAT GRAND UNCLE

USING GREAT FOR UNCLES AND AUNTS

GRANDPARENT-----------------------------GREAT UNCLE
GREAT GRANDPARENT------------------GREAT GREAT UNCLE
GREAT GREAT GRANDPARENT-------GREAT GREAT GREAT UNCLE

Image Wikimedia Creative Commons ©©

DETERMINING AN ACCURATE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MYSELF AND MY CONVICT UNCLE
After an exchange of several confusing but ultimately humourous emails between myself and the film company, I reached the conclusion that I was not, as I had believed myself to be, the great great great niece of Lawrence Frayne. He is of course, still my uncle, however, I had embezzled him of one great! My direct ancestor Michael Frayne, is my three times great grandfather, therefore, I am the three times great grand niece of his brother OR, alternatively, I am his 4 times great niece. For the purpose of the tv series we went with great great great grand niece. And now...it is time to revisit my old blogs to correct my blunder of familial bond and restore my uncle to one extra measure of greatness.

My error was that I had simply overlooked the significance of GREAT and GRAND and not taken the time to carefully determine this relationship accurately. I have learned from my mistake and now, having thoroughly familiarised myself with ALL relationships on my family tree, will surely save myself from other stressful situations. Then again, I take comfort from the words of Bram Stoker who said in Dracula, 'We learn from failure not from success'.

Frustration.. Image Wikimedia COmmons

ORIGINS AND SOME VARIATIONS OF GREAT AND GRAND

The origins of the usage of grand and great for relatives vary according to place, culture and language. The English language has evolved through time from Celtic, Germanic, Roman, Scandinavian and Norman influences.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, there are several theories as to the origin of the word GRAND in English. The notion of a grand parent appeared around the 13th century in France and is believed is to be derived from the Old French words grand or graund, meaning of the highest rank. Grandfather in Old French was grand-pere. The word grand in English could also have its origins in the Latin word grandis, meaning important or great. The Old English word great, implying big also has a similar sound and meaning to the Dutch and Germanic words of similar meaning, groot and gross. In German a grandfather is Großvater. Great grandfather is der Urgroßvater. The word Gross or Groß means great or large, while the prefix 'ur' can mean ancestral or original.
In Anglo-Saxon English. the word for father was faeder, grandfather was ealdfaeder, great grandfather was known by the term pridda faeder, which quite literally translated as third father.
In Old English the prefixes used for grandparents were ealde (old) and ieldra (older).

In the 13th and 14th centuries grandsire became a more accepted name for a grandfather. The use of grandfather and grandmother is considered to have appeared in England in the 14th and 15th centuries to replace the term grandsire.

My Irish Great Grandparents or Sheantuismitheoiraimorímór Image Sharn White©

↧

ONE LOVELY BLOG AWARD

September 19, 2014, 12:00 am

≫ Next: They Witnessed our Family History - Witnesses as Sources of Information

≪ Previous: HOW GREAT THOU ART...OR IS IT GRAND?

One Lovely Blog Award

I have been nominated for the ONE LOVELY BLOG award by the very talented Debra Watkins of the Pocket Full of Family Memories blog. Thank you Debra for taking the time to read my blog FamilyHistory4u and for deeming it worthy of this award. I am most grateful and at the same time humbled. I must recommend that if you haven't yet read Debra's blog to visit via the above link. I am certain you will enjoy her fascinating stories and her beautifully presented blog.

It is always rewarding to know that other writers appreciate one's writing and for that reason, awards such as this are a wonderful way in which to show our appreciation as bloggers for the effort that others put into their blogs. It is also an excellent opportunity to share and showcase other blogs that we enjoy reading and follow ourselves.

Here are the Rules for The One Lovely Blog Award.

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to that blog.

2. Share seven things about yourself.

3. Nominate 15 bloggers you admire, or as many as you can think of.

4. Contact your bloggers to let them know you have tagged them for The One Lovely Blog Award.

Image Sharn White ©

Seven Things about Me

1. I Love to Write

Since I was a child I have loved to write. When other children in my school classes were groaning at the thought of writing an essay, or composition as we then called the stories we wrote, I was already far away in my own world of imaginative thoughts. I wrote fictional stories and poetry mainly, but also kept diaries from a young age. Unfortunately, I no longer still have any of these childhood anecdotes, as my mother, who had early Alzheimer's Disease (in her 40's) threw them away, unaware of what she was doing. My mother was my inspiration when it came to writing. She impressed upon me her own love of writing and language, as well as her creative imagination. I wrote stories in my spare time and filled note books, complete with illustrations. Drawing and painting were my next great love. My mother was my greatest fan when it came to my stories, often contributing with her own ingenious ideas for plots. Together we fashioned some fabulous fictional characters and colluded over melodramatic and marvelous story lines. It is my passion for writing that enticed me into blogging in 2009.

My beautiful mother was my inspiration. Image SharnWhite ©

2. I am a History Fan!

My father was a keen history buff and I feel certain I inherited his infectious passion for history. My favourite school subjects were Ancient History and Art History and I have continued that love of the past into my adult life. I have studied Ancient History at university and I am currently studying a history degree through a university, off campus,(although I may end up holding a record for the world's oldest university student at the rate I am going...) I especially enjoy Australian Colonial history and in particular Convict history, possibly because this ties in well with my family history. I am quite fascinated by Medieval history as well and have a large and ever growing collection of medieval history books. I love nothing more than to trace my family back to the Middle Ages and beyond. I suppose really I am curious about anything from the past.

3. Genealogy is an Obsession of Mine

I have more than one hobby so it is difficult to find enough time to research my family history. Many late nights are the result of limited time, but I delight in following clues and unearthing ancestors. Whenever I find new forebears, it is never enough to just know their names and dates of birth, death and marriages. I am compelled to research the places where they lived and to place their lives within the historical context of the times in which they lived. These diversions often mean that instead of finding ancestors, I am off researching in depth things or places that related to the life of an ancestor, such as a heritage listed water mill in Lincolnshire, UK, a butter factory in Cooroy, Queensland, an old house that was once a hospital operated by a nursing great great great aunt, an 1870's rail carriage built by a great great grandfather, a family sheep farm and the graves of ancestors. Family history connects us individually to our collective world history and it is that aspect which makes history become personal and relevant. Although family history digs up the past, one of the most exciting aspects of it is connecting with and meeting new relatives in the present. Through my family history, I have many new cousins, both near and far who have become my best friends. Last but not by any means least, the genealogy community is a generous and very friendly place to be a part of. I have made some exceptionally good friends through associating with generous and caring people worldwide who share my passion for family history.

4. I Have Lyme Disease

This is not an aspect of my life, that I find easy to speak about, however, with recent controversy raising its head yet again in Australia, regarding the existence of Lyme Disease, I feel it is now time for me to speak about my own experience. Far from being in any way 'poor me' related, my comments are my way of raising awareness about the existence of this debilitating Tick born illness. I hope also, to show, that despite handicaps in life, one can still achieve, maybe not every goal but many. I have been listening to the 'Lyme Disease does not exist in Australia' argument for 21 years since I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease (with a positive Western Blot test which had been sent to the USA). I spent two months in intensive care and a year in and out of hospital, so desperately ill that I wasn't expected to survive. I wrote letters to my children, expecting not to see them grow up. When I became ill, I presented with encephalitis, myocarditis, neurological problems, partial paralysis, swollen joints, breathlessness to the point that I couldn't walk, and many other symptoms. Lyme Disease is often referred to as The Great Imitator! It is not a pleasant disease. What makes it more difficult to deal with is the lack of help available for sufferers in Australia.

I spent five years in total, bedridden, on oxygen unable to walk. With the help of two exceptional doctors who believed in Lyme Disease, and who were willing to experiment with unconventional treatments, I began to slowly improve. I was unable to have the recommended anti-biotic treatment for Lyme Disease as I had anapylactic reactions to all anti-biotics. Before my diagnosis I spent a long time being taken to many specialists whose reactions to my symptoms included (quote) "You are obviously a frustrated housewife. Go home and quit your bitching". It was a frustrating time, not just medically, but for my family as well. The youngest of my four children was only three years old and the eldest eleven. They had to do without my mothering significantly, for seven years, I was fortunate that I had and still have an amazing and supportive husband and the most courageous and resilient children any mother could be fortunate enough to be blessed with. Well, apart from one inventive child who decided that cooking mince with banana sauce could be a regular contribution!

I find it most concerning to see that little has changed regarding medical opinions in the 21 years since my diagnosis. I have lost friends to Lyme Disease in that time because they were denied medical treatment. Many doctors who might be tempted to treat the disease feel they must refuse, because of the risk of being struck off the medial register. These days I am, for the most part, well, and I maintain the attitude that Lyme Disease will not stop me from doing the things I most love. I travel, although I often end up spending weeks if not months bedridden with fatigue, arthritis, severe vertigo and neurological symptoms when I return. My Lyme Disease riddled immune system has caused my body to attack my own organs. So I am missing a few - but nothing so far that will deter me from living life to the fullest. I suffer, as do many Lyme patients, from dyslexia so it may seem strange that I have chosen to follow my passion for writing combined with history in my blogging. My blogs may not be published as often as I would wish but when one has to edit every word because each one is completely jumbled or missing the first letter, writing anything is time consuming. Writing, for anyone with Lyme Disease, is a mammoth task. Writing, for me is made more complicated by the fact that my blogs are always very wordy. Despite this, I love blogging and I am most honoured that my blog posts are enjoyed by others and my hope is that everyone who reads post this might make just one other person aware of Lyme Disease. AND I AM EXTREMELY GRATEFUL TO MY FRIENDS WHO KINDLY EDIT MY POSTS... WITHOUT THEM I WOULD NOT HAVE A 'ONE LOVELY BLOG' AT ALL.

5. I Love Books

You might notice that I didn't say 'reading'. My zeal for reading closely matches my enthusiasm for family history and history however, I said books because I am a collector as well as a reader of books. I suspect that I will never have time in my lifetime to read the many books I have. I have bookshelves groaning under the descriptive weight of my bounteous books, and tsundokus (a wonderful Japanese word for piles of unread books) reposing by my bed. I cannot walk past a book store. I love the smell of books, the touch of the paper and the allurement of the covers. Sometimes one simply does have to choose a book by its cover! My largest collection by far, is of history books but I collect children's classics, books about places and gardens and architecture and antiqarian books that take my fancy.

Image available under Creative Commons License ©©

6. I could not live without Social Media!

Social Media, in my opinion, is the best thing invented, in my father's words, 'since sliced bread'. Every day, on Facebook I am able to 'talk' to my family and friends who live far away from me. I am constantly moved by the kind gestures I see posted, and the positivity that is spread around the world. Just this week I joined a group of people posting 'happy flowers', (a picture of a flower each day simply to spread good cheer). There are of course, negative aspects of all social media but I try to overlook negativity. For me, the positives far outweigh any antagonism. I keep in touch with events occurring in the world and in the genealogy community as they happen, via Twitter. I find this a wonderfully informative media platform. I choose wisely whom I follow and the resources available through this social medium are boundless. Google Plus is another of my favourite social media platforms, although I have yet to make the quantum leap into the world of Google Hangouts. I will get there, Jill Ball! Google Plus introduced me to an annual event called the Google Plus Photographic Walk. This increasingly popular gathering was launched in 2011. I attended the very first Google Plus Walk in Sydney and proudly donned my Google T-Shirt to walk around the city of Sydney in a groups, photographing buildings, the Botanic Gardens, the beautiful Harbour among other things, whilst receiving helpful tips about photography on the way. Eager photographers use everything from a smart phone to expensive cameras but all are welcome. In 2012 I completed the Google Plus walk in Adelaide since I was attending the 13 th Genealogy and Heraldry Congress there at the time. On both walks I was accompanied by my geni friend Carole Riley who is as keen a photographer as I am.

7. I am a Keen Photographer! (see above).

Pauleen Cass, who was on the 4th Unlock The Past Cruise in February this year with myself and about 200 other genealogy and history buffs, will attest to my obsession for taking photographs (which possibly equally matches her own enthusiam). An example of our collective craziness when it comes to snapping photos, was while walking the foreshore of Hobart. Suddenly we both stopped and with a simultaneous 'oh look!' from both of us, we headed wordlessly across the street. I turned to Pauleen and asked, " Are you heading toward the boats or that seagull in the puddle?" "Seagull" was her quick reply.... Well, it was a great reflection photo! We could easily have missed our cruise ship so distracted were we then by some crab pots.....

My Seagull Photograph,Image Sharn White ©

15 BLOGS THAT I RECOMMEND

There are far more than fifteen blogs which I admire and some of those have already been nominated for The One Lovely Blog Award. Here are my nominations:

1. A Family Tapestry

The following quote is an example of Jacqi Steven's engaging style of writing, which makes her blog so easy and enjoyable to read, " There are two kinds of genealogical research: the reasonably exhaustive search and the wild goose chase. Sometimes, you can't know which one is which until it is all over."

2. From Helen V Smith's Keyboard

Helen's blog posts are always well researched and brimming with fascinating information. A must read.

3. Fur Trade Family History

I have followed Nancy Marguerite Anderson's captivating Hudson's Bay Fur trade blog for some years. Nancy began writing about her ancestor Alexander Caulfield Anderson and his expeditions but her blog has evolved and in it she describes the lives of many people, places and events connected to the fur trade in Canada. This blog is well worth reading.

4. Andrea's Ancestors - If you are interested in some fascinating information about DNA, then this is here well researched and comprehensively written blog for you.

5. 89 WW1 Heroes

An interesting blog about the lives of 89 men listed on the town of Newquay War Memorial in Cornwall. Of you have an interest in WW1 then you will enjoy reading this well researched blog.

6. Anne's Family History

Anne Young has written about many topics on her family history blog. Her lovely style of writing and her excellent pictures demonstrate how to research your family history. A great read.

7. Family Stories, Photographs and Memories

Titles like 'Nan's lemon Butter' and 'Granite Town - Links with Sydney Harbour Bridge won't disappoint when you read Diane Hewson's well researched and entertaining blog. This is a blog I have followed for some time and I highly recommend it.

8. Seeking Susan-Meeting Marie-Finding Family

Catherine Crout-Habel, founder of this blog, passed away in July of this year. Catherine has been sorely missed in the genealogy community. Catherine's daughter, Kirrily is continuing in her mother's footsteps with her own unique voice. I would like to wish Kirrily well and to honour her mother with The One Lovely Blog Award.

9. A Rebel Hand

Frances Owen's blog, began as the tracing of her ancestor convict, Nicholas Delaney. This has been one of my favourite blogs for some years. Frances has since broadened her always fascinating blog to include a wider range of genealogy topics. A must read!

10. Lives Once Left Behind

A beautifully presented and very informative blog, especially if you have New Zealand ancestors as I do. Whether you have NZ ancestry or not, this blog is well researched and well worth reading.

11. Ancestor Detector

I discovered Pat Spears genealogy blog when looking for tips on how to research my Swiss ancestors, although this is just one interesting topic that this resourceful blogger covers. Pat writes her blog to share her family stories, successes, techniques and to share resources with others.

12. The Scots Irish

This blog is an excellent resource if you have Scottish or irish ancestors. Although it often focuses on American Scots-Irish, there are some really interesting information which might assist you in your search for Scottish and Irish forebears.

13. Donna's Irish Geneaology Resources

Donna is a professional genealogist specialising in Irish ancestry. Her blog is a must read for those with Irish ancestors.

14. Wishful Linking Family History Blog

Maria Northcote's blog is another I have followed for a long time. Maria's eye catching titles and well research blogs are always a great read.

15. Jax Trax

Another blog on my list of favourites is Jackie Van Bergen's extremely well researched and well written and informative blog. A recommended and always interesting read.

I know I have left out some of my very favourite blogs, however, some have been nominated by others and limiting my nominations to 15 was a difficult task. Thankyou again Debra for thinking enough of my blog to nominate me for this lovely award which I very much appreciate.

I will notify these 15 blog owners as soon as possible.

↧

They Witnessed our Family History - Witnesses as Sources of Information

October 14, 2014, 6:17 pm

≫ Next: Wordless Wednesday

≪ Previous: ONE LOVELY BLOG AWARD

They Witnessed our Family History

Our ancestors did not live in isolation. Just about every significant event in their lives was witnessed by other people. Births were witnessed, Godparents acted as witnesses for babies of family and friends. When our forebears married, their ceremonies required witnesses to the occurrence. Death certificates and other legal documents were required to be witnessed. Family circumstances which might have been witnessed include births, deaths, marriages, divorces, Wills, applications to purchase land, immigration and naturalisation records. Even criminal ancestors employed witnesses to testify to their character in court appearances, (usually in the desperate hope that they might avoid punishment). Witnesses were a crucial part of our ancestors' lives.

Our past, our history and our family history has been well witnessed and the names and testimonies of witnesses are a valuable legacy for us to explore. The significance of these testimonies is much greater than merely names on paper. People who certified our ancestors' legal documents and witnessed their meaningful life moments, were often people who were close to them. They were family friends or relations - brothers, sisters, parents or cousins. Often witnesses will be the people, when researched, who provide crucial evidence for, or hold vital clues to, unraveling family stories. It is well worth not overlooking the people who personally witnessed our ancestors' lives as a source of information about our ancestors.

The names of witnesses can assist in confirming the identity of an ancestor. This can be especially helpful when you have a forebear with a common name. Researching the people who witnessed important events in your ancestors' lives can add 'meat to the bare bones' of their stories. In the following examples, I hope to show how researching those who witnessed the lives of my own ancestors has significantly augmented my understanding of their life stories.

Mary Williams - Witness Mary Bird

I have never found a marriage certificate for my third great grandparents, convict Michael Frayne and Mary Williams. I suspect that they were never legally married. Mary stated on several documents that she was born in Singleton, in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales in about 1845, however, I have been unable to find evidence of her birth in Singleton nor a marriage to Michael Frayne. I have a marriage certificate for Michael Frayne and his first wife Bridget Donelly on February 8, 1858 at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney. Bridget Frayne died in Singleton on August 29, 1864.

In 1861, in Singleton, a woman named Mary Williams married a James Buckley. I have determined this to be my Mary Williams by process of elimination. Her mother Mary Bird gave consent for her daughter, a minor to marry. Although my Mary's parents are reported to be Mary Kelly and Joseph Williams, I believe Mary Bird and Mary Kelly to be one and the same person. In March, 1865, Mary Williams gave birth to a son named Michael. Again, the witness was a Mary Bird so I know that this Mary Williams is the same person who married James Buckley four years before having a son in her maiden name. Since James Buckley was alive in 1865, I must assume that this child was not his. There is a world of difference, however, between believing and proving beyond doubt that you have the correct ancestor. Witnesses can provide evidence or they can provide clues. In this case I found significant clues in a news article of 1864. It is not evidence but it affords an enticing new line of research for me.

A news article in The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Adviser on Thursday 25th August 1864, reveals that Michael Frayne was charged with a breach of the Publican's Act, for allowing disorderly conduct to take place in his licensed public -house. A witness claimed that I saw four women there in the parlour, one was lying drunk on the sofa and another was a little the worse for liquor. This witness suggested that at least one of the women was a prostitute. A second witness, Fanny Dawson countered this evidence by stating that she herself was at Mr Frayne's house last Saturday evening; a girl named Betsy Bird was there, also Mrs Buckley and Ruth Rose. They were not drunk.

As soon as I read this news item several names stood out immediately, those being Buckley and Bird. These were both surnames on the certificates I had collected. Mary Bird was the witness to the birth of a baby boy to a Mary Williams in March of 1865. Mary Bird was also named as a witness and significantly, the mother of Mary Williams on the occasion of her marriage to James Buckley in 1861. A likely synopsis begins to materialise.....If my two time great grandmother Mary Williams married James Buckley, there is a distinct possibility that she was the same Mrs Buckley in the news item, stated to be present in the public house of Michael Frayne, especially as searching has failed to find any other Mrs Buckley in the area in 1864. My hunch is that Betsy Bird may have been Mary's step or half sister. It is entirely plausible that Mary, then with the married name of Buckley, was acquainted with Michael Frayne just prior to the death of his wife Bridget in 1864, Coincidentally, or not, she gave birth to a baby named Michael (no father named) whilst still legally married to James Buckley in 1865. Of course it may just be a strange coincidence that my 3 times great grandfather's name was Michael.... and it is still just in the 'hunch' stage of research but......Since Mary Buckley (Williams) did not divorce her husband James and there no record of his death, then this would account for there existing no marriage record for my three times great grandparents. Mary would have still legally been married to James Buckley. It could also feasibly be the reason that Michael and Mary left Singleton and went to live in Brisbane, Queensland as 'husband and wife', before their daughter and my great great grandmother Sarah was born in 1868.

The incidence of the surnames Bird and Buckley appearing in connection with Michael Frayne could in fact be coincidence, but at the very least, the appearance of the names of people who witnessed an episode in my third great grandfather's life, has presented significant incentive for further research.... and in the meantime, I have a most intriguing speculation!

Mary Bird witness to the marriage of Mary Williams and James Buckley

Edward Joseph Weston -Witness Christopher Bauer

Edward Joseph Weston is my great great grandfather on my maternal side of my family tree. He married Sarah Frayne, the daughter of the same Michael Frayne and Mary Williams mentioned above. Edward Weston was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, to Edward Weston and Mary Ann Turner. After the death of his father, young Edward aged 10, with his mother left England in 1870, bound for Maryborough, Queensland. They arrived on board the ship, Flying Cloud in August 1870.

From a letter to Edward, 'Teddy' from his Aunt Ann Manton Weston in London, it seems that Mary either traveled to Australia with the intention to marry, or that she met her future husband soon after arriving in their new homeland. Aunt Ann Weston, in her letter, sent after September 5, 1870, instructed 'Teddy' to be a good boy for the man soon to be his new father. The name of Mary Ann's future husband was not mentioned in the letter (I often wish that my ancestors were more forthcoming in the information they provided....) and despite a search for a marriage using both Mary Ann's maiden name of Turner and married name Weston no marriage was found.

Edward Weston is a reasonably common name, so when searching the digitalised newspapers on the National Library of Australia's website, TROVE, I limited my search to Queensland and Maryborough, where I knew the family had resided. My search resulted in numerous news accounts regarding the name Edward Weston which gave me cause to believe that my ancestor's name appeared in the newspaper quite regularly with regard to court appearances. My family were not the only Westons in Maryborough, however, and Edward himself was most unhelpful in never using his middle name, so when I found the name Edward Weston reported in the Maryborough Chronicle, I had no evidence that this person was in fact, my great great grandfather until I discovered someone who witnessed first hand Edward's misfortunes.

The compelling clue which enabled me to verify that the news reports I had found on Trove, were related to my two times great grandfather, appeared in the form of a witness named Christopher Bauer. The man named Bauer appeared more than once as a witness for Edward Weston when he was charged with various offences. Then with good fortune, one single news report generously informed me that the witness, Christopher Bauer, was Edward's step-father! If I could prove a marriage between Edward's mother Mary Ann and Christopher Bauer, I would have the evidence to prove that this was my seemingly wayward Weston ancestor.

By searching marriages under the groom's name of Bauer, I discovered that a Mary Ann 'Thorner' had married German born Christopher Bauer on December 2, 1870, four months after arriving in Maryborough. Her parents were named as Joseph and Mary Turner, which were the names of my Mary Ann's parents and her birthplace and year was the same also in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. There was no doubt that I had found my Mary Ann's marriage. Despite a letter from England indicating that Mary Ann was to marry, the marriage had been difficult to find because her maiden name was misrecorded as Thorner instead of Turner.

Edward, it appears, was a touch too fond of the drink. He was employed as a general labourer, in various capacities, which was somewhat in contrast to his Weston ancestors who were generations of London doctors in Middlesex, London. He appeared too frequently in the Maryborough and other district courts, charged with drunkenness and assault under the influence, and his witness was usually his step-father. A patient man it appears was Christopher Bauer, even reported to have visited the home of one of Edward's assault victims, George Pitt, who was not happy with the attention young Edward Weston was paying to his daughter. Poor Christopher, on this occasion, was beaten with a fence paling, by Pitt, and all three men ended up in court. Patience had worn thin by the time Edward was 29 and his step father appears to have reached his limits with the incorrigible step son. On July 20, 1883, Christopher Bauer had his step son charged with ungentlemanly language almost amounting to threats, according to the Maryborough Chronicle, which reported the trial. Edward's Witness had turned accuser however, he had provided me with all the evidence I needed to significantly enhance my story of my great great grandfather's early years. It also went a long way towards explaining he reason that his son Fraser left him at the Goodna Mental Aylum (which treated alchoholism) in 1925 with no contact or forwarding address!

There are references to court appearances for one Edward Weston after his marriage to Sarah Frayne, for use of obscene language and drunkeness, however, without the known name of a witness I cannot verify that this is my great great grandfather (although his reputation by now has preceded him well and truly.. so I have my strong suspicions and little doubt!)

Christiana Siegler and Gottlieb Nerger - Witness Johan George Haug

Christiana Siegler, born 18th December, 1840, in Beutelsbach, Baden-Weurttemberg, Germany, is my third great grandmother. Christiana arrived in Brisbane, Queensland on board the La Rochelle on August 15, 1863 with her 17 year old brother Gottlob. On the 19th of September, just a little over a month after her arrival in Australia, Christiana Siegler married Prussian born Gottlieb Nerger in 1863, in Drayton, Queensland. Gottlieb had arrived in 1852 aboard the Caesar Godeffroy and was a good deal older than Christiana. Since the birth date of my great great grandfather, John Gottlieb Nerger, was January 9, 1964, only four months after Gottlieb and Christiana married, it is apparent that Christiana was pregnant when she arrived in Australia. Gottlieb and Christiana could not know each other previously since they came from different origins, so the question sat unanswered.... how did they meet and marry so quickly? It was only after researching the witnesses of the marriage, that I was able to fill in the missing chapter of this story. One of the witnesses was a Johan George Haug. Investigating in more depth, I discovered that Johan Haug arrived in Brisbane, Queensland in 1855 from Germany. Johan was a schaefer or shepherd, as was Gottlieb Nerger and as both German speaking shepherds settled in Drayton on the Darling Downs within a few years of each other, they would certainly have become acquainted. The crucial piece of inforamtion which explained how Christiana and Gottlieb met was that Johan George Haug came to Australia from the same village in Germany as Christiana Siegler lived in with her family. The next thing to examine was the possibility that he knew the Siegler family.

A search of the passenger list from the ship, La Rochelle, on which Christiana and her brother Gottlob Sigler aged 17, travelled, shows Johan's wife Friederike and their two sons, Johan Heorge Jnr and Rahel journeying to accompany their husband and father in Australia. Accompanying Mrs Haug on the ship was Christiana and her brother Gottlob Sigler who were travelling alone. Christiana's parents, Johannes and Anna Siegler had lost five of their eight chldren so perhaps they believed that their two elder children could begin a better life in Australia. One daughter, Pauline Margarethe remained behind in Beutelsbach, too young to travel. Christiana's parents had been applying to immigrate to America for some time but had not been successful.

In 1862, the year prior to her journey to Australia, Christiana Sigler gave birth to a baby girl, Sophie Johanna who lived only a short time. This also could have been the motivation for sending their daughter to Australia for a new life. Armed with this knowledge, naturally my mind has been spinning with possibilities. Was Christiana having an affair with a married man in the small village the family lived in? Did her family consider her suitor unsuitable? With the information I discovered through this witness, it is feasible to surmise that the Siegler family asked Mrs Haug to supervise their 22 year old daughter during the long voyage to Australia with her 17 year old brother. Perhaps Friederike Haug herself, suggested that the older Siegler children accompany her to the new land where her husband had spent three years making a new life for his family. Christiana would have undoubtedly been regarded as help for Mrs Haug with her children during the long voyage. The passenger manifest for this journey made by the La Rochelle shows the Haugs and Sieglers travelling together and with this connection established between the Haug and the Siegler families in Beutelsbach, it is not inconceivable that Johan Haug arranged a marriage between Christiana Siegler and Gottlieb Nerger. Did Mrs Haug know that the young woman had fallen pregnant either on the voyage or just prior to leaving Germany? I will never know the exact details of the situation, however, I have the threads of a story to expand upon, purely because I researched Johan George Haug who acted as a witness to the marriage of my three times great grandmother, Christiana Siegler and Gottlieb Nerger.

[A son, my two times great grandfather, named, John (Johan) Gottlieb Nerger was born in Drayton, on January 9, (my birthday), 1864 and was claimed by Gottlieb to be his own child. The couple had two more children, George (probably named for Johan George Haug) and Hermann, before Gottlieb's untimely death along with his baby son Hermann, at the Gympie Gold Fields in September 1869]

John Gottlieb Nerger 9/01/1864

William White: Witnesses Thomas White and John Watters

Searching for the Wills of ancestors can be challenging if they possessed a common name. The Will of Esther Drusilla Lloyd was simple to locate thanks to her uncommon middle name, however, finding her husband William Lloyd's last testimony was more challenging. Unless you know an address or some identifying information about an ancestor, then searching for the Will of Tom Jones or William Williams, is like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. When I searched the Will Calendars on the PRONI website for a Will for my great great grandfather William White, I did not know when he had died or whether he has died in Londonderry or County Tyrone. It was only was the name of one Witness to his Will which identified him from the many William Whites who wrote a Last Will and Testimony in Northern Ireland. Without the crucial name of a witness which I recognised, I would not have been able to prove that I had the correct document. The only information I had was the name William White (from his son Hugh's marriage certificate) and a few family stories. I had no names for any other children besides my great grandfather, Hugh, and not even a name for William's wife.

While I was growing up, my paternal grandmother Jemima Florence McDade (White) , was fond of telling me stories about her childhood on the family flax farm in Brookend, County Tyrone. As a child, I was completely mesmerized by her tales. Unfortunately, among the anecdotes of near drownings in flax bogs and other more exciting adventure tales that were my preference, I neglected to notice the names of any ancestors. When I discovered that my grandmother's father, Hugh Eston White had been born in County Derry, and not Tyrone as I had believed, I had no way of knowing whether my White ancestry originated in Londonderry or Tyrone. The only story of my grandmother's that remained fixed in my memory and which included any names, was one which told me that ' two generations of Whites had married two generations of Watters.' This story included only the first names Anna White and John Watters.

Through my blog I had been contacted by a Watters relative from Tamnavalley in County Tyrone, who informed me that both his mother and grandmother had been Whites who married into his County Tyrone Watters family. His parents were in fact, the same Anna White and John Watters that my grandmother had mentioned. This person and I had no way of really understanding exactly how we were related however, other than that my White family had married into his Watters family. He did not know much of the White family history so I still did not know whether my twice great grandfather, William White had ever lived in County Tyrone. But I did discover that it was my grandmother's first cousin Anna White who had had married John Watters.

My task thus was to read possibly all of the 127 Wills written by men named William White in Northern Ireland, within the time frame in which I was searching, in the hope that I would find a Will for my own William. On page six of the results in my PRONI Wills Calendar search for William White, and in the fifty-second Will I opened and read, I found a name of a Witness to the Will which literally jumped off the page! As I read the following words, 'my son in law John Watters of Tamnavalley', I knew I had struck GOLD. Even William's naming of his son Hugh in the Will would have been insufficient information for me to identify him, since Hugh's unusual middle name of Eston was not mentioned. As Hugh was unmarried at the time of his father's death no spouse's name was included. I knew from my new Watters cousin in County Tyrone, that the Watters family lived in Tamnavalley so the name of this Witness was all I needed to verify that the Will was written by my great great grandfather, William White.

My great great grandfather's Will named all of his children, their spouses, their places of abode in Northern Ireland, Canada and the USA and even gave me names of grandchildren. I have since gone on to research all of the people mentioned in the Will and prove beyond doubt that I have the correct Will. The Will itself, was a treasure trove of information and but for the name mentioned to me as a child, of John Watters, and his witnessing of the Will of my great great grandfather, his father in law, I might never have found a wealth of information about my twice great grandfather, William White of Brookend, County Tyrone who married a County Londonderry girl and lived in Magherafelt, Derry where my great grandfather Hugh was born in 1866.

The people who knew your ancestors can be crucial keys to unlocking their stories. One can never overestimate the importance of the people who witnessed ancestors' real life events. These folk were there, on the spot, acting as eye witnesses to many important details regarding day to day occurrences and significant events in your ancestors' lives. They are sometimes the only people who can reveal significant extracts of your family history.

↧

Wordless Wednesday

November 4, 2014, 4:47 pm

≫ Next: So This is Christmas, and what have you done? ... My Christmas GeneaMeme

≪ Previous: They Witnessed our Family History - Witnesses as Sources of Information

Wordless Wednesday- a find on Ebay!

Image of Marburg in Queensland 1908

Researching your ancestors' communities can be very rewarding.

The above image is a photograph I purchased on Ebay, which hows of the town of Marburg in Queensland in 1908. The large building picturedon the left, centre, is the hotel which was licensed in 1907 to my great great grandmother, Hannah Morrison, in 1908 after her husband John, a prominent Sydney Rail Carriage Builder lost his fortune in the late 1890's due to the cancellation of a government contract.

↧

So This is Christmas, and what have you done? ... My Christmas GeneaMeme

November 28, 2014, 1:05 am

≫ Next: So This is Christmas - and what have you done? My Christmas GeneaMeme

≪ Previous: Wordless Wednesday

2014 CHRISTMAS GENEALOGY MEME

PLEASE LISTEN HERE for Christmas cheer....

December and the festive season is almost upon us. Decorations already adorn the shopping centres and some very organised friends and family members have posted some beautifully decorated Christmas trees on Facebook. Thinking today that it is high time I urged myself into the Christmas spirit I decided to devise a Christmas GeneaMeme while listening to Carols.... Genealogy memes are a wonderful way to record your Christmas traditions and memories for your family, so I hope that you will join me in responding to my prompts. The prompts are merely suggestions. Please fell free to answer any way you wish. Your answers may be as brief as one word or as loquacious as takes your fancy and please don't feel as though you must answer every prompt.

If you decide to participate in my 'So This is Christmas" genealogy meme, simply copy and paste the following prompts to your blog or facebook, or just write the headings and responses, and I hope that you will enjoy a trip down the Christmas memory lane. I have provided a link above to Christmas Carol 'So this is Christmas' sung by Celine Dion, to put you in a festive mood while you write....

I will compile a list of your GeneMemes and post the links to them on my own blog so please leave me a message if you would like your Christmas GeneaMeme published.

Wishing all my family and friends a very Merry Christmas Season,

Sharn

SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS - GENEAMEME 2014

1.WHAT KIND OF CHRISTMAS DID YOU HAVE AS A CHILD?

Was your childhood Christmas a religious one? Did you go to Church? Was your Christmas a large family festivity or a small occasion? Who did you spend Christmas Day with?

2. WHERE DID YOU SPEND CHRISTMAS?

When you were a child did you celebrate Christmas in your home, at a grandparents house or did you travel or go away on holidays and have Christmas away from home?

3. A LETTER AND SOMETHING YUMMY FOR SANTA

As a child did you write a letter to Santa or leave out food and/or a drink for him? Did Santa have milk and cookies at your home or did he find a refreshing beer to help him on his merry way? And don't forget the reindeer!

4. THE CHRISTMAS TREE

Do you recall your childhood Christmas tree? Did you have a real tree? If so, do you remember where the tree came from? Do you recall going out to get the tree? When did your family put the tree up? Who decorated your childhood Christmas tree? (see the prompt below for decorations) Have you carried any of your family Christmas tree traditions into your adult life?

5. DECORATING THE CHRISTMAS TREE

Who decorated your Christmas tree when you were a child? Did you help? Did you make or buy decorations. If you made your own decorations perhaps you might share a description of them here. What were your favourite decorations?

6. DID YOU DECORATE OUTDOORS?

Did you decorate your house or a Christmas tree outdoors, or put decorations on the roof of your house? Did you put up outdoor lights? Do you remember anyone in your neighbourhood putting up Christmas decorations outdoors?

7. CHRISTMAS CARDS

When you were a child did you give and receive Christmas cards? Who sent cards in your family?
Was there a special place where you displayed the Christmas cards your family received? What did you do with your Christmas cards after the festive season? Were they used in craft activities or were they kept?

8. CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS

Did you have a Christmas stocking as a child? Was your 'Christmas stocking' a pillow case or a real stocking? Where in your home did you put your stocking out? Were all your gifts placed in your stocking or did you have some wrapped under the tree?

9. CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

Who gave you Christmas presents when you were a child? Did you receive presents from Santa, your parents, from other family members, family and from school friends? Did you make any Christmas presents for others when you were a child? Can you recall any gift that you made? When did you open your Christmas gifts?

10. YOUR FAVOURITE CHRISTMAS PRESENT

Was there one Christmas present which stands out from your childhood as your best ever gift? What was it and had you been waiting for many years for this gift?

11. WAS THERE A PRESENT YOU WANTED BUT NEVER RECEIVED?

Did you ever have an unrealistic Christmas present that you wished for but did not receive?

12. DID YOU GIVE GIFTS TO TEACHERS AND FRIENDS AT SCHOOL?

As a child did you exchange gifts with your school friends? Did you give your teachers presents? Looking back now, can you recall any of these presents?

13. CHRISTMAS FOOD

What kind of special foods did your family have on Christmas Day? Did you have a hot meal or cold as is often the case with an Australian Christmas which occurs in the hot summer month of December? Where did you eat - indoors or outdoors? Did you have a picnic or was your Christmas meal a formal occasion? Did you have a favourite Christmas food? was there a particular Christmas food you didn't like?

14. A SPECIAL CHRISTMAS RECIPE

Was there one very special Christmas food from your childhood Christmas that you still have the recipe for or have carried on the tradition of making? Whose recipe was this Christmas dish?

15. CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

Did your family have any special traditions when it came to celebrating Christmas? Did you have bon bons on the table? Did you say grace before eating? Was your Christmas a special celebration of a cultural background? Perhaps your family went caroling or went to a Carols by Candlelight evening?

16. CHRISTMAS MUSIC

Do you associate music with Christmas as a child? Did your family sing Christmas carols together? Were you in a choir that sang Christmas carols? In what other ways was music a part of your childhood Christmases?

17. YOUR FAVOURITE CHRISTMAS CAROL

As a child, did you have a favourite Christmas song or hymn? Do you still enjoy listening to is now? Have you passed this Christmas song on to your children?

18. CHRISTMAS PARTIES

Christmas is often a time for festivity and parties. What Christmas parties did you attend as a child? Did your parents have work Christmas parties, or neighbourhood or street parties? Were you invited to these? If you were involved in group activities such as Scouts, Girl Guides or Sporting Teams, did you have end of year, Christmas parties?

19. CHRISTMAS CONCERTS/PLAYS

As a child did you ever take part in Christmas concerts, Pantomines, Nativity Plays or Band Performances?

20. CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS

On your Christmas school holidays, what did you do? In Australia, the Christmas break falls in summer so it is the longest break of the school year. Did you spend the holidays at home playing? Perhaps you holidayed at the beach, went camping, skiing or travelled? What activities do you remember doing? In countries where Christmas falls in winter, how do you remember spending your Christmas break as a child?

21. WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST CHRISTMAS MEMORY?

What is your earliest Christmas memory? What do you remember about the day?

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

↧

So This is Christmas - and what have you done? My Christmas GeneaMeme

December 8, 2014, 6:26 pm

≫ Next: THE LIST SO FAR....So This is Christmas Geneameme Bloggers

≪ Previous: So This is Christmas, and what have you done? ... My Christmas GeneaMeme

I My Response to my So this is Christmas and what have you doneGeneameme?

Throughout the next few weeks of December, I will be publishing and updating a list of bloggers who participated in this Christmas GeneaMeme. Please leave a comment on my blog or send me a message if you wish for your blog to be included in the list. Some bloggers have already responded so I had better get moving and write my own response. Here is my own So This is ChristmasGeneameme.....

MY GENEAMEME RESPONSE

SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS - GENEMEME 2014

1, WHAT KIND OF CHRISTMAS DID YOU HAVE AS A CHILD?

Christmas, when I was a child, was always a time of year that I looked forward to with great excitement. Christmas in my home, was regarded as a religious celebration in that we always attended a church service on Christmas morning. I do recall as a very young child, thinking it unfair that I had to to go to church just after opening my lovely Christmas presents! From the age of 7 I sang in our church choir and my favourite time to be a chorister was during the Christmas service. I remember feeling very proud wearing my light blue chorister's gown and singing Away in a Manger, Silent Night and O Come All Ye Faithful with the children's choir on Christmas morning. Christmas day was spent with extended family, enjoying a delicious lunch at the home of one or the other grandparent. My favourite Christmas days were those where both sides of the family gathered together, although this did not happen often. My paternal family was very musical and Christmas day spent with my McDade grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins was a day of concerts and singing. Christmas Day with my maternal grandmother always meant a swim at the beach in the afternoon, because she lived at Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane. This was always a much anticipated Christmas afternoon acitivity, since Christmas Day in Australia usually means very hot weather. My mother and my paternal grandmother were both amazing cooks so Christmas was very much about scrumptious food!

2. WHERE DID YOU SPEND CHRISTMAS?

Very few Christmas days were spent in my own home as a child. My maternal grandmother lived on the Sunshine Coast, a drive of two and a half hours in those days (or longer if the car wouldn't make it up Buderim Mountain [showing my age here, for those who recall travelling to the North Coast years ago....]). We often spent Christmas at Maroochydore, but on those occasions, my paternal grandparents and cousins sometimes traveled north to have Christmas lunch with us. Other Christmas lunches were held at the home of my paternal grandparents at Garfield Drive, Paddington Heights, in Brisbane. One Christmas Day when I was 13 years old, my family, my parents and two sisters and myself, had Christmas lunch at the Aero Club at Archerfield where my father was a club member. I am not sure why we did that (my mother had cancer around that time so perhaps it was to save her from cooking) but I do remember thinking that it didn't really feel like Christmas day without my mother's lovely home cooking.

3. A LETTER AND SOMETHING YUMMY FOR SANTA

As a child, my sisters and I always left out delicious refreshments for Santa. After all, he did have a very long night and Australia was one of his first stops before heading all the way over to the other side of the world. So we fed him well. Our family tradition was to leave a plate of delicious fruit mince pies baked by my mother. They had a thick brandy sauce to accompany them. Santa also received a nice cold soft drink (fizzy drink for my American friends) to help him on his way. Not forgetting the reindeer, we put carrots and lettuce out. All of this was placed near the Christmas tree and Santa must have had quite an appetite because never once left even a crumb behind.
Pauleen Cass in her Christmas Geneameme post reminded me that we also left a Christmas beer out for the garbage collectors and the milkman.

4. THE CHRISTMAS TREE

Today, my family has an artificial Christmas tree, but during my childhood we decorated a real tree every Christmas. The smell of a fresh pine tree to this day, evokes childhood Christmas memories for me. The highway to the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane was bedecked with an alternate patchwork of pineapple plantations and pine forests and a more perfect place to cut a Christmas tree you could not find.... so every December, at night, my father drove us north along the Bruce highway where Christmas trees grew in abundance seemingly just for the taking.. There we joined other families also searching by torchlight for their perfect Christmas tree. As a child, I didn't once wonder why we always went Christmas tree hunting at night by the light of a torch or why we didn't simply cut down a tree in broad daylight....Only later did I I realize that my early childhood Christmas trees were saplings growing amidst state pine forestry plantations. The small trees we and other folk cut were mere saplings seeded from the larger trees and would have never been needed for timber, but I can't help chuckling at my father's audacity! I have such joyous memories of joining other families search ing for Christmas trees by torchlight in the eerie shadows of giant pines at the foot of the Glasshouse Mountains. For me, the simple joy of cutting down our own Christmas tree, was an exciting adventure to look forward to every year.

5. DECORATING THE CHRISTMAS TREE

One of my favourite things to do as a child, in the months leading up to Christmas, was to make Christmas decorations to bedeck both the Christmas tree and our home. Each December, our house was filled with paper, glue, glitter and an assortment of other craft essentials. Towards the end of the school year, which is in December in Australia, hot classsrooms resounded with the sound of happy childrens' laughter as tired teachers abandoned learning in favour of Christmas craft activities. At home I created glittering decorations from dozens of gold and silver milk bottle tops strung together by means of a needle and thick coloured thread. Foil lids were washed and saved all year with the great anticipation of transforming these everyday items into wondrous Christmas ornaments. Milk bottle lids were also easily fashioned into pretty bells to be hung on the tree.

Every piece of colourful wrapping paper from the previous Christmas was saved to make bright paper chains to bedeck the tree. Patiently my sister and I cut many even strips of paper and glued the first one into a circle. Each subsequent strip was joined to make long paper Christmas chains to be draped around the Christmas tree and also hung from window to window in our home.

Image ©©

Possibly my favourite Christmas decorations to make were paper lanterns. This involved folding and cutting and gluing a piece of paper into a lantern shape and adding a paper or string handle to hang it from a branch of the tree.

I am certain we must have had other Christmas tree decorations and ornaments but the only ones I can recall now are those colourful homemade decorations which adorned our tree year after year. Decorating the tree was a family affair although I don't recall my father helping. Sometimes he played Christmas carols on the piano while we sang and placed our decorations on the tree.

6. DID YOU DECORATE OUTDOORS?

My first home, where I lived until age seven, had a Christmas tree growing in the front yard so each Christmas, my parents put lights on it. At our next and subsequent homes we put a Wreath on the front door but no other outdoor decorations were used. When an umbrella tree grew high enough in our front garden at Jindalee, my mother decorated it with tinsel. I remember my father taking us for a drive to see a street where the owner of one house had put many Christmas lights outdoors. It seemed like a fairy wonderland to me as a young child.I don't recall homes or indeed entire streets being decorated with lights and decorations as they are in many places these days. Probably the highlight of each year for me as a child was a trip to the city centre to see the large Christmas tree which sat wondrously decorated in front of the City Hall.

7. CHRISTMAS CARDS

Christmas cards we received were always hung on string on the wall between two windows in our lounge (living) room. My mother was the person who sent Christmas cards to family and friends. My sister and I made Christmas cards for family members. We loved craft activities so this was something we looked forward to each Christmas.

8. CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS

When I was a child my 'Christmas stocking' was a pillow case which my mother had sewn and embroidered a Christmas design on the front of. We called these our Santa sacks. Our names were embroidered on the pillow cases as well. I carried this tradition on with my own children, although they also had a traditional stocking as well which an elderly neighbour made for them each. A stocking may be more traditional but I must say I didn't ever feel we missed out with our pillow cases.... Possibly because it takes quite a few toys to fill a pillow case! Our 'Santa sack' pillow cases were left at the foot of our beds and we awoke to find them filled on Christmas morning. Usually in the Santa Sack we found toys, books or things useful for our holidays at Maroochydore, such as goggles, flippers and snorkels, or a beach ball, buckets and spades, beach towels and bags as we grew older or other small gifts. I recall thinking how amazing it was that Santa somehow always knew that we were having a trip to the beach and so provided us with appropriate gifts. One present, each Christmas, was wrapped and left under the Christmas tree and this was from my parents. When I was aged nine, I remember the excitement of receiving my first camera. But for the 1974 floods, I would still have the photographs I took with that camera on our Christmas holiday that year.

9. CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

Our immediate family opened presents on Christmas morning ( far too early for my parents I recall). Other gifts from grandparents were opened after lunch.
Our extended family all exchanged Christmas gifts and these were small presents such as brush and comb sets or jewelery boxes, books or cars and trucks for my male cousins. My paternal grandmother, right up until her death aged 93, when blind, made our Christmas gifts. Each year we cherished the lovingly crocheted tops, dresses, bags, bikinis she made for us. As we grew older, she made items for our glory boxes and these were our Christmas gifts from her. I still have the beautiful tea towels she hand embroidered and crochet edged (I have never been able to use them) and the doilies, table cloths that she sewed. Some have been thoroughly made use of but I have kept a few items to pass down to my children.

10. YOUR FAVOURITE CHRISTMAS PRESENT

My favourite Christmas present is easy to remember for two reasons. The first is that I had desperately wanted this present for many years but was told I must wait until I was twelve years old to be responsible enough to own it. It was a bicycle. Little did my parents know that I had been riding a friend's bicycle all around the locality in which we lived for some years. I was a competent rider but I couldn't tell them this because I was forbidden to ride until the age of twelve. The second reason I recall this gift is that my ten year old sister received a bicycle the same Christmas. As excited as I was to finally have the bicycle I had asked for every Christmas since I was seven, my joy was dampened by the fact that my sister not only received her bicycle two years early, but I was thoroughly convinced that her bright red bike was much prettier than my black one. I never let my parents know that I was disappointed and in the end it was much more fun riding with my sister than on my own and my disappointment was short lived. We lived on 12 1/2 acres on the outskirts of Brisbane and the very hilly roads were made of dirt and not sealed. Our father insisted he drive behind us when we first ventured on to the road. My parents, having no idea that I had been cycling on friend's bicycles for some years, could not believe how quickly I took to bicycle riding!

11. WAS THERE A PRESENT YOU WANTED BUT NEVER RECEIVED?

Since my family was musical, Christmas gifts sometimes consisted of a musical instrument. One Christmas I received a flute and another, a guitar. I was pleased to learn to play these instruments, however, throughout my entire childhood years, all I really wanted, was to learn to play the piano accordion. My Scottish born grandfather had taught me to play a small button accordion which he had brought to Australia from Glasgow and I desperately wanted to learn to play a 'proper' piano accordion. This was one instrument that neither of my parents liked so there was never going to be an accordion sitting beneath the Christmas tree for me. I persistently put a request for an accordion in my letter to Santa every year and each Christmas I was certain that somehow my mother had been in touch with him to cancle my order!

12. DID YOU GIVE GIFTS TO TEACHERS AND FRIENDS AT SCHOOL?

At Primary School, each year I gave my teachers a Christmas present. I think these gift were usually handkerchiefs. Now, after reading the Christmas memories of others in their geneamemes, I can't help thinking that our school teachers were possibly not as excited about Christmas as we children were, with the prospect looming each year of taking home all those hankies! My close friends and I exchanged small gifts, however, I don't really recall what these were.

13. CHRISTMAS FOOD

With a mother and a paternal grandmother who were both excellent cooks, Christmas was always a time to enjoy scrumptious food. My grandmother who had been born in Northern Ireland, carried on her Irish family tradition of cooking a hot traditional roast turkey and vegetables for lunch on Christmas day, followed by a boiled plum pudding. Finding a threepence or a sixpence (later five cents ) in my piece of pudding was the highlight of Christmas lunch. My grandmother's custard, ice cream and Christmas shortbread stand out distinctly in my Christmas food memories. She passed on to me her secret recipes for these tasty treats after I married, and I will pass on the recipe to my own daughters.

Christmas lunch at the beach home of my maternal grandmother was much as mine is today - a cold lunch befitting the hot Australian Christmas weather. Ocasionally we enjoyed lunch outdoors if the day was not too hot. Usually our North Coast main meal in the middle of the day, consisted of a variety of cold meats, ham, turkey, chicken, pork, and many and a great variety of delicious salads. Mum was a very inventive cook! My mother spent the weeks leading up to Christmas day, in a frenzy of cooking. There were Christmas cakes, fruit mince pies with brandy sauce (a recipe I dearly wish I had asked for before she succumbed to Alzheimers in her late forties), coconut ice, fudge, turkish delight, and many other Christmas delicacies. My mother's salads were legendary among our family and friends and her homemade mayonnaise is another recipe I wish I had today.

14. A SPECIAL CHRISTMAS RECIPE

My grandmother's shortbread recipe is still used today at for a Christmas treat in our home. It is still the best shortbread I have ever tasted!

15. CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS & 16. CHRISTMAS MUSIC

When I was a child, each Christmas Eve we gathered as a family to admire the Christmas tree bedecked with splendid home made decorations and colourful Christmas lights (I had no idea then that it had been unlawfully obtained) and we sang Carols together. Either my mother or my father played the piano to accompany us and I remember when I was around 12 years old, my sister and I played the guitar to accompany the piano. My sister and I practiced singing harmonies for weeks and we often gave a small guitar accompanied concert for the family. Music was an important part of my family's life.
On Christmas Eve, before bedtime, we children placed our Santa sack pillow cases at the foot of our beds and tried to stay awake for as long as we could to see Santa arrive. One sister has always claimed that she caught a glimpse of Santa Clause in his red suit climbing out of the bedroom window (in Australia not all homes have fireplaces or chimneys) and who knows? Isn't it a good thing to have a little magic in life to believe in...

17. YOUR FAVOURITE CHRISTMAS CAROL

As a child I had two favourite Christmas carols that I sang incessantly around the house. I must have driven my family crazy! They weren't the usual childhood favourites, such as Away in a Manger or Jungle Bells or Silent Night. The song I sang the most was The Holy City. I simply adored this Christmas Hymn which I had learned in the church choir and it still stirs emotion when I hear it.

My other favourite Christmas song was I saw Mummy Kissing Santa Clause.

18. CHRISTMAS PARTIES

In Australia, the school year ends in December, and the last day of the school year was always spent having a Christmas party. Each child took a plate of party food to school and school uniforms were abandoned for the day. Children exchanged gifts with friends and teachers, and I remember many of these days as being much fun.
My father's work parties were always very much child focused. When my father worked for Massey Ferguson Santa Clause arrived at the party every year on a tractor and gave every child a present. Hay rides in a wagon pulled by the tractor followed.

I was fortunate to be involved in quite a few activities as a child so the month of December was a very busy one with parties to attend for Ballet, Tennis, Girl Guides and Gymnastics.

19. CHRISTMAS CONCERTS/PLAYS

I studied ballet, tap dancing and Irish dancing as a child and each year we had a ballet Concert just before Christmas. Along with other young dancers from the Audrey Buchanan Ballet School, I danced a number of times in the Christmas Pantomime which was held every Christmas at the Brisbane City Hall. Prior to each of those pantomimes I always had a vision of myself being given a part which required a flowinglong tutu or princess gown but... alas, I was from memory, a mouse, a Christmas present and a red striped candy cane. On a high note, I do get to boast that I danced with the Queensland and Australian Ballet Companies. If prancing around as a little grey mouse or struggling to dance at all in a tight red and white candy cane costume counts.....

20. CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS

I was very fortunate that as a child, my maternal grandmother lived at Maroochydore, on the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane. I don't remember ever spending a school holiday, especially the long summer Christmas holidays at home. We had several holidays with my paternal grandparents, one at Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast and another at Labrador on the Gold Coast. The Christmas holidays were a time of complete freedom. I grew up in an age of innocence at a time when children could wander freely about, without fear of danger. My sister and I walked to the beach on our own aged 7 and 9 years. We swam in the surf and rode inflated tubes on the waves. We ate ice-cream on the way home and got into trouble for staying too long in the sun and getting sunburned. I knew many of the local children and together with them, we played in the high sand dunes that lined the surf beach. At Cotton Tree, where the mouth of the Maroochy River reaches the ocean, we frolicked in the calm water. As we grew older a roller skating rink nearby became a favourite place to spend our time. My father didn't always have work holidays around Christmas time but when was able come with us, I loved going boating and fishing with him in the Maroochy River. My Christmas holidays were idyllic. I look back on those days and I am very grateful for my wonderful Christmas holidays.

21. WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST CHRISTMAS MEMORY?

I don't have a very early memory of Christmas day itself, but I do remember attending a Massey Ferguson Christmas Party when I was only four or five. It may even be the one I am pictured in below. Santa Clause arrived on a big red Massey Ferguson tractor which was very impressive! I recall being too shy to go up to Santa Clause to receive my present, and my father taking me by the hand and walking with me. I also remember wanting my ride on the hay wagon pulled by Santa's tractor, to go on forever! If it was the party I was attending in the below photo that I'm remembering, then I have other less happy childish memories. I was five years old and had lost my front two teeth. I did not want to be photographed because of this and I refused to smile properly. I also was upset that day that my mother had pulled my fringe back off my face. I did love my new blue and white dress which my mother had sewed especially for me with its lovely white broderie anglaise apron over it. That Christmas dress was probably my favourite childhood dress.

WISHING YOU A VERY JOYOUS

CHRISTMAS 2014....

↧

THE LIST SO FAR....So This is Christmas Geneameme Bloggers

December 10, 2014, 3:11 pm

≫ Next: When Places Change... The Search for a Hotel in Sussex Street.

≪ Previous: So This is Christmas - and what have you done? My Christmas GeneaMeme

List of Blogs which participated in the So This Is Christmas 2014 Geneameme

THIS LIST WILL BE UPDATED AS GENEAMEMES ARE POSTED

Thankyou to the bloggers who are joining me in sharing precious childhood Christmas memories through my Christmas geneameme. The following blog posts are filled with most varied and entertaining Christmas anecdotes. For anyone who hasn't yet participated but wishes to do so, just leave me a link to your blog and I will add it to the following list of blogs and bloggers.

You Are Where You Came From - Kathleen Scarlet O'Hara Naylor

Family history across the seas - Pauleen Cass

Shauna Hicks Family Enterprises - Shauna Hicks

GenieQ - Helen O'Connor

lonetester HQ - Alona Tester

That Moment in Time - Chris Goopy

A Rebel Hand - Frances Owen

↧

When Places Change... The Search for a Hotel in Sussex Street.

March 10, 2015, 3:46 am

≫ Next: Congress 2015 in Canberrra is well underway!

≪ Previous: THE LIST SO FAR....So This is Christmas Geneameme Bloggers

When Places and Place-Names Change - Finding the Homes of ancestors.

I have been very fortunate when looking for ancestral places. Most of the places my ancestors came from have not changed enough to prevent me from finding the place where they lived. Buildings may have changed but the streets and street numbers have remained relatively the same. If you visit Main Street in Cumbernauld, Glasgow, where my paternal grandfather was born, you will find it much the same as it was when he left Scotland in 1923. My paternal great grandfather's flax farm in Brookend, County Tyrone remains quite undeveloped and so I can see it much as it was when the family lived and farmed there until 1911. My Swiss ancestors who arrived in Australia in 1873, came from Ottenbach near Zurich. In 1850, the population of Ottenbach was 1,169 and by the year 2000 the number had only increased to 2164 and the town hasn't changed much since my Häberling family lived there.

When places change significantly, and when land, buildings and entire areas are resumed for new use, whether it be for redevelopment for industrial purpuses or for the construction of new housing, or office developments, or for freeways to be built, when houses, buildings and streets disappear, it can present a significant challenge to family historians when attempting to locate the places where ancestors lived.

I was confrontedwith a situation of this kind last week when I set off in search of the location of a hotel owned in the mid nineteenth century, by the ancestors of Linda Seaver, wife of my genea-friend Randy Seaver (author of the well known blog Genea Musings ).

I met fellow blogger and american genealogist, Randy Seaver and his wife Linda in person for the first time, while attending the Rootstech 2015 Conference in Salt Lake City in February this year, although we had known each other through social media for some time. Randy mentioned to me that Linda's ancestor, Alexander Whittle, had been the licencee of a hotel in Sussex Street, Sydney, prior to his departing Australia and heading to the Californian Gold Rush. On hearing this, and having a particular interest in early Australian history, I offered to take photographs of the location of the hotel, which had been known as the Lancashire Arms.

I knew that much of the land in this part of Sydney had been resumed yearsago for redevelopment, for the construction of the exciting Darling Harbour precinct, so I did not expect that the original building would be still standing, however, I did not realise that the significant changes to the streets and general area surrounding Sussex Street near Darling Harbour, would proffer such an enthralling challenge when it came to finding the mid 19th century location of the Lancashire Arms. I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey on which this search has taken me. I have learned much more about life in this wharfside area of Sydney and crucially this excercise has encouraged me look at alternative ways to find an address when an entire precinct has been altered and streets completely vanished. I have written a number of house histories, so I am very familiar with tracking down altered street numbers, but this was my first intriguing case of a missing street.

Sussex Street shown on Google Maps

Below is a description of the location of Sussex Street in Sydney's CBD.

Sussex Street, Sydney
Sussex Street is a street in the CBD of Sydney, Australia. It runs north-south along the western side of the city, between Hickson Road and Hay Street. It is in the local government area of the City of Sydney. The street is 1.7 km long. Wikipedia

From information given to me by Randy Seaver, I knew that Alexander Whittle was granted his Publican's Licence for the Lancashire Arms hotel, on June 21, 1848. The document shows the address of the hotel to be Sussex Street and Union Lane, Sydney. Finding the location of the hotel at first looked to be a simple matter ... until I struck a problem... when I searched Google maps, no Union Lane existed anywhere near Sussex Street. When I went into the city and walked along Sussex Street, my walk confirmed that indeed Union Lane no longer exists. I realised that if the information on the Publican's Licence record was correct and if in the mid 1800's a Union Lane had run off Sussex Street I needed to find where it had been in order to pinpoint the location of the Lancashire Arms.

Darling Harbour as it exists now, is a busy waterfront leisure area and a popular place for tourists to visit, with its many restaurants, the Maritime Museum, Sydney Aquarium and Chinese Gardens among its attractions. In the 1800's, Darling Harbour (first named by English settlers as Cockle Bay for its abundant source of seafood) was the main wharf and port for shipping in Sydney. Market Street Wharf (on which the Sydney Aquarium now sits), was built in 1826 and the harbour flourished and grew to be a bustling convergence of industry, trade and shipping.

Randy Seaver's information showed that amidst the hive of wharfside acitivity around Sussex Street in June of 1848 Alexander Whittle was granted the Publican's Licence for the Lancashire Arms. This hotel was one of a number of hotels in Sussex and surrounding streets which were an important hub of social life for the workers, sailors and inhabitants of Sydney's wharf area.

A list of Publican's licences in 1849, published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Monday April 9, shows the names of licencees for 26 hotels in Sussex Street, including Alexander Whittle and the Lancashire Armswith the address given as Sussex Street but with no number.

Darling Harbour Wharves c 1900 looking across Darling Harbour from Pyrmont. North to South is from left to right. Image Wikipedia ©©

THE SEARCH FOR THE LOCATION OF THE HOTEL

In order to compile as much information as possible about the location of all hotels in Sussex Street, I decided to look at the lists of all Publicans' Licences granted for hotels in Sussex Street in the years before and after 1849 to see if this provided any information about the locations of the hotels. State Records NSW has a searchable online index of Publican's Licences, 1830-61. The citation for finding this record at State Records is NRS 14401 [4/82]; Reel 5062. An image of the 1849 Publican's Licence for Alexander Whittle can be found on Ancestry.com cited as Butts of publicans’ licences, 1830-1849. NRS 14401, reels 5049-5062, 1236. State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia.

In the nineteenth century, The Sydney Morning Herald and other newspapers, were in the practice of publishing lists of Publicans' Licences. I was familiar with this because I had discovered that one of my convict ancestors was granted a publican's licence in Singleton in 1864, through newspaper searches. As I searched available lists of Publicans' Licences around the time that Alexander Whittle had the Lancashire Arms, a distinct pattern began to emerge. Comparing the 1849, 1851 and 1853 list of Publicans' Licences in the Sydney Morning Herald on the Trove website I noted excitedly, that the hotels were listed in the same particular order in each year in Sussex Street. The street names in the lists were oredered alphabetically but no street numbers were provided. Interestingly, I observed that the hotels were listed in the exact same order on each list, give or take a few hotels appearing or disappearing. Hotels which were located on the corners of two main streets were listed under both streets as, for example, Darling Harbour Inn - Sussex Street and Market Street (1849 list). It became apparent as I perused the lists, that although no street numbers were given, the hotels were listed in order of their location in each street.

In Sussex Street, the hotels that were listed on corner addresses of streets adjoining Sussex, were listed from Erskine Street through King Street, Market Street, Market Wharf, Liverpool Street, Druitt, Bathurst, Dickson, to Goulbourne. In every list despite hotel and licencee names changing and new hotels appearing, this street order was the same. By following the corner streets on a map, I was able to see that the hotels in Sussex Street were listed from the Nothern end to the Southern end. This was a significant breakthrough in determining the location of the Lancashire Armsby looking at where it was placed in the list of Sussex Street hotels in the Publicans' Licence lists published in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Following the hotels that were listed on corner streets.. a pattern emerged.

In the 1849 Publicans' Licence List, the Lancashire Armshotel was the sixteenth hotel recorded on Sussex Street and was shown to be between the Governor Bourkehotel on the corner of Market Street, and TheHope and Anchorhotel on the corner of Sussex and Druitt Street. This suggested that to me, that the hotel was possibly situated between Market Street and Druitt Street. Taking into account that odd and even numbers are not necessarily opposite each other in any street, I still had a hunch that the hotel would be not far from my pinpointed bearing.

Dragon boat racing on Darling Habour, now a recreational area, near the location of the Lancashire Arms hotel. Image Sharn White

RESEARCHING THE WIDER COMMUNITY

Whenever I am looking for information regarding ancestors or the community in which they lived, I always to look beyond my own family and investigate the community they were a social, religious and economic part of, for clues about them or their lives. Following this same procedure, I looked for information regarding the hotels and other notable buildings which had been close to the Lancashire Arms hotel on the 1849, 1851 and 1853 list of Publicans' Licences. Searching newspapers of the time, I discovered street numbers for some of these hotels. Numbers for some of the hotels confirmed my theory that the hotels were recorded by name from the northern end of Sussex Street to the southern end in the Publicans' Licences Lists. Charlton's Hotel on the corner of Sussex and Market Wharf was number 116 Sussex Street. The Labour In Vain hotel (possibly the best hotel name ever!) was number 181/189 (both numbers appeared in news accounts). TheLancashire Armshotel had appeared in the Publicans's Licences List between these two hotels, so I felt that I was getting closer to finding a more accurate location.

One of the last surviving old sandstone hotels in Sussex Street, The Dundee Arms, 171 Sussex Street ( c1860) Image Sadarka ©©

I searched for information in newspapers about Sussex Street hotel owners themselves. Family notices such as obituaries and marriages can often include addresses and other evidence relevant to a search for ancestors. I unearthed fascinating anecdotes about political getherings and coronial inquests that were held in hotels in Sussex Street, and discovered murders that were committed outside several others. Some of the news items, however were most helpful in providing me with street addresses and I began to map out where a number of the Sussex Street hotels and other buildings had been situated. Unfortunately (or fortunately) there appeared to be little in the way of grizzly murders, coronial inquests or political happenings at the Lancashire Arms, however, I did allow myself to think that I was getting closer to finding out where Alexander Whittle's hotel would have been.

Further confirming my theory that the Lancashire Arms was on the southern end of Sussex Street was information included in a news article in an 1849 edition of the Sydney Morning Herald, which stated that the Draper's Hall hotel was 'situated in Sussex Street south". Drapers Hallwas listed immediately after the Lancashire Armshotel in the 1849 list of Publicans' Licences.

I found that the former Commercial Stores, now heritage listed, which still exist in Sussex Street today, were numbered 121-127 in the 1850's. These buildings are located at the northern end of Sussex Street close to King Street and so at the opposite end to where I placed the Lancashire Arms.

'Sussex Street at Grafton Wharf', original image produced by Kerry and Co studios, Sydney, c. 1884-1917. Powerhouse Museum Collection, No Known Copyright.

I consulted a number of websites, which I will list at the end of this blog, to research changes to street names in this area. A significant discovery was that in 1875, a street named Union Street had been changed to the name of Fowler Street. Now, at last, I had found evidence of the existence of a Union Street (not Lane). No reference was made regarding its location, other than it ran between Sussex and Kent Streets. I believed this to be a significant find, however, as the address was given in 1849 for the Lancashire Arms as Sussex Street and Union Lane. Since most hotels which graced the corner of two streets at the time Alexander Whittle and his family were at the Lancashire Arms gave their address using two streets, I felt that the Union Lane in the 1849 Licence document was very likely to have been Union Street. Now I just needed to find out where Union Street was located before the Darling Harbour Resumption of land began in 1900, which transformed, over time, a busy working wharfside area into an iconic leisure precinct which attracts many tourists to Sydney.

My research into the Darling Harbour resumption of land led me to a website where I found maps of the area from 1900. This was an exciting find, because right there on Map K was Union Street running off Sussex Street just near Druitt Street. This was almost exactly where I had thought the hotel to be located, albeit it slightly further south than I had imagined. The map actually shows the location of the Hope and Anchor hotel which I had established as being near the Lancashire Arms.

Sussex Street in 1900

The Hope and Anchor Hotel on the corner of Sussex and Druitt Streets and Union Street off Sussex Street

The conclusion I have reached, in the lack of any further evidence, and reliant upon the address of Sussex Street and Union Street being correct on the 1849 Publican's Licence, is that the Lancashire Arms was located in the block on Sussex Street between Druitt Street and Bathurst Street which puts its original location at around number 270-284 Sussex Street, or close to those numbers. If you walk along Sussex Street just past the intersection of Sussex and Druitt Street and after number 284 Sussex you will find a lane called Druitt Lane. Druitt Lane is not registered as an historically significant laneway in the City of Sydney Management of Laneways Policy , and there are no buildings historical consequence nearby so I have not been able to ascertain whether this may have been Union Lane originally. Certainly. I am convinced that it is very near the location of the Union Street or Union Lane mentioned in Alexander Whittle's Publican's Licence of June 21, 1848.

On my next visit to NSW State Records, I plan to see if I can find more information with regard to the Lancashire Arms through a search of old maps or records, now that I have narrowed the paramiters for my search.

A google search of the numbers 270-284 Sussex Street will allow you to 'walk' the section of Sussex Street where I believe Alexander Whittle's hotel was located. On my next visit to the CBD in Sydney I will photograph the buildings in the area. Alexander Whittle and his family left Sydney for the lure of the Californian Gold Rush. In doing so his descendants, who might have continued to live in or around Sussex Street, avoided the outbreak of bubonic plague in the wharfside Sussex Street area in 1900.

Places change for a a variety of reasons. Buildings are transformed through change of ownership, entire precincts may be redeveloped and adapted for new use. Change can be instagated for economic or political reasons, as they were after WW1, when many German street and placenames were replaced by non German names. Change inevitably impacts present day searches into the past and family historians often need to think outside of the box when researching places where ancestors lived. Researching the community your ancestors lived in, investigating the lives of the people who lived near your ancestors, and exploring the history of change in the community can all help in your search for places where your forebears lived.

Below are some resources for assisting you to locate places in Sydney in precincts or streets which have changed or been redeveloped. I am certain that similar websites and sources are available for other cities, towns, suburbs and rural areas. Local history groups and libraries are an excellent place of reference for information about localities and the change that has taken place in them.

SPECIAL THANKS TO RANDY AND LINDA SEAVER FOR GIVING ME PERMISSION TO WRITE ABOUT LINDA'S ANCESTOR ALEXANDER WHITTLE IN THIS BLOG.

USEFUL SOURCES FOR RESEARCH IN SYDNEY

www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/learn/sydneys-history/people-and-places.streets

www.photosau.com.au/cosmaps/scripts/displayindex.asp?Index=AS (Atlas of the suburbs of Sydney)

www.utube.com/watch?v=9ZFKkK2fw (History of Sydney Street)

www.trove.nla.gov.au

www.dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/roads

www.rta.nsw.gov.au/environment/downloads/heritage/rta_thematic_history.pdf

www.ga.gov.au/place-names/index.html ( Geoscience Australia - Placename Search)

www.coraweb.com.au/mapsland.htm

www.records.nsw.gov.au/

↧