The Arsenic Century - James C. Whorton

As 2011 is the National Year of Reading here in Australia I decided that I'd needed to start today. Each time I go to Sydney I treat myself a book from Kinokuniya. I love to browse their history section and always have to contain myself to select only one from several that look interesting. On my last visit I purchased The Arsenic Century - How Victorian Britain was Poisoned at Home, Work and Play by James C. Whorton. You can read a review here. Already I am enthralled.

Apparently there was a network of women in Essex who "placed poison and knowledge of its (arsenic) use in women's hands so they could do away with any bothersome person." Members of the community knew what was happening but did not often report their knowledge. Many women murdered their husbands and several children. These women probably don't have any living descendants today as I think they got rid of them all!

Poorer members of the community could pay Friendly Society memberships (life insurance policies were out of their league) and join burial clubs. Upon death, the cost of a funeral (and a little profit along the way)
could be met. It became common practice to enrol children in these clubs. In Manchester there was a saying, "Aye, aye, that child will not live, it is in the burial club!" Living as we do today, this is inconceivable.

As well as being used for devious purposes, arsenic killed many Victorians via green wallpaper, cake ornaments, baby powder and pints of beer. The list goes on and on. It's a wonder anyone survived!

If you have family who lived in Victorian Britain I think this book will be a must. In fact, I'm off to bed to read more now.

Caroline Chisholm

I am currently in England visiting my daughter who is working in London. Naturally I decided I would have to spend some time on genealogical pursuits. The problem was where would I choose for a few day's retreat from London? In the end I decided to go to Northampton to visit the grave of Caroline Chisholm. Caroline is known as the immigrant's friend. She was a well known social reformer of her day. Why is Caroline significant to me and my family? You may recall that Caroline Chisholm was on the original $5 note in Australia. As well as her image there was a picture of a ship. That ship was the Waverley . Caroline agitated at the Home Office to reunite the wives and families of convicts with their husbands and fathers. On 22 June 1847 she wrote that she ‘had just left the Home Office and had obtained a passage per Waverley for forty-nine souls.’ SMH 9 August 1847, extract from letter 30 March 1847. My great great grandmother Matilda Agnew, her older siblings James, Joh...

Family Homes - No 3 - Moolan Downs, Queensland

My previous Family Home post showed the childhood home of Catherine Ellen Dawson . After leaving Tasmania Catherine moved to Melbourne with her mother and siblings after the death of her father Dr William Lee Dawson. Catherine married Gustav Baumgarten in Melbourne on 30th November 1876. They lived at Pleasant Bank Vineyard at Barnawatha. According to the Cyclopedia of Victoria they had 180 acres of vines, 465 acres of agricultural and grazing land and a further 300 acres under cultivation. During 1908 the Baumgarten family moved from Barnawatha to Moolan Downs, near Meandarra west of Dalby. They left a thriving business with an established homestead and moved to western Queensland. One of their first tasks when they arrived was to build the dwelling shown below. Original dwelling at Moolan Downs - c1908 The second house at Moolan Downs The final homestead at Moolan Downs One can only admire our early pioneering families. Gustav died at Moolan Downs...

The Tree of Me

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