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Trove Tuesday - Missing Persons - James Agnew


This week my Trove Tuesday post revolves around James Agnew - son of James and Ellen (Alicia) Agnew of Cooma.

The first mention of James Agnew in Trove occurs in a list of emigrants arriving by the ship Waverley from Dublin in 1847. He is one of the 2 sons of Alicia (who was know as Ellen in Australia) Agnew. Alicia and her family joined her husband James Snr in Australia in 1847. Her sister-in-law Catherine who is also mentioned below did not arrive on the Waverley but came the following year on the Success.


Sydney Morning Herald, 9 November 1847, p. 3
Some time between 1847 (when he was about 13) and 1885 James Agnew left Cooma and headed south to Sandhurst in Victoria. His family lost track of him there and the following advertisement was placed in The Argus in 1885 by his younger sister Matilda who was anxious to contact him.


The Argus, 24 Aug 1885, p. 1
Reading this now, I would have loved more detail. When did he leave the Monaro and when did the family last hear from him? Had he married and if so, did he have children? Without Trove this reference to James Agnew would have remained lost unless there was a serendipitous find!

Perhaps as other newspapers are digitised and are searchable via Trove I may find further references to James Agnew and discover what happened to him. Family stories suggest that a descendant from Victoria visited Cooma many years later but I do not know who this was.

If you are descended from James Agnew I'd love to hear from you.









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  1. SharonOctober 23, 2012 at 7:18 PM

    I came across a similar notice for one of my ancestors via Trove, piques the curiosity doesn't it

    ReplyDelete

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