The Tree of Me

My Seabrook family, Henry William his wife Sarah and their daughter Sarah Caroline arrived in Hobart Town aboard the Thomas Laurie  on 12th November 1832. I've seen a lot of early maps and have visited Hobart and Franklin Wharf where Henry had a timber yard but always wondered what it may have looked like. Today I discovered the Virtual Hobart Town app which shows what life was like in Hobart Town in the late 1820's. The video below is a teaser to the app. It's certainly worthwhile downloading the app.

My inspiration for today's post came from my Facebook feed via Gould Genealogy . This post alerted me to the UK National Archive Flickr launch of an Australian collection of images titled Australasia Through a Lens . My first thought was of course to wonder if there were any images I could assist to identify. This is not as silly as it seems as my great, great, great grandfather Henry William Seabrook and his sons were responsible for building many prominent buildings in Hobart. Sure enough in the Tasmanian folder I found a copy of a photo of the Royal Society's Museum on the corner of Argyle and Macquarie Streets, Hobart. Henry William Seabrook and his son, Henry William Jnr, built the Royal Society Museum on the corner of Argyle and Macquarie Streets, Hobart between 1861 and 1862 at a cost of £3772. A prominent architect of the time, Henry Hunter was responsible for the design of the building. The Royal Society's Museum, Hobart Our family is very fortun...

As I have written a book about my Seabrook ancestors, Crossing the seas to build a future , I have to admit to not continuing my research with the family. However, since I'm on holidays I have time to spend on Trove and have decided to see what other things I can discover about the Seabrooks and Whites in Tasmania. Previous research involved manual searching of newspapers. Henry William Seabrook and his brother-in-law Thomas White were at one stage in a building partnership in Hobart. These posts that I discovered relate to Mark Smith, an assigned servant or prisoner on loan. Hobart Town Police Report, Colonial Times 9 June 1840, p. 7 Mark Smith, a prisoner on loan, to Messrs.  Seabrook and White, was charged by Mr. White with felony, in having on Saturday night last, picked up a £5 note, his property, which he had lost, and appropriated the same to his own use. He was remanded. The man acknowledged to Mr. White, in the presence of witnesses, that he had ...

The signature below is of Henry William Seabrook (1806 - 1883) my great great great grandfather. Henry was a builder in Hobart Town. The story of how I received this signature is one of those serendipitous moments. In the early 1990s I lived in Tamworth. I was pleased that the Tamworth library had the microfilms of the early Tasmanian records. I spent many days looking through these records. One day another gentleman was there using these records. We got talking about our research. When I said that I was researching the Seabrooks, he said, "He was a builder wasn't he?" From there we ascertained that his wife's ancestor John Lewis was apprenticed to Henry William Seabrook in 1855 and they had a copy of the apprenticeship papers at home. He generously gave me a copy. At the bottom of the document was this signature. Signature of Henry William Seabrook

The Waitangi Day Blog Challenge from the Auckland Research Centre challenges us to write a post about your early New Zealand ancestors. What stories can you tell about their lives? I have a few members of my family who have moved from Hobart to New Zealand and will write about one of them today. Charles Thomas Seabrook (1844 - 1912) caused problems for many years as he simply disappeared from his home town of Hobart Town. Eventually I discovered that he hadn't moved very far at all and had in fact left Tasmania in 1865 for the town of Hokitika on the west coast of the south island of New Zealnd The West Coast Times of 26th September 1865 reported that a Mr Seabrook was one of ten cabin passengers on board the William Miskin . Like his father Henry William Seabrook and 3 of his 5 brothers, Charles was a builder and soon entered the building trade on the west coast. He was in partnership for some time with his brother Henry William Seabrook, who later returned to Australia....