The Tree of Me

My nanna would always tell me stories whenever we visited her place. It's a shame now I can't recall them all. However, I do vividly remember her telling me that her father Michael Ryan was a good runner and often ran in races in  Sydney. Her future father-in-law Harry Dawson was his coach. I've often searched on Trove without luck for some evidence to support this story. Earlier in the week I think I may have hit the jackpot. The difficulty was knowing exactly what to search for in Trove. I was browsing for something totally unrelated when I saw an article about a Carrington Handicap. I now had the possible name of a race. The following advertisement from 1888 indicates that professional footraces (or at least some of them) in Sydney were worth winning. Sydney Morning Herald, 14 January 1888, p. 2 A search for Carrington Handicap and Ryan in the period 1886-1895 (years selected as likely years he would be running) produced many results. Unfortunately the Sydn...

Harold was my grandmother's older brother. 

Each time I go to vote I simply go to a polling booth, give my name and address, state that I haven’t voted previously in this election and I’m given a voting paper. I don't need to give any identification. One hundred and ten years ago, my great grandfather Michael Patrick Ryan and his father John Charles Ryan had to produce their New South Wales Elector’s Right Residential Qualification papers to vote. The Wikipedia article The Electoral Atlas of New South Wales states that the 1893 Act had adopted a Voter’s Right document that a voter presented to be checked off the roll before a ballot paper was issued. In 1900, the compilation of annual rolls was made a function of the local police and Elector’s Rights were abolished in 1906. Amongst our family papers are another pair of treasures, original Elector’s Rights of John Charles Ryan, carter and Michael Patrick Ryan, storeman of 23 Cambridge Street, Balmain. If enrolled they were entitled to vote at Elections of Members of the A...