The Tree of Me

Many years ago I had trouble finding the death of my great, great, great grandmother Sarah Matilda Collins, formerly Merchant, nee Neal. It was in the days of handwritten indexes and I simply couldn't find her. However, quite unexpectedly the local newspaper,  The Tenterfield Star came to the rescue. I knew the date of the death of her son, Thomas Hugh and his death was reported thus. The Tenterfield Star, Tuesday Morning, 2nd December, 1902. Local and General News Death News was received on Saturday of the death of Mr Thomas Merchant of Drake, whose illness we reported in the last issue, as also did we report the death of his eldest son in West Australia.  Deceased leaves a wife and family in Tenterfield. I had lost trace of his son Albert (who by the way wasn't the eldest son), so naturally went to the previous week's news. The Tenterfield Star, Friday Morning, 28th November, 1902 Local and General News Death We much regret to record the death of a promising young...

I started my blog in January this year answering the Australia Day Challenge. Today I decided to look at my stats to see what I could discover. Some people have contacted me directly about my posts. One of these came within hours of posting for the Anzac Day Challenge. I was contacted by someone in the RAAF regarding my post about Allan Seabrook Mitchell which was very exciting. I have also been contacted by William Vaughan author of Murder Trials in Ireland, one of the books I have reviewed . He has sent me some information about my Agnew family. I already had this information partially transcribed so it has been very useful to compare the two transcriptions and fill in a few of the gaps I had when I had extreme difficulty reading the document dated 1834. My pages views have come from Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Malaysia, Iran and Russia. Should I be concerned about any of these? I'm disappointed the person who ...

My husband's family are very fortunate as his great grandfather travelled back to Germany from Armidale, NSW from May to September 1885. While visiting family he sent many letters back to Australia and kept a diary of his time overseas. I'll post his letters on the day they were written. This is his third letter home. These letters can be seen at the University of New England (UNE) Archive in Armidale, NSW, Australia.  Biographical Entry John Elder  Adelaide the 17 May 1885 My dear wife and children I wrote to you from Melbourne and also I received a letter from you of the same same content as the one I got in Sydney when I wrote last I was not yet in the city so could tell you nothing of it since I have seen a good deal of it Directly we were on the wharf I went and posted my letter and had one or two hours in the city the Sydney is a fine city but is not a patch to Melbourne because the street are all two chains wide and are all straight the next day I went again an...

Amongst my mother-in-law's collection of photos that came from her mother is this wonderful one of a road being built. The photo was most likely taken in Armidale, but possibly Uralla. Of course, I have no idea when the photo was taken or who the two gentlemen are but I'm making an assumption that at least one of the men is related to my husband. The clues to locating this street I feel are the two trees and the house facing the street. Short of driving up and down each street the only idea I can think of is to send a copy to The Armidale Express hoping that they will publish the image. Someone may recognise the street as their own.

My husband's family are very fortunate as his great grandfather travelled back to Germany from Armidale, NSW from May to September 1885. While visiting family he sent many letters back to Australia and kept a diary of his time overseas. I'll post his letters on the day they were written. This is his second letter home. These letters can be seen at the University of New England (UNE) Archive in Armidale, NSW, Australia. Biographical Entry John Elder Melbourne the 14 May 1885 Dear Wife and Children! I am in receipt of your letter which I received in Sydney just half an hour before we started from which I see that you are all well except David and I trust you will take good care of him with his cold and am glad that you had some rain the white bullock you can either kill or sell him if you can get £5 10s for him and break the Strawberry or roan bullock in with Glover. We left Sydney on the 12 this month at 1 1/2 o'clock and the Sydney Harbour I can give you no idea for his...

Do you have ancestors who lived in Melbourne? If so take a look at the City of Melbourne iHeritage databas e. This database allows you to search for a specific address, browse suburbs, architectural styles and builders. When you have located the specific property you can see the complete heritage details for the property. Details include (if known): Architectural style Period Construction Date Architect First Owner Integrity Condition Original Building Type History Description/Notable Features Current photograph My great great grandmother Emma Seabrook (Dawson) died at No 1 Hope Terrace, Gipps Street, East Melbourne in 1885. At the time she lived with her sister and her husband Louisa and George Edward Lowe. Hope Terrace 161-165 Gipps Street, East Melbourne. Dec 2006. As you can see by the extract below, the description of the building is quite detailed. A row of three, two-storeyed houses, of which No. 165 possesses a porte cochere (I.e. a porch, large enough to accommodate wh...

Happy mother's day to all my husband's "mothers" in Australia. Mother Lorna Scheef Grandmothers Stella Maude Kerr (1908 - 1979) Julia Waters (1882 - 1973) Great grandmothers Annie Ryan (1870 - 1928) Edith Mary Maude Squires (1879 - 1939) Christina Jacobvena Glock (1842 - 1912) Ann Richardson Dawson (1857 - 1940) Great great grandmothers Catherine Cleary (1846 - 1913) Mary Ann Spatch (1848 - 1906) Mary Ann Lydamore (1839 - 1924) Barbara Rosina Wagerle ((1810 - 1869) Margaret Doherty (c1826 - 1875) Mary Richardson (1822 - 1859) Great great great grandmothers Elizabeth (Betsy) Hare (1800 - 1849) Ellen Key (1824 - 1875) Catherine Heffernan ( c1816 - 1896) Great great great great grandmother Sarah Pickett (1784 - 1858) My husband's oldest "mother" was his grandmother Julia Waters who lived to be 90 years old and the youngest his great great grandmother Mary Richardson who died aged 37 the day after giving birth to her 8th child....

Happy mother's day to all my "mothers" in Australia. Mother Dorothy Dawson Grandmothers Esme Merchant (1910 - 1981) Elsie Ryan (1907 - 2001) Great grandmothers Mary McColm (1885 - 1939) Rose Allsop (1889 - 1972) Bridget Mylan (1864 - 1940) Sarah Ogden (1867 - 1944) Great great grandmothers Margaret Jane Henry (1850 - 1923) Jane Smith Fleming (1853 - 1888) Sarah Jane Hooton (1852 - 1924) Mary Ellen McInerney (c1852 - 1919) Emma Seabrook (1834 - 1885) Matilda Agnew (1836 - 1905) Mary O'Halloran (c1846 - 1895) Elizabeth Harrison (c1841 - 1927) Great great great grandmothers Sarah Matilda Neal (1824 - 1902) Rebecca Bettis (c1832 - 1921) Elizabeth Handley (1820 - 1870) Mary Maley? (c1834 - 1893) Sarah White (? - 1888) Anne Flynn (1813 - 1862) Ellen Lagan (c1806 - 1891) Great great great great grandmothers Hanora Connor (? - 1852) My oldest "mother" was my grandmother Elise Ryan who lived to be 93 years old and the youngest my...

My husband's family are very fortunate as his great grandfather travelled on holiday to Germany from Armidale, NSW from May to September 1885. While visiting remaining members of his family he sent many letters back to Australia and kept a diary of his time overseas. I'll post his letters on the date they were written. European Hotel 90 Castlereagh Street Sydney the 7 May 1885 My Dear Wife and Children I am glad that I feel in good health and believe far better than in New England. My knees do not trouble me at all since I left home and neither do I feel anything in my inside since I left but my new boots give me a good deal of trouble so I bought a pair of shoes as well as my other clothes. My passage I paid for yesterday and have seen the vessel I am going in it is a grand ship when I was in it I found scarce my way out of it again. Yesterday there came two German warships into the Harbour so is also the English warship Nelson and they are anchored side by side there...

Sometimes you come across a fantastic family photograph. This photograph is one of those. What a fantastic family group! I was fortunate that family members knew the occasion. However, if I didn't know the occasion I need to look for clues in the photo. The photo was taken outside a church and there are two older people sitting in the middle of the photo. It is obviously an important occasion, either for a family or a church group. It is the celebration of the golden wedding anniversary of Robert Waters and his wife Ann Dawson, of Armidale, who were married on 30th April 1878 - 133 years ago. The photo was taken 83 years ago this week. The occasion was reported in The Armidale Express (5 May 1928) GOLDEN WEDDING Mr and Mrs R Waters On Monday, April 30, Mr and Mrs R Waters, of Silverton, Metz, celebrated their golden wedding. They were married at Hazeldale, Dumaresq, by the Rev Dr Sellors on April 30, 1878, Mrs J C Lees (nee Miss J Waters) was bridesmaid, and the late Mr ...

The birthplaces of my great, great great grandparents.

Anyone with family buried in the Brighton General Cemetery in Melbourne might like to look at the website created by Travis Sellers  titled History of Brighton General Cemetery . The website contains a history of the cemetery and a useful timeline. However, the most interesting part of the website is dedicated to stories about many of those interred at Brighton. Sellars has divided these into 150 Years: 150 Lives, Arts, Business & Commerce, Crime & Tragedy: short stories, In Brief, Local Identities, Medicine & Science, Military, On the Land, Politics, Pre-Victoria, Public Service, Reader's Stories and Sport. These stories also usually contain photographs of the individual and their headstone. I have a story included in the Reader's Stories section titled Tragedy at Point Lonsdale William Thomas Seabrook 1881 - 1914 .  William Thomas Seabrook, age 33, the sixth child of William John Seabrook and his wife Mary Mason, drowned at Point Lonsdale while trying to...