The Tree of Me

In 2012 I blogged about the family home of the Baumgarten family at Moolan Downs in Queensland.   The Baumgartens moved to Moolan Downs 1908 following the sale of their Victorian property Pleasant Bank Estate near Barnawatha. Yesterday a comment on the post gave me a link to the sale of Pleasant Bank Estate. Albury Banner and Wodonga Express 14 February 1908, p.  6. What a wonderful find which gives specific details of the property and its stock.  I've previously blogged about the Bumgartens here .

For those of you who follow my blog and are Seabrook descendants you might like to take a look at Seabrook Wines website. I won't add any more here except to say that Hamish Seabrook is descended from William John Seabrook, the fourth son of William Henry Seabrook and his wife Sarah White. This branch of the family has been in the wine business since 1878. William John Seabrook Several of their wines are named after family members - The Chairman (T.C. Seabrook), The Merchant (Doug Seabrook)  and The Broker (Iain Seabrook). I'm off to order some for Christmas. An early Seabrook label given to me by Dorothy Seabrook, granddaughter of William John Seabrook.

This morning I received an email from Ancestry saying that my DNA results were ready to view. I was surprised at the speed as I had expected to be waiting for a few more weeks. Were there any surprises? Well I was hoping to be a little more Irish! However, considering that some of my Irish came from Waterford and Vikings settled in the area in the 800s this may account for part of my previously unknown Scandinavian heritage. And of course a significant branch of my Irish ancestors were from England and were more than likely part of the Plantations of Ireland in Monaghan and Cavan in the 16th and 17th centuries. I don't have many trace regions - just 4% from the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain) and 1% from Western Europe. I wonder where they fit in? In my DNA matches there are 2 extremely high confidence matches - one a possible 2nd-3rd cousin and the other a 4th -6th cousin. Unfortunately he has a private tree so at the moment I am none the wiser. However, I hav...

An article titled The Man Who Hanged his Wife was not a story where I expected to find some information about an ancestor. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find a mention of Dr William Lee Dawson. Last week as a whole barge full of mourners at the late Dr Dawson's funeral were returning from Franklin to Iron Stone Creek, on their way homewards, the attention of one of the many Hobart Town visitors was called by a Huon passenger to a figure sitting with head bent, and thoughtfully, as it smoked a black pipe in the bows of the boat. "That's the man who hanged his wife". Dr Dawson's wife's family lived in Hobart Town so I wonder now which ones came to his funeral. A whole barge full of mourners - I wonder how many that was? You might like to read the rest of the story. It's not what it seems! The Mercury, Wednesday 5th July 1871, p. 2

It always pays to try different search terms. I usually search for articles about my great great grandfather with his name "William Lee Dawson". This time, however, I tried just Dawson and Franklin. I was fortunate and discovered this article about the first amateur dramatic performance of the Franklin Reading Club held on Tuesday, 29th August 1871. This performance and subscription ball was held in aid of the widow of the late Dr. Dawson. The evening raised about £10 for Emma Dawson (Seabrook). Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Wednesday 6 September 1871, page 3

I have previously blogged about the death of 11 year old Rupert Dawson at Callan Park in 1898. This post detailed all the details that I knew. The following details were based on family folklore. In September 1898 a lot of construction work was going on at the hospital. Rupert and his friends were playing a game and jumping over an open sewer in the course of construction. He missed jumping over the gap and fell in the sewer. A search on Trove now gives details from several newspapers including   The Australian Star and  The Goulburn Evening Penny Post . This confirms that Rupert was playing with other boys near the shaft before he fell. These papers have added to the known facts. Construction of the sewer was being carried out by Carter, Gummow & Co. James Hain went to the bottom of the 50ft shaft to recover Rupert's body and a boy by the name of Leonard Towns saw the accident. The Australian Star, Monday 5th September 1898, p. 2 The Austra...

Thanks to Geniaus and J Paul Hawthorne for this idea. My husband's and my five generation pedigree chart by place of birth. I quite like visual representations of genealogical data. So much easier to follow. I have previously blogged other statistics visually here . My five generation pedigree chart My husband's five generation pedigree chart

Each time I visit Armidale I always head straight to the bookshops to see if there are any new local history publications. Last week I was not disappointed. Bob Harden's book European Settlement & Pastoralism at Kunderang Upper Macleay River, 1840-1960 was on the shelf. I always go straight to the index and look up the Armidale families who have connections to my husband's extended family. A quick inspection discovered Brennan, Waters, Dawson, Sewell and Bell. I parted with $64.99 and purchased the 430 A4 page hardcover book. Bob stated that his objectives were  "to provide a coherent account of European settlement and pastoralism at Kunderang in the upper Macleay River, with particular emphasis on who the settlers were, how they lived and how they carried out their pastoral endeavours " (p. 10) He has definitely achieved his objectives. The book has been meticulously researched and is a wonderful history of the gorge country. Each landholder's connecti...

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...

This story was originally printed in The Peninsula Observer (year unknown) . The author's permission is given to reprint here. Cambridge Street in the 1970s Whenever I walk down Cambridge Street, Rozelle, I recall being told about Great Granny Ryan. Great Granny Ryan loved a beautiful teaset which she had seen in a shop. She scrimped and saved until the day finally came, when she could buy that set. She carefully carried home her pride and joy but coming down the hill in Cambridge Street, she slipped and fell and her beautiful teaset rolled down the hill, ending in a broken heap at the bottom. I always felt so close to Great Granny when I looked down Cambridge Street. Great Granny Ryan was born Mary O'Halloran (Halloran). She had arrived in Brisbane in the early 1860s from Roscrea in Ireland. She had two sisters and a brother John. Mary married John Charles Ryan in St Stephen's, Brisbane on 1st June 1864. Her husband was born in Portlaw, County Waterford, Ireland...

I haven't blogged much this year as I seem to be spending all my out of work hours finishing more work. However, I managed to spend some time searching Trove over Easter and found this gem from The Glen Innes Examiner on Thursday 8th February 1923. The Glen Innes Examiner  Thursday 8th February 1923, p. 4 The Early Days First Child on Clarevaulx Drew First Wheat Mr Spatch's Recollections With a surprisingly clear memory and a particularly active body for his seventy years of life, Mr William Spatch sen - father of Mr W. Spatch of Bald Nob - is a very interesting human link with the early days of this district. Mr Spatch was born on Clarevaulx Station, Captain Philip Ditman, stood as his godfather - a distinction he might well have prized, since the baby Spatch was the first white child born on the station. The parents were employed on the property, and so were themselves amongst the very earliest pioneers of t...

Yesterday I received an email from Aoife O'Connor, a PhD student with Sheffield University based in Dublin. Aoife is hoping to contact genealogists and family historians with criminal ancestors to fill in a survey or take part in an interview to assist with her research. Aoife's message is printed below with her permission.  A Criminal Ancestor  Are you descended from convict ancestors transported far from home or did great, great, great uncle John end up in court for squabbling with the neighbours?  If your ancestor was a hardened criminal, a victim of a miscarriage of justice, a political prisoner, or in court for not paying their dog licence a new study is looking to hear from you. Criminals in the family have always fascinated family historians and it seems more of us are discovering more of them all of the time.  The digitisation of the records of the criminal justice system and newspapers are bringing to light a side of our an...