The Tree of Me

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 Australian Star,

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