The Tree of Me

Today marks the 103nd anniversary of the death of William Thomas Seabrook. William the sixth child of William John Seabrook and his wife Maria Sophia Mason was tragically drowned at Point Lonsdale in Victoria while trying to rescue Muriel May Hunter. You can read what I wrote about William on the centenary of his death here . This photo is available at the State Library of Victoria. William Thomas Seabrook (1881 - 1914) Photo -   State Library of Victoria

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.

Lawrence Seabrook  1898 - 1951 This is the fourth post in  a series of posts over the next few years to remember all the men in my extended family who enlisted in World War 1. Originally I had identified 26 soldiers who enlisted between 20 August 1914 and 2 November 1918.  However, with more careful checking this number has now risen to over 35. Of these  five were killed overseas or died here in Australia. Lawrence Seabrook was the sixth son of William Alexander Seabrook and his wife Eliza Grant Lumsden of Hobart. Like the majority of the Seabrook family Laurie worked in the building trade. By November 1914, he had been apprenticed to his father as a bricklayer for 12 months and had been a member of the Naval Reserve. His enlistment papers state that he was 19 years old. However, his actual birth date was 10 November 1898, so in fact Laurie was only 16 years old.  This attestation paper was signed 30th November 1914 and Laurie was assigned to the ...

Walter Waldo Seabrook (1894 - 1971) This is my first post in  a series of posts over the next few years to remember all the men in my extended family who enlisted in World War 1. So far I have identified 26 soldiers who enlisted between 20 August 1914 and 2 November 1918 and I feel sure I have missed some. Of the twenty six, five were killed overseas or died here in Australia. Walter Waldo Seabrook (1894 - 1971) My first post is for Walter Waldo Seabrook (107) who joined the 3rd Field Company Engineers  on 20th August 1914, less than three weeks after Australia joined the war. Walter,19 years old was the third child of Alfred and Emma Seabrook and was born at Augustus Terrace on 23rd September 1894. He had been named after his uncle Walter Waldo Kennedy who had died, aged 13 while boarding at The Friends' School in Hobart. Walter's attestation papers state that he had spent 1 year in the Junior Cadets and 2 years in the Mililtia and he worked as a clerk. H...

Recently I came across the blog 5000 poppies . Lynn Berry and Margaret Knight have a vision to plant 5000 poppies in Federation square in Melbourne as part of the 2015 Anzac Commemorations The 5000 Poppies project will be “planting” a field of more than 5000 poppies in Fed Square Melbourne as a stunning visual tribute to Australian servicemen and women for more than a century of service in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. People are asked to make poppies (instructions can be found on the site) to be part of this display. Already they have more than 10 000 poppies. I have decided to contribute to this project. My idea is to make a poppy for each of my extended family who fought in World War 1. As I started to make my list of soldiers I became disappointed with myself as I have neglected to tag these men with a military flag in Reunion. I am now trying to amend this. These are the soldiers for whom I will dedicate my poppies. Ernest Lee Dawson Bertram Da...

This week is week 11 of   Shauna Hicks  challenge for 2014.  Shauna said that t his blog challenge is to stimulate my own genealogy blogging efforts in 2014 by focusing on a different kind of genealogical record each week. I wanted a challenge that reflected my own archival background as well as my own genealogy interests and there are probably lots of other records that I could have included. The challenge has an Australian focus but most of these records will be found just about anywhere in the genealogy world. In the past I have made many trips to Canberra, Brisbane and Armidale to search microfilms of newspapers. I have searched through original newspapers at the Tenterfield library. I have even transported these bound papers in the boot of my car to Armidale so they could be microfilmed after I informed the university of their existence.  However, these excursions are now more infrequent due to the advent of Trove in Australia. Genealogical research ...

What excites a genealogist? Last week it was a colleague asking me if I might be interested in a book. It was called The Making of Women - a history of Mac.Robertson Girls' High School by Pauline F Parker. I feel he may have been shocked by my exuberant reply. Of course I was interested. I think he was even more surprised when I told him I knew all about the Victorian high school. I quickly flicked to the index and there was the entry I hoped would be there -  Seabrook Norman. Norman Seabrook, the architect who won the opportunity to draw up the plans for the school in a nationwide state government sponsored competition in 1933, presented the Duke with a gold key to mark the occasion. (p. 60) One sentence in the book, and of course I was interested. Norman Seabrook (1906-1978), an architect, worked in the construction industry (as an architect) like many of his family including his grandfather Daniel, several of his great uncles and great grandfather Henry William who were...

I'm now ready for week 2's challenge in  Shauna Hicks  challenge for 2014. Week 2 - Internal Migration The subject of internal migration in Australia is one that has always interested me, especially as it highlights the extreme differences between my husband's family and mine. All his ancestors lived in northern New South Wales and the distance I had to cover headstone hunting in the 1980's was only one and a half hours from north to south. They arrived in Australia, made their way to the New England area (some taking longer than others) and settled.  This had to do with the purchase of farming land. My family, however tend to be travellers. My headstone search has taken me to NSW, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia just for direct ancestors. Some of my families moved short distances often, others very long distances. One family story involves my great great grand parents Peter and Elizabeth Ogden. The Ogdens came from Liverpool, England b...

Today, 3rd January marks the centenary of the death of William Thomas Seabrook who was born in Melbourne in 1881 and was tragically drowned while trying to rescue Muriel May Hunter in dangerous surf at Point Lonsdale in Victoria. William Thomas Seabrook 1881-1914 The following is a copy of what I have previously written and can be found on the Brighton Cemetery website. William (Will) Thomas Seabrook was born in 1881 at Hawthorn, the sixth of ten children born to William John Seabrook (1846-1914) and Mary  née   Mason (d 1912).  As a young man Will was a member of the South Yarra Presbyterian Gymnastic Club, later becoming an instructor with the club.  In 1901, he joined the Victorian Scottish Regiment Association.  In 1905 he was a colour sergeant and by 1914 he held the rank of captain.  He worked for the estate agency business of “Sydney C. Arnold and Company”.  According to family sources, Will was described as “a well-proportioned, m...

For this week's Trove Tuesday post I was lucky enough to find mention of a family member in The Australian Women's Weekly. The Australian Women's Weekly, 19 December 1956, p. 46 Royal Melbourne Championship Show 1956 McWilliam's Awarded T.C. Seabrook Trophy for  Most Successful Exhibitor In all still table wine classes Thomas Claudius Seabrook was a wine merchant and judge. You can read his biography in The Australian Dictionary of Biography here . An advertisement taken out by McWilliams in The Argus of 5th November 1956 states that this was the first year this award was presented.

Once again, Trove has provided me with useful family details and another search to clarify information found in these Death and In Memoriam notices. The Argus, Monday 5th February, 1894, p. 1 SEABROOK - On the 3rd inst., at Tough-street, Hawthorn,  Charles Stephen, second son of W.J. Seabrook, aged 19 years. The following year two In Memoriam notices were published. The Argus, Monday 4th February, 1895, p. 1 IN MEMORIAM SEABROOK - In loving remembrance of Charles Stephen, second eldest son of William John and Mary Seabrook, who died at Ravenswood, Tough- street, Hawthorn, on 3rd February, 1894 SEABROOK - In loving memory of my dearly-beloved brother, Charles Stephen Seabrook, who died on February 3rd, 1894. Charlie's gone from his home below' sad it was to hear the blow; But now he's in the realms above, Trusting in our Savour's love. (Harry Seabrook) My first thought was to look up where Tough Street was in H...

Happy father's day to all my "fathers" who have lived in Australia. Father Ronald Leslie Moore (1932 - 2001) Grandfathers James Malcolm Moore (1909 - 1989) Donovan Franklin Dawson (1899 - 1972) Great grandfathers Knox Moore (1873 - 1942) Phillip Richard Merchant (1883 - 1951) William Henry Dawson (1859 - 1916) Michael Patrick Ryan (1866 - 1940) Great great grandfathers John Moore (1846 - 1929) Malcolm McColm (1851 - 1924) Thomas Hugh Merchant (1843 - 1902) William Henry Allsop (1847 - 1921) William Lee Dawson (1819 - 1871) John Mylan (1833 - 1918) John Charles Ryan (c1837 - 1910) Peter Ogden (1838 - 1911) Great great great grandfathers James Henry Merchant (1818 - 1865) Joseph R Hooton (1827 - 1902) Samuel Allsop (1818 - 1877) John McInerney (c1829 - 1868 Henry William Seabrook (1806 - 1883) Thomas Moylan (1795 - 1838) James Agnew (c1796 - 1864) Great great great great grandfather Patrick Flynn (c1791 - 1862) My oldest "f...

From Randy Seaver Genea-Musings . Ah, Genea-folks, it’s Saturday Night again – are you ready for more Genealogy Fun? Your mission tonight, should you decide to accept it, is to: 1)  List your 16 great-great-grandparents with their birth, death and marriage data (dates and places).  [Hint - you might use an Ancestral Name List from your software for this.] 2)  Determine the countries (or states) that these ancestors lived in at their birth and at their death. 3)  For extra credit, go make a “Heritage Pie” chart for the country of origin (birth place) for these 16 ancestors. [Hint: you could use the  chart generator from Kid Zone  for this.] [Note: Thank you to Sheri Fenley for the " Heritage Pie" chart idea. ] Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a post on Facebook or google+. Well it is Sunday here in Australia but here are my great great grandparents. John Moore, son of John Moore and Elizabeth Glenn, was born ...

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...

Yesterday I was browsing my blog feeds on Feedly  when I came across this post - Got Rid of Two Husbands . Imagine my surprise when I realised that the post was about the wife of a man in my extended family. I already knew about the two husbands and had read another newspaper story about the incident. However, this story gave credence to one fact that I was unsure of. The child in the story belonged to the first husband. The Mad Genealogist and I are 4th cousins once removed.

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....