The Tree of Me

  I'm spending some time during these wet school holidays putting some order into my research. This post puts into perspective the arrivals of both mine and my husband's family lines. My paternal arrivals My father's ancestors were the most recent to arrive in Australia, with the first being 1852 and last in 1883.  This is my only branch without any convict ancestors. The Allsop family moved through Victoria to Queensland and later to New South Wales.  My maternal arrivals Patrick Flynn, a convict is my earliest arrival. The Seabrooks, arriving in 1932 are my earliest free settler arrivals. Although the Ogden family arrived in Queensland, they immediately hopped on another ship and went to Sydney. In later life they moved to Perth.  Brisbane shipping records for the time period of the arrival of John Ryan and Mary O'Halloran were destroyed in a flood, so I can only pinpoint their arrival to before their marriage in July 1864.  John and  Mary  also move...

This week my Trove Tuesday post revolves around James Agnew - son of James and Ellen (Alicia) Agnew of Cooma. The first mention of James Agnew in Trove occurs in a list of emigrants arriving by the ship Waverley from Dublin in 1847. He is one of the 2 sons of Alicia (who was know as Ellen in Australia) Agnew. Alicia and her family joined her husband James Snr in Australia in 1847. Her sister-in-law Catherine who is also mentioned below did not arrive on the Waverley but came the following year on the Success . Sydney Morning Herald, 9 November 1847, p. 3 Some time between 1847 (when he was about 13) and 1885 James Agnew left Cooma and headed south to Sandhurst in Victoria. His family lost track of him there and the following advertisement was placed in The Argus in 1885 by his younger sister Matilda who was anxious to contact him. The Argus, 24 Aug 1885, p. 1 Reading this now, I would have loved more detail. When did he leave the Monaro and when did the family last h...

I am currently in England visiting my daughter who is working in London. Naturally I decided I would have to spend some time on genealogical pursuits. The problem was where would I choose for a few day's retreat from London? In the end I decided to go to Northampton to visit the grave of Caroline Chisholm. Caroline is known as the immigrant's friend. She was a well known social reformer of her day. Why is Caroline significant to me and my family? You may recall that Caroline Chisholm was on the original $5 note in Australia. As well as her image there was a picture of a ship. That ship was the Waverley . Caroline agitated at the Home Office to reunite the wives and families of convicts with their husbands and fathers. On 22 June 1847 she wrote that she ‘had just left the Home Office and had obtained a passage per Waverley for forty-nine souls.’ SMH 9 August 1847, extract from letter 30 March 1847. My great great grandmother Matilda Agnew, her older siblings James, Joh...