#52 ANCESTORS WEEK 17 - CEMETERY

This week’s prompt is cemetery. Our Co-Ordinator wrote the following….going to a cemetery is one of my favourite things to do. Cemetery visiting has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. When I was little, we would take a day trip to where different relatives were buried; sometimes, we'd even have a little picnic there. (It wasn't until I was older that I realised that not everyone did that!)

Do you have a favourite tombstone of one of your ancestors? Maybe you could share how you found where an ancestor is buried or a clue that you got from a tombstone or cemetery records.

Cemetery

I can’t ever remember visiting a cemetery when I was young.

I guess I was a deprived child! 

My experience of cemeteries when I grew up, were of places of sadness. I went there to bury a loved one. I didn’t realised until much later that there is a wealth of information to be found in them. 

My Family History journey began later in my life once I was retired. It was then that I felt this great need to know about my ancestors. 

It wasn’t until two years ago that I went on my first cemetery visit, without attending a funeral first. 

I was studying a Diploma of Family History with the Tasmanian University. My husband and I were going on a holiday to see sisters in a different state. I checked my research and low and behold… some of the towns we were travelling through had ancestors buried in them. 

So with my trusty list we stopped on the way and had our first Cemetery Discovery Experience. The first one proved to be a disappointment as the ancestor I was looking for, either never had a headstone or it was long gone.  

The next town cemetery took some finding. But we eventually succeeded and I took photos of four of the headstones we discovered. These were not of anyone I had as yet researched, but were collateral relatives in a line that is on my back burner for now. But when their time comes I will have photos of their graves, if nothing else! 

After the above trip I created a database of “Possible Cemeteries to visit.” As I research and find death certificates, I now add the burial place to my database. So now when travelling I can do a search by town and if I have someone buried there, we can have a Cemetery Experience.

#52 ANCESTORS WEEK 16 - STORMS

This week’s prompt was Storms. We were asked if we have an ancestor who survived a storm (or didn't)? Did they fight a storm, literal or figurative? Is there one with a weather-related name?

My writing this week has a definite twist and very broad interpretation of the prompt. But it was just what I felt like doing at the time!

Elizabeth Selwyn’s Storm

     Sentenced for stealing


               Travelled far from home


                         O’er the seas


                                   Rowley provided her shelter


                                            Motherhood saved her


                                                      Stormy weather no more!

28 DAY CHALLENGE CHAPTER 23 - Guilt and Promotion

Hurrying home after visiting the barracks to obtain their monthly stores allocation, Elizabeth shivered as the bitter wind swept her along.

Why do I feel guilty? Why am I so fortunate? I was just a convict like these other poor souls. Here I am being protected by one of the same as most of me fellow convicts regard as the enemy. The NSW Rum Corps!

If it hadn’t been for the administration of Grose and Paterson in these past couple of years, Thomas and the other soldiers would not have been so lucky with all the land grants. They just think of this place as a penal settlement, not a place for free settlers. The trade of rum has grown during the time of the NSW Rum Corps and they are now firmly set in their ways.⁠[1] But at least Thomas sees that there is a future here, a future for our younguns’.

“Elizabeth, where have you been?” Thomas scowled as she heaved the parcels on the table. “The children have been awake for at least an hour and I think Thomas needs changing.” 

“Well, I guess I had better change him then, sorry I lost track of time and found myself wandering the long way home.” 

“Hrrump! Well I have to go into work, a message just came from the barracks, that weasel Hunter wants to see me.” 

I wish he wouldn’t call the Governor names. He isn’t that bad. He doesn’t have what it takes to control the Corps though. Everyone can see they are just too strong for him and will continue doing things their way. He has a vision though, he knows there is land worth looking for and exploring, if he lasts long enough here though. I don’t think he is going to be getting a very favourable report back in England.[⁠2]

“Well me wee baby Thomas, you do smell awful. No wonder your Papa wanted to get to work so quickly. I wonder what the Governor wants of him, though? Let’s get you changed quickly and go outside to play with Issy, shall we?” 

Later that evening Elizabeth heard Thomas long before he got to their house. Doesn’t sound like anything bad happened today, by the sound of his singing!

Standing in the doorway with his quirky grin splitting his face from ear to ear, she noticed the different embellishment on his shoulders. 

“For Lors sakes Thomas shut the door! It’s cold or hadn’t you noticed? Thomas, what are they?” 

“Well me dear, do you mean these things on me shoulders? You may now call me Captain Thomas Rowley,” sweeping her up into his arms and swinging her around the room, “where’s the rum, we have some celebrating to do.”⁠[3]

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1 The History of Sydney, Early Colonial Sydney 1790-1809, http://www.visitsydneyaustralia.com.au/history-6-early-col.html

2 The History of Sydney, Early Colonial Sydney 1790-1809, http://www.visitsydneyaustralia.com.au/history-6-early-col.html 

3 B. H. Fletcher, 'Rowley, Thomas (1747–1806)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rowley-thomas-2614/text3605, published first in hardcopy 1967, accessed online 3 February 2018.

#52 ANCESTOR WEEK 15 - TAXES

Our prompt for this week’s Ancestor Challenge is Taxes.

It'sTax season in the U.S. There are many ways you could approach this theme: An ancestor you discovered using tax records, an ancestor who was a tax collector, or maybe an ancestor who kept running from the tax collector! You could explore an ancestor who has been taxing to research.

A taxing problem!

In my Family History research over the years (only about 8 years) I have found it very taxing at times at the lack of imagination that my ancestors used in naming their offspring.

Really! I wish someone had handed some of them a “Name Your Baby” book.

I am sure most of us long suffering Family Historian descendants would agree. There are just so many Thomas, John, Peter, Elizabeth, Mary and Fanny that one can handle in doing a search. 

I have the privilege of a few Thomas Rowleys. Father, son and grandson to name a few. 

Then I have the Elizabeth Rowley? Yes a few of them too. But fortunately they were also shortened to Eliza. The trend kept going here as well over a few generations.

I have a Henry Sparrow Briggs, thankfully the Sparrow is somewhat unique until you start searching and it is amazing how many Sparrows you will find! Close to 200,000 on an Ancestry search alone! Who names their child Sparrow?

Henry carried on the tradition of naming his son after himself, but at least he changed the middle name. But now I have a Henry Rowley Briggs to confuse search engines. There are also quite a few ancestors with the second name of Rowley.

Then we have a Nellie Rowley Briggs. In fact I have two, one an aunt and the other her niece. The original Nellie must have been a favourite sister of her brother Oswald(who by the way also named a son Oswald). This Nellie was a twin and her sister Lillie’s second name was Kingston, which was after her grandparents property. There are a couple of ancestors with Kingston as their second name too.

In this same branch of Briggs offspring there is my grandfather Samuel Stanley who married a Florence. He also had a sister Florence. Not helpful when you are searching Marriage / Death records for Florence Briggs and one of them was a spinster!

I have a Frederick Henderson Briggs and a Frederick Perigo Briggs. You guessed it Henderson and Perigo were former surnames.

I have an Alfred Louis Brandt and his son Alfred Lewis. At least they are a bit different.

Have I made my point? I think so.

Yes, names tax me on a daily basis. How about you?

#52 ANCESTORS WEEK 14 - MAIDEN AUNT

This week’s prompt was Maiden Aunt. Technically, aunts are not ancestors as ”ancestors" are those we descend from. Everyone else is technically a collateral relative. But our ancestors (the ones we descend from) were certainly influenced by their siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Of course, researching those "other" people can yield great clues about our ancestors.

In Search of a Maiden Aunt 

A Maiden Aunt, how hard could it be? 

Oh, the places I have been and the rabbit holes I have gone down this week while searching for a Maiden Aunt. 

All my aunts(now dead) that I remember, were married. So I would have to go back another generation, to my Great Aunts. Okay, no problem, I thought. 

I have twin Great Aunts Nellie and Lillie Briggs, that I haven’t done a lot of research on, other than finding their births in 1883. ⁠[1] So a good place to start, one would think. 

I soon found a Newspaper wedding notice online for Lillie who was attended by her twin sister Nellie.⁠[2]  A great find as I now had a married name for Lillie for further research, but alas she was no longer in contention for a maiden aunt. 

So I moved onto Nellie. She was very elusive even with the unique maiden names of Nellie Rowley Briggs. 

I found a record of Nellie R Briggs marrying a John P Dooley in 1925.⁠[3] I am not sure why, but something niggled in my sub conscience about this record. 

So I looked further for her death records in her married name and was pleased when I found a death record on the New South Wales, Birth Death & Marriage Index, for Nellie Rowley Dooley in 1975.[4] But there was a problem,this record showed her parent”s names to be her brother and sister-in-law. 

A further search of her brother and sister-in-law’s  children  found that they named one of their daughters born in 1904, Nellie Rowley Briggs too.⁠[5]  (This is an all too common occurrence that Family Historians encounter, some ancestors seem to have very limited imaginations when it comes to naming their children) So this was a “red herring”: and definitely the wrong Nellie! 

So I resumed my search on Nellie Rowley Briggs, maybe she was a maiden aunt after all. 

I soon found another Newspaper record from 1951 online for Probate in the Will off Nellie Rowley Wylie.⁠[6]  A further search of the New South Wales BDM index verified this death.⁠[7]  

A further search turned up a marriage record in 1948.[⁠8]  There is no mention of a marriage in any Newspapers that I can find as yet, but there is evidence of a possible divorce of a Mr Wylie. This fact and Nellie being 65 years of age may have contributed to her keeping her nuptials low keyed. 

So another candidate for a Maiden Aunt was put to rest. 

My search continued on this branch of my tree though. There were six sisters in the eleven offspring. Surely my next pick would yield a maiden aunt! 

As I had started with the youngest twins, my next search centred around Florence Briggs. 

Bingo! Florence was indeed a maiden aunt. But it did take some proving! 

Florence Briggs was born in 1876.⁠[9] I found no supporting evidence of her having married. 

She is listed on the Electoral Rolls from 1913 as a Milliner until 1937.⁠[10] 

Not only did she appear to have a career, she is also listed as trading under the names of Marshall and Briggs, Milliners, Royal Arcade Sydney. This information was obtained from another online Newspaper record in 1930 where it appears sadly, that she and her partner had claimed Bankruptcy.[⁠11]  Florence would have been 54 years old at this time. 

In the 1954 Electoral Roll Florence’s occupation is listed as Home Duties.⁠[12]  She would have been 78 at this time so after her failed business she may have chosen to retire. 

On the New South Wales Birth, Death & Marriage index I found Florence Briggs with her correct parents listed as having died in 1959.⁠[13]  

I don’t know a lot about my Great Aunt Florence, but at least after this challenge I have found a maiden aunt and possibly a few more as well. I will leave revealing them to another challenge. 

I have had fun exploring these lines of Collateral Relatives. It has been an interesting couple of days, that will in time no doubt add to the colourful stories that I wish to share. 

I have now added a lot more names to my “Wish List of Certificates” that I want and need to order! 

__________ 

1 New South Wales, Australia, St Peters Cooks River Select Births, Marriages and Burials, 1839-1963, www.Ancestry.com

2 WEDDING. (1913, February 15). Singleton Argus (NSW : 1880 - 1954), p. 2. Retrieved April 8, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article80070242

3 Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages New South Wales, Marriage Record for Nellie R Briggs & John P Dooley, #12427/1925

4 Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages New South Wales, Death Record for Nellie Rowley Dooley, #9610/1975.

5 Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages New South Wales, Birth Record for Nellie R Briggs, #6776/1904.

6 Advertising (1951, August 16). Nepean Times (Penrith, NSW : 1882 - 1962), p. 4. Retrieved April 8, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article117920416

7 Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages New South Wales, Death Record for Nellie Rowley Wylie, #14480/1951.

8 Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages New South Wales, Marriage Record for Nellie Rowley Briggs & Robert Leslie Wylie, #20287/1948.

9 Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages New South Wales, Birth Record for Florence Briggs, #4490/1876

10 Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980, www. Ancestry.com

11 Advertising (1930, June 24). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 1. Retrieved April 8, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16701704

12 Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980, www. Ancestry.com

13 Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages New South Wales, Death Record for Florence Briggs #10570/1959