#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