28 DAY CHALLENGE DAY 5 - THE WAITING GAME (1791)

Why am I shivering so?  What is happening to me?

Elizabeth didn’t know whether she was shivering from cold or from despair.

The words kept going round and round in her head, “to be transported beyond the seas for seven years.”⁠ [1]

This couldn’t be happening, could it? Lizzy only got one month in prison. Why? We both did the same thing. What did she say that was different to me? Lord above what is going to happen to me?

Elizabeth never saw Lizzy again and she never did find the answers to her questions.

It was a bedraggled group that shuffled back to the gaol in the incessant drizzling rain. Oh what I would give for some warmth and sunshine.

It remains a mystery as to what became of Elizabeth in the months following her trial. There doesn’t appear to be any records of her where abouts or existence until she is found on the ship the Pitt, in July 1791 bound for Australia.

The days were long and tedious in her prison cell.  If only there weren't so many of us in this little space.  I wish them leery eyed men wouldn't stare so hard at me. Surely me new life has to be better than this? I wish I could get away.

It is conjecture as to what Elizabeth felt in this time. But I do wonder whether she would have looked forward to the chance to start a new life ‘oer the seas.

It was during this time that there was a push to have the gaols overhauled. Prison reformer John Howard had published his findings in “The State of the Prisons in England and Wales.⁠" [2] The gaols of this time were housing both men and women together, with no separation of classes or crimes, the untried or those awaiting trial. 

I wonder what the boat will be like? I hope it doesn’t take too long and I hope I don’t get sick. I wonder what the new country will look like? Will there be houses bigger than here?

There would have been many conflicting emotions and questions in her time before she embarked on the Pitt. With the harsh conditions in the gaols it is amazing that she survived to board the Pitt at all! 

There is a lot of conjecture for the Family Historian, but it is also nice to have the chance to put forward these theories!

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1 Gloucestershire Archives; Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England; Gloucestershire Prison Collections; Reference: Q/SG2/1789-1814

2 John Howard, The State of the Prisons in England and Wales: With Preliminary Observations, and an Account of Some Foreign Prisons, Edition 3. Cadell, 1777.

28 DAY CHALLENGE DAY 4 - THE TRIAL (1791)

THE TRIAL

The day broke with barely a whisper of sound.

Opening her eyes to her bleak surroundings Elizabeth was met with many faces of gloom. Everyone was too scared to speak.

What would this day bring?

The familiar stench was wafting down the corridor again. The Gaoler appeared before them, although not the usual rough ragged tooth man, somehow they all stank the same. This was a tall man in uniform with a thick greatcoat to keep out the winter chill.

“Look lively me lovelies. You are going for a walk today. A nice fresh breeze awaits you, any stragglers will get a box behind the ears for your trouble. Now line up.”

Elizabeth realised with a sinking feeling that there would not be any gruel this morning. I hope this doesn’t take long, before we are back in our cells.

A bitter gust of wind welcomed them as they emerged through the doors. Squinting at the bright light, Elizabeth couldn’t remember when she had last seen the sky. It threatened menacingly with it’s grey murky colour and low hanging snow clouds. 

Pulling her shawl over her head she hoped that she would still have dry clothes when she got there.

The tattered group of prisoners arrived at the hall for the Epiphany Session of the Assizes in good time and mercifully dry.

They were shuffled into one big group outside the hall to await their turn. Her hopes of sitting inside in the warmth were quickly dashed.

After many hours she was finally herded inside with some of the others. Moving slowly as all her joints were now stiff with the cold, she winced when she received a kick to her shins from one of their guards urging her to hurry.

Standing in the dock with blood trickling down her leg, she heard, “Elizabeth Selwyn, you are charged with theft and damage of property. Please state your name, age and abode.”[1]

How am I going to answer that? Should I tell the truth or do they need to hear something else? I don’t know me birthday. How can I tell ‘em me abode, when I don’t have one? I don’t think they want to hear that I sleep when and where I can. 

Elizabeth shuffled sideways in the dock and found herself next to Lizzy. The man at the front of the judge was asking her the same questions.

Of course she was saying that her name was Elizabeth Evans but why was she saying that she was 16? She always tells me she is older than me, and I am pretty sure I am somewhere around 18 or 19? What is she doing?

Blinking in bewilderment Elizabeth became lost amongst all the big words of the courtroom. She had trouble keeping up with what they were saying. She remembered being asked and replying "Not Guilty" and Lizzy doing the same.

She was lead from the court with the words ringing in her ears...

 “to be transporter beyond the seas for seven years”[2]

Oh, what have I done?

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1 Gloucestershire Archives; Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England; Gloucestershire Prison Collections; Reference: Q/SG2/1789-1814

2 Gloucestershire Archives; Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England; Gloucestershire Prison Collections; Reference: Q/SG2/1789-1814

#52 ANCESTORS WEEK 6 - FAVOURITE NAME

#52 ANCESTORS

The prompt for this week’s #52 Ancestor Challenge is Favourite Name. It could be a name of an ancestor that makes you smile. Perhaps it's an unusual name.

MY FAVOURITE NAME - Garvice Galvin 

 
This week I am writing about my father, Garvice Galvin Brandt. Although I adored my father and was spoilt by him as the youngest, I never really talked to him, not on a deeper level! He died when I was twenty one and I suppose I always thought I had plenty of time. 

You would think that this would have taught me a lesson, but alas it didn’t. 

My mother lived for a further 19 years and although I was close to her, I still never gave her the chance to tell her or Dad’s story. I was always too busy with my young family and my parent’s generation had to be asked to share their stories. I just wished I had asked!

It wasn't until later years when I found an interest in Family History that I realised the opportunities missed.

I often wonder how my Dad got his name.

Garvice Galvin BRANDT

Well I can speculate fairly confidently on the Galvin one. His mother’s maiden name was Galvin. Her middle name was Gertrude, so I like to think that there was a GG theme going on when she gave birth.

As to Garvice? It is anyone's guess, but I do have a theory.

My eldest sister thinks she can remember our Mum telling her once that Dad was named after an author of the time. I googled “Garvice authors” once, while researching. I wanted to write a story about his birth. Low and behold there was a Charles Garvice, a popular romance writer of over 150 books at the time of Dad’s birth.

So I now choose to think that this may have been the origin of his first name.

I do know that Garvice, wasn’t popular with my father. He regularly called himself “Jack” and filled many forms in under this name. He also recorded his middle name as Joseph, not Galvin.

So I tend to be fairly liberal in my search parameters when doing research on him.

The other thing is that most research engines and word programmes like to auto correct Garvice to garlic, when inputing information. This has caused a few smiles in my Family History adventures!

28 DAY WRITING CHALLENGE DAY 3 - THE GAOL (1791)

THE GAOL

Shivering uncontrollably, Elizabeth thought, will I ever be warm again? The walls of the cell dripped with moisture and the floors were awash with filth.

Elizabeth and Lizzy were taken quickly from the darkened street once the Nightwatchman arrived, to the County Gaol in the City of Glocester(Gloucester ) to await trial.

The days all seemed to run into one another. Stirring from a fitful sleep Elizabeth wondered how long have I been here? When will this nightmare end? Where have they put Lizzy?

Everyday morphed into another long day of agony. Packed in a small cell with one meal a day. At least I get a meal everyday, which is more than some days at ‘ome!

Drifting off to sleep, shivering once again she wondered could I get out of here another way. Death, seemed a kinder alternative. If only I had a choice.

Waking the next morning, she realised that she was still alive and no longer shivering.

What will happen to me? Will I ever seem Mam again?I guess I am destined to endure more of whatever I God has in store for me. I just wish I could see Mam and let her know what happened. I don’t even know if she knows where I am. I hope she knows that I was just trying to feed the young ‘uns.

The day was one long drudge. No room to move and the endless cold and damp. Suddenly her nostrils were struck with the stench wafting through the hall. The Gaoler was coming towards the cell.

“Right you be, me lovelies, just letting you know that you needs to be up bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning. Your trial will take place tomorrow and you will all be escorted to the Booth Hall for the Epiphany Sessions. It is snowing nicely outside so with any luck you will all have a lovely walk,” he snickered as he walked past all the cells.

So tomorrow I will learn my fate. Am I to have a death sentence or will I be transported o’er the seas? No matter what, I won’t see me family again! 

Curling up into a ball on the floor away from the incessant wet walls, she drifted off to sleep, hoping that her dreams would be kept at bay. 

What possibly could I dream of that won’t turn into a nightmare?

References

Gloucestershire Archives; Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England; Gloucestershire Prison Collections; Reference: Q/SG2/1789-1814

28 DAY WRITING CHALLENGE DAY 2 - THE CRIME (1791)

THE CRIME

Glass splinters shattered overhead in a spray of tiny crystals all around her. The sound broke the eery silence, as she watched Lizzy emerged through the broken window.

“Why’d you do that,” Elizabeth whispered as she helped Lizzy scramble through the last of the broken shards left in the window frame.

“It was so dark in there I couldn’t find the way to the front door,” giggled Lizzy.

Shivering in the dark and drizziling rain, Elizabeth reflected that things with Lizzy were never straight forward. They had what they needed, now let’s get out of here! This haul is enough material to clothe the young ‘uns! The rest will fetch a pretty penny too, feeding both our families for a month.

Pulling her shawl closer around her shoulders, Elizabeth hurried Lizzy along, through the dark street, awash now with the household sludge and mud from the constant rain throughout the night.

Fear gripped her when she heard the familiar cry of “Stop, thief.”

Elizabeth knew that they would have to outrun whoever chose to join the chase. Surely there can’t be many about at this time of night, she thought, grabbing Lizzy’s hand and taking off around the corner.

Where the bloomin’ hell did they come from? Running into a mob of revellers on their way home from a night of merriment.

“Well me lassies, I guess we will keep you company while our coachman goes for the nightwatchman,” leered one of the men gripping her by the arm and the others surrounding Lizzy at the same time.

Elizabeth’s panic rose by the minute as she waited in fear for the Nightwatchman to arrive. What are we going to do now? How do we explain the gowns and fabric and the broken glass glistening in Lizzy’s hair?

All to soon she found herself and Lizzy hauled off to the lockup, to await the Magistrate’s pleasure.


References

Gloucestershire Archives; Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England; Gloucestershire Prison Collections; Reference: Q/SG2/1789-1814

Wikipedia, Bow Street Runners, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_Street_Runners

28 DAY WRITING CHALLENGE 2018 - DAY 1 Introducing Elizabeth Selwyn

Today is the first day of my 28 Day Family History Challenge.  

It has been suggested by our Co-Ordinator to ask myself what my story is really about? How is the story I plan on writing going to touch a nerve in the busy lives of my family.

I am asked to write it down and keep it in front of me as I write over the next 28 days, letting it be my guide.

As I prepared to write my first draft of my story in the Writing Challenge, I had decided to write about my paternal Grandfather.

But I soon realised that I was under prepared with my research to do him justice. So I have decided that I will put him on hold for another time (maybe next year’s challenge).

I have now decided to write about my maternal Great great great grandmother Elizabeth Selwyn. I have done a fair bit of research on her but there is still so much to find. So I will be doing research along with writing, but one of the things I learnt from last year’s Challenge is to seperate my writing time and my research time. 

So when I am setting out to write I will just write and not research. The research can be done at another time and I can make quick notes to come back to in my drafts. I now know that It is important to me just to write and see where it leads me.

What is my story of Elizabeth Selwyn really about? 

I would say in a nutshell…. Strong Women. Yes, corny I hear you say! 

But I hope to bring Elizabeth to life for my family and myself, as obviously I never met her.

I hope over the next 28 days I can breathe life into my Elizabeth and it turns out an enjoyable read. 

So here goes….. another in the series of Strong Women in my Family Tree.

Please watch this space and hopefully the first instalment won’t be far away.

But for now I will just put a very basic timeline up, as the first instalment and my story will start in ernest on Day 2, which by the way has been and gone along with Day 3!  But I will catch up.

#52ANCESTORS WEEK 5 - IN THE CENSUS

#52 Ancestors

This week's prompt for the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is "In the Census." What intriguing find have you made in a census? What has a series of census records shown you? Do you have an ancestor who constantly ages only 7 years between censuses? (Those are fun!)

Someone suggested that maybe in Australia we could look at early musters or electoral rolls as our censuses don't have as much info as an English or American census.

In the Census 

I really haven’t had much success with censuses. I haven't found anything intriguing! Yet!

Why? I'm not really sure. But in Australia I find that there isn’t much information on them in regard to my ancestors. Usually when I do find one, it is only to open it up and find a surname with how many inhabitants are in the house! Of course I want to know who those other inhabitants are, don't I?

Whereas Electoral Rolls seem to give me more information.

In the Electoral Rolls I have found, they usually have the eligible voters of a household listed. This has in a lot of cases confirmed siblings, spouses, occupations and residences. I have plotted the where abouts of many ancestors through Electoral Rolls, thus confirming things on their timeline. It has given me insight to the movement of a few of them! Of course there is no mention of non-voting children. But in my case "Beggars can't be choosers"!

I am in awe of some of the information on other country's Censuses. I will no doubt get to use some of them eventually, but for the time being I am stuck looking through the “less than informative” Australian records. I am still trying to confirm the birth and parent's names of some of my early ancestors before I can move out of this country.

I have used Electoral Rolls in conjunction with the Australian Sands Directory on many occasions.[1] These two databases have given me firm footings for placing many of my ancestors at different places and times.

I am still learning in many areas in regards to my research, but I am truely thankful of the many resources that are now available online for today's researchers.

I look forward to reading about other's exciting finds, but for now I am off to trawl through Trove! [2] 

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1 Sands Directories: Sydney and New South Wales, Australia, 1858-1933
Sydney and New South Wales, Australia, Sands Street Index, 1861-1930 https://search.ancestry.com.au/search cardcatalog.aspx#ccat=hc=25&dbSort=1&sbo=1&title=&keyword=SANDS%20DIRECTORY& 

2 National Library of Australia, Online database, https://trove.nla.gov.au