U is for Unknown - Family History Through the Alphabet - Week 21

Image from Gould Genealogy & History News

This is my contribution to Week 21 of Gould Genealogy's Family History Through the Alphabet challenge. The letter this time is U.

U is for...Unknown Names

As demonstrated by my recent post, Ancestors Known and Unknown, there are a lot of ancestors whom I cannot yet name. I have identified approximately 132 of a possible 1023 ancestors from the past 10 generations. In addition, I only know the given name of some of female ancestors among those 132.  

U is for...Unknown Facts

• Unknown dates and places of birth, death and marriage - There are always more vital facts about my ancestors to discover through research. When and where did Thomas Smith and Mary Anne (Davey) Smith die? Where and when did John Atkinson and Eleanor Crisp marry? 
• Unknown parents names - Who were the parents of William Fullerton? Who were the parents of Mary Dunne?
• Unknown immigration - I still have to find the names of sailing ships on which several of my ancestors immigrated to Australia. For example, when and how did Eliza Carew arrive in Australia? Did she immigrate with any other family or friends?
• Unknown occupations - I know very little about the occupations of my ancestors and I need to learn more. Some of the known occupations in my family tree are: mothers and homemakers, farmers, labourers, drovers, storekeepers, innkeepers and publicans, domestic servants, college servants, mariners, soldiers, policemen, builders, carpenters, coopers, blacksmiths, sawyers, road contractors, timber merchants, tailors, dressmakers, upholsterers and parish clerks. Then there are all the ancestors whose occupations are unknown. 
• Unknown history - To better understand my ancestors lives I need to place my ancestors into their historical context by studying histories of the places where they lived. 

U is for...Unknown Photographs

We all have unlabelled photographs showing unknown people in our family collections. For examples, see my Someone's Ancestor Sunday posts, particularly my series of posts featuring photographs from my Great Great Grandmother's photo album - Susan Ellis (nee Hehir) Photo Album. 

Searching for the Unknowns is what make family history research so enthralling. 

 © 2012. Australian Genealogy Journeys by Aillin O'Brien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com.au/p/copyright-terms.html.

Trove Tuesday - Finding Drovers on Trove

I missed last week's Trove Tuesday blogging prompt as I was fortunate enough to spend time sightseeing and photographing on a two day journey ('there and back again') to Broken Hill, Menindee, Pooncarie and Balranald in western New South Wales. A lot of that country is looking really beautiful because of rain earlier this year. Many thanks to my brother for taking me on this journey.

My thoughts did turn in a genealogical direction, but I was unfortunately not able to visit the grave of my Great Great Aunt, Henrietta (Ettie) Gertrude McLernon (nee Ellis) (1872-1956) at the Broken Hill Cemetery - that will have to wait for my next journey! However, while travelling through the Kinchega National Park along the Darling River between Menindee and Pooncarie I thought about another genealogy discovery I made through Trove.

Family oral history had stated that my Great Great Grandfather, Peter Fullerton (1840-1824) and his brother James (1843-1889) were both involved in cattle droving between Queensland and Victoria. I still have not been able to discover much information about the Fullerton brother's time as drovers, but small references found through Trove have provided many clues.

Kinchega National Park, 17 September 2012. A thick carpet of Cooper Clover makes the land look green. I wonder were the Fullerton brothers fortunate enough to drove cattle through in good years like this? Or did they  have to deal with floods and droughts? So many questions that Trove could help to answer!

The following is one of the first of many references I have found via Trove regarding the Fullertons' droving days. 

STOCK REPORTS.
Deniliquin.- At Wentworth our correspondent writes - 2,500 fat wethers from Monaro passed Pooncaira on the 14th for Adelaide; 400 fat cattle (Parker's) passed Pooncaira on the 16th for Melbourne (Fullarton in charge) via Euston road... 

1872 'COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.', The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956), 5 November, p. 4, viewed 25 September, 2012, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5841791 

'Parker' mentioned in the article was pastoralist Langloh Parker who held Kallara Station at the time.

On the subject of drovers, I should also mention that my Great Great Aunt Ettie McLernon (nee Ellis) was married to a drover, Patrick McLernon. Ettie and Patrick were married in Adelaide, South Australia in 1906. Both of them are buried at the Broken Hill Cemetery. 

Tips for finding references to drovers in the digitised newspapers on Trove:

• Search for exact phrases by enclosing the key words in inverted commas. For example, search for the phrase "[Surname of drover] in charge" (e.g. "Fullerton in charge" - and also remember to search for surname variants). 
• Add key words like 'cattle' or 'stock', or phrases like "stock reports".
• Search for the names of pastoralists the drover worked for e.g. 'Parker' or "Langloh Parker", as well as the names of stations that pastoralist held e.g.  'Kallara' or "Kallara Station", 'Bangate' or "Bangate Station". 

Trove Tuesday is a blogging prompt created by Amy from the Branches Leaves and Pollen blog. 

 © 2012. Australian Genealogy Journeys by Aillin O'Brien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com.au/p/copyright-terms.html.

T is Tangney - Family History Through the Alphabet - Week 20

Image from Gould Genealogy & History News

This is my contribution to Week 20 of Gould Genealogy's Family History Through the Alphabet challenge. The letter this time is T.

T is for...Tangney
Tangney is the maiden surname of my 3 x Great Grandmother, Honora McCarthy (c1806-1873). Honora Tangney was born about 1806, the daughter of Patrick Tangney and Julia Cronin. Honora married John McCarthy in 1832 in the Catholic parish of Firies, County Kerry, Ireland. The marriage witnesses were Nicholas Tangney and James Burk. For more information see my recent posts C is for Cronin and M is for McCarthy . 

Sources: Irishgenealogy.ie and Births, Deaths and Marriages, Victoria, Australia indexes and certificates.

  © 2012. Australian Genealogy Journeys by Aillin O'Brien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com.au/p/copyright-terms.html.

S is for Smith and Simmes - Family History Through the Alphabet - Week 19

Image from Gould Genealogy & History News

This is my contribution to Week 19 of Gould Genealogy's Family History Through the Alphabet challenge. The letter this time is S.

S is for...Smith
My 3 x Great Grandparents, Thomas Smith and Mary Anne Davey were married on 5 November 1826 at West Teignmouth, Devon, England. The known children of Thomas and Mary Anne Smith were as follows (though I need to verify some of this information by ordering certificates!):

• Robert Smith (1827-1827), baptised 24 April 1827, West Teignmouth, Devon. Robert died on 29 April 1827.
• Mary Anne Davey Smith (1828-?), baptised 31 August 1828, West Teignmouth, Devon. 
• Thomas Davey Smith (1830-1895), my Great Great Grandfather, baptised 20 June 1830, West Teignmouth, Devon.
• Elizabeth Davey Smith (1832-?) baptised 11 June 1832, West Teignmouth, Devon.
• Susan/Susanna Smith (c1834-?) Teignmouth, Devon. 
• Robert Davey Smith (1836-1903) baptised 10 April 1836, Dartmouth, Devon. Married Ellen Marchant in 1856.  Died in 1903. 
• Louisa Davey Smith (1838-1913), born 1838 Dartmouth, Devon. Married Richard Stephen Smith in 1857. 
• John William Davey Smith (1840-?) born 1840 Dartmouth, Devon. 
• George Smith (c1842-?) born about 1842 Dartmouth, Devon. Married Sarah (?). 
• Albert Davey Smith (1849-?) born 1849 Teignmouth, Devon.

Possible other children are Emma Davey Smith died 1845 and Emma Davey Smith born 1847. I have found these two on indexes but have not yet verified that they belong in my Smith family. 

At the time of the 1841 English Census, Thomas Smith senior was a sawyer and the Smith family  were living at Mill Pond, Townstall, Dartmouth, Devon. In 1851, Thomas was a sawyer and innkeeper living at Globe Lane, West Teignmouth, Devon. In 1861, Thomas was a timber merchant living at 5 Martins Lane, West Teignmouth, Devon. I have not yet obtained the death certificates for Thomas Smith or his wife Mary Anne (nee Davey). Thomas Smith died between 1861 and 1871. Mary Anne Smith died after 1871. 

According to the 1851 census, Thomas Smith was born about 1809 at Bishopsteignton, Devon. I have not yet viewed the Bishopsteignton parish records, but several years ago, the online parish clerks for Bishopsteignton look, the Edwards', found an 1807 baptism for Thomas Smith, the son of John Smith and Mary Croot. They also found the 1785 marriage of John Smith and Mary Croot at Bishopsteignton. Other possible children include: 

• William Smith (baptised 1786 Bishopsteignton, Devon)
• John Smith (baptised 1787 Ashcombe, Devon. Died 1787) 
• Susanna Croot Smith (baptised 1788 Ashcombe, Devon)
• Richard Smith (baptised 1791, Ashcombe, Devon)
• Mary Smith (baptised 1793, Ashcombe, Devon)
• John Smith (baptised 1795, Ashcombe, Devon)
• Elizabeth Smith (baptised 1798, Bishopsteignton, Devon)
• Ann Smith (baptised 1801, Ideford, Devon)

I still have a lot of research to complete regarding the Smith and Croot families. Please also see my previous post D is for Davey.

S is for...Simmes (Simms, Syms, Simes)
Simmes is the maiden surname of my 6 x Great Grandmother, Ann Kersey/Casey (c1704-1767). Ann married John Casey at Bicester, Oxfordshire, England, in 1730. It is believed that Ann was the daughter of Thomas Simmes/Syms and Charity Thornton of Bicester. For this information I am very grateful to my cousin, John. Please also see my previous post K is for Kersey.

(Sources available on request)

  © 2012. Australian Genealogy Journeys by Aillin O'Brien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com.au/p/copyright-terms.html.

R is for Randall - Family History Through the Alphabet - Week 18

Image from Gould Genealogy & History News 

This is my contribution to Week 18 of Gould Genealogy's Family History Through the Alphabet challenge. The letter this time is R.

R is for...Randall
Randall is the maiden surname of my Great Great Grandmother, Margaret Chambers (1855-1917). Margaret Randall and her twin sister Annie Randall were born on 12 September 1855 at Hahndorf, South Australia, to Edward and Mary Ann (nee Brown) Randall. The Randall family had set off from Gawler, South Australia and Margaret and Annie were born while travelling via land to the goldfields of Avoca, Victoria. It is believed that Annie died as an infant somewhere along the track before they completed the journey. When the search for gold was unsuccessful, Edward Randall took up farming land on the Avoca River. Margaret Randall married widower George Chambers in Avoca on 1 January 1884. Please see my previous post, C is for Chambers, for more information. 

Today (12 September 2012) marks 157 years since Margaret Randall's birth, and also 94 years since the birth of her granddaughter, my Gran, who passed away last month.  

At the time of the 1841 Census, Margaret's father, Edward Randall, a 40-year-old an agricultural labourer, was living at Butts Green, Sandon, Essex, England, with his daughter (from his first marriage) Mary Ann Randall (aged 5). Widower Edward Randall (1801-1890) married widow Mary Ann Bailey (nee Brown) on 18 May 1846 at Chelmsford, Essex, England. Edward, Mary Ann and six children (including Edward's daughter Mary Ann Randall, several Bailey children, and Edward and Mary Ann's infant daughter Rachel Randall), immigrated to Adelaide, South Australia, on the ship 'Royal Princess' in 1848. 

The children of Edward and Mary Ann Randall were:

• Rachel Randall (1847-1937), married (1) John Dark, (2) Richard Morcom.
• Edward Randall (1849-1926), married Ann Elizabeth Harrison.
• Rebecca Randall (1852-1946), married Matthew Wasley. 
• Annie Randall (1855-1855)
• Margaret Randall (1855-1917), married George Chambers. 
• Annie Randall (1859-1863)

Edward Randall's daughter from his first marriage, Mary Ann Randall (1836-1905), married Charles Edson. The Bailey children from the first marriage of Mary Ann Randall (nee Brown) were:

• Mary Ann Bailey (1836-1877), married William Haynes.
• William Bailey (1837-1895)
• Joseph Bailey (1840-1914), married Sophia Gooch.
• John Bailey (c1842-?)
• George Bailey (c1845-?)

Mary Ann Randall (nee Brown) died at the home of her daughter Rachel Morcom, at Jalluker near Stawell, Victoria on 5 July 1886. Edward Randall senior died on 28 April 1890 at Ballarat, Victoria, while visiting his daughter Rebecca Wasley. 

Edward Randall was born in 1801 and baptised on 21 June 1801 at Margaret Roding, Essex, England, the son of Edward Randall and Elizabeth Judd (see my previous post J is for Judd). The known children of Edward and Elizabeth Randall were:

• Rebekah Randall, baptised 1794, Good Easter, Essex.
• John Randall, baptised 1797, Good Easter.
• Margaret Randall, baptised 1799, Margaret Roding, Essex.
• Edward Randall, baptised 1801, Margaret Roding.
• Susanna Randall, baptised 1804, Margaret Roding.
• Thomas Randall, baptised 1809, Margaret Roding.

For information about my Randall ancestors, I am grateful to a Randall relative, Robert, who published a comprehensive Randall family history in the 1980s (of which my family have a copy). 

(Sources available on request)

Other relevant posts:

• B is for Brown
• C is for Chambers
• J is for Judd
• Diary/Letters/Journals - Women's History Month - Fearless Females - March 8
• Wordless Wednesday - My Randall Family

 © 2012. Australian Genealogy Journeys by Aillin O'Brien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com.au/p/copyright-terms.html.

Trove Tuesday - Thomas Fullerton of Hill Plain, Deniliquin

A photograph I took of the Hill Plain marker on the
Long Paddock Touring Route in April 2010.
I hope to travel the whole touring route someday.

The following article regarding Thomas Fullerton, though a very sad article, is one of my most appreciated, and least expected, Trove discoveries. I had learnt, through a reference provided by the Deniliquin & District Historical Society, that in 1865 there had been an inquest into the death of a young shepherd, Thomas Fullerton, who had died at Hill Plain near Deniliquin, New South Wales. Unfortunately, the death certificate gave no information about Thomas' family, and while the inquest index existed for that era in New South Wales, the actual inquest records no longer existed. I thought I was not likely to find any other information to verify that this Thomas was part of my Fullerton family. My best hope was newspapers - but which newspaper? How many rolls of microfilm would I need to trawl through? Enter the National Library of Australia's Newspaper digitisation in 2008. At that early stage in the digitisation none of the digitised newspaper titles looked relevant for Deniliquin news - perhaps the Argus, but that was a long shot I thought. Without high expectations of finding any reference to Thomas, I searched for 'Fullerton' and 'Deniliquin'. There it was! In December 1865 the Brisbane Courier had reprinted an inquest report from the Deniliquin Chronicle. The inquest report mentioned Thomas' sister Bridget Fenelon, and thus provided the evidence I needed to place young Thomas on my family tree. Until that time, Thomas' existence had been somehow forgotten in family records and oral history. Previously, the only evidence for Thomas' existence was a record of a Thomas 'Fuller' baptised at Castlemaine, Victoria in 1854. I like to think that Thomas provided a little help in my research. While the information I found about him was very sad, finding it meant that his story would no longer be forgotten. 

I take the following report from a Deniliquin paper, as it relates to a subject in which not only the faculty but all heads of families must feel an interest. Medical science has not yet reached perfection, great as its triumphs are: 

"On Tuesday last the Police Magistrate attended at Hill Plains to hold an inquiry respecting the death of a lad aged thirteen years, named Thomas Fullerton, who had been found lying dead in his bed on the previous day by Mr. Clancy, sheep overseer to Mr. Hogg, of Mathoura station. The first witness examined was Bridget Fenelon, a married woman and sister of deceased, who deposed that on Sunday evening last she was milking a goat, and her brother held the animal by its horns; the goat giving a plunge forward struck deceased either in the breast or stomach, from which he appeared to suffer somewhat; he ran a few yards after the goat, and then laid down and complained of sickness, and remained drowsy the whole of the evening afterwards. On Monday, she finding him no better started for Deniliquin, and, on her return in the afternoon, found he was dead. John Clancy, the overseer deposed that being in the neighborhood on Monday, and requiring the assistance of deceased, he went to the hut believing deceased to be asleep, and found him on the bed dead and his body cold. A. W. F. Noyes, Surgeon, of Deniliquin, who attended the inquiry for the purpose of making the post mortem, deposed that he had done so, and found that the cause of death was hydatids in the heart, and that no marks of violence likely to arise from the butting of a goat were noticeable on the body. This is the second death which has been attributed here within a twelvemonth or so to that very obscure form of disease - hydatids. The former was a girl of about sixteen years, who died in the hospital, and the organ in which the hydatids were found was the brain, some four or five hundred being discovered in one side of that organ. The professional gentlemen engaged considered the features presented by that case exceedingly singular, and those of the present are viewed as being still more extraordinary and unusual. Some of the hydatids were attached to the heart, and one, which was taken out, was found floating in the blood contained in the left ventricle. The lad appears to have occasionally been subject to fainting fits, and those are supposed to have been produced by the interference of this organic growth with the action of the valves of the heart. The subject as affecting the human frame is exceedingly obscure, but the infrequency of its known occurrence commends itself to the notice of the professional man.''

Source: 1865 'NEWS AND NOTES.', The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), 1 December, p. 3, viewed 11 September, 2012, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1283199

For more information about my Fullerton ancestors please see my previous post, Finding the Fullertons.

While researching this post, I noticed that the Deniliquin Genealogy Society Inc is hosting a Deniliquin Genealogy Muster (a bit like the Ute Muster, I guess!) on 12-13 October 2012. It looks like there will be lots of genealogy presenters (including Shauna Hicks of The Diary of an Australian Genealogist blog) and exhibitors present. I really should keep a closer eye on genealogy event calendars!

 © 2012. Australian Genealogy Journeys by Aillin O'Brien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com.au/p/copyright-terms.html.

Ancestors Known and Unknown

Recently some fellow genealogy bloggers have been demonstrating how the genealogical quest is never ending by counting up the number of direct line ancestors they have identified from the past ten generations. Some of the recent blog posts I have read include:

• Judy at The Legal Genealogist - More lost than found
• Crista at Ancestry.com Blog - Family History All Done? What's Your Number?
• Julie at GenBlog - What's Your Number? (...and an Epiphany)
• Helen at From Helen V Smith's Keyboard - Finished? Not Me!

If someone had identified all their direct line ancestors back ten generations, they would have identified a total of 1,023 people, including all 512 of their 7 x Great Grandparents! And this only includes direct ancestors (not siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews etc.). Genealogy really is a never ending pursuit!

I have decided to see how many of my direct ancestors I know from my own 8 years of research, combined with my Mum's research since the late 1980s. The table that follows is a rough calculation as I have counted ancestors who only have names like 'Mary' or 'Ann' (with no accompanying surname) and are not yet completely verified. However, this gives me some idea of just how much more I still have to discover in the future.

I have identified approximately 132 of a possible 1023 ancestors from the past 10 generations. Similar to what Helen at From Helen V Smith's Keyboard said in her post, I know that a large percentage of my unknown ancestors are pre-nineteenth century Irish and therefore they will probably remain unknown due to the non-existence of many Irish records beyond that century. I definitely have a lot of English and Welsh family lines I have yet to research exhaustively though. It seems I will probably be researching for the rest of my life. I'm glad genealogy is such an interesting pursuit!

 © 2012. Australian Genealogy Journeys by Aillin O'Brien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com.au/p/copyright-terms.html.

Q is for Queensland - Family History Through the Alphabet - Week 17

Image from Gould Genealogy & History News

This is my contribution to Week 17 of Gould Genealogy's Family History Through the Alphabet challenge. The letter this time is Q.

As far as I know my direct immigrant ancestors all arrived in Australia through Victoria and South Australia, and most spent the majority of their lives in Victoria. However, I know that several of my ancestors had siblings who lived in New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland. I have no surnames in my family tree beginning with Q so this week my subject of choice will be another location.

Q is for...Queensland
My Great Great Grandfather Peter Fullerton (1840-1824) had a younger brother, James Fullerton, who spent at least the last 10 years of his life in Queensland. 

The following is from my previous post 'Finding the Fullertons':

James Fullerton (1843-1889) 

James was born 5 November 1843 at Newtown (Fitzroy), and baptised at St Francis’ Melbourne on 4 December 1843. The baptism sponsors were Charles Higgins and Sarah Ryan. James Fullerton spent several years during the 1870s droving cattle. He worked for pastoralist Langloh Parker on his stations ‘Kallara’ and ‘Bangate’ in North Western New South Wales. Later, Parker employed James as the manager of his station ‘Retreat’ on the Barcoo River between Isisford and Jundah in Western Queensland. James married Agnes Ord on 21 October 1882 at Isisford. James and Agnes had one child: De Renzie Percival Fullerton, born at Blackall in 1884. James Fullerton died on 15 June 1889 at Mitchell Vale Station near present day Mount Molloy, Queensland.

I believe, from research via Trove, that James was at Retreat Station from at least 1878. He and his family, along with his brother-in-law David Ord, moved to Mitchell Vale Station in North Queensland in about 1887. 

The second major connection to Queensland in my family tree is Patrick Joyce (c1839-1915), the younger brother of my Great Great Grandfather, Edmund Joyce (c1833-1916).  Patrick spent several years in Victoria after immigrating with his family from Whitegate, County Galway (now County Clare) on the 'Hotspur' in 1855. Patrick later moved to Queensland where he married Adelaide Toovey in 1876 at St Mary's, Maryborough, Queensland.  At that time Patrick was described as 'timber getter' from Gympie. According to a Joyce family history published in the 1970s (of which my family have a copy):

In 1878 Patrick and Adelaide shifted to Reids Creek, where they purchased Lochaber station. They remained at Reids Creek for a number of years, then moved on to Gundiah, where Patrick managed the saw mills for a period of nine years. After severing his connection with Gundiah, he went into the hotel business, which he followed for a number of years in Maryborough, Townsville and Brisbane. Eventually he returned to Reids Creek, where he took up a farm, and remained until his death. Fourteen children were born to Patrick and Adelaide, three of whom died at an early age. Patrick died on 7/6/1915 [7 June 1915], having been in failing health for some time. Adelaide remarried, her second husband being William Trott. 

(Source: Joyce, descendants of Edmund and Catherine Joyce in Australia 1855 to 1975)

For more information about my Joyce ancestors please see my recent posts J is for Joyce and G is for Guinane.

Queensland genealogy links:

• Judy Webster's Genealogy Advice Judy, a professional genealogist from Queensland, is also a fellow geneablogger (at the Queensland Genealogy blog) and the founder of the Genealogists for Families group on Kiva. I recommend Judy's web site as a great place to start your Queensland research. 
• My Diigo links tagged Queensland

 © 2012. Australian Genealogy Journeys by Aillin O'Brien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com.au/p/copyright-terms.html.

Trove Tuesday - Harry Potter "Detective Potter"

I have been very pleased to see that the National Library of Australia (with support from the State Library of Victoria) have recently uploaded to Trove digitised copies of the McIvor Times and Rodney Advertiser, the local newspaper for Heathcote, Victoria, where many of my ancestors resided.

When I recently posted my P is for... Family History Through the Alphabet contribution, I mentioned my Potter ancestors, including my Great Great Grandmother's half brother, Harry Potter. Fi from Dance Skeletons commented that:

I think every Potter family should have a 'Harry'

With the recent digitisation of the McIvor Times and Rodney Advertiser I was able to find a detailed obituary for Harry Potter. 

Obituary. 

On Wednesday, 20th ult., at his residence, Caledonia Gully, South Heathcote, there passed away a very old M'Ivor resident, namely, Mr Harry Potter, son of the late Mr George Potter, also of Caledonia Gully, for a number of years in the early days, and brother of Mr James W. Potter, of Rushworth, and Mrs A. Smith, Elmore. The cause of death was colic, ending in heart failure, after only two days' illness. Mr Potter was a native of Oxford, England, and was 72 years of age. He arrived in Australia with his parents when a lad, and attended the school at Heathcote in the fifties, with his brother Mr George Potter, jun., who died many years ago. Mr Harry Potter was for over 20 years engaged in the Criminal Investigation Department, being stationed in Melbourne, Bendigo, Ballarat, etc., and was widely known as Detective Potter, and an efficient officer, and noted for his clever captures. Mr Potter's various appointments were as follow:— Joined police force, February, 1866; appointed 3rd class' detective, August, 1869; 2nd class detective, February,1875; 1st class detective, March, 1880; 1st class sergeant, November, 1881;and resigning his position in May, 1887. In November, 1879, he received from the Board of Directors of the Queen's Birthday Quartz Gold Mining Co., Dunolly, a handsome illuminated address for his services in obtaining evidence that led to the arrest of robbers of copper plates and amalgam from the company's workings at that time. He afterwards had an hotel business at Ferntree Gully, later the Antimony Hotel at Costerfield, and Gold Miners' Arms, Caledonia Gully, Heathcote. As a youth he was engaged in several of the leading workings on the M'Ivor goldfields, including the Butlers and Alabama reefs, afterwards joining the Police Force, and subsequently the Criminal Investigation Department. He was of a very genial and kindly disposition, and his decease will be a source of regret to his many friends. He was married at Heathcote to Miss Laurina M. Kirby, who pre-deceased him. He leaves three sons and two daughters, grown up, living, and much sympathy is felt for them in their bereavement, two sons being deceased. The funeral took place on the Friday, and was numerously attended, the place of burial being the Heathcote Cemetery. The burial service was read by the Rev. W. M. Madgwick, and the funeral was conducted by Messrs. Perry Bros.

1914 'Obituary.', The McIvor Times and Rodney Advertiser(Heathcote, Vic. : 1863 - 1918), 4 June, p. 3, viewed 4 September, 2012, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74748003

 © 2012. Australian Genealogy Journeys by Aillin O'Brien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com.au/p/copyright-terms.html.

Motivation Monday - Goals for September 2012

It's Motivation Monday again. This month, September, is the first month of Spring in Australia. The warmer weather and flowers are a great motivation to start afresh.

My goals for August 2012 were:

1.  Continue implementing the Digital Organisational Scheme I developed back in January. During August I will aim to continue working on the file names and metadata within my 'Genealogy>Hehir' and 'Genealogy>Ellis' folders. I will particularly concentrate on organising the files within each 'Correspondence' folder. I did not get to achieve this during August so I'll move this task forward to September. 
2.  Continue working on my new Legacy file, working backwards methodically, recording all sources, attaching relevant source documents and attaching photographs. During August, I aim to do this for more of my Hehir and Ellis family members. At the the time of posting my Legacy file contains 101 individuals. During August I will aim to increase that number to at least 150.  I did not get to achieve this during August so I'll move this task forward to September. My Legacy file currently contains 118 individuals. I am considering possibly using different family history software as my main software. I have several family history software programs installed on my laptop including Legacy 7.5,  Family Tree Maker 2012, Roots Magic 4 and Family Historian 5. One of my Goals for 2012 was to:  Reacquaint myself with the features of the various genealogy software products I have on my computer (Legacy 7.5, RootsMagic 4, Family Tree Maker 2012, Family Historian and Personal Historian 2). I will make this one of my goals for September. 
3.  Move a few more photographs from my 'To Sort' folder into folders for the relevant year and month. At the time of posting my 'To Sort' photographs folder contains 1,373 Files, 41 Folders, 3.37 GB of data. During August I aim to reduce the number of files in my 'To Sort' photographs folder to 0. Achieved. 
4.  Continue exploring my recent genetic genealogy test results. Contact a few more of my Dad's matches at FTDNA. Achieved. 
5.  At the moment I am reading two genealogy related ebooks. During August I will aim to finish at least one of these ebooks. Achieved.
6.  Participate in blogging prompts when able (Family History Through the Alphabet, 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy, 21st Century Organized Family Historian and Beyond the Internet) Achieved. During August I participated in the Family History Through the Alphabet blogging challenge with posts for L, M, N, O and P. 

My goals for September 2012 are:

1. Reacquaint myself with the features of the various genealogy software products I have on my computer (Legacy 7.5, RootsMagic 4, Family Tree Maker 2012, Family Historian and Personal Historian 2) 
2. Continue implementing the Digital Organisational Scheme I developed back in January. During September I will aim to continue working on the file names and metadata within my 'Genealogy>Hehir' and 'Genealogy>Ellis' folders. I will particularly concentrate on organising the files within each 'Correspondence' folder. 
3. Continue working on my new family history file, working backwards methodically, recording all sources, attaching relevant source documents and attaching photographs. During September, I aim to do this for more of my Hehir and Ellis family members. At the the time of posting my Legacy file contains 118 individuals. During September I will aim to increase that number to at least 150. 
4. Organise, crop, rename and tag photographs from my 'Scans To Sort' folder. At the time of posting my 'Scans To Sort' folder contains 18,115 Files, 485 Folders, 58.3 GB of data. During September I aim to reduce the number of files in my 'Scans To Sort' photographs folder to at least 17,900. 
5. At the moment I am reading one genealogy related ebook. During September I will aim to finish this ebook. 
6. Participate in blogging prompts when able (Trove Tuesday, Family History Through the Alphabet, 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy, 21st Century Organized Family Historian and Beyond the Internet) 

 © 2012. Australian Genealogy Journeys by Aillin O'Brien is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License.Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://ausgenjourneys.blogspot.com.au/p/copyright-terms.html.