It is sometimes harder to find out about the life of someone if they go off script by not having children of their own, or migrate more than once. But it is possible to follow someone from cradle to grave when starting somewhere in the centre.
For Daniel Lamon Hines, this was his marriage to my great-great-great-grandmother, his first, her second, in Grafton, NSW in 1868. Daniel believed he was seven years younger than his wife.[1] Even though she stated her age as 38, Mary Halligan nee Campbell was closer to 43. (Her bounty immigrant record gives her age as 16 in January 1842. [2])
Daniel provided an unusual second name for this marriage. It was written as Lamon, allowing it to be interpreted as Ramon, and seems to have been inherited from his father William Lamon Hines.
When Daniel made his way to Grafton is not certain. There is one possible arrival in Melbourne on the Royal Mail Ship Boomerang from Liverpool, England in May 1855. [3]
Not all details match with his Grafton description, but a young Englishman who aspired to be a miner has time to make his way north. By 1858, a Daniel Hines appeared in Black Forest (now Woodend), Victoria, making a wage from woodsplitting. [4]
Then much further north, a letter arrived in Grafton, NSW in mid 1867, addressed to Daniel Hines. [5]
Mary had four children with her first husband convict William Joseph Halligan (~1810 - ~1860). Their son John and daughters Catherine and Letitia had all married and left home by the time Mary met Daniel Hines. Mary's youngest daughter Eliza, who experienced epileptic fits, remained at home with her mother. Mary had been deemed a widow after her husband left home for the Tooloom gold diggings in June 1859, never to be seen by family again.
However, soon after their marriage, Daniel and his wife Mary moved to the Tweed River. The first record confirming this is an 1869 Conditional Purchase of Portion 2 in the parish of Kynnumboon near Murwillumbah. [6]
A second family tragedy occurred in 1874 -
the disappearance of Mary's son-in-law John Henry De Chave. This was followed by another family loss - the death of Eliza Halligan on 10 February 1876; her stepfather Daniel was listed as the informant. [7]
And in February 1904, Mary passed away. A curious description appeared in the Tweed and Brunswick Advocate and Southern Queensland Record (precursor to the Tweed Daily News):
3rd February 1904
Mrs. D Hinds [sic] died at her residence Monday night last. The deceased lady, who has been a terrible suffer [sic], was well known and highly respected in the district.
She leaves no children, and her husband who survives her intends, it is rumoured, to visit the old country. The funeral took place yesterday afternoon. 'Twere absurd to express sympathy where congratulation would probably be more acceptable. [8]
It was certainly true that none of her remaining children lived in the Tweed River area, but what did the rest of it mean ? Did Daniel Hines return to his "old country" ?
It did not take long to find a record of departure for one D. Hines, aged 68, on The Oroya leaving Brisbane in April 1904 for a return to London. [9] His marriage certificate stated that he was born in Devon/shire. He was easy to find in the 1841 UK Census with his siblings and parents William and Sarah at Plymtree in Devon, but there was no supporting birth record.
This time Familysearch gave a clue: there was a possible link to Daniel Leman, born to William and Sarah and baptised in 1836 in Plymtree, Devon.
A further search for his parents' marriage at Broadhembury in 1824 provided a partial confirmation [10]:
Daniel's father had used an inverted version of the surname: Hine Laman. One of Daniel's brothers, Levi, also used this version in various documents [11].
In January 2022, the UK government released the 1921 Census of England and Wales. It was self-reporting. As in the 1911 Census, Daniel chose to use a variant of Hines as his surname. Was it him ?
It was a thrill to see final confirmation in this way. Neatly crossed out by the enumerator, under the heading of Place of Work Daniel had written New South Wales.
References
1. Marriage certificate NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages #2314/1868. This certificate copy was purchased in 1988
2. The William Sharples, Ship News. (1842, February 1). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), p. 2. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2555644
3. Arrival of unassisted passenger 'Danl Hynes', aged 24, miner, Public Records Office of Victoria
4. Friday, Oct. 23. (1858, October 23). The Kyneton Observer (Vic. : 1856 - 1900), p. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article240894850
6. Conditional Purchase, Portion 2, Book 479 No 117, NSW Land & Property Information
7. Death Certificate NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, #0347/1876
8. File held by the Tweed Regional Museum at Murwillumbah
9. UK and Ireland Incoming Passenger Lists 1878 - 1960
10. Marriage Banns courtesy of South West Heritage Trust and Parochial Council (UK).
11. For example see the 1851 UK Census for Plymtree Parish
Acknowledgement
Thanks go to the Tweed Heads Historical Society for filling in some gaps in local records.
