Correcting the record

Recently I decided to cauterise my research into a spindly branch of the family tree. Despite emanating from a well-documented ancestor (i.e., a convict transported to Australia), the spindliness was due to his name. John Jones. It gave a sense of relief that here was one branch which had grown over a brick wall so high it was never to be scaled. 

As part of the decision to set aside the research, one last attempt was to be made to correct the metadata  distributed globally by British, American and Australian genealogical services. In particular, to excise the occurrence of the unsubstantiated addition of the name Michael.

When first investigating John Jones and his family, the occasional occurrence of his name as Michael John Jones or even John Michael Jones in other people's anecdotes or self-documented research did not trouble me much. The trial, hulk and transportation records; his marriage and death certificates and gravestone all clearly labelled my great-great-great-grandfather as John Jones.

And then, a few years ago while delving into the 1840s history of a small town in New South Wales, I found this gem:

PIONEER HISTORY (1925, July 22). 
Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), p. 7.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93528050

The story teller was William Exton, brother to John Jones' wife Harriet Lancaster Exton. Although published long after the death of Jones in 1866, it gave an explanation for the introduction of the name Michael, albeit a curious one. Without studying the Bundjalung language of that time, or similar, it could be true. 

There was an earlier reference to Micky Jones in Trove:

Seventy-Five Years on the Richmond. (1922, September 2). 
Casino and Kyogle Courier and North Coast Advertiser (NSW : 1904 - 1932), p. 3.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article234043933

One ( the only? ) official record in Australia of the name was an appearance on the death certificate of Jones' wife Harriet, where it was endorsed by her daughter Eleanor Atkin, and her obituary:

PERSONAL. (1915, August 20). 
Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW : 1915 - 1954), p. 4.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article194802986

Were family members merely endorsing a family legend ? But why Micky << >> Michael and not some other nickname ? The elapsed time between the 1840s, '50s, '60s, and 1915 is long enough to forget it. Until, as part of the process of verification, I found a record I'd never seen before:

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/r/C14607109

Was this the source of the name Micky ? The young men mentioned in this crime were both transported, separately, under their "aliases" of John JOnes and William Robinson. There is no mention of an alias, which sometimes did appear in Government records. The other details seem to match all Australian documentation. [1]

Did John Jones try to reinvent himself on arrival ? It continued to happen in the 20th century, but was usually legitimised by a naturalisation process. 

Or were the petitions manufactured ? Certainly there was a young man named Michael Ralph who committed crimes in London, in the following year. 

Does one record outweigh the many ? Family historians who use the global genealogical services without triangulating original sources of information won't care. For a pedantic practitioner however, it's not good enough. Perhaps that's a gene not shared.

Footnote

[1] John Jones' transportable offence, described in the Convict Indent as Assisting in rescue of a prisoner, seems quite unusual. Not the same as the original indictment, Stealing from a dwelling house 112 yards of worsted cloth. The dwelling house was a storehouse for a materials trader. This crime seems to have been instigated by the other young man, and the event could be interpreted different ways. Perhaps this was why Jones' Certificate of Freedom was issued after seven years from the original 10 of "incarceration" imposed ? 

A swoop of Seagulls

Although their colours were described in the first issue of the relaunched school magazine The Seagull in 1962, the rugby league socks were not. 

Socks in TRHS school colours worn for the last time in 1975.
A new black and green colour scheme was introduced in the following year. 

The Seagull was launched in 1957 by the Tweed Heads Intermediate High School. The cover echoes the design work of the Art Teacher, Gordon Drummond Story (sometimes Storey), for the school badge. 

Image used as the front cover of the Seagull from 1957 until 1965.
It was then replaced by various renditions of a seagull and student art until 2015.

The design was explained in the November 1962 issue as "the Seagull with wings outspread against a sky-blue background above the white-capped waves rolling shorewards. A Fish portrayed the valley's most important and profitable industry, which today still plays a big part in the lives of the community."  

A few years later, to cope with a growing community, a new site at South Tweed Heads was chosen for a larger secondary school. The newly renamed Tweed River High School was opened in October 1961, but The Seagull was not published in that year. Rather, a commemorative programme was published.[1] The magazine resumed the following year. 

It is possible to read all published issues of Seagull in Trove. Searching for the name of someone who attended either High School, or just using the word seagull with a year in the Magazines and Newsletters tab, makes a good starting point. 

It is also possible to see the delightful range of covers as the magazine was taken over by the School's artists.  

Despite best efforts to effect a virtual representation of the whole series, there is a strange separation of Seagulls, wrought by a traditional interpretation of what constitutes a collection. Issues held by the National Library are viewable at https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3140364009 and issues loaned are viewable at https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3283749708. It is necessary to peruse both to see all covers. Nevertheless, their co-location exemplifies the power of Trove to provide seamless access to a physically separated set of issues. 

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to the Tweed River High School's Library, the Tweed Regional Museum, and the Tweed Heads Historical Society for providing the "missing" copies of The Seagull to be digitised and included in Trove in perpetuity. 

Footnote

[1] the 1961 programme in full (click on each image to read the details)

Copy of the programme for the opening of the Tweed River High School provided by
Denise Garrick, President, Tweed Heads Historical Society 

Pulling a thread

In 1983 The Strongest Thread was published. It described the life of a Manx family matriarch, her Northern Irish husband, and their 10 children born in Australia during the 19^th century. Unbeknown to the author Glad Stanford, research began two decades earlier, during the 1960s, summarising the life of one of those 10 offspring. This compilation bridges the two, requiring 21^st century resources to bring it fruition and relink the generations. It is based on a collection of papers preserved by Ian Campbell Jagelman. 

The collection includes documents obtained by Patricia Gwena Jagelman, daughter of John Steele Campbell and Edwina Hatton.  

1. A handwritten ode

Even song
 By Kinchela my loved one
O Come & walk with me
Where the great light of Smoky
Flames o’er the Eastern Sea

Now the old sun has left us
To wander in the West
& the rise clouds have faded
That tinged Toorumbee’s crest

 The swans are in the sedges
The flowers are closed in sleep
All nature is in slumber
Except the restless deep

 So let us seek Koorora
& linger by the Wave
Where round the rocky headland
The trampling surges rave

 While softly round your temples
Will blow the perfumed breeze
Where silvered by the moonlight
Stoop blossom laden trees

So later may we linger
& wander Evermore
By mystic seas of Gladness
Along a summer shore  

Initially it wasn’t exactly clear who wrote this poem, although the paper is stamped with the business details of Campbell & Son indicating that it was transcribed earlier than 1908. Further investigation revealed that it was the work of Dr Brabazon Casement, a botanist and medical doctor who practised in Kempsey until his early death in 1910. He was well-known for his humanitarian and botanical work, less so for his poetry published by his family in 1945. Curiously, this poem was not given the same title in the publication – it is labelled A Serenade to his Wife, Islet Casement. [1]

2. The 1960s’ certificates 

Patricia Jagelman obtained copies of certificates in the 1960s. They were generated by hand and typewriter [3]:

Birth of Ann Campbell, 1880, NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages

Birth of Mary Mabel Campbell, 1882, NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages

 

Death of Jane Campbell, 1884, NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages

3. John Campbell’s daughter Annie collected postcards during the first decade of the 20th century. Many were sent by Annie’s brother Jack when he was travelling for work. 

John Steele Campbell (Jack), 1888 - 1964

Jack’s father had drawn him into the family business in July 1908, but there were also exchanges between Jack’s step-sisters and friends. Here is a sample:

4. Land titles

Photocopies of documents pertaining to Charles Steele’s holdings in New South Wales, which are available on the website of the Land Registry, see Volume 4610, Folio 177. John Campbell took on responsibility for the block of land owned by Charles Steele which had rates etc. owing at the time of the latter’s death in 1886.

5. Family history pages

In a Biblical style, the pages impart counsel. John’s first family’s details may have been written by John himself.

The remaining pages, which seem to have been cut from a larger volume, show a range of different handwriting styles.

6. A curious note

Ann Quirk and William Campbell met when the Campbell family arrived on the Isle of Man, and moved into a farmhouse on the same road as the Quirk family. The other details are not yet proven.

7. Newspaper cuttings

Obituaries for John Campbell and his second wife Eunice Septima Campbell (click on each group)

JOHN CAMPBELL 

John’s first wife was Jane Leslie, born on 23 April 1858 at Tycannah (near Warialda in NSW) to Irish immigrants James Leslie and Jane Phillip. 

Messrs. Campbell and Scott. (1904, November 30).
Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), p. 24.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71517361

At the time of their marriage in 1879, John Campbell was a stock and station agent. John and Jane had two daughters: Ann, known as Annie, named for her paternal grandmother Ann Jane Quirk; and Mary Mabel, known as Mabel.

In January 1884, Jane died. Annie was three years old, Mabel almost two.

On 7 July 1886 John married Eunice Septima Steele, a daughter of Charles Steele and Mary Ann Weymouth, at Gladstone on the Macleay River. Eunice’s obituary describes her birth as having been unregistered due to a lack of a government office in Port Macquarie, but in reality her parents did not marry until 1860. [4]

John died in 1913, only two months after moving from East Kempsey to Port Macquarie. He was trying to overcome a serious illness.

JOHN STEELE CAMPBELL

John Steele Campbell, known as Jack, was the first and only son of John and his wife Eunice. He was born on 7 January 1888 at Kempsey.

After his father’s death, he enlisted twice, in 1914 and in 1918, but the second enlistment lapsed.  Both have been made available by the National Archives of Australia. [5]

He served in the 1st Light Horse Regiment for just over a year, but was demobilised after succumbing to two contagious diseases. He is listed on the Port Macquarie Presbyterian Church’s First World War Roll of Honour. On his return, Jack married Edwina Hatton, and they had a daughter Patricia Gwena Campbell in 1918. 

He “deserted” his wife and daughter in December 1920, ostensibly looking for work north of Manly. His war-attained illnesses do not seem to have affected his ability to have children, but post-traumatic distress may have led to his life taking unexpected directions.

There were some attempts by Jack’s sisters to contact him prior to the divorce petition lodged by his wife. Advertisements were included in Queensland newspapers as well as Sydney’s Daily Telegraph. He found temporary work at Goodwood Station near Boulia.

Jack did not inherit any of his mother’s estate when she passed away in 1940. He died in Roma Hospital, in Queensland, in 1964. 

PATRICIA GWENA CAMPBELL 

engagements (1940, June 9). 
The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), p. 5 (WOMEN'S SECTION).
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article231459786

Jack’s daughter Patricia, known as “Paddy”, spent time with her half-Aunts Mabel and Ann when she was young. 

In 1942, when she married Ian Jagelman, her father was described as deceased on her marriage certificate. Paddy had two sons.

ANN LAWSON

Ann was the older daughter of John and Jane Campbell, and step-sister to Jack. She married Findlay John Lawson on 21^st October 1914, at 2 Table  Street, Port Macquarie. [6]

The bride was given away by her mother (in the absence of her brother, who left for the front with the Light Horse Regiment of the 'first Australian Expeditionary Force' [7]) – as Ann’s father John had passed away the previous year, and her brother Jack was already overseas.  

Eunice was Ann’s stepmother, but she raised Ann and Mabel from a young age after the death of their mother Jane. 

Ann died on 25 February 1962, and Findlay died on 28 April 1964 respectively, in Sydney. They did not have children.

MARY MABEL CAMPBELL

Mabel died on 29 May 1963, and was buried in the Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens in Sydney. She did not have children. [8]

The original collection of papers is available for viewing at the Port Macquarie Museum. 

References

[1] Casement, B. N. (Brabazon Newcomen) (1945). Poems. N. Morriss, Newcastle, https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/23370558; held by the University of New England. The publication was explained in a newspaper article here: trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/173391566.
[2] State Archives of NSW, Register of Firms Index, Campbell & Son, 30 July 1908; file 17262. See also Advertising (1908, June 18). The Macleay Chronicle (Kempsey, NSW : 1899 - 1952), p. 7. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article174469726
[3] Extracts of certificates supplied by the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages in 1962. They are all typescript copies.
[4] It is possible that Charles Steele had married in his hometown of Forfar, Scotland prior to his travel to Australia.
[5] National Archives of Australia naa.gov.au, Item ID 1914: 1855169; Item ID 1918: 1854329. See also Item ID: 32545663.
[6] The History behind No.2 Table Street, Toomey, R. in Footsteps, Port Macquarie Family History Society, August 2019, https://www.pmdfhs.org.au/files/152-footsteps-pdf.pdf
[7] Wedding. (1914, November 14). The Port Macquarie News and Hastings River Advocate (NSW : 1882 - 1950), p. 4. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article119154623
[8] Sydney Morning Herald, 31 May 1963, p.22

South of the Bombay Hills

A phrase well-known to the inhabitants of North Island of New Zealand, south of the Bombay Hills neatly sums up a divide between rural and urban landscapes.[1] My Australian family made a contribution to both spaces; this story focuses on the southern side of the line.

It took more than 40 years after his death in 1894 for my grandmother Amy Parkins to receive her inheritance from her great-great-uncle James Prisk. In 1936 she inherited a one-twelfth share of £700. Although he eventually married, Prisk did not have any children.

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 278, 29 May 1895, Page 2

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/FS18950529.2.29

His wife, Jane Lumsden nee Brockie, who had married James after the death of her first husband, did not inherit all of James' estate. The will was explained in a Supreme Court case held on 5 April 1895.

Cornishman James Prisk, born in Gwennap in 1842, travelled to New South Wales in 1861.[2]

The National Archives (UK) tna_rg4_0212_0_005

Many members of his family were already based at Nundle, near Tamworth in New South Wales. He didn't stay there for long. By 1868, James had migrated to the Manawatu region of New Zealand. The availability of land was advertised in the Sydney Morning Herald in 1865:

Advertising (1865, November 7).

The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 6

While the original owners were not averse to selling their property, they did expect their conditions to be observed and they made their position clear in March and April 1866 in both Australian and New Zealand newspapers:

Wanganui - Manawatu Chronicle, 24 March 1866, p3;

reprinted as MANAWATU BLOCK. (1866, April 16).

The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 5.

In May 1872, James Prisk wrote to the Land Commissioner in Wellington:

Item ID R24439574, date 1872, Box 22, formerly LS / W2, record number 1872 / 213

National Archives of New Zealand

The block was successfully acquired by 1877, as Prisk sought permission to relinquish his day job for the Manawatu County Council fixing roads in order to focus on his land holding.

Manawatu Times, 18 November 1877, p.3

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MT18771110.2.12

Early Rangitikei, James G. Wilson, 1914 (reprinted 2012), p.16

showing Sanson and Feilding

Between 1879 and 1891, Prisk's flock of sheep grew from 200 to almost 700.


New Zealand Sheep Farmers, 1881 - 1918, Find My Past

Sanson School and District Centennial, 1973, p.10

But he had made his mark in other ways, as one of the settlers who established the township of Sanson (Whakari).

Idle Hours, W. J. Croucher, p.2

Idle Hours, W. J. Croucher, p.26

New Zealand Mail, 10 August 1894, p.28

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZMAIL18940720.2.81

James Prisk was also a donor to the Diocese of Wellington:

The Church Chronicle, Wellington: 1st May 1891. John Kinder Theological Library,  https://kinderlibrary.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/784

And his wife's contribution to early Sandon life was not forgotten. 

Reminiscences of Early Sandon, W. J. Croucher, 1933

from Chapter 10, Our Mothers

Reminiscences of Early Sandon, W. J. Croucher, 1933, p.8

The Church Chronicle, Wellington: 1st February 1896. John Kinder Theological Library,  https://kinderlibrary.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/843

References
1. "South of the Bombay Hills" is described at Bombay Hills.
2. Advertising (1861, February 27). Freeman's Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1932), p. 7.
3. Early Rangitikei, James G. Wilson, 1914, 2012, National Library of New Zealand
4. Sanson School & District Centennial, J. Gravitt, 1973, National Library of New Zealand
5. Idle Hours: Tales of country and village life around Sandon 1871 - 1938, W. J. Croucher, 1940 ? National Library of New Zealand
6. Reminiscences of Early Sandon: Jubilee souvenir, W. J. Croucher, 1933, National Library of New Zealand 


Acknowledgement
I am grateful to the National Library of New Zealand, the National Archives of New Zealand, and the Northern Explorer for sharing their information resources.

Two centuries in time

 TWEED CENTENARY.

ROMANTIC DISCOVERY

Exactly 200 years ago today, Lieutenant John Oxley discovered the Tweed River. On October 23 1823, Lieutenant Oxley, commissioned to find a new penal settlement, left with a party in his Majesty's colonial cutter Mermaid. 

Thus explained The Daily Mail, 100 years ago. [1]

It probably was not the most romantic journey, but the Tweed River did inspire poetry subsequently [2]:

Flow gently, sweet Tweed

Fair river - broad and deep

The Tweed River was discovered before the nearby Clarence and the Richmond Rivers. [3] 

 It is not generally known that the Tweed, the smallest of the three northernmost rivers of New South Wales, dates its discovery some years earlier than either of its more pretentious sisters, the Clarence and Richmond. Whilst the Clarence was not discovered (and accidentally, too) until 1834, when Richard Craig, a convict, who escaped from Moreton Bay, walked to Port Macquarie, or by some cedar cutters from Sydney in 1838, and the Richmond was not entered by the Hon. Captain Rous, R.N., then commanding H.M.S. Rainbow on the Australian station, until 1828, yet the Tweed—the beautiful fertile though small river Tweed—was found and entered by Mr. Lieutenant Oxley, surveyor-General of New South Wales, on the 21st November, 1823. So then Thursday is the 95th anniversary of the discovery of the Derwent of New-South Wales. It will equally surprise many readers—and half dispel a popular misconception— to know that to Lieut. Oxley belongs the distinguished honor of finding this river, and not Captain Cook, nor yet Captain Rous. It was Mr. Oxley, too, who explored that remarkable formation at Fingal Point on the mainland opposite Cook Island, which he named from its re-semblance to Fingal Caves and the Giant's Causeway in Scotland and Ireland.

 

It is therefore interesting at this juncture to reproduce portion of the account of the discovery of the Tweed as recorded by Mr. John Uniacke, one of Mr. Oxley's party on that occasion. It is published from "Narrative of Mr. Oxley's Expedition" - contained in "Geographical Memoirs of New South Wales," published in London in 1825. Mr. Oxley was at the time in his Majesty's cutter Mermaid, and in search of a big river which it was thought entered Moreton Bay. (He discovered and entered the Brisbane River on December 2nd following.):-"Whilst running down for this place (a small island off Point Danger subsequently, renamed Cook Island, and on which Fingal light sheds its friendly rays) to which we sought shelter from a storm, we perceived the mouth of a large river about a mile and a half to the north-ward." Next morning the master was sent in a whaleboat to investigate. He found two fathoms of water on the bar at low water."

1. TWEED CENTENARY (1923, November 1). The Daily Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1903; 1916 - 1926), p.6

2. A LONELY CEMETERY (1932, October 25). Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW : 1915 - 1954), p.17

3. DISCOVERY OF THE TWEED RIVER (1918, November 21). Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954), p. 6

19th century crowdfunding

** more to come **

On 19 August 1894, James Adams was thrown off his horse when returning to his home near Frederickton. He was taken home, but died there the next day. The horse had tripped over a peg in the road, left for roadworks.

Fatal Accident on the Gladstone Road. (1894, August 22). Macleay Argus (Kempsey, NSW : 1885 - 1907; 1909 - 1910; 1912 - 1913; 1915 - 1916; 1918 - 1954), p. 5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article233882283

His widow, Jane Mary Teresa Adams, took on a court case against the local council, even as she became the matriarch of three families: her first marriage to Walter George Mason which gave her four sons followed by three children; James' first marriage to Ann Thompson with six surviving children; and their own family of four daughters. Their eldest daughter together, Ida May Adams, married Joseph Judd just two years before her father's death. 

Kempsey Road Accident. (1894, August 23). Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931), p.5 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113326809

This was not the first time that Jane had been left destitute. Her first husband Walter Mason died when she was pregnant. The Mason family was well known in Sydney, especially for the wood engraving work, and consequently a fundraiser was planned. 

Jane Mason with her daughter Robinniana

Source: https://mychildrensancestors.weebly.com/jane-mary-teresa-brady.html

Jane's parents, William Brady and Margaret Smith, were married in Cavan, County Cavan on 2 November 1838. Jane was baptised on 19 January 1840 in the same Roman Catholic Church where her parents wed. Working back from her immigration record dated 25 December 1841, arriving in Australia aged one year and nine months old, Jane was born in early April 1839.