Trove Tuesday - Thomas the Tippler

An interesting inquest was written up in Oct 1839, in the both the Launceston Advertiser and The Cornwall Chronicle, Launceston. It details the accident and gruesome injuries sustained by my 3x great grandmother’s brother Thomas MARSDEN (c1804 – 4 Oct 1839).

The poor man was thrown from his water cart and had it roll onto him causing injuries to his arm and foot. A doctor found gangrene in his foot about five days after the accident and proceeded to amputate his foot. Thomas only survived a couple of hours after the operation.

The doctor ‘defended’ his actions by testifying “ a long course of intemperance had evidently destroyed his constitution, and no doubt mainly contributed to his death. The injuries he received (if he had been a man of different habits) might not have led to the same fatal result.”

It’s hard to imagine how awful such an operation must have been in such early days of settlement, and how anyone might have survived it, intemperate habits or not. Poor Thomas’ family probably didn’t need to see such words written about their relation. He was only about 35 years old.

His sister, my 3x great grandmother Jane STONEHOUSE nee MARSDEN (c1800 – Feb 1838) and their father, John MARSDEN (1767 – 1827) both pre-deceased Thomas. But two brothers remained in the Launceston area, John MARSDEN (c1820 – May 1882) and Benjamin MARSDEN (c1810 – Jan 1889).

Trove Tuesday – An unexpected look into the childhood of my great grandmother

I found this obituary of my 2x great aunt Jane Elizabeth McCONNELL nee STONEHOUSE (1853 – 1939). She was the elder sister of my great grandmother Sarah Henrietta LONG nee STONEHOUSE (1873 – 1953).

My great grandmother had three older sisters, only one of them dying before the age of 80. Another sister, Mary Janet McCONNELL nee STONEHOUSE (1857 – 1949) married Hugh McCONNELL (1855 – 1947), the brother of Jane’s husband James McCONNELL (c1852 – after 1939)

Obituaries in country newspapers are a wonderful source of family information.

This one talks about the first Crown land sales at Warrnambool in 1847 and how the land in the area where the Stonehouse children were born was covered by dense and virgin bush. My great great grandparents, William STONEHOUSE (1826 – 1904) and Elizabeth STONEHOUSE nee McVEY (1828 – 1915) settled at Cudgee, an area in the initial processes of settlement. This must have been a difficult place to raise 11 children, all but one of them reaching adulthood.

Something that was interesting about my great great aunt was: The native children provided her with playmates, and this early association with the blacks created an understanding of their outlook and a sympathy with their existence, which was one of the marked characteristics of her life, some of her childhood friendships being retained up till the time of her death.

 

My great grandmother was born almost 20 years after her elder sister but this still gives me some idea of the life she was born into, and as she remained close to her sisters, I assume she enjoyed the same playmates.

Sarah Henrietta LONG nee STONEHOUSE in the 1930s

200 years in Australia

The Indefatigable sailed into the Derwent River on 19 Oct 1812 with 199 convicts on board (one of the 200 had died during the journey). The voyage had taken over four months, having departed England on the 4 Jun 1812.

This was the first ship to bring convicts direct to Van Diemen’s Land.

One of these convicts was John MARSDEN (c1767 – 1827) from Nottingham, my 4x great grandfather.

At Nottingham Assizes on 9 Aug 1810, John was sentenced to death for sheep stealing, later commuted to transportation for life. This was not his first conviction – in 1808 he had spent one month in prison for larceny.

John spent some time on the prison hulk Laurel before sailing for Australia.

John left his wife, Jane and five children behind, the eldest being Jane MARSDEN (c1800 – Feb 1838), my 3x great grandmother.

the first part of John jnr's obituary

His eldest son, another John MARSDEN (c1802 – 1882), was also transported to Australia, arriving in Sydney on board the Shipley 3 on 26 Sep 1820. He was convicted for larceny at the Nottingham Assizes on 10 Mar 1820. His obituary has an interesting twist to how he arrived in Australia: emigrated to Sydney with his father when only 19 years of age, then later in the same obituary: His father arrived in the colony before him…

Two other sons, Thomas MARSDEN (c1804 – Oct 1839) and Benjamin MARSDEN (c1810 – Jan 1889) also came to Australia. I haven’t yet determined whether the fifth child, Mary Ann joined them.

later in the same obituary

Jane was already in Van Diemen’s Land before her brother John was even convicted. She married Robert STONEHOUSE (c1794 – Nov 1855) and had her first child Thomas in Mar 1818. My great great grandfather William STONEHOUSE (1826 – 1904) was her 5th child.

John Marsden died in 1827, put to death by black natives with a hostile disposition.

John snr's obituary

Trove Tuesday – Hints for Unmarried Girls

I found this in my Nanna’s local newspaper two days after she was married. 

It was just six months before my other grandparents married.

Interesting to read what the ‘thinking’ was at the time.

I wonder what my grandmothers made of this.

I’d be interested to find out what ‘A lady of ripe experience’ meant!

I don't think I would like to be referred to as such!

Mystery Monday – Why did he come?

Henry Raikes GARRETT was born on this day in 1838, the second of twin boys. The first twin, John Clavell GARRETT died less than a month later.

Henry Raikes GARRETT (15 Oct 1838 – 27 Feb 1876) arrived in South Australia on 20 Sep 1858 on the African, with his arrival noted in the South Australian Register of the following day.

Why Adelaide?

Could it be that a quite distant cousin Raikes CURRIE (1801-1881) was a founder director of the South Australian Company, a member of other South Australian Associations, and one of the donors in 1859 of the silver bowl from which the annual Adelaide City Council 'toast to Colonel Light' is drunk? Henry and Raikes shared great grandparents.

Why come to Australia at all?

Henry was the only surviving son of a brewer with a successful business and councillor of Portsmouth, John Thomas GARRETT (1802 – 1852), and the grandson of two high-ranking naval men: Vice Admiral of the White Henry GARRETT (1774 – 1846) and Captain John CLAVELL (1776 – 1846). All these men were deceased by the time Henry left England.

Wasn’t there an inheritance?

Henry’s father left everything to his wife Mary Charlotte GARRETT nee CLAVELL (1803 – 1876) for the benefit of herself and ‘my dear children’. When the will was written in 1848, there were only two surviving children, Mary aged 12 and Henry aged 10. (His mother outlived him).

Why come so young?

We have a small photo of him as a very young midshipman in uniform and there are mixed stories in the family as to whether he was in the navy or the merchant navy.

Why did the grandson of two such notable naval men leave the service? (Captain, then Lieutenant John Clavell was a hero at Trafalgar alongside Collingwood.)

Had he been in trouble in England? Was he trying to ‘escape’ something / someone?

Henry was only 19 years old on his arrival, yet called himself a ‘gentleman’. It wasn’t long before he got himself into trouble in Australia, being charged with forgery with intent to defraud in June 1861. The amount was only 7/-.

Why did he need to defraud this relatively small amount?

It seems Henry wasn’t very good with money. By Oct 1867 he was insolvent and in front of a commissioner. Henry’s answers were pretty vague, particularly as to amounts of money from his family. It seems he owed a number of people money, including a loan of £600-700 from his wife’s brother.

In this questioning it was revealed that on his trip to England from 1865-66, Henry was given some ‘plate’ by his mother but had sold it in England to a brother-in-law for £100. He hadn’t been left any plate in his father’s will, in fact he wasn’t left anything at all – it was all left to his mother.

Because of the to-ing and fro-ing in Henry’s answers, the Commissioner questioned as to how he could give such contradictory and nonsensical answers.

In 1870 Henry with his wife, Louisa Jane LEWIS (1845 – 1917) and three young children moved to Sydney and lived in the Paddington Woollahra area. Two more children were born there before Henry died in Feb 1876, leaving his wife pregnant with my great grandfather. See the entry on Louisa on 2 Oct for more details.

Henry was 37 years old when he died. His cause of death was "brain disease, about one week". There is a handwritten notation on the certificate: Note: Particulars re Cause of Death (omitted to be furnished by Informant who is absent from the Colony) have been supplied by Registrar, no certificate having been received from Dr Fortescue, beore his departure for England. Hy Gale 7th July 1876

So even the events of Henry’s death seem bit of a mystery!

Trove Tuesday – A Wedding Compliment?

Hard to read
so transcript is
below

How tall does a bride have to be to have it rate a mention in an article in the local paper, The Camperdown Chronicle? And not just once!

A misprint has meant that the phrase “tall bride, who was given away by” appeared twice – one line after another. I hope the poor girl wasn’t self conscious about her height as my mother and I both were at a young age.

Then, a couple of paragraphs further on, it mentions the bridesmaids and their “uncommon frocks”. I hope this was a common saying of the times and not an attempt by the author of the article to hide the fact that they didn’t like the dresses.

This was the marriage of William Hill STONEHOUSE (1908-1976) to Ethel Alma LEE.

Alexander and Sarah

My great grandmother was Sarah Henrietta LONG nee STONEHOUSE (1873-1953) and her favourite brother Alexander Logan STONEHOUSE (1870-1943), was the groom’s father.

My great grandmother (Sarah) and great grandfather Edward LONG (1872-1951) would likely have been at this wedding as they lived relatively close by, at ‘Watch Hill’ in Beeac, at the time. Sarah was an accomplished musician so possibly was one of the “several musical …items” mentioned near the end of this article.

My Nanna, Mavis Fanshawe GARRETT nee LONG (1906-1982) may also have been at this wedding of her cousin, although she was married and living in Melbourne by 1936. Nanna must have been close to the sister of the groom, Anne Caroline Elizabeth McVey STONEHOUSE (1910-1981) as I even met Anne and her husband Athol Leonard HESKETH (1914-1979) a number of times.

Trove Tuesday – Following a Life in Trove

Louisa Jane LEWIS was born on 3 Oct 1845 in Surrey, England.

Just three days after her ninth birthday, Louisa was travelling first class with her mother and six siblings on the famed Schomberg, on a voyage that was expected to break all speed records for the England-Australia run. Just after Christmas 1855, the ship ran aground near Curdies Inlet on the west coast of Victoria. Thanks to some of the crew, and people on the beach picnicking, they were all rescued although most of their belongings were lost.

Her father, Robert LEWIS (1808-1871) and older half-brother had emigrated a couple of years earlier. Her father was a licensed victualler and licensee of a number of hotels in Melbourne’s CBD, including the Royal Railway Hotel in Elizabeth St (1860-1) and the Mechanics Arms Hotel in Little Collins St (1866).

Louisa married Henry Raikes GARRETT (1838-1876) in St Peter’s Church, Melbourne on 22 Feb 1864, by special licence as she was only 18 years old. Henry was seven years her senior and worked as a wine and spirit merchant.

I wonder how much she and her family knew of Henry’s past. As with most families, we only knew of the good parts – son of a successful brewer in Portsmouth, grandson of a Vice Admiral (both deceased before this marriage).

But, Henry until recently (via Trove) had an unknown, shadier side. In 1861 in Adelaide, he had been charged with forgery with intent to defraud. He had ‘escaped’ to Melbourne and had had to be brought back to Adelaide to face the charges in court. He was remanded for a week.

On the 10th Nov 1864, just a month after her 19th birthday and about 37 weeks after her marriage, she had her first son, also named Henry Raikes GARRETT (1864-1890).

She travelled back to England with her husband and son, leaving in Mar 1865 on the James Wishart, and returning in Sep 1866 on the Suffolk. Then just a month later, she gave birth to her second child, a daughter Mary Louisa GARRETT (1867-1942).

And all this before her 21st birthday!

 

Her husband faced court (again) in 1867, this time for insolvency. The court appearance in SA was not mentioned in the newspaper transcripts, in fact Henry claimed to only have arrived in the colony in 1863 (he had arrived in SA in 1858). One of his creditors was Louisa’s brother, a solicitor with the firm Crisp and Lewis.

Louisa (and Henry) moved to Sydney the month after her father died, her arrival listed as Mrs Garrett and three children, on the Dandenong on 19 Feb 1871.

Her husband died in Woollahra, NSW just five years after the move to Sydney, leaving her with five children under 12 and pregnant with my great grandfather.

And she’d only just turned 30!

She very quickly moved back to Melbourne to be with her family, living for a while with her eldest sister, Emily Mary CHARLWOOD nee LEWIS (1838-1934).

A note on Henry’s death certificate reads “Particulars re Cause of Death (omitted to be furnished by the Informant who is absent from the Colony) have been supplied by Registrar, no certificate having been received from Dr Fortescue, before his departure for England. Signed Hy Gale 7th July 1876”

 

Around 1889-1892 she was living in Were St, Brighton Beach, possibly with her mother. Her mother Mary Elizabeth LEWIS nee BLACKMORE (c1812-1898) died in Were St, Brighton in 1898.

 

Her eldest son, Harry, died in Jan 1890. He drowned while droving in north Queensland. Two of her daughters never married. She had seven grandchildren, although the first born, a boy, died in 1905 from appendicitis aged just 11 years.

Louisa Jane Garrett died in New St, Brighton on 10 Feb 1917, aged 71 years.

Lucky we had the date in family papers as a search in Trove would not have revealed much!

The Trove OCR of the entry below
not much chance of finding this one on a search

               

Louisa, 2nd from left with my great grandfather (left), her daughters and two of her grandchildren, picnicking at Black Rock, Vic