Month: August 2014

by

Christopher Wilson (father of Abraham) – why did he switch from Weaver to Shipyard worker?

On Abraham’s birth certificate, Christopher is listed as being a weaver.   However, Christopher died in an accident while working in a shipyard in Belfast, which prompted his widow Catherine, and their sons Abraham and Robert, to emigrate to Australia.  Why did Christopher switch jobs from weaver to Shipyard worker?

Irish Linen, up until the late 1800s, was handmade, and highly sought after.  There was plenty of employment as a weaver in Ireland (and in England too, in places such as Manchester).  The Industrial Revolution eventually introduced machinery to replace the weavers.  Initially Irish weavers working in Ireland (as opposed to working in England) were unaffected by such machinery, because their wages were so low – Irish weavers working in Ireland remained cheaper to use than the new-fangled weaving machines.  Eventually though, this changed, with weaving machinery and factories set up, which replaced most of the weavers.   The Linen industry  in the  town of Lurgan, where Christopher most likely was employed as a weaver, was also affected.   Christopher was obviously affected, and needed to seek employment elsewhere.

In nearby Belfast, the Ship building industry was booming.   Railway now linked Lurgan to Belfast, meaning it was possible to commute each day to a Shipyard from Lurgan.

It is likely Christopher made the decision to get a job in the shipyard  as it was probably his only chance of employment, once he knew he could no longer work as a weaver.    Christopher was still a weaver when Abraham was born (1876), and he was then about 41-45 years old, a relatively late age to be making a career change.  But Christopher did change careers (no choice though), and eventually died in the accident at the Shipyard, an occurrence which was not uncommon.   I suspect as a newcomer to the shipyard, Christopher was given the menial jobs,  as well as the high risk jobs the more experienced workers would avoid at every opportunity.  Its a shame Christopher didn’t consider emigration to Australia, or the USA, as his sons eventually did.

Further information about the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the Irish linen and Ship building industries, via the following links:

A brief history of Irish Linen

Belfast History of Ship Building

by

Isabella Shiels – how she earned a living in Townsville

I’ve been wondering how Isabella earned a living when John died.  It turns out she worked as a Laundress.

I found the information on the QLD State Archives website (I searched under Images) and was looking at old photos when I came across the Townsville Orphanage Register files – which are scanned in as images.  isabella admitted two of her daughters, Annabella and Eliza, to the Orphanage in 16 Oct1886 (following her earlier admission of daughters Margaret and Annabella 6 Aug 1884 – 16 Apr 1886).  On the admission form, Isabella’s occupation is listed as ‘Laundress’.  So that’s it then – that is how she made a living -obviously not enough to support 5 daughters.

by

Jacob Wiltshire (1808 -1839) – Australian Convict

I had a surprise find the other day.  One of Emily Jane’s great-uncles was a Convict!

Details:

Jacob Wiltshire – Parents James and Jane Wiltshire (nee Evard).  Jacob was the brother of Michael Wiltshire, father of Jane Coleman (nee Wiltshire) ie. Jane’s Uncle.

Born:  1808  (Christened 13 March 1808 at Vernham Dean)

Convicted:  18 December 1830, at Southampton Gaol,  for ‘Riotous Assembly and sending threatening letters to Farmers’

Sentence:  Death, later commuted to transportation to Australia for the term of his natural life.

Departure:   2 May 1833 on the Sailing Ship ‘Captain Cook’.

Estimated arrival date in Sydney, NSW:  2 Jan 1834 (based on an estimated 8 month voyage)

Died:  15 Jan 1839, still a convict.  [Archives citation: 4/4549; Reel 690 page 227]   Aged 30 years.

Location:  District/Parish:   Bathurst, NSW.

Source of above information:  Australian Joint Copying Project.

 

The background to Jacob’s conviction can be found at:

The Swing Riots of 1830

 

From a brief internet search so far, it appears Jacob had requested a pardon, as many of the swing rioters transported to Australia had received pardons.  Unfortunately Jacob passed away before such a pardon was granted.

 

by

Smyth Children – Schooling

There is a group of dedicated people who are transcribing all Queensland School Registers – showing historical records of Schools and the list of children who attended the school, including the year of attendance.   I believe the registers will show school attendance records up until the 1940s  (not sure if they are going to record details beyond the 1940s).  It is a work in progress – they haven’t completed all schools, and when I looked at the School register  databases early last year, it appeared none of the Townsville School registers had been done.  Some work has now been done, and there are now some Townsville schools on the database.

Townsville West State School celebrated its centenary in 1987.  In a book produced by the school, included in the class of 1887 were the following names:

Smith, Maggie

Smith, Martha

The school register database is divided into 5 parts – I found Maggie and Martha in Part 5 of the database.  I also did a name search using the surname ‘Smyth’ but it didn’t turn up anything.

The School database can be accessed through the local library, if the library has family history research facilities, if not either both the State Library and QLD Archives have the database available.

Hopefully the transcribers get South Townsville and Railway Estate Schools done this year, as this is where the Colemans (I think) and the Raynors attended school.

At the time Maggie and Martha were attending school, Annabella and Eliza were in Townsville Orphanage.  Annabella discharged from the Orphanage 11 May 1893, and Eliza was discharged 7 Aug 1894.  They must have had it pretty tough.

by

Christopher and Catherine Wilson (nee McFall or Bunton/Bunten/Bunting) – their missing children from the family tree

Christopher Wilson married Catherine Bunting (or McFall) on 14 March 1853 at Moyntaghs-Armagh.   So far I know the rough history of the younger three of the Wilson children – Thomas, Robert and Abraham, but nothing of the older ones.  More information on the other children, especially the older ones, might assist in further tracing both Christopher’s and Catherine’s family trees.

As I’ve said in a previous post, Catherine appears to have used her step-father’s surname earlier in life, so her history is not easy to trace, without knowing about her mother’s marriage to Thomas Bunting.

According to Catherine’s death certificate, Christopher and Catherine had 8 children in total.  Who were they, and did they also emigrate?

A search for the earlier born children were not easy to find, as Ireland did not have civil records of births, deaths and marriages until 1864 (however there are records of non-Catholic marriages from 1845 onwards).  So children born earlier than this only have christening dates (as I understand).

The Children are:

William John Wilson, born approximately 1854-55; died after 1922 (still living at the time of Catherine’s death)

Christopher Wilson – born  1858-59;  died after 1922 (still living at the time of Catherine’s death)

Thomas Andrew Wilson – born 1865; died 1945

Robert Wilson – born 6 June 1866; died 1915

Edward Wilson – born 2 June 1869; Christened: 803 Lurgan No2, Armagh,  died before 1922 (deceased at the time of Catherine’s death)

Emily Wilson – born 4 November 1871; Christened: 803 Lurgan No2, Armagh, died before 1922 (deceased at the time of Catherine’s death)

Mary Wilson – born 15 Feb 1875, died before 1922,

Abraham Wilson – born 27 June 1876, in Derry-Add; died 1969.

The Children’s birth records all list Catherine’s maiden name as Bunting, except Abraham’s where the name ‘McFall’ is listed (another mystery – why the name change then?).

What happened to the Children?

We know that Thomas, Robert and Abraham moved to Australia.

There are no death records for Edward, Emily, or Mary Wilson (on the PRONI database that I could search), but it is likely they died prior to Catherine and sons departing Ireland for Australia in 1891.

According to one of Abraham’s sons, the older two brothers (William and Christopher) possibly emigrated to the United States of America.

Given William and Christopher were listed as still living at the time of Catherine’s death, possibly there was still communication between the brothers in Australia, and the brothers in the USA (if they did emigrate there).  Should the descendants of William and Christopher be looking for family history on their mother, then hopefully they know about both of Catherine’s maiden names i.e. McFall, and Bunting.

by

Robert Wilson (1866 -1915)

Robert Wilson was the brother of Abraham Wilson.  He was born 6 June 1866 in Armagh, Ireland.

He emigrated to Australia with his mother Catherine and Abraham in December 1891.

He appears to have had a troubled life, but I don’t have too much information on him, other than that he lived in Rockhampton (with Abraham) for a period of time, and possibly moved to Townsville.  There is also the possibility that he might have been in the Stewart Creek Gaol for a while (as my check of electoral rolls for the period shows a Robert Wilson as living there – but it may not be the same Robert).

My hunch is he had trouble adapting to life in Australia, got into trouble with the law and ended up in gaol for a brief time.  However his family (especially his mother Catherine and brother Abraham) were supportive of him, however  their support was not enough to help him – given he died at a comparatively younger age.

Robert eventually died 5 November 1915 of  ‘Melancholia’ (severe depression) and ‘general debility’.  At the time he was living in Mackay Queensland.  He did not marry or have children.

by

Old Advertisements

I don’t know about you, but I did a double-take when I saw this advertisement, appearing in the Northern Courier 2 January 1899:

Carse & Co

The Advertisement appears often in North QLD newspapers around the turn of the century (1899-1900 and beyond).  It is an ad for a ‘mail order catalogue company’ – a predecessor to online shopping I think.

by

William Smyth (b. 1856) – possible brother of John Smyth?

Last year I came across a birth certificate in the family records, and I initially thought it had been included in error.  The birth certificate was for a Mary Smyth, but it was clearly not Mary Jane Smyth (daughter of John Smyth and Isabella Shiels), as the date, parents and place of birth were different.  Then last week, the penny dropped – this was the birth certificate of a relative of Mary Jane.   It appears the father, William, might be John Smyth’s brother, and was living in Townsville.  If that is the case  then Isabella and her daughters might have had  family support after all when John died.

 

The birth certificate details are:

Child:  Mary Smyth b,  7 Feb 1887

Father:  Wiliiam  Smyth

Age 31 years

Birthplace:  Athy Kildare Ireland

Occupation:  Labourer

Birthplace:  Athy Kildare  Ireland

Mother:  Bridget Welsh

Age:  29 years

Birthplace:  Acies Queens County Ireland

Children living (of William and Bridget):

– William (1 year old)

Children deceased:

– 1 X Female

Witness to the birth:   Nurse – Mrs McDeregal

 

I suspect when Isabella sent her older daughters to the Townsville Orphanage, she might have placed her younger daughters with William Smyth and family (who probably couldn’t look after all 5 daughters).

I’ll investigate further when I get some time.

by

Website updated with more family history

Hi

Just letting everyone know that this weekend I spend some time uploading more family history information to the website (something I’ve been meaning to do for sometime now).

On the family history pages, I’ve uploaded the latest family research for Births, Deaths and Marriages.

I’ve also added in some links to the various websites, containing various family history databases, and the old newspaper website, set up by the National Library of Australia (very good website if you like reading old newspapers, which has many family related stories, advertisements and announcements like obituaries)