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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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)

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Joseph Raynor – insolvency 17 June 1899

Joseph Raynor was declared bankrupt 17 June 1899.  I viewed Joseph’s insolvency file at QLD Archive, hoping to find clues to his earlier life, particularly in Sicily.  Unfortunately the Archives file didn’t reveal any new information, except that he was actually declared ‘informa pauperis’ which I assumes means he has no chance of repaying whatever debts he had.

I’m a bit perplexed on why the court would state he could not repay his debts, given he was probably by then already employed as a Seaman on SS Bobby Towns.

Nevertheless, this is the first record of Joseph’s life, therefore it was interesting to see, especially as Joseph signed one of the letters in the file.

Below are the photos  I took of the file ( every page on the file is included below):

Bankruptcy file

Bankruptcy file cover

Affadavit 5 June 1899

Insolvency letter

Cover of insolvency notice

Gazettal notice of insolvency

Letter 23 June 1899

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I’ve updated the post on Joseph Raynor’s will & other stuff

Just letting everyone know that over the weekend I updated the post relating to Joseph Raynor’s Will.  

I’m also reviewing the earlier posts – I wrote some of them in a rush and left out details that I could have included – including the few photos I have (Note I only have copies of copies – no originals, so unfortunately these are not the best quality).

I’m also working on the rest of the website – I’m going to try and put some links to the various geneology sites I’ve been looking at (once I work out how to insert links).

 

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Isabella Smyth (nee Shields)

Well I’ve received some new information on Isabella Smyth (nee Shields), mother of Mary Jane Raynor.

John and Isabella Smyth and their four daughters Martha, Margaret, Anna Bella and Eliza Jane departed Glasgow on 10 August 1882 on the ship “Stirlingshire” arriving in Townsville on 7 November 1882 (IMM/117) The Log entry states that John’s age is 32, Isabella 33, Martha 6, Margaret 3, Annabella 1, Eliza inf.  Their destination in Townsville was listed as ‘Mr Robinson, Milkman’. Possibly John had an assisted passage and was indentured to work for Mr Robinson.

John died on 16 December 1883 at the Townsville Hospital of dysentery.  This was just over a year after arriving in Townsville (arrived November 1882). Isabella was then five months pregnant. She would have been unable to work at this time, and there was no Government welfare assistance as there is today. So she must have had a very difficult time, and I had previously said in an earlier post that I wondered how Isabella fared.

Jane Mary Smyth was born on 10 April 1884.  Isabella was left to raise 5 girls on her own.  The new information I received was that Isabella admitted Margaret and Annabella to the Townsville Orphanage on 6 Aug 1884 and they were discharged to her on 16 April 1886.  On 16 October 1886 she admitted Annabella and Eliza.  Annabella was discharged on 11 May 1893 and Eliza on 7 August 1894. So Isabella probably did not fare too well in the earlier days in Australia.

Townsville Orphanage extract

Isabella had a tough life. John and Isabella probably came to Australia to escape poverty in Ireland. On arrival, John died, and Isabella would have spent many years working hard in low paid employment to make ends meet. When she couldn’t make ends meet, she had to put her daughters in the Townsville Orphanage. Her hard life must have taken its toll because she eventually died 12 April 1909 aged 63 years. In the last 7-8 years of her life she suffered an illness which eventually took her life.

Thanks for the information on Isabella, it does explain a lot.  While her life was difficult,it is credit to her that she managed to raise her daughters, and all went on to live good lives.  I know that Mary Jane and Joseph Raynor must have been a very unlikely match, but all the Raynors I’ve ever met turned out well, so Isabella must have done something right.