Footprints
Jan. 24th, 2008 08:27 pmI don't do the family history thing anymore, but I was printing out some emails from a few year's back, about my grandmother's great-grandparents, because when I was talking to her on Christmas Day, I realised I'd never passed it on. (It was a couple that I hadn't been able to find any trace of, they seemed to exist only on one child's marriage certificate, in the end, it was someone else who handed me the answer). There was always ancestors that you have to admit you'll never find out where they came from/who they are, unless you get lucky.
Sometimes though, that knot falls apart in unexpected ways.
My grandmother's family was mostly easy. You can go back two generations from her, and the family knew who was who, and what and when and where. We have a rather nice photo of my grandmother's mother (Alberta) who ran the inn at the Nile, and some things that belong to her, and a photo of the shop her parents (Thomas & Margaret Hall) had at Perth, and a photo of Margaret, and a old photo of a house with "Thomas Hall's home in England" scrawled on the back. (Although Thomas was born in Tasmania, down south in the Broadmarsh area, to Charles & Elizabeth hall; and the house in the photo was a two storey sandstone place, with a veranda and what looked suspiciously like gum trees on the hill behind so I did a photocopy and posted that off to the State Archives with "Can you please there me where this is?" note, and they sent a big envelope back with another photocopy and a note that said "It's Strathelie at Broadmarsh. That'll be $1.50 thanks." Which was nice to know, but it left me wondering what was the connection to Tom Hall? As I said, he lived in Perth, in the north of the state, but maybe it had something to do with his parents although it doesn't look like the sort of place a sheep-stealer turned station manager would live in. Maybe Charles worked on the property? One of those little mysteries you accept you won't find an answer to.)
Going back from Thomas though was a little harder. His father wasn't too bad, I found his transportation records & the newspaper write-ups when he died (coming back from an auction with some friends, they got to racing and he fell) & the notice of probate. Although it took almost another two decades to find his headstone but I've told that story elsewhere.
His mother though, was Elizabeth Johns(t)on, which is a very common first name and a very common last name. All I knew about her was when she married (I don't think that even had an age on it) and sometime towards the end of her life she wrote an (undated) letter to her son, Thomas, was New Zealand. So I guess she died there, somewhere. Which mean little chance of finding her death and getting information from that. It a common problem with ancestresses, they often don't leave many footprints. All my loose ends (those I don't know where they came from) bar one are female.
Then a few years ago, I was bored and thought I'd have a good look at every record vaguely associated with her on the off chance I found something of use. Say, something that might mention a place in NZ so I can narrow that search or a witness on her son's marriage certificate by the name of Hugh Johnston. ! A witness on a marriage certificate with a family name invariable ends being a close relative and Hugh is not a common name. In fact, when I did a quick search of BDM records, I found something like 2 'Hugh Johnstones' alive about that time. I sent a quick email to the Tas genie list to see if anyone knew anything about them, and got a reply back saying "Hello, Hugh is Elizabeth's half brother, her father is Thomas "Tiger" Johnston, a wealthy businessman, here is her mother, her step mother (who is buried in cemetery turned park where I used to walk the dog!), all her siblings and this is the ship her parents came out on." She'd gone from being a loose end to having a possible whole family & an origin.
I say 'possible' because the only connection between this Elizabeth and that one, was the one name on a marriage certificate. The coincidence of names is a very tenuous connection. Circumstantial. (It annoys me very much when a "researcher" has, say, a John Brown who got married at Oatlands in 1870, aged 20 and there's a John Brown born at Oatlands in 1850, and that's all the evidence they need to claim them as the same person.)
It's an interesting family though so I asked if there was any more information available and got back a rather detailed couple of pages on Thomas Johnston, which where he got married and when he arrived, and evidence of his business in Hobart, and that he got land grant out Broadmarsh way where he built a 20-room mansion called Strathelie. Oh.
I think a photo of a house passed down from generation to generation until it was forgotten whose house it actually was is the best "connection" I've ever come across.
It also shows that sometimes you just have to be patient. That little mystery took me nearly 20 years to solve.
Sometimes though, that knot falls apart in unexpected ways.
My grandmother's family was mostly easy. You can go back two generations from her, and the family knew who was who, and what and when and where. We have a rather nice photo of my grandmother's mother (Alberta) who ran the inn at the Nile, and some things that belong to her, and a photo of the shop her parents (Thomas & Margaret Hall) had at Perth, and a photo of Margaret, and a old photo of a house with "Thomas Hall's home in England" scrawled on the back. (Although Thomas was born in Tasmania, down south in the Broadmarsh area, to Charles & Elizabeth hall; and the house in the photo was a two storey sandstone place, with a veranda and what looked suspiciously like gum trees on the hill behind so I did a photocopy and posted that off to the State Archives with "Can you please there me where this is?" note, and they sent a big envelope back with another photocopy and a note that said "It's Strathelie at Broadmarsh. That'll be $1.50 thanks." Which was nice to know, but it left me wondering what was the connection to Tom Hall? As I said, he lived in Perth, in the north of the state, but maybe it had something to do with his parents although it doesn't look like the sort of place a sheep-stealer turned station manager would live in. Maybe Charles worked on the property? One of those little mysteries you accept you won't find an answer to.)
Going back from Thomas though was a little harder. His father wasn't too bad, I found his transportation records & the newspaper write-ups when he died (coming back from an auction with some friends, they got to racing and he fell) & the notice of probate. Although it took almost another two decades to find his headstone but I've told that story elsewhere.
His mother though, was Elizabeth Johns(t)on, which is a very common first name and a very common last name. All I knew about her was when she married (I don't think that even had an age on it) and sometime towards the end of her life she wrote an (undated) letter to her son, Thomas, was New Zealand. So I guess she died there, somewhere. Which mean little chance of finding her death and getting information from that. It a common problem with ancestresses, they often don't leave many footprints. All my loose ends (those I don't know where they came from) bar one are female.
Then a few years ago, I was bored and thought I'd have a good look at every record vaguely associated with her on the off chance I found something of use. Say, something that might mention a place in NZ so I can narrow that search or a witness on her son's marriage certificate by the name of Hugh Johnston. ! A witness on a marriage certificate with a family name invariable ends being a close relative and Hugh is not a common name. In fact, when I did a quick search of BDM records, I found something like 2 'Hugh Johnstones' alive about that time. I sent a quick email to the Tas genie list to see if anyone knew anything about them, and got a reply back saying "Hello, Hugh is Elizabeth's half brother, her father is Thomas "Tiger" Johnston, a wealthy businessman, here is her mother, her step mother (who is buried in cemetery turned park where I used to walk the dog!), all her siblings and this is the ship her parents came out on." She'd gone from being a loose end to having a possible whole family & an origin.
I say 'possible' because the only connection between this Elizabeth and that one, was the one name on a marriage certificate. The coincidence of names is a very tenuous connection. Circumstantial. (It annoys me very much when a "researcher" has, say, a John Brown who got married at Oatlands in 1870, aged 20 and there's a John Brown born at Oatlands in 1850, and that's all the evidence they need to claim them as the same person.)
It's an interesting family though so I asked if there was any more information available and got back a rather detailed couple of pages on Thomas Johnston, which where he got married and when he arrived, and evidence of his business in Hobart, and that he got land grant out Broadmarsh way where he built a 20-room mansion called Strathelie. Oh.
I think a photo of a house passed down from generation to generation until it was forgotten whose house it actually was is the best "connection" I've ever come across.
It also shows that sometimes you just have to be patient. That little mystery took me nearly 20 years to solve.
