Trove Tuesday – Cricket and cheese

Contributing to the #TroveTuesday theme of Amy Lehmann from Branches, Leaves & Pollen:

I’ve been busy with my uni studies and ancient history podcasts, and so it was a pleasant surprise when I returned to my genealogy research to see that Trove has digitised Kiama newspapers. My maternal grandmother’s line are the Boxsell family, originally from Sussex, England, they sailed on the Neptune and arrived in Sydney in 1839. The Boxsell family moved south to Kiama. Thomas and Mary both died in 1875 and were buried in Gerringong. They have many descendants in the Kiama region. In 2009 the junior cricket field at Omega was renamed Boxsell Oval in recognition of the Boxsell family’s contribution to cricket.

I’ve found a great many newspaper articles on Trove regarding the Boxsell family, and particularly like this obituary of Edward Boxsell (my great-great grandfather William’s brother). Edward lived to 90 years. He worked as a cheesemaker for 30 years in the Tilba district before returning to Gerringong to farm with his son. According to the obituary “he was noted for his excellent slip fielding and his execution of the square cut when batting.”

I had found these Boxsell pictures via Trove a few years ago, the Tilba photos include a wedding photo of Annie Boxsell in 1900. I’m fairly certain this is Annie Boxsell, Edward & William’s sister. I’m also looking forward to reading The Boxsell Family in Australia 1839 – 2007  by Dawn Hasemann Rix, as catalogued in Trove.

OBITUARY. (1951, September 26). Kiama Independent (NSW : 1947 – 1954), p. 3. Retrieved May 20, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article100830604

La Trobe in the City – Building Rome

Attended a wonderful session from the School of Humanities at the La Trobe in the City lecture series. The lecture was on Building Rome, and looked at the archaeology and architecture of Rome; and the political power and messages of that architecture in Republican and Imperial Rome

I met the wonderful Dr Gillian Shepherd, who lectures at La Trobe and on iTunesU. I love her podcasts, and it was a real thrill for me to meet her.  Sarah Midford, a Research Associate at La Trobe, also presented and gave us a great handout with lots of links for further exploration at home.

The lectures are open to the public, for anyone with an interest in ancient culture, and the series of talks are particularly useful for VCE students & teachers. I’m very envious of Melbourne locals, it’s a great opportunity that La Trobe is offering. I’m booked for the Dr Rhiannon Evans & Assoc. Prof. Peter Davis on Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Dr Evans is another “academic hero” of mine from iTunesU and I can’t wait to hear her lecture in person.

La Trobe in the City

 

Trove Tuesday – Getting to know my Grandfather

My grandfather was born in New Zealand. I never knew him, but have been lucky to have been contacted by one of his nephews in NZ who has been able to confirm some family tales, and to share details of his younger years. Through him, I found that Colin had a lab at the University of Sydney in the 1950s, and searches on Ancestry have revealed electoral and travel records between the UK, US and Australia confirming his birthplace, occupation and employment history.

Colin studied at the University of Otago, and worked as a physicist at the National Standards Laboratory, University of Sydney, the Australian Scientific Liaison Office in Washington, and the ASRLO in London.

On Trove I’ve found records of his publications:

Bruce, C. F (1954). Some applications of interferometry to precision measurement. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia, Melbourne

http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/17942886

Bruce, C. F (1956). Wavelength data and correction tables for length interferometry. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia, Melbourne

http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/19268715

Not all the CF Bruce’s in the journal list are him, but the articles on interferometry are his:

My daughter is now studying at the University of Sydney, and it is nice to have a family link with the University.

(Trove Tuesday is an initiative of Amy Houston of Branches, Leaves and Pollen.)

Trove Tuesday – Do not compare yourself to others, for you may become vain or bitter

Contributing to the #TroveTuesday theme  of Amy Houston from Branches, Leaves & Pollen:

I loved reading my fellow genie MyGenealogyAdventure’s Trove Tuesday post – which seems to confirm the family tale that her ancestor Henry Goodhew was held up in the Goulburn Mail in 1869. I was already quite envious at the wealth of material she has been able to gather on another ancestor GT Smede , as he was obviously a valuable community member as well as being a respected police officer.

So whilst my friend’s  ancestors are appearing in the paper as good citizens, mine on the other hand, seem to appear more often on the other side of the law!

Makes you wonder if the drivers of the Goulburn Mail received danger money – two weeks earlier it had been held up by three men, including John Thomas Keevil. John, the grandson of a convict, was the brother of my ancestor Mary. He and two mates held up the Goulburn Mail at Towrang on May 10^th 1869.

It appears in the Sydney Morning Herald as an abridged version from the Goulburn Herald (must have been huge in the original reporting). John & his cousin James Vennel were convicted and sent to prison (John 6 years & James 8 years). Their friend Berriman was later acquitted.

Here’s a picture of John on his discharge from Goulburn Gaol. After leaving prison John changed his name to Thomas Sutherland.
I guess having a photo is one benefit of having a criminal in the family (photo taken 3 March 1874):
(photo from State Archives microfilm, taken using my iPhone when I visited their Rocks reading room in March 2012):

3/03/1874

P63

63a

NRS2138

[5/1696]

 

Trove Tuesday – Anne at Mountain Run

Contributing to the #TroveTuesday theme  of Amy Houston from Branches, Leaves & Pollen:

Anne was the elder sister of my ancestor Catherine Glynn. A housemaid from County Roscommon in Ireland, she emigrated to Australia in 1842 on the Agnes Ewing

I described the sad death of her daughter Anne in 1856 in my last Trove Tuesday post, Anne herself died four years later, after falling and being crushed by the dray cart in which she was riding. She was with her husband Philip Cullen, returning from visiting relatives:

Fatal Accident. (1860, December 25). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 8.
Retrieved October 22, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28626134

Can only imagine how hard these tragedies must have been for Philip, losing his child and then his wife in a short space of time. He lived until 1894, I don’t know yet if he re-married.

Ann at Kilmainham – only one night

My research on one of my Irish convicts, Ann Armstrong, continues. I visited the FamilySearch Centre at Lismore, with fellow genealogist Tanya, and lovely helpers there helped me print a record of Ann’s stay at Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin before she was sent to Australia. I knew that she was convicted March 1818 at Antrim (stealing a bonnet!), thanks to records from National Archives on Ancestry.com (HO 10/17).

This new information from FamilySearch shows that she only spent one night at Kilmainham (21st June 1818), discharged on 22 June 1818. I know that her convict ship Elizabeth left Cork on July 26 1818 – so where did she spend the 1 month in between? And where did she spend time between conviction at Antrim and the one night at Kilmainham – its a 193km trip – so how did she get there?

It’s 255 km from Dublin to Cork, how did prisoners get there? I need to do more historical research on how convicts made their way from place of conviction to place of embarkation.

Trove Tuesday – Catherine’s niece

Contributing to the #TroveTuesday theme of Amy Houston from Branches, Leaves & Pollen:

More Irish tales: another maternal third great grandmother of mine is Catherine Glynn, a free settler from Ireland she followed her sister Anne out to Australia.
Anne herself was destined to die in 1860 in a cart accident, but the following story is about the sad death of her daughter Anne, aged 3, from burns in a fire in 1856.

 

WESTERN DISTRICTS. (1856, March 4). Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 – 1875), p. 3. from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60174635

An Irish shoemaker’s apprentice

Contributing to the #TroveTuesday theme of Amy Houston from Branches, Leaves & Pollen, here’s my story.

Trove is truly a treasure box.

This tale is about my maternal 3^rd great grandmother’s first husband, Joseph Maher.  He is not my ancestor, I am descended from her second husband John Woods.  I was always curious about Joseph, as he and Alice were married in 1850, and his death was in 1850, followed by Alice’s new marriage in 1851 to John (they never seemed to waste much time in those days moving on to the next partner!).

Searching Trove, I found the sad story of Joseph’s death within days of marrying Alice. He was sitting on a bullock dray loaded with return goods after delivering wool. The load shifted, Joseph fell onto the dray shaft and then in front of the wheel which crushed his head:

 

FATAL ACCIDENTS. (1850, February 13). The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser (NSW : 1843 – 1893), p. 2. Retrieved August 28, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article696

I have since been on Ancestry and with the NSW State Archives records that are loaded there, have been able to trace his arrival from Dublin in 1840 on the convict ship Pekoe, he was only 17, a shoemaker’s apprentice, sent to Australia for picking pockets. Was also able to find his tickets of leave, including one that was cancelled for being “drunk and found in a disorderly house” in 1846. I found the newspaper article on Trove:

Government Gazette. (1846, April 29). The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser (NSW : 1843 – 1893), p. 1. Retrieved August 28, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article680876

Searching NSW BDM the records show that Alice had a child born in 1851, named John Maher. I haven’t traced further, but I really hope that the Maher line survived and thrived in Australia. I keep thinking of Joseph as just a boy the same age as my son, being sent across the world for a petty crime, only to die 10 years later.

 And of course, for my part, my Mum, my sister, my kids and I would not have existed if he had lived.

Mendham Collection – stop the break-up and sale

Sign this petition .
The Law Society of England and Wales ignores Mendham family’s wishes, Kent University and Canterbury Cathedral agreements and British Library funding in order to break up the collection and sell through Sotheby’s.
And this is from a Law Society!
http://www.change.org/petitions/the-law-society-of-england-and-wales-stop-the-break-up-and-sale-of-the-mendham-collection?utm_source=supporter_message&utm_medium=email

The historic Mendham Collection, donated by the Mendham Family and under the custodianship of Canterbury Cathedral and the University of Kent and catalogued by public money by the British Library, is being broken up and sold by the Law Society of England and Wales.

Despite an agreement that Cathedral and the University will retain the custodianship of the Collection until the 31 December 2013, the Law Society has given notice of its instruction to Sotheby’s to remove the most valuable items on 18 July 2012 as part of a fundraising drive.

History books

Spent birthday money from Mum on some great history & genealogy books from bookdepository.com and amazon.com
Love David Starkey’s style.