T is for Thomas

T is for Thomas William Thompson, who was my great, great grandfather. Thomas was born 5 December 1888 in Warwick, Queensland to parents William Henry Thompson and Sarah White (see my ‘S’ post for more on Sarah). The first few years of his life were lived in Queensland, where a younger sister was born and died. By 1894, Thomas was living with his family in Bingara, NSW. It was here that his father died in 1896, when Thomas was eight years old.

Thomas William Thompson and Hannah Mallet

The records don’t tell us how long the family stayed in Bingara or if Thomas stayed with them but by 1911, Thomas was living in Lismore NSW. It was here that Thomas met and married Hannah Maria Darch Mallet on 23 December 1911. Thomas and his wife settled down in the Lismore district and raised a family of nine children, all living to adulthood. Included in these nine children was his wife’s illegitimate child from before their marriage, whom Thomas raised as his own.

Sadly, Hannah died in 1929 at the age of 36 after 17 years of marriage. Thomas was left to finish raising his children alone. As was the customer, the eldest girl of the household was left to run the house and look after the children. This fell to his daughter Jean, who was aged only 12 years old at the time. Thomas was a kind man though, with Jean recalling him coming home one day to find her in tears and unable to cope with the situation. Thomas promptly hired a housekeeper. This housekeeper stayed on for some years, with Thomas later marrying her. Further evidence of his kindness can be seen in his raising of his grandson, whom his daughter Jean had given birth to at 15. Most children in this situation would have been adopted out, but Jean’s child was raised by his family.

Thomas remained in the Lismore area for the rest of his life, passing away in 1956  at the age of 68 years.

P is for Philadelphia

P is for Philadelphia Starr was my 5th great grandmother. I’ve always loved the sound of her name as it’s so different from your regular names like Ann or Jane or Sarah. Not that they aren’t good names, but Philadelphia just seems such an interesting name to have. When I first found Philadelphia, I was surprised and it seemed such an uncommon name to me. After all, the only time I’d heard it before was in reference to the city in the USA. Upon digging further though, the name Philadelphia was apparently wildly popular across the entire East Sussex area starting in the mid 1500s right through to the mid 1800s. My relatives apparently enjoyed this popular name as there are many, many Philadelphia Starr’s in the region of East Sussex in which my Philadelphia lived.

St John the Baptist Parish Church, Westfield

My Philadelphia Starr was born sometime in late 1793 in Westfield, East Sussex to parents WilliamStarr and Ann Crisford. Philadelphia was then promptly baptised on 27 October of the same year at the local Church of England parish church, St. John the Baptist. Philadelphia was part of a fairly standard sized family, being one of nine children. Not much is known of Philadelphia’s early life, but she grew up in the Westfield and Maresfield areas of East Sussex. However, by 1807 Philadelphia was living in Sedlescombe which was where her first child William Starr was born. Philadelphia was just 14 years old at the time. Surprisingly, Philadelphia did not marry the father of her child though he was known to her.

It is recorded in parish documents that William’s father was a Richard Milham, a 20 year old bricklayer.  The baptism records at the time record William as being Baseborn, that is illegitimate, but further records reveal that Richard Milham acknowledged that he was the father and made continued payments for the support of his child. Despite the financial support, it must have been a hard time for Philadelphia as she was so young.

Philadelphia did eventually marry, but it wasn’t until 1821 that she married Edward Stevenson at St. Nicholas’ Church in Brighton, Sussex. After their marriage, Philadelphia settled with her husband in the Maresfield area of Sussex where the couple had three sons. Philadelphia’s three sons were still residing with her and her husband on the 1841 Census at Fletching, which is part of the Maresfield district. On the 1851 Census, Philadelphia and Edward are still living at the same address this time with only their eldest son at home along with a three year old granddaughter. I have bene working hard to figure which child of Philadelphia’s this granddaughter belonged to, but haven’t succeeded yet. As the child bears the Stevenson surname, she obviously was the child of one of Philadelphia’s sons.

Sadly, in 1854 Philadelphia’s husband Edward died at the age of 65 years old leaving Philadelphia a widow. Philadelphia may have continued to live in Fletching, or she may not have. That is something we really just don’t know. On the 1861 Census, Philadelphia appears at Staplehurst, Kent where she is listed as a visitor in the household. However, on the 1871 Census Philadelphia is found living in the same household in Staplehurst, Kent. This time she is not listed as just a visitor, but is indicated as a relative. The household was that of Philadelphia’s sister Harriet.

The workhouse at Uckfield, Sussex which has since been demolished

Unfortunately, when Philadelphia died in 1877 she was a resident of the Uckfield Workhouse in Sussex. The Workhouses were places reserved for paupers and those who were too old to look after themselves. Based on everything I have ever read about the living conditions in the Workhouses, I can just imaging how horrible it would have been to live in such a place. At the time of her death Philadelphia was aged 83 years old.

C is for . . .

C is for Charlotte. Charlotte Maude Nichols was my great grandmother, the mother of my maternal grandfather who I never knew.

I first came across Charlotte’s name on the marriage certificate of my grandparents and then on the death and birth certificates of my grandfather. From there, I was able to find out a bit about Charlotte beyond just a name on a piece of paper.

Charlotte was born 3 May 1894 in Katoomba, New South Wales to parents Robert George Nichols and May Henderson. She was the couple’s first child, and spent much of her childhood in the shale oil mining town of Joadja Creek in the Southern Highlands of NSW. Her parents marriage had also occurred at Joadja Creek in 1893. So how did she end up being born in Katoomba?

Well, after much research into the to town of Joadja Creek and the mining operation there I discovered a reference to a shale oil operation at Katoomba and thought ‘perhaps that’s it’. As they were both shale oil operations and they were also both located in mountainous terrain. So perhaps it was some sort of worker exchange? Whatever the reason, it was only a brief visit as Charlotte’s both was registered a month later on Joadja Creek.

But the most interesting event, at least from a family history point of view, was yet to come.  By the time Charlotte was ten years old, the family had relocated to the Newcastle area and certificates for Charlotte’s siblings indicate that they were still living there in 1910 when Charlotte was 16 years old.

But for a period in the year of 1910, Charlotte wasn’t living with her family. On 19 November 1910, at sixteen years old

My grandfather George as a young child

and unmarried, Charlotte gave birth to a baby boy at South Sydney’s Womens Hospital. This baby boy was to become my grandfather. Later in life, Charlotte went on to marry and have other children all of whom are listed on her death certificate. Sadly, her first child is not listed on her death certificate presumably due to the fact that he was illegitimate.

This is where one of my major brick walls comes into play: discovering just who was the biological father of my grandfather. To date, I have gone as far as I can with the Nichols family line and have scoured newspapers but to date have found no clues from this line fo research as to who my biological great-grandfather might be. I even had my DNA done a few years ago when it first started getting big but still have had no hints. Here’s hoping that one day I’ll smash through this brick wall.