Y is for football at Yarra Park: G. Dana footballer

One of my earliest posts was about my first cousins four times removed George and Augustus Dana, the sons of Henry Dana (1820-1852), commandant of the Native Police in the colony of Victoria.

Reviewing digitised Australian newspapers on Trove recently, I came across several mentions of a G. Dana in the 1860s. I believe that this G. Dana is George Kinnaird Dana (1849-1872), the son of Henry Dana. G. Dana was playing the local football code, now known as Australian Rules Football.

A game at the Richmond Paddock, part of Yarra Park,  in the 1860s. A pavilion at the Melbourne Cricket Ground is on the left in the background. (A wood engraving made by Robert Bruce on July 27, 1866.)

G. Dana played mostly for South Yarra. South Yarra Football club was in existence from at least 1864. In 1873 South Yarra Football Club merged with a Saint Kilda Cricketers Club to form the Saint Kilda Football Club, which still plays football today.

In May 1866 Dana was playing for South Yarra. The rule for the season had been adopted at a meeting of delegates held at the Freemasons' Hotel.

FOOTBALL. (1866, May 12). Bell's Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle (Melbourne, Vic. : 1857 - 1868), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199059375

Dana chose one of the sides for the South Yarra Club. In the two hour game in May, neither side scored a goal.

FOOTBALL. (1866, May 12). Bell's Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle (Melbourne, Vic. : 1857 - 1868), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199059375

Dana played for South Yarra against Melbourne for the Challenge Cup in June 1866.

FOOTBALL. (1866, June 2). Bell's Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle (Melbourne, Vic. : 1857 - 1868), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199059376

Dana is also mentioned in September as playing for the Challenge Cup. Dana scored the second and final goal for South Yarra with a good running drop kick. Apparently drop kicks are no longer used in Australian Football League although there is a video of a drop kick being played in 2013.

The Challenge Cup. (1866, September 15). Bell's Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle (Melbourne, Vic. : 1857 - 1868), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199057292

On 14 September 1867 G. Dana was mentioned as being a member of the Melbourne Football Club team which was scheduled to play a team drawn from the 14th Regiment [the 2nd Battalion, Buckinghamshire Regiment of Foot].

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1867. (1867, September 14). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 5. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5777936

George Dana later became a trader in the South Pacific. In 1872, at the age of 23, he accidentally shot himself in the foot and died of tetanus on the island of Tanna, in present-day Vanuatu.

Family Notices (1873, April 1). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5851052

Related posts

• George Kinnaird Dana and Augustus Pulteney Dana : my very first blog post apart from my introduction, written five years and 245 posts ago. I am pleased to update with a little more information about George.
• W is for Williamstown: funeral of Augustus Dana

Further reading

• The death of South Yarra Football Club: FOOTBALL. (1873, November 1). The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), p. 11. Retrieved  from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137583335
• or viewing...  : a drop kick being played in AFL: https://youtu.be/KEgkmLLro2E and another video of drop kicks from the South Australian football archive https://youtu.be/iSYw5lb6tZk

W is for Williamstown: funeral of Augustus Dana

Augustus Pulteney Dana, my first cousin four times removed,  born 1 February 1851 at Dandenong, was the son of of Henry Edward Pulteney Dana (1817-1852),and Sophia Cole Hamilton née Walsh (1827-1860). At the time Henry Dana was commandant of the Victorian Native Police.

Augustus was their youngest child. His brothers and sisters were:

• Cecile Sophia (1845-1908), who married James Colles in 1866 and had children (with present day descendants)
• William Henry Pulteney (1845-died before 1852)
• Harry (1843-1854) 
• Charlotte Elizabeth Kinnaird (1848-1848)
• George Kinnaird Dana (1849-1872)

In 1852, when Augustus was only one, his father Henry died. Four years later his mother Sophia married his father's brother William Dana. They had one child, who died as an infant. Sophia died in 1860 and her second husband, Augustus's uncle and step-father William Dana, died in 1866.

1851: born

1852: father dies

1854: death of brother William who was aged 11, from scarlet fever in Launceston, Tasmania

1856: mother marries uncle
1860: mother dies
1866: uncle, who is also his step father dies.

In November 1867 Augustus, sixteen years old and said to have been 'uncontrollable', became a 'ward of the state', the term used to describe a child under the guardianship of a State child welfare authority.*

His legal guardian was a police magistrate, Mr Sturt, a former colleague of his father and uncle. Sturt paid 10 shillings a week towards Augustus's keep.

In January 1868 Augustus absconded but was brought back a day later. In February he was sent to live on a hulk at Williamstown called the Nelson.** This vessel, described as a 'training ship', was in fact a floating reformatory for refractory boys.

HMVS Nelson, Williamstown, Victoria, Apr 1898. Image from Find and Connect, originally from Museum Victoria.

A few months later, on 30 May 1868, Augustus died there of scarletina (scarlet fever) after an illness of 3 days. On his death certificate 'occupation' was recorded, stretching the truth a little, as 'ordinary seaman'. His father was given as George Dana, inspector of police, with mother not known. Clearly the informant knew very little about Augustus's family.

Augustus was sent off with an impressive funeral in naval style at Williamstown cemetery, probably at least in part intended as a contribution to the moral education of his fellows. His grave is unmarked.

NEWS AND NOTES. (1868, June 3). The Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 - 1924), p. 2. Retrieved October 5, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113844671

results from deceased search on Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries website http://www.gmct.com.au/deceased-search/

I believe this is the site of the grave of Augustus Dana - photographed October 2016

Notes

* see: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/guide/vic/E000214. 'Victorian Former Wards of the State are people who were removed from their families and placed in government or church operated orphanages, children's homes or foster care as children. The Victorian government took legal responsibility for their care." See: http://www.dhs.vic.gov.au/for-individuals/applying-for-documents-and-records/adoption-ward-and-care-leaver-records/former-victorian-state-wards-and-care-leavers

** "The Nelson was a hulk (ship) anchored off Williamstown, Hobson Bay. From 1868, it housed boys aged ten who had been sentenced under the Neglected and Criminal Children's Act of 1864. By 1872, the vessel housed 383 boys. It was abandoned in 1876 when the boys were transferred to the Bendigo Benevolent Asylum Industrial School, Sandhurst, and later to Sunbury Industrial School." See: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/vic/biogs/E000318b.htm



Further reading

• Marilynn I. Norman, 'Dana, Henry Edward Pulteney (1820–1852)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dana-henry-edward-pulteney-1952/text2327, published first in hardcopy 1966.
• Alan Gross, 'Sturt, Evelyn Pitfield Shirley (1816–1885)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/sturt-evelyn-pitfield-shirley-4663/text7709, published first in hardcopy 1976
• George Kinnaird Dana and Augustus Pulteney Dana : my very first blog post apart from my introduction, written five years and 243 posts ago. I am pleased to update with a little more information about Augustus.

J is for jail: Bankruptcy of William Pulteney Dana

Shrewsbury Prison main entrance. Image from Wikipedia

William Pulteney Dana (1776-1861), my fourth great grandfather, was gaoled for bankruptcy in 1840. The London Gazette of the period reported insolvency notices. There are several about William Dana:

 

(On their own Petitions.)

Recorded in The Gazette (London Gazette), Publication date: 18 August 1840 Issue: 19885 Pages: 1921-2 retrieved from https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/19885/page/1922

Shrewsbury Prison is also known as the Dana. The name comes from the name of the road to one side of the prison and the pedestrian route that runs from near the front of the prison into the town centre. It was named after the Reverend Edmund Dana (1739-1823), William's father.  A website on ShrewsburyLocal History explains:

The Dana is one of the more intriguing Shrewsbury place names, especially for visitors! It starts as a walkway from Castle Street, continues round the Castle and across the railway, and then becomes a street skirting the Prison until it merges with Victoria Street. The Dana (pronounced ‘Danner’, not ‘Darner’) is named after Rev Edmund Dana (1739-1823), who was Vicar of Wroxeter, Eaton Constantine, Harley and Aston Botterell, all apparently at the same time! He did not live in any of these places, however, but in Castle Gates House, the black and white house near the Castle entrance. He had a reputation for being a very eccentric character, but he was a magistrate and also a Trustee of the body responsible for the upkeep of the town’s streets. Hence his interest in improving the rough path that wound around the Castle. How he himself got to be there is also a convoluted path!

In December 1840, a few months after his incarceration, William Dana was out of prison and living in lodgings, still on half-pay from the army, and now running a printing business.

Recorded in The Gazette (London Gazette), Publication date: 13 November 1840 Issue: 19913 Pages: 2558-9 retrieved from https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/19913/page/2558

Some months later his case was adjourned.

Recorded in The Gazette (London Gazette), Publication date: 5 March 1841 Issue: 19958 Pages: 627-8retrieved from https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/19958/page/628

I have found no further mention of Dana's bankruptcy in the newspapers. I assume William Dana discharged his debts or made some accommodation with his creditors. However, it seems that Dana's finances never recovered, for at the time of the 1851 and 1861 censuses, he was living with his married daughter and her husband in a terrace house on Holywell Terrace in Shrewsbury. This was quite different from his previous address of Roughton Hall, a 3 story brick mansion near Worfield, Shropshire.

Bankruptcy featured a lot in Victorian literature, and of course Charles Dickens's character of Mr Micawber in David Copperfield immediately springs to mind. (We Australians are pleased to note that Dickens has Micawber emigrate to Victoria, where he becomes a bank manager and magistrate.) Micawber was probably modeled at least in part on Dickens's father, John Dickens, who in 1824 was imprisoned for debt under the Insolvent Debtors Act of 1813. It wasn't until 1869 that debtors no longer went to prison.

Daniel Poole's 'What Jane Austen ate and Charles Dickens knew' is fascinating on the subject of Victorian bankruptcy, debt and money lending.

Pool, Daniel What Jane Austen ate and Charles Dickens knew : fascinating facts of daily life in the nineteenth century. Robinson, London, 1998.

J for 'jail' or G for 'gaol'? Both are acceptable English. 'Gaol' is the older term but 'jail' dominates modern English usage. Current Australian English favours 'jail'.
I first wrote on William Dana and his bankruptcy for the Worldwide Genealogy Blog in 2014: http://worldwidegenealogy.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/bankruptcy-in-england-in-early.html

Further reading

For a brief history of insolvency law in England the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_insolvency_law#History is useful.

Jail or gaol:

• http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksandarts/jail-or-gaol-how-should-australia-spell-it/7532694
• https://www.spectator.co.uk/2014/04/why-did-we-ever-spell-jail-gaol/#
• http://writingexplained.org/jail-or-gaol-difference
• https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2014/06/no-australians-dont-spell-jail-with-a-g-any-more/

DNA analysis: matching the DNA results to the"paper tree"

My first DNA results from AncestryDNA were a surprise to me.I could find no matches to my family tree. How was I going to break the news to my parents that I had been swapped at birth?

I had DNA matches to other people's DNA results but no links to my tree. This seemed odd for I have been researching my tree for many years. I can identify all my 3rd great grandparents and a large number of my more remote forebears.

At present I have 98 pages of matches on AncestryDNA. At 50 matches per page this is just under 4,900 people who seem to share DNA with me and have tested with ancestry.com. Of these, 21 are estimated to be 4th cousins or closer, the closest being an estimated 3rd cousin who shares 127 centimorgans of genetic linkage across 8 segments; statistically, there is a high confidence we are related. The most distant match shares 6.0 centimorgans across 1 segment. (That match is linked to a private tree. I don't know how we might be related.)

AncestryDNA summary as at 4 February 2017, as of 5 February I have 21 matches calculated to be at the 4th cousin level or closer.

On my ancestryDNA summary page I now have 6 green leaves, which in the AncestryDNA system indicates shared DNA together with a connection in our trees. I can see our connection in 5 of these. The sixth has a private tree, so I cannot see the link. When my DNA matches were first made there were only two green leaves and both these were to my 7th great grandparents, Daniel Dana (1663-1749) and Naomi Cresswell (1670-1751), a connection too remote to be reliable. (We may connect differently on an as yet undocumented part of our tree.) Without a chromosome browser, which shows shared segments with other matches who have the same ancestry, I cannot be sure I have correctly identified our most recent common ancestors.

a shared DNA match where both our trees include common ancestors

My 6th great grandfather Richard Dana (1700-1772), portrait by John Singleton Copely painted about 1770. Portrait now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

It is not surprising that the matches were to the Dana branch of my tree. The Dana were early emigrants to the United States. As the Dana family is well-documented I would expect members of it to show up in people's trees and to find connections on that branch. A chromosome browser would give me more confidence that the connections have been made reliably.


Of my top 21 matches, that is, matches predicted to be 4th cousins and closer, I have managed to identify the most common recent ancestor in four cases. Only one of my AncestryDNA green leaf hints is estimated to be a 4th cousin and it would appear she is actually a 7th cousin once removed. Even when there are only small trees that do not connect with my family tree I have had some success in working out the connections with my DNA matches .

Spreadsheet analysis of my matches who are estimated to be 4th cousins or closer (click to enlarge)

AY, whose kit is administered by JB, is estimated to be my 4th cousin with 40 centimorgans shared across 3 segments. The match shows there is no family tree linked to the kit. However, when viewing the match, although a family tree has not yet been linked to the DNA results there are trees created by JB that can be previewed. In this case there were 3 trees,  

• one with 27 people and no surnames I recognised and no apparent link to AY whose DNA was tested
• The second was similar, with only 5 names
• The third, although it had only 6 people, had a name I thought I recognised and seemed to have AY as the initial person. I searched my tree for the surname Yeates and found that in 1857 my 3rd great aunt, Dymphna Maria Cudmore (1836-1899) married Sydney van Butchell Yeates (1831-1918). 

screenshot of my DNA match with AY showing public but unlinked trees in the bottom left of the screen

AY and I are 3rd cousins once removed. Our most recent common ancestors are Daniel Michael Paul Cudmore (1811-1891) and his wife Mary Cudmore née Nihill (1811-1893).

More recently I had a shared match with AY. TH was estimated to be a 4th cousin and we share 20.7 centimorgans across 2 DNA segments. TH had no tree. However, because of the shared match I speculated that we might be connected on the Cudmore or Nihill lines.

shared matches are shown when you click on the middle tab; the green contact button is on the top-right of the screen but is not always effective as there is no email notification that a message has been sent

profile page showing brown contact button in top-right-hand of screen

In September 2016 I contacted TH using the green button on the top right hand side of  the DNA match screen but did not hear back. After reading that communication with DNA matches using the brown contact button on the top-right-hand side of a person's profile page, was likely to be more successful, I tried contacting TH by that method and providing my email address in the message. He replied by email almost immediately and confirmed a connection to the Nihill or Niall or Nihell family. We are 4th cousins once removed.

Daniel Michael Paul Cudmore (1811-1891), my 4th great grandfather, about 1865. Image from the State Library of South Australia reference B30912

Mrs Mary Cudmore née Nihill (1811-1893), my 4th great grandmother, about 1865. Image from the State Library of South Australia reference B 30913

If your research is like mine I have a few suggestions:

• Although a DNA match may show as having no tree, check if there is an unlinked public tree available to view. In my top 21 matches, 8 apparently had no tree, but in 4 cases there was an unconnected tree.
• A connection can be made with a tree of very few people. (I found two connections by following the descendants of a 3rd great aunt.)
• Shared matches give hints as to how other DNA matches might be connected.
• DNA matches might not be ancestry subscribers and, even if they are they might not log in often. Consider contacting them by using the brown contact button on their profile page, providing your own email address. Contacting by the brown button provides an email alert. There is no similar alert for contacts made by the green button.

Trove Tuesday: death of Captain W. A. P. Dana

William Augustus Pulteney Dana (1826-1866) was my 4th great uncle, the eighth of the ten children of my 4th great grandparents William Pulteney Dana (1776-1861) and Charlotte Elizabeth Dana née Bailey (1795-1846). He was one of the brothers of my great great great grandmother Charlotte Frances Champion de Crespigny née Dana (1820-1904).

Superintendent William Dana

William, then superintendent of police at Geelong, died suddenly on 5 October 1866.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1866. (1866, October 6). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), , p. 5. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5775248

CURRENT TOPICS. (1866, October 6). Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1926), , p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148784229

Items of News. (1866, October 10). Hamilton Spectator and Grange District Advertiser (South Melbourne, Vic. : 1860 - 1870), , p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article194471140

LOCAL INTELLIGENCE. (1866, October 11). Kilmore Free Press and Counties of Bourke and Dalhousie Advertiser (Kilmore, Vic. : 1865 - 1868), , p. 2 (MORNINGS.). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70060810

His funeral was reported in the Geelong Advertiser of 8 October 1866. Thousands of people, it was reported, viewed the long cortege. Philip de Crespigny, William Dana's brother-in-law and my great great great grandfather was one of the principal mourners. Also among these principal mourners were his nephews, George and Augustus Dana.

CAPTAIN DANA'S FUNERAL. (1866, October 8). Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1926), , p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148784238

Images of Captain Dana's grave in the Geelong cemetery at Find-A-Grave: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=163742121 These were kindly taken by Find A Grave contributor Ron M following my request to the site.

Deaths at sea

This week's Sepia Saturday prompt is the sea. In fact, the prompt picture of Bondi Beach inspires thoughts of holidays by the beach, but I have recently been researching several members of my family who died at sea and I was reminded that the sea is not always benign.

The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault painted 1818-1819 and now hanging in the Louvre. The Méduse was wrecked off the coast of Africa in 1816. Of the 400 on board only 15 survived.

Arthur Branthwayt (1776-1808) was the second husband of my 5th great grandmother Elizabeth née Phipps (1774-1836). He died at sea in a shipwreck. He was travelling to Gothenburg and the Crescent, a frigate with 36 guns, which was lost off the coast of Jutland. 220 of the 280 aboard her died. A raft was constructed, similar to the Méduse's. Arthur Branthwayt's wife, eight-month-old daughter and four step-children were not travelling with him.

Hampshire Chronicle 6 February 1809

Kentish Gazette 30 December 1808

Morning Post (London) 17 January 1809

Arthur Branthwayt's grandson, Arthur Branthwayt Toker (1834 - 1866), my first cousin five times removed, is doubly related to me as his mother married her half-sister's nephew by marriage, the son of Clarissa Champion de Crespigny (1776 - 1836). Young Arthur died at sea of typhoid fever while returning to England from New Zealand. He had been an officer in the 65th Regiment (later the York and Lancaster Regiment) and fought in the Maori Wars. He was unmarried.

from William Francis Robert Gordon's album "Some "Soldiers of the Queen" who served in the Maori Wars and Other Notable Persons Connected Herewith". Retrieved from the collection of Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, New Zealand

Wellington Independent 27 March 1866

In 1814 another shipwreck took the lives of Henry Gore Wade, his wife and children. Wade was the brother-in law of my fourth great uncle Philip Champion de Crespigny (1765 - 1851).  The Wade family were returning to England from India and died when the John Palmer was wrecked.

Morning Post (London) 31 March 1814

Morning Post (London) 1 April 1814

Gordon Skelly, who died in 1771, was my 6th great grandfather. His granddaughter Sophia née Duff (1790 - 1824) married Rowland Mainwaring (1783 - 1862). Skelly was the captain of the Royal Navy sloop Lynx stationed at Shields Yorkshire. He was drowned when his ship's long boat, ,crossing the bar of the harbour, was overturned by breakers. At the time of his death his two children were aged four and three.

Leeds Intelligencer 2 July 1771

Entrance to Shields Harbour from The Ports, Harbours, Watering-places and Picturesque Scenery of Great Britain Vol. 1 by William Findon retrieved from Project Gutenberg

When I checked my family tree I found a number of others who died at sea:

• Charles Patrick Dana (1784 - 1816), my 4th great grand uncle, who died while travelling from the East Indies to England on the Sir Stephen Lushington.
• Michael Hickey (1812 - 1840), the brother of my 3rd great grandmother died on the voyage to South Australia from Cork, Ireland,  on the Birman.
• Kenneth Budge (1813 - 1852), my 3rd great grandfather, died of cholera while sailing near Elsinore, Denmark.
• Walter Wilkes Plaisted (1836 - 1871), my 3rd great grand uncle, who died of phthsis (tuberculosis) on board the SS Geelong during the passage from Singapore to Melbourne. His probate file, held by the Public Records Office of Victoria, includes an inventory of his effects, a fascinating insight into his possessions.

My great great grandfather, James Francis Cudmore (1837 - 1912) was born at sea aboard the Siren off the coast of Kangaroo Island. His mother, Mary née Nihill (1811 -1893) was travelling from Launceston to the very new colony of Adelaide to join her husband Daniel Michael Paul Cudmore (1811 - 1891). 

My husband's great great grandmother Margaret née Smyth (1834 - 1897) gave birth to a baby boy as she travelled to Australia from Ireland on the Persian. The baby is recorded on the passenger list but it is not known what happened to him after arrival. He probably died as an infant. His death was before compulsory civil registration.