L is for Never Surrender Lodge No. 187 I. O. G. T. Lamplough

The International Order of Good Templars is a temperance organisation, founded in the United States in 1851.

IOGT (International Organisation of Good Templars) Certificate of Membership from 1868. Published by Lyman T. Moore, Lawton, Michigan. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1868, by Lyman T. Moore in the Clerks Office of the District Court for the Western District of Michigan. Image from Wikipedia. (Click to enlarge)
 Vignette (top): The parable of the Good Samaritan. Vignettes (clockwise from bottom): First drink - social. Second drink at a bar. Drinking & gambling. Goes home drunk to young wife. Pawns his clothes. Poverty & delirium. Recovery - signs the pledge. Prosperity & happy home. Certificate of Membership: This is to Certify, that — is a worthy Member in good standing of — Lodge N° — held at — State of —. In Witness Whereof, we have hereunto affixed the Seal of our Lodge this — day of — A.D. 18 —. Secretary. W.C.

In 1875 the Order established a branch, the 'Never Surrender' Lodge in the small mining settlement of Lamplough, in central Victoria. My husband's 3rd great grandfather, George Young (1826-1890), and George's son John (1856-1928), both gold miners, became officers of the Lodge. George's daughter Alice (1859 - 1935) , aged 17, was also a member, holding the office of Worthy Treasurer. George was Worthy Financial Secretary and John was Worthy Marshall.

FRIDAY EVENING. FEBRUARY 5, 1875. (1875, February 5). Avoca Mail (Vic. : 1863 - 1900; 1915 - 1918), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article202697423

No title (1875, November 12). Avoca Mail (Vic. : 1863 - 1900; 1915 - 1918), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article202698128

LAMPLOUGH. (1876, January 14). Avoca Mail (Vic. : 1863 - 1900; 1915 - 1918), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204038187

In 1876 the Avoca Mail reported that at a concert put on by the Lodge, Mr Young---presumably either George or his son John---'did good [unreadable]'. From the context it appears that his performance was either a song or two or perhaps a few jokes. It is a little frustrating not to be able to read the badly scanned text.

The International Order of Good Templars still exists, but I have found no more newspaper mentions of the Lamplough Lodge after this one in 1876; I don't know when it dissolved.

Initials

IOGT = Independent Order of Good Templars
GWCT = Grand Worthy Chief Templar
WCT = Worthy Chief Templar
PWCT = Past Worthy Chief Templar
WVT = Worthy Vice Templar
WS = Worthy Secretary
WC = Worthy Chaplain
WIG = Worthy Inside Guard
WOG = Worthy Outside Guard
WAS = Worthy Assistant Secretary
WT = Worthy Treasurer
WFS = Worthy Financial Secretary
WDM = Worthy Deputy Marshall
WRHS = Worthy Right Hand Supporter
WLHS = Worthy Left Hand Supporter


Further reading

• IOGT International: historyhttp://iogt.org/about-iogt/the-iogt-way/who-we-are/the-history/
• Turnbull, William W The Good Templars : a history of the rise and progress of the Independent Order of Good Templars. 1901 retrieved from https://archive.org/details/goodtemplars00turn
• Echoes from the Bush. (1873, August 5). Evening Journal (Adelaide, SA : 1869 - 1912), , p. 3 (SECOND EDITION). Retrieved June 8, 2016, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197668264 

William Robert Young (1876 - 1942)

William Robert Young (1876 - 1942) was the second youngest child of George Young (1826 - 1890) and Caroline Young née Clarke (1835 - 1879).

photograph  from Noel Tunks inscribed  on front Billy Young and on back William Young m// Julia

William married Julia Kenny (1871-1950) in 1916. They had no children.

He died on 3 January 1942 at Warburton, Victoria, two days before his younger brother Ernest.

Obituary (1942, January 17). Healesville and Yarra Glen Guardian (Vic. : 1900 - 1942), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60676810

Fire at Creswick

Alice Young (1859-1935) was the third of the 13 children of George and Caroline Young. Alice was born at White Hills in the district of Maryborough, Victoria. (White Hills is now known as Havelock, 10 kilometres north of Maryborough. In the 1850s and 60s it was a mining centre and at one time had a population of 6,000.)


In Avoca in 1880 Alice married a miner named John Carl Henry Reher (1837--1891), and between 1881 and 1886 they had four children, all born in Talbot

In 1884 Reher was injured in a mining accident; a winch failed and he fell down a shaft.  The accident left him an invalid. He died in 1891, seven years later.

In 1893 in Talbot Alice re-married, to her brother-in-law Thomas Fish (1872--1941), younger brother of Alfred, husband of her sister Rachel.

Alice and Thomas had three children. Two were born in Talbot, in 1895 and 1898; the third was born in Creswick in 1900.
Among some Young family photographs, which Noel Tunks kindly passed to me,there is one (undated) of Aunty Alice Fish standing on the steps of her house in Raglan Street, Creswick.

The photograph is of Alice's second house. The first burnt down in 1910.

I think the house is at Raglan Street, Creswick and it seems to be still standing.

In 1910 there was a fire at the house of Thomas Fish in Raglan Street, Creswick.  The fire, possibly caused by hot coals falling out of a fireplace, destroyed the house and everything in it, including a new piano. Alice and her children escaped through a window, just in time. Mr Fish was away from home. A fireman was injured when a chimney collapsed.

FIRE AT CRESWICK. (1910, June 30). The Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 - 1924), , p. 6. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article216368354

FIRES. (1910, June 30). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), , p. 8. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article184305719

FIREMAN'S ESCAPE. (1910, June 30). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), , p. 8. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10868167

The Fish family were still living at Raglan Street at the time of Alice's death in 1935.

Family Notices (1935, December 28). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), , p. 9. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11868634

Alice was my husband's great great aunt.


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• U is for Union Mine disaster

James Ernest Young (1878 - 1942)

James Ernest Young (1878 - 1942), known as Ernest,  was the youngest child of George Young (1826 - 1890) and Caroline Young née Clarke (1835 - 1879).

Ernest was born at Lamplough near Avoca, Victoria, on 28 November 1878. He was the youngest of 13 children. Five had died before he was born. Ernest's father was a miner, aged 50, born in Liverpool. Caroline, his mother was aged 43 and her birthplace was given as Sydney (on the birth certificates of other children her birthplace had been given as Tumut, New South Wales). Caroline was the informant of the birth registration at Avoca on 19 December 1878.

Ernest's mother Caroline died  a year later on 17 December 1879. George did not remarry. Ernest probably grew up at Lamplough, cared for by his father and his older brothers and sisters.

Ernest's first first wife was Mary Shea (1873 - 1920). They married in 1906 at Maryborough. On his marriage certificate he called himself Ernest. They had no children.

On 9 February 1916 Ernest enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. He gave his age as 36 years two months. He was a railway employee. His next of kin was his wife Mrs Mary Young. Her address was Kirkham Road, Dandenong, Victoria. He was 5'8" tall and had dark hair. He was assigned to the 3rd Australian Pioneer Battalion and sailed overseas in June 1916. (National Archives of Australia: B2455: Young Ernest James : SERN 348 : POB Lamplough VIC : POE Melbourne VIC : NOK W Young Mary )

In June 1917 Ernest was gassed, but was returned to the field. He later suffered various illnesses, some probably as a result of his gas injuries: German measles, scabies, myalgia, debility. He rejoined his unit in October 1918 and was promoted to Lance Corporal on 9 November 1918. He returned to Australia in 1919 and was discharged in July 1919.

Ernest's wife Mary died on 20 December 1920.

Family Notices (1920, December 23). South Bourke and Mornington Journal (Richmond, Vic. : 1872 - 1920), , p. 2 (WEEKLY.). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66199375

On 24 May 1921 Ernest remarried. His second wife was Emma Jane Jesson née Trewin (1880 - 1954), a divorcee. She had obtained a divorce in 1913 on the grounds of desertion from James Henry Jesson.  Emma had custody of the three children from her first marriage.

Ernest and Emma had a son, Ernest William George Young born 1922 who died 1993 leaving no children.

Ernest died 5 January 1942 age 63 of chronic nephritis and heart failure. His occupation on his death certificate was retired builder.

One of his death notices remembered all his brothers and sisters, even the infant George Young who had died in 1853, nearly 90 years earlier.

Family Notices (1942, January 6). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8226186

Obituary (1942, January 7). The Dandenong Journal (Vic. : 1927 - 1954), p. 10. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article215706875

Emma died in 1954.

Mrs. Emma J. Young (1954, November 3). The Dandenong Journal (Vic. : 1927 - 1954), p. 24. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article218513675

Y is for Young family photographs

In the early 1990s, when I started our family history research, we met Noel Tunks (1943-2008), a cousin by marriage, the 2nd great-nephew of the husband of the 2nd great-aunt of my husband. Noel was very generous in sharing Tunks family photographs. Some were of members of the Young family.

I am still puzzled by two of these photographs. I have slightly different conclusions now than I did more than 20 years ago but I am still not convinced I have the answers.

The notes I have on the back of the photo, made about the time it was given to me by Noel Tunks, read: photographer Charlie Farr Maryborough (no 15198 (?) handwritten on back). Jack Young inscribed on back. My own notes say "looks like George Wilkins with Ethel and George (son) & Jack & Cecil Young".

Cecil was born in July 1898. His brother John Percy, known as Jack, was born  in August 1896. From the inscription on the back of the original I am fairly confident that the two young children are Cecil and his brother Jack and, looking at the age of the two small children, the photograph was taken about 1899.

According to the Victorian genealogist Susie Zada, quoting Australians behind the Camera, the photographer Charlie Farr worked in Marybough from 1893-1906.  So my guess that the photograph was taken in 1899 matches the photographer's business dates.

Looking at this photo again recently I assumed that the adult must be of John Young (1856-1928), posed with his two sons and his two step children, Robert Whiteman (1883-1957) and Mary Ann Whiteman (1884-1945). John's wife Sarah Jane Young formerly Whiteman  née Way (1863-1898) died at the time of Cecil's birth. In 1899 Bob Whiteman would have been 16 and his sister Mary Ann 15.

However, this interpretation is complicated by another photograph from Noel Tunks.

Again the photo is noted as having been taken by Charlie Farr Maryborough (no 14556 handwritten on back). I wrote that this picture was of George Wilkins, Charlotte Young, Ethel (Grose) & son George died WA.

The two young people standing appear to be the same people in the first photograph. However, the girl's dress is different and she looks younger in the first photograph, so I don't think the photographs were taken on the same day. The numbering sequence suggests that this might be an earlier photograph but I think the two teenagers look older.

Cecil Young and his brother Jack lived at Homebush near Avoca with their aunt Charlotte Wilkins née Young (1861-1925) and her husband George Wilkins (1857-1944). Charlotte and George Wilkins had two surviving children, Ethel (1883-1955) and George (1884-1909).

I think the girl in the two photographs looks older than the teenage boy and so I think it is more likely that the two teenagers in both photographs are Ethel then about 16 and George Wilkins, who would have been about 15.

I don't think the two men are the same, but I don't know why John Young would be photographed with his niece and nephew George and Ethel Wilkins as well as his two small sons.

It would be nice if there were other photographs to compare with these. Perhaps some other Young or Wilkins family descendants have some.

An update - October 2016. Yesterday we visited a cousin of Greg's on the Way side of the family from Parkes. She had a magnificent family photograph album. The first photograph was among her family photos. To my mind this indicates the two teenagers are the Whiteman children and a photo of the four children was being sent back to their Way relatives in Parkes.

Although the teenagers look similar, with similar hairstyles I think they are in fact different - one is the Young and Whiteman family, the second family is the Wilkins family.



Related posts

• Cecil Young and family: Cecil's early life up to end World War I
• Trove Tuesday: Obituary for John Young (1856 - 1928) 
• W is for George Wilkins writing from Western Australia  

W is for George Wilkins writing from Western Australia

Greg's grandfather Cecil Young (1898-1975) had a small collection of postcards that he had collected when young. He passed it on to Greg's father, Peter.

When I first started our family history research I looked at those postcards and tried to work out who was writing to whom and why the cards had been collected.  They contained important clues. I've spent many years working on the family tree they make a lot more sense now,  but they are still worth revisiting for new insights.

Two of the cards were sent from Western Australia, I think from Cecil's cousin George Wilkins (1884-1909). Cecil and his brother Jack lived at Homebush near Avoca, with George's parents, George Wilkins senior (1857-1944) and their aunt Charlotte Wilkins née Young (1861-1925). These two postcards were addressed to Charlotte Wilkins.

 

The cards show Fremantle Harbour and Kings Park, Perth. Both cards are postmarked Meekatharra, a town in the mid-west of Western Australia.

An article in the Avoca Free Press of 10 March 1909 mentioned a memorial service for George Wilkins who had died 30 January 1909 in Meekatharra.

Cemetery records show that George was buried at Nannine Cemetery.  Nannine is 35 kilometres south-west of Meekatharra, 735 kilometres north-north-east of Perth. It is now a ghost town but in the early 1900s it was a gold-mining centre.

When I was thinking about researching this post I decided to look up the Victorian probate index. Although George did not die in Victoria there was a chance his affairs had been administered there. George died intestate but he had a block of land and there is a file containing letters of administration.

• George E Wilkins occupation School Teacher residence Maryborough date of death 30 Jan 1909 file number 115/855 VPRS 28/P3, unit 130 VPRS 7591/P2, unit 447

The file contains an affidavit by George's father concerning the search for the will. It mentions a William Baker of Meekatharra, who had been an intimate friend of George's. Baker stated there was no will and there was no will found in the effects forwarded to his parents by the police. Nurse Cameron of the Meekathatta hospital attended George in his last illness and stated he had made no will despite being urged to by his attendants. George Wilkins senior also stated that Nurse Cameron had said George had been asked

if he had any message to leave. He replied that he had told Willy Baker all that he had to say except what he would tell his mother. His mother did not see him as he died before news of his fatal illness arrived. For all of which reasons I am fully satisfied that deceased left no will. (VPRS 7591/P2, unit 447, pages 15-16)

The letters of administration dealt with 20 acres of land at Homebush Lower and associated fencing.

I don't know how long George Wilkins had been in Western Australia. The postmarks are not clear and I can't read the dates.

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• T is for teachers' records

S is for Sebastapol school records

One day I was browsing the resources of the Ballarat Archives Centre and came across some microfiche prepared by the Ballarat and District Genealogical Society, the  Ballarat and District School Students Registers - Consolidated Index 1864-1963 (BDGS).

I checked for my husband's father. He was listed and I learned something that I hadn't known. He had moved schools and addresses while living in Ballarat as a child.

Ernest Young was born on 8 July 1920 in Melbourne to Elizabeth Young née Cross and Cecil Young. Ernest was always known as Peter. His parents separated and Peter and his mother lived with her parents, Frederick James Cross and Ann Jane née Plowright.

Peter Young aged about seven.

The Cross family lived at Homebush near Avoca for many years. In the early 1920s Frederick James Cross sold his property there and the family moved to Sebastopol near Ballarat. They lived on the corner of Grant and Victoria Streets. The house is still there.

Peter outside the Cross house on the corner of Grant and Victoria Streets, Sebastopol.

The house on the corner of Grant and Victoria Streets where Peter Young lived with his mother and grandparents. Photographed May 2014.

The Sebastopol Primary School records are held by the Sebastopol & District Historical Society, housed in the old Sebastopol school building. The Society is open on the first Sunday of each month from 2 to 4 in the afternoon.

The old building of the Sebastopol State School now houses the Sebastopol & District Historical Society. Photographed May 2014.

Ernest Young started school at Sebastopol on 3 June 1925, just over a month before his fifth birthday. His father, Cecil Young, was named as his parent. Cecil's occupation was given as labourer.

The school records show that Peter left Sebastopol to attend Urquart Street school in Ballarat in December 1929.

Peter's grandfather Frederick James Cross had died in May 1929 and the family moved house.

The Urquart Street School records indicate that he was living at 419 Ascot Street and that he left in December 1931 to go to Melbourne.

Peter's grandmother died in November 1930. It seems that another upheaval in his living arrangements followed.

Urquhart Street SS No 2013 - Vision and Realisation Vol 2. from Ballarat & District Genealogical Society Resources - Ballarat Schools

The former Urquart Street School photographed May 2014

The house at 419 Ascot Street Ballarat photographed May 2014

I don't know where Peter went to school in Melbourne. His mother found work as a housekeeper there.

Further Reading

• Ballarat & District Genealogical Society Resources - Ballarat Schools

M is for Manpower, Mills, Malaria, and Marjorie, my Mother-in-Law from Melbourne

My mother-in-law, Marjorie Young née Sullivan (1920-2007), supported me in my family history research. We would often talk about her family history and when I compared her reminiscences I found that her recollections matched well with the documentation I had found, and often helped to point the way to a more accurate tree.

Besides her relatives, Marjorie would talk about her own life.

She was born in Oakleigh, a suburb of Melbourne, in 1920, the fourth of six children.

In 1926 Marjorie started school in Tatura, a small town near Shepparton in northern Victoria. She recalled that her father would not allow any of his children to begin school before they were six years old nor start work before sixteen. Marjorie did well at school and wanted to become a teacher. But she couldn't. Her family, at that time living in Malmsbury, was too poor to send her off to a teachers' college.

From the age of about thirteen, Marjorie was a junior teacher in the Malmsbury school helping to look  after the kindergarten classes; as a result she was awarded the Merit Certificate without being required to pass the usual examination at the end of Grade 8. She left school at 14.

After leaving school Marjorie helped to look after her youngest sister Gwenny (1933-1935). Sadly Gwenny died of meningitis after a few day's illness when she was only two years old.

Marjorie's first job, at the age of 16, was in Kyneton where she went to be a mother's helper. She enjoyed the work. There was one baby when she started and by the time she left there were two more. She left when she was 19, moving with her family to Castlemaine. She had been happy in the Kyneton job.

In Castlemaine Marjorie learned to be a weaver in the woollen mills there. This was 1939, the year war broke out. The mills were busy making cloth for uniforms and blankets.

In 1941, when she was 21, Marjorie and a girlfriend, one of her workmates, decided to go to Melbourne to work for the Laconia blankets woollen mill.  In 1942 Marjorie met her future husband, Peter, while working there.

Peter and Marjorie in 1942 in the garden of Marjorie's parents' house in Castlemaine

Peter enlisted in the army in 1943. They became engaged and married in 1944 when he was on leave.

In 1990 Marjorie told me about a trip she made to Sydney during the war to see Peter.

When Peter went back to an army camp near Sydney after his leave he became ill with malaria and was admitted to hospital. It was then that Marjorie decided to go to Sydney to be near him.

She applied to Manpower, a Commonwealth wartime employment regulatory authority, for permission to leave her work and travel to Sydney. Manpower deemed the journey to be unnecessary and refused her request.

So Marjorie packed her suitcase and took the train to Albury, on the New South Wales border. Because she had no travel permit, she could not be too open about asking for accommodation, so she got a taxi driver to recommend a hotel. He found one and suggested that she should get up very early the next morning and catch a milk truck going to Culcairn, further up the line. In Culcairn she would be able to catch the Albury to Sydney train without any difficulty. But the hotel didn't give her an early call so she found another taxi to take her to Culcairn where she waited at a hotel. She paid hush money to both taxi drivers, to the hotel keeper in Culcairn, to the hotel rouse-about, who went to the station and bought her ticket, and also to the conductor of the train.

Marjorie stayed in Sydney for three months with Peter's cousin Betty [this was possibly Bessie Bridges, wife of Robert Charles Cross], but then she got a please-explain letter from both Manpower and the travel authorities. Her Melbourne flat mate had dobbed her in.

She felt she had to return to Melbourne - was afraid not to go back - but did not want to repeat her journey through Albury with hotels and taxis, so she bought a ticket from Sydney to Tocumwal, on the New South Wales border further down the river, paid hush money to the ticket-seller at the Tocumwal station, bought a first class ticket (to lessen the chances of being spotted as a border-hopper) to Melbourne. She paid hush money to the conductor of that train too.

Peter Young's military records show he had malaria in 1944. He was first ill with malaria in June and then re-admitted to hospital with malaria in August.

Manpower

In January 1942 the Commonwealth Government established the Manpower Directorate which was responsible for administering 'reserved occupations and industrial priorities'. The Director-General of Manpower was authorised to prevent employees from leaving their employment. In March 1942 the whole of the civilian population of Australia over the age of 16 was required to register with Manpower. Nearly three million people were placed in employment from January 1942 to January 1946. There were 13,500 direction orders. I suppose it was a direction order to return to work that Marjorie received in Sydney.

Marjorie left weaving later in the war. She said she got germs under the nails from the wool. Manpower would not otherwise have let her resign.

The Laconia Woollen Mills building still stands in South Melbourne, refurbished as offices. The present tenant is a travel company.

Further reading

• Reserved occupations, Second World War’, at: https://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/homefront/reserved_occupations/
• National Archives of Australia Agency details for CA 533 Directorate of Manpower, Central Office

L is for leaving Liverpool

My husband's great great grandfather George Young (1826-1890) was from Liverpool.  Unfortunately we don't know any more than this about him until he arrived on the Victorian goldfields at Beechworth.

George seems never to have left a document stating who his parents were. We have not been able to find a shipping record that gives this information.

The informant on his death certificate was his sson-in-law John L. Tunks, and John Tunks did not even know how long George Young had been in the colonies, let alone who his parents were.

The surname Young makes it difficult to trace him. There were at least half a dozen boys born in Liverpool and called George Young in the estimated year of birth of our George Young. It was before civil registration so that is not an exhaustive list.

George most likely left for Australia from Liverpool. He would have been 26 years old in 1852.

In the Index to Unassisted Inward Passenger Lists to Victoria 1852-1953 available through the Public Record Office the only likely passenger based on age, is a George Young, adult with age not listed, who arrived on the Kalmia in 1852. I checked and the Kalmia did indeed sail from Liverpool: the Kalmia is listed in From Liverpool. (1852, October 9). Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875),  p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60136652 . Unfortunately there are no shipping records available for unassisted passengers earlier than 1852.

The shipping list for the Kalmia, viewable through ancestry.com or available on microfiche shows that George Young was Irish. On the slight information we have, he doesn't seem to be our man.

The following records from the Assisted Immigrants index from 1839 to 1853 are possible matches for our George based on his age.

Family Name Given Name Age Month Year Ship Book Page

YOUNG GEO age 20 month and year of arrival MAY 1847 ship SIR THOMAS ARBUTHNOT book and page 2/3 262

YOUNG GEORGE age 27 month and year of arrival DEC 1852 ship THEODORE book and page 7 78

The ship Theodore sailed from Liverpool. VICTORIA. (1852, December 20). The Shipping Gazette and Sydney General Trade List (NSW : 1844 - 1860), , p. 351. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article161036112

The George Young who arrived on the Theodore appears to be accompanied by a wife and child. This does not appear to match our George Young as he seems to have acquired a wife and family only after his arrival in Australia.

The Sir Thomas Arbuthnot was a convict ship that sailed from Spithead. One of the convicts was a George Young whose crime had been sheep stealing. He was from Wells which does not match what we know about George Young's origins.

All in all it seems that our George Young is not listed in the shipping records that survive from the period.

Shipping records other than the indexes of passengers include letters of thanks from passengers to their ship's captain that were sometimes  published in the newspapers. Some hospital records include the ship of arrival. Unfortunately I have not been able to trace George's arrival through records of this type..

Other members of our family who arrived by ship sailing from Liverpool include:

• My third great grandparents, Daniel and  Mary Cudmore née Nihill, sailed from Liverpool in 1835 on the John Dennison
• Margaret Rankin née Gunn, my third great grandmother, who sailed with her children and second husband from Liverpool aboard the Dirigo in 1854
• The Ralph family, my husband's third great grandparents and children, arrived from Liverpool in 1854 on the Bloomer

Sir Claude de Crespigny, the fourth baronet, visited Florida sailing from Liverpool in 1887.

I have no record of the arrival of another of my husband's great great grandfathers, James Cross, who was born near Liverpool and arrived in Victoria about 1853.

SS Great Britain leaving Prince’s Pier, Liverpool, for Australia, 1852. ANMM Collection retrieved from http://waves.anmm.gov.au/Immigration-Stories/Immigration-history.aspx

Related posts

• Beginning to look at my Irish family history
• Margaret Gunn (1819 - 1863)  
• B is for the barque Bloomer arrived 1854  
• Trove Tuesday: a splinter (about James Cross)
• Tropical Hotel - Kissimmee, Florida (an 1887 visit by Sir Claude de Crespigny) 

A is for accident in Avoca

Maria Young (1863-1941) was my husband's great great aunt, the sixth of thirteen children of George Young (1826-1890) and Caroline née Clarke (1835-1879).

Maria married John Llewellyn Tunks (1858-1915) on 4 August 1884 at St John's Church, Avoca, Victoria.

Marriage certificate of John Llewellyn Tunks and Maria Young (click image to enlarge)

On her marriage certificate Maria's occupation was described as 'domestic'. Her husband John was a miner.

In January 1884, Maria, then 19, fell through a trapdoor at the Royal Oak Hotel, where she worked as a servant. (Actually, I am not entirely sure that the Maria Young who fell into the cellar was Maria, daughter of George Young. It seems likely.)

She was not hurt badly, but the incident was regarded as sufficiently newsworthy to be reported in the Avoca Mail:

No title (1884, January 18). Avoca Mail (Vic. : 1863 - 1900; 1915 -1918), , p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201530603

Maria and John had twelve children

• Clara Maria Caroline Tunks 1885–1970 
• Lillian Annie Tunks 1887–1971 
• Theresa May Tunks 1890–1976 
• John Lewellen Tunks 1892–1906 
• George Edward Tunks 1894–1983 
• Stephen Ernest Tunks 1897–1973 
• Caroline Ethel Tunks 1899–1984 
• James Victor Tunks 1899–1966 
• Ivy Myrtle Tunks 1901–1972 
• Thelma Harriet Maude Tunks 1904–2004 
• Clement Lewellen Tunks 1906–1961 
• Phyllis Grace Muriel Tunks 1910–1992 

The Tunks family about 1905 or 1906. There are ten children in the photograph. The baby is either Thelma born 1904 or Clement born 1906; John Lewellen Tunks junior died in February 1906. This photograph was given to me by Noel Tunks (1943-2008).

Q is for Querrieu

On 7 July 1918  a group photograph was taken of the10th Infantry Brigade Signal Section outside the Chateau at Querrieu. One of the men was my husband's great uncle John Percival Young (1886-1918), known as Jack. It is the only photograph we have of him.

Group portrait of the Signal Section of the 10th Infantry Brigade, outside the Chateau at Querrieu, 7 July 1918. Pte J. Young is in the back row eighth from the left (fourth from the right). Australian War Memorial image ID E03830.

Querrieu, where in July 1918 General Monash had his headquarters, is in the area of the Somme about 11 kilometers north-east of Amiens.

The War Diary of the 10th Infantry Brigade records the visit of the photographer.

Australian War Memorial: War diaries/AWM4/Class 23/Sub class 10/AWM4 23/10/21 - July 1918

On 25 August, just over a month later, Jack Young was gassed. The war diary of the 3rd Australian Signals Division Company mentions an unnamed O. R. (other rank) being gassed. This could have been Jack. The 10th Infantry Brigade, to which Jack Young was attached, was involved in an attack on the village of Bray, about 32 kilometers east-north-east of Amiens.

Two days before the war ended, on 9 November 1918, Jack Young, whose lungs were damaged by the gas, died of pneumonia.


Related posts

• John Percival Young (1896 - 1918)

N is for New Guinea

In World War 2 both my father-in-law and my grandfather served in New Guinea .

On 17 April 1942 Ernest (Peter) Young (1920 - 1988) was living in East St Kilda when he enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF). He gave his age incorrectly  as 23 years and his date of birth, correctly, as July 8th 1920, but there is no correction or annotation on the Attestation form about the discrepancy. He gave his name as Peter, by which name he was always known. In January 1945 he signed a statutory declaration to correct his name to his baptismal name of Ernest.

Peter was first in camp at Caulfield then a few days later he was transferred to Watsonia.  He was assigned to the 37th Battalion.In October 1942 he was assigned to the 2/4 Dock Operating Company and then in April 1943 he transferred to the 6th Dock Operating Company and embarked on SS Taroona. The Taroona was a requisitioned Bass Strait ferry which transported Australian troops to New Guinea during World War 2.

Photograph in the collection of Peter Young.  Peter is second from the top right with his hat on back to front.  This picture is the collection of the Australian War Memorial ID 014807 and is captioned "1943-05-07. New Guinea. Milne Bay. An Allied vessel was hit during the 1943-04-14, Japanese raid on Milne Bay. Barges with stores from the damaged ship being brought to land. (Negative by N. Brown)."

Peter served as a stevedore with the 6th Dock Operating Company in Milne Bay, New Guinea.  After the Battle for Milne Bay during 1942, the allies established a base there in support of the counter-offensive along the northern coast of Papua and New Guinea.

Second World War propaganda poster issued by L H Q Cartographic Company, Australian Survey Corps featuring a topographical colour map of New Guinea and nearby islands. It shows the allied advances up to December 1943 from Milne Bay in the lower right corner to Madan in the top left corner. Red arrows indicate Australian advances on the ground while brown arrows indicate US advances. Positioned centre right to top right corner and to top left corner are a series of white arrows inscribed with details of significant stages in the allied advance. Australian War Memorial ARTV10223

My husband Greg recalls:

My father Peter seldom talked about the war. When he did he made a joke
of it: 'The barrel of my rifle got so hot with shooting they had to run
a hose on it', and so on. I can remember him being serious only once.
'We were unloading barges', he said, 'when the Japs came over and bombed
the freighters out in the harbour. Some of our boys were killed.' He
didn't say where, but this could easily have been at Milne Bay, an
important transport forwarding base on the eastern tip of New Guinea.
Dad was there for a while.

Dive bombers attacking, fire from an Oerlikon Object type  Painting; Maker  Adams, Dennis (Artist); Date made 1943. One of the three Oerlikon 20mm guns of HMAS Wagga in action against Japanese bombers at Milne Bay during daylight raids.
In a letter to Lieutenant Colonel John Treloar - Officer in Charge of the Military History Section and administrator of the official war art scheme - dated 2nd August 1943, Dennis Adams wrote about this painting: 'It is painted in a staccato manner in an attempt to convey the feeling of vibration and heat and that sharp almost deafening repetition of fire. Australian War Memorial ART22824

Peter served until December 1945 and was discharged on 25 February 1946. In 1944 he married Marjorie Sullivan.  During the war he contracted malaria.

G is for Gallipoli

Walter Fish (1878 - 1915) was the youngest of thirteen children of William Fish (1831 - 1893) and Emma née  Crompton (1833 - 1910). Two of Walter's brothers were married to my husband's great grand aunts. Thomas Fish (1872 - 1949) married Alice Young (1859 - 1935). Alfred Fish (1860 - 1932)  married Alice's sister Rachel Young (1865 - 1918).

Walter Fish was born in Avoca, Victoria, in 1878. In 1905, at the age of 27, he married Isabel Daly in Perth, Western Australia. (1289/1905) Isabel Whiley Daly had been born in Avoca in 1883. After the war she remarried, to George David Bowen, and she died in 1964 in Maryborough, Victoria. Walter and Isabel had no children.

In 1908 Walter and Isabel were recorded on the Australian Electoral rolls as living at Avoca. Walter's occupation was miner. In 1914 the couple were living at Cobden, Victoria, 4 kilometers south of Camperdown and 60 kilometers east of Warrnambool.

In November 1914 Walter Fish enlisted at Camperdown, Victoria. (NAA: B2455, Fish Walter : SERN 2227 : POB Avoca VIC : POE Melbourne VIC : NOK W Fish Isabella)

Walter was 5' 6" tall, with fair hair and blue eyes. His medical examination recorded no distinctive marks.  On 5 January 1915 he was taken on strength with the 6th Battalion , 2nd reinforcements as  Private number 2227.

On 2 February 1915 Walter embarked at Melbourne on HMAT A 46 "Clan Macgillivray". His file contains little information about his activities up to the point of his death, at the age of thirty-seven, on 13 July 1915. He was killed in action and is buried in Shrapnel Valley. His epitaph on his grave (II.B.32.) is

Dear Is The Memory
He Left Behind. Of A Life
So Loving, True & Kind

 ("Anzac Epitaphs Gallipoli E-F-G." Epitaphs of Gallipoli. B. Dolan and J. Meyers, 11 Jan. 2014.  <http://www.anzacs.org/epitaphs/epitaphsefg.html>. The epitaph was contributed by his wife http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/622274/FISH,%20WALTER. )

Also died on the same day and buried at Shrapnel Valley

• GEORGE, JOHN Private 197, 6th Bn died of wounds
• O'MALLEY, JEREMIAH THOMAS Private 2279, 6th Bn
• SULLIVAN, JAMES PETER Private 1584, 3rd Bn
• McDOUGALL, ALFRED KITSON Lance Corporal 126, 7th Bn
• McCULLOUGH, CHARLES Private 1863, 6th Bn died of wounds
• SOHIER, NORMAN HENRY Private 1826, 4th Bn
• FELL, JOHN Private 2226, 6th Bn died of wounds
• SHANAHAN, JAMES Private 2298, 6th Bn killed in action

(from the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission http://www.cwgc.org)

1915 photograph of graves of Australian soldiers at Shrapnel Gully Cemetery, Gallipoli. The tall wooden cross on the right marks the grave of  Sgt Bulmer who was killed in action on the Gallipoli Peninsula on 16 July 1915 and is buried in Shrapnel Valley Cemetery at grave I. B. 16. Australian War Memorial Image P01337.005

The war diary for the 6th battalion for the period is not available. There is no obvious battle that the 6th Battalion were involved in in July 1915. It would seem that Walter Fish was killed in an isolated incident on 13 July.

X, her mark

In 2012 at http://www.lonetester.com/2012/10/family-history-through-the-alphabet-challenge-x-is-for-signatures/ Alona Tester blogged about 'X is for signatures'. She included examples of certificates where 'X his mark' showed that someone could not sign his name.

I looked though my collection of birth, death and marriage certificates for examples of people who could not sign their name.

On the birth certificate of Alice Young, born in 1859, the informant, her mother Caroline née Clark, could not sign her name and made an X. On the birth certificate of Caroline Young in 1867, the informant was her father George Young. He signed his name. In 1878 the birth of James Ernest Young was registered and the informant was Caroline. This time she appears to have signed her name. The informant's name is in a different handwriting to the details on the rest of the certificate. Perhaps Caroline had learned how to sign her name in the twenty years between the births of Alice and James.

Informant's details from the birth certificate of Alice Young. Birth registered in Victoria number 4807 of 1859. Caroline was also the informant on John Young's birth in 1856. She signed with her mark on that certificate too.

Informant's details from the birth certificate of James Ernest Young. Birth registered in Victoria number 20382 of 1878. Other details from the certificate and from the preceding certificate have been left to show the difference in handwriting, which suggests that this might be the signature of Caroline.

Sarah Way née Daw was the informant on the 1868 birth certificate of her daughter Emily Way. She could not sign her name and made a mark. However, in 1896 Sarah's husband John Way signed his name as the informant for the registration of the death of his son John.

When she registered the birth in 1864 of Henry Dawson at Corby, Lincolnshire, Eliza Dawson née Skerritt, his mother, could not sign her name. Her husband Isaac was able to sign his name when they married in 1855. She signed the marriage register with her mark.

These are the only examples I could find in my family documents of people who could not write their own name. All three women were great great great grandmothers of my husband. Eleven of his other great great great grandparents could sign their name.

These women were all born in the first half of the nineteenth century. All their husbands could sign their own names. In the next generation, their children, both girls and boys, could write their own name.

Some demographers have argued that illiteracy is linked to the size of families, in particular that education diminishes fertility. For example, a study of demographic changes in Britain from the 1850s to the early twentieth century found that "the extension of basic literacy is related to increases in female labour market participation, which is in turn related to fertility reduction". (Newell and Gazeley) The data from my family does not support this hypothesis. None of the women in the table below were ever in paid employment. I cannot see any link between the literacy of my own and my husband's great great great grandparents and the size of their families.

Age at marriage, children and dates of birth for our great great great grandmothers

Name	Ahnentafel number	literacy	number of children	age at marriage	age when first child born	age when last child born	age at death	lived	Notes
Caroline Clarke	33	no	13	18	18	43	44	1835-1879	Includes one set of twins.
Sarah Daw	35	no	10	17	18	37	58	1837-1895
Ellen Murray	37	passenger list stated she could read and write	11	19	20	41	64	1837-1901
Margaret Smyth	39	passenger list stated she could read and write	7	21	19	38	63	1834-1897	had a child before she married
Eliza Sinden	43	signature appears on birth and death certificates	8	25	26	41	85	1823-1908
Eliza Skerrit	45	no	10	21	24	38	65	1834-1899	Includes one set of triplets. This is the only English family. The last child was born at the time Eliza's husband, Isaac Dawson, died.
Caroline Ralph	47	signature appears on marriage certificate	10	20	21	43	46	1850-1896
Annie Frances Chauncy	49	yes	2	20	21	24	25	1857-1883	died young
Jeanie Hawkins	51	yes	4	21	22	31	79	1862-1941
Margaret Budge	53	yes	13	21	22	44	67	1845-1912
Ellen Jane Mainwaring	55	yes	10	20	20	37	75	1845-1920

The women in this table were Australian, with the exception of that of Eliza Skerrit, wife of Isaac Dawson, who was from Lincolnshire, England. I have not included my German great great great grandparents as I do not have the relevant data.

A graphical representation of the above data for our great great great grandmothers

click to enlarge

Reference:

• Newell, A. and Gazeley, I. (2012) The declines in infant mortality and fertility: Evidence from British cities in demographic transition, Economics Department Working Paper Series, University of Sussex, No. 48-2012 retrieved from http://ftp.iza.org/dp6855.pdf 27 April 2014