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.

L is for Eliza Leister

I have decided to continue the story of Leslie Leister by writing about his aunt, Eliza, who became his foster mother.

Eliza Way was born 22 August 1865 on Brittons Dam Station, Kitticara, near Murrumburrah, New South Wales. Her father John Way (1835-1911) was a shepherd. She is named Elizabeth on her birth certificate.

Eliza was the sixth child of John and Sarah (1837-1895). The birth certificate stated three males living and two children deceased. There was a mistake on the certificate, Eliza in fact had three older sisters, and a boy and a girl had died before she was born. There were also four younger siblings.

• Louisa 1855-1926
• William John 1857-1758
• Mary Jane 1859-1859
• Mary Ann 1860-1938
• Sarah Jane 1863-1898
• Elizabeth / Eliza 1865-1940
• Emily 1868-1952
• Harriet Elizabeth 1870-1879
• John 1872-1896



 from an advertisement in the Grenfell newspaper in 1868

• Martha 1874-1875

From the birthplaces of her siblings we can see that the Way family had moved to Grenfell by 1868, when Emily was born. John's occupation was then as a sawyer. In 1870 Harriet was also born in Grenfell, "near Reece's foundry" ('The European Iron Foundry'). John was still a sawyer. In 1872 his son John was also born at Grenfell. In 1874 when Martha was born in Parkes, John Way's occupation was as a miner.

 By the 1890s, and perhaps earlier, the Way family were living at Bogan Street Parkes.

Eliza's sister, Sarah Jane, married Robert Whiteman, a miner on 12 July 1882 at Parkes. They had two children: Robert Henry, born 1883, and Mary Ann, born 19 August 1884. Six months before Mary Ann was born, Sarah Jane's husband Robert  died of pneumonia after an illness of four days. Sarah Jane probably relied on her parents and sisters for help in bringing up her two infant children. Sarah Jane remarried on 26 September 1894 in Melbourne to John Young, a miner, who had spent some time in New South Wales, presumably including a period in Parkes.

On 13 August 1894, just before her second marriage, Sarah Jane gave birth to a boy, Jack Walsh Whiteman. The father was not named on the birth certificate. The birth was registered on 21 September, with Sarah Jane the informant. Her mother had been a witness, assisting at the birth. There was no doctor and seems to have been no other nurse or midwife.

It appears that Sarah Jane left her baby Jack behind with her mother in Parkes when she went to Melbourne to marry John Young.

Sarah Way, the mother of Sarah Jane and Eliza, died on 7 April 1895 of what is described on the death certificate as biliary colic and an impacted gallstone. The length of her illness was described on her death certificate as chronic. Four of Sarah's daughters were married: Louisa in 1873, Mary Ann in 1883, Sarah Jane in 1894 and Emily in 1892. Four children had died. Eliza and John junior were unmarried and probably still living with their parents. It would seem to have become Eliza's responsibility to care for the grandchild Jack.

On 1 July 1896 Eliza married Robert Watson Duncan Leister at her father's residence in Parkes. The witnesses were Hugh Leister and Caroline Harrison.

Robert Leister was 25 years old, a blacksmith, born at Maryborough, Victoria. His father was a carpenter. Eliza was 29 and her occupation was given as "living with her father".

From Leslie Leister's war record, we know that Eliza was his foster mother. We don't know when Jack's name was changed to Leslie. There were no formal adoption laws in New South Wales at this time. The first legislation in NSW to regulate adoption was the Child Welfare Act 1923. (Releasing the past : adoption practices, 1950-1998 : final report / Standing Committee on Social Issues. [Sydney, N.S.W.] The Committee, 2000. – 1 v. (various pagings); 30 cm. (Report 22, December 2000) (Parliamentary paper; no. 600) retrieved from https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/committee.nsf/0/56e4e53dfa16a023ca256cfd002a63bc/$FILE/Report.PDF 12 April 2014)

Robert and Eliza continued to live with Eliza's father John at Bogan Street, Parkes. When John died in 1911, Robert Leister is given as the informant on his death certificate. John's will left his estate to his daughters Eliza and Louisa and appointed Eliza as his executrix.

Taking load of wheat to silos by horse - Corner of Bogan & Dalton Streets, Parkes, NSW. , 1925-26. Image from the State Library of New South Wales retrieved from http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10508626 The Way and Leister families lived two blocks away on the corner of Bogan and Church streets.

Robert Duncan Leister died on 31 March 1925 at Bogan Street, Parkes. He was 56 years old. His occupation was upholsterer. He had been ill for several years with chronic nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys) and for 24 hours with uraemia (the illness accompanying kidney failure). He had been 26 years in Victoria and 30 years in New South Wales; he had arrived in New South Wales about a year before he married Eliza. Robert and Eliza had no children of their own.

In 1929, William Charles Waine, husband of Eliza's sister Mary Ann, died in Orange. By 1930 according to the electoral rolls, Eliza was living at Byng Street, Orange. She had no family left in Parkes. Perhaps she was helping her sister or perhaps they enjoyed each other's company.

Eliza died after a car accident in February 1940. She was hit by a car when walking to church.

Eliza is buried at Orange. The grave at Parkes beside her husband remained empty. Parkes is 100km from Orange and there were no other members of the family living in Parkes at the time of Eliza's death.

grave of Robert Duncan Leister at Parkes Cemetery

grave of Eliza Leister at Orange Cemetery

C is for cremation

In Australia we usually dispose of a dead body by burial or burning: interment or cremation.

Cremation rates vary across the world. In Japan almost all bodies are cremated. Fewer than 10% of disposals in Italy are cremated. Just over 40% of the dead in the US are cremated.  ("Ashes to Ashes." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 31 Oct. 2012. Web. 02 Apr. 2014. <http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/10/daily-chart-16>.) ("Disposing of the Dead - Cremation." Australian Museum, 12 Jan. 2010. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. <http://australianmuseum.net.au/Disposing-of-the-dead-Cremation/>.)

In some areas Indigenous Australians buried their dead and in other areas they cremated their dead. (Australian Museum ibid. ) The history of modern Australian cremation followed trends in Britain, Europe and the United States from the 1870s. (Cremation. (2014, March 30). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 10:00, April 2, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cremation&oldid=601906525)

Today in Australia about half of those who die each year are cremated. In the cities it is just over two-thirds. There are about 145,000 deaths each year in Australia and that is expected to rise to about 160,000 by 2019. A cremation costs from about $600, whereas a burial, in Sydney, can cost more than ten times this figure. (Evans, Simon. "Cremation Favoured in Tough Economy." Financial Review. Australian Financial Review, 4 Sept. 2013. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. <http://www.afr.com/p/business/companies/cremation_favoured_in_tough_economy_Uh4ynSvpzwzkRIZbOdlxyH>.)

The first crematorium in Australia (and in the Southern Hemisphere) was built in Adelaide in 1903 at West Terrace cemetery. In 1891 South Australia had been the first Australian state to legalise cremation. The crematorium operated until 1959 and was demolished ten years later. ("Crematorium." West Terrace Cemetery History. Adelaide Cemeteries Authority, n.d. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. <http://www.aca.sa.gov.au/OurCemeteries/WestTerraceCemeteryHistory/Crematorium.aspx>.)

Crematorium, Adelaide, South Australia. , 1919.Image retrieved through Trove from State Library of New South Wales, digital order number d1_13488,  from http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/36913995

The Cremation Society of New South Wales was formed in 1908 but it wasn't until the 1920s that land was set aside at Sydney's Rookwood cemetery for Australia's second crematorium. Another crematorium opened in the northern suburbs of Sydney in the 1930s. ("The Development of Rookwood Cemetery." About Rookwood Cemetery. Rookwood General Cemetery Trust, 2011. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. <http://www.rookwoodcemetery.com.au/index.php/about-rookwood/history-of-rookwood/the-development-of-rookwood-cemetery>.) ("Our History." About Us. Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens and Crematorium, n.d. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. <http://www.northernsuburbscrem.com.au/en/AboutUs/OurHistory/OurHistory.aspx>.

In Victoria, the Fawkner cemetery in Melbourne established a crematorium in 1927 and Springvale Necropolis opened a crematorium in the 1930s. The first cremation at Springvale was in April 1905. A crematorium at Ballarat was opened in March 1958. (CREMATION. (1905, April 14). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 5. Retrieved January 11, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9885398) ("Our History." About Our Cemetery. Springvale Botanical Cemetery, n.d. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. <https://sbc.smct.org.au/our-history/>.) (Ayton, Gary. "History of Cremation." My Brief History of the World [Gary Ayton's Photography Wiki]. Gary Ayton, 28 Mar. 2008. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. <http://www.ayton.id.au/gary/History/H_cremation.htm>.) (Wickham, Dorothy, and Peter Butters. The Silent City: A History of Ballaarat General Cemeteries. Ballarat, Vic.: Ballarat Heritage Services, 2006. pages 30-35.)

Ballarat's first non-indigenous cremation was of an Indian man called Casa Singh on 12 May 1932. The cremation was held at Ballarat Common and supervised by the City Heath Authority.

HINDU CREMATED. (1932, May 13). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 10. Retrieved April 2, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4451726

When my husband's grandmother died in 1949 in Ballarat she was cremated at Fawkner.  I am not sure why and there is nobody left to ask. Other members of her family are buried in a pretty cemetery near Ballarat at Carngham and I am surprised she is not buried there with them. Cremation in Melbourne, more than 100 km away, would have been more expensive than burial at that time. Perhaps cremation was something she had expressed a wish for.

If I look at my family tree and who was buried and cremated I have:

• my husband's parents were buried (died 1988 and 2007)
• both my paternal grandparents were cremated (died 1966 and 2013), my maternal grandparents were buried (died 1988 and 1992), my husband's paternal grandparents were cremated (they were separated so it was not a joint decision) (died 1949 and 1975), my husband's maternal grandparents are both buried (both died 1975)
• three of my four paternal great grandparents were cremated (two died 1951 and the other 1952), the remainder of that generation and previous generations are buried.

I haven't had time to compile statistics for Australia before publishing this blog. The statistics I have seen indicate that cremations in Australia only increased in number in the 1940s.

 

Saving Graves 

Saving Graves is an initiative on Facebook in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia - each state facing different issues. There is also a web page on the Australian Cemeteries website. My particular interest is Victoria.  Recently I have been in contact with Lambis Englezos who is concerned about the preservation of graves of World war 1 veterans.  I knew of Lambis and more particularly of the work of his colleagues Sandra Playle and Tim Lycett, as my husband's great uncle, Leslie Leister, was one of the Australian soldiers buried in a mass grave at Fromelles.

In Victoria many cremation memorials are not permanent.  There was a period when one could not acquire a permanent memorial for those who had been cremated; in many cemeteries the space for the plaque was only leased for 25 years.

While the Victorian Government confirmed last year that burials in Victorian cemeteries will continue to be perpetual (the graves won't be reused), memorials for those who have been cremated are unfortunately not always perpetual. For a number of years, families could not a perpetual memorial for a family member if that person was cremated.

At Fawkner Cemetery all memorials for those who had been cremated between 1984 and 2005 were for limited tenure. From 2009 some memorials began to expire. For a fee these can be converted. In 2011 the fee was $752 for two memorials. Many memorials will not be converted as family may be unaware of the expiry or not have the money to convert perhaps multiple memorials. At Springvale Cemetery, limited tenure began in 1955 and all memorials from 1976 to 1998 were for limited tenure. These are two major cemeteries which are removing expired memorials but they are not the only memorial parks affected. Ballarat also removes memorials where the lease has expired.

Memorial plaque at Springvale tagged to show it will be removed as tenure has expired.

Thousands of memorials are affected such as the one pictured, at Springvale. The process is for the cemetery to notify the family or whoever holds the right of interment. Also an orange sticker is placed on the memorial in some memorial parks. Once the notification period has expired, the memorial is removed. There are many people who did not have the opportunity to be remembered permanently because only temporary memorials were available.

While the Victorian State Government authority responsible for cemeteries states that  "Victoria has a proud tradition of caring for its forebears in a system of public cemeteries," I would like to see this encompass those who were cremated, especially where families did not have the option to purchase the right to a permanent memorial.

The Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies has an excellent initiative to photograph and index expired tenure plaques at Springvale.

Paringa Hall

Paringa Hall at Somerton was the home of my great great grandparents James Francis Cudmore (1837 - 1912) and his wife Margaret née Budge (1845 - 1912).

The house was built between 1880 and 1882.The architect was Edmund W. Wright who had designed the Adelaide Town Hall in 1863, the Adelaide Post Office in 1866, and the South Australian Parliament House in 1874. (Sullivan, Christine, 'Wright, Edmund William’, Architecture Museum, University of South Australia, 2008, Architects of South Australia: [http://www.architectsdatabase.unisa.edu.au/arch_full.asp?Arch_ID=17])

The Hall was named after Paringa Station on the Murray River close to  Renmark which was acquired by James's father Daniel Cudmore in 1858 and transferred to James in 1859. That property was 260 km north-east of Adelaide and 4km of Renmark. The name is said to be an indigenous word for land or place at the river. ("Paringa Station, Murray River." Treasures of the State Library. Government of South Australia, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. <http://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=961&c=7551>)

James and Margaret died within four months of each other in 1912. The house was sold to the Marist Brothers in 1914 and was converted to a school.

I visited the school while on holiday last week in Adelaide and staff at the school made me very welcome. I was shown around the house which is very well cared for and much appreciated. They also gave me a booklet on the history of the house written in 1997 by their late archivist, Brother Columbanus Pratt, and the Friends of Paringa Hall.

Stately Homes of Adelaide. (1928, December 15). The Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), p. 14. Retrieved February 16, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58563058

James and Margaret are buried in St Jude's cemetery at Brighton.

DEATH OF MR. J. F. CUDMORE. (1912, August 17). The Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), p. 3 Section: THIRD SECTION.. Retrieved February 16, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58184366

Trove Tuesday: obituary for Beatrix de Crespigny

Obituary for my great grandmother, Beatrix Champion de Crespigny née Hughes (1884 - 1943), from The Advertiser of 12 November 1943 page 4.

Yesterday I visited her grave at Stirling cemetery near Aldgate in the Adelaide Hills. I was very appreciative of a photograph with the grave location that I received from Gaye of the Adelaide Hills Council.

Behind her grave are memorials to her daughter Margaret (1919 - 1989) and Margaret's husband Cornelis In't Veld (1908 - 1994).

Beatrix's gravestone is an unusual design. I would be very interested to hear of any similar designs.

Sepia Saturday 196 : Sick Children

This week's Sepia Saturday blog prompt is an illustration of a little boy sick in bed.

I have no pictures of sick children who are related to me, but in my family tree there are many instances of childhood deaths from illness.

During my childhood, I suffered appendicitis and was hospitalised but had no major infection, though I think I remember suffering from chicken pox. I can remember my brother having the mumps and having his tonsils out when he was small.

My parents both spoke of serious illnesses in their childhood. Among these illnesses, my father had scarlet fever and my mother diphtheria.  My father was an only child and my mother has one sister - neither suffered the death of a sibling.

The father of my husband Greg was an only child, but Greg's mother had several brothers and sisters including one, Gwendolyn Phyllis Sullivan (6 January 1933 - 30 May 1935), who died young.  Marjorie, Greg's mother, had helped to care for Gwendolyn and never forgot her little sister who died of meningitis when only two. Marjorie, who was 13 years older, had left school to help look after Gwenny when she was born. Marjorie recalled the little girl was sick with stomach cramps on Monday and died on Wednesday; 30 May was in fact Thursday but perhaps she died early that morning.  Gwendolyn is buried at Malmsbury cemetery, Methodist Comp. 2 Sect 1 Grave 164.  It seems that she has no headstone. (Judkins, Carol. "Malmsbury Cemetery." Carol's Headstone Photographs. Rootsweb, Apr. 2008. Web. 20 Sept. 2013. <http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ausvsac/Malmsbury.htm>.)

Greg's paternal grandfather Cecil Young had one brother, one sister and three half-siblings.  His sister Caroline Young (June 1895 - 10 July 1895) died 2 1/2 weeks after she was born on 10 July 1895. The cause of death was given as "debility from birth". She is buried in Timor cemetery.

Greg's paternal grandmother Elizabeth Cross was one of ten children.  They all lived to adulthood. Greg's maternal grandfather Arthur Sullivan had four brothers and sisters, a half-sister and a half-brother, William Ernest Dare Morley, who died on 2 February 1880 at East Brighton of "congestion of the brain" aged 15 days. Greg's maternal grandmother, Stella Esther Gilbart Dawson, was one of eight children, all of whom survived until adulthood.

Of my grandparents, only my maternal grandmother had a sibling who died young.  Emil Oswald Manock was born on 17 April 1914 at Steglitz, Berlin and died there on 3 December 1914. My grandmother told me her brother died from "a hole in the heart".

Our great grand parents' generation

John Young, my husband's great grandfather, had 12 siblings, five died young.  The first child of George and Caroline Young was George Young who was born and died in 1854, probably at Beechworth.  His birth and death predate civil registration in Victoria and there is no death certificate. He was remembered on each of his sibling's birth certificates. Annie Young died 16 April 1873 aged 10 months of dysentery at Lamplough. In 1876 the Young family lost three children within a month. On 31 March Laura Young died aged 2 from diphtheria after an illness of 5 days.  On 21 April her brother Edmund Young aged 6 years also died of diphtheria after an illness of 14 days. On 27 April Caroline Young aged 8 1/2 years died of scarletina maligna (acute scarlet fever) after an illness of 1 week.

Sarah Jane Way, the wife of John Young, had nine siblings of whom four died young. William John Way died aged 6 months on 18 January 1858 of "congestion of the brain" at East Collingwood, Melbourne.  Mary Jane Way died age 4 months on 19 June 1859 of "cancer of the eye" also at East Collingwood. Martha Way died aged 13 months on 10 August 1875 of rubella at Parkes, New South Wales. Harriet Elizabeth Way died two days after her ninth birthday on 18 May 1879 of typhoid fever at Parkes.

Frederick James Cross had ten siblings. One died young. Thomas Bailey Cross aged 2 died at Carngham on 28 January 1875.  In the photograph below taken about 1890, Thomas is represented by the dark cloth on the floor in the lower right hand corner of the picture.  On the back of the photo his name was with those of his brother's and sisters. 

Ellen Cross and family about 1890. Picture from Gale Robertson, great grand daughter of Frederick James Cross and great great grand daughter of Ellen.

Ann Jane Plowright, wife of Frederick James Cross, had six siblings. Two died young. John Plowright died on 20 January 1872 aged 4 days old after a premature birth at Homebush near Avoca, Victoria. Frederick Edward Plowright died aged 14 years at Homebush on 24 April 1878.  He was cutting down a tree and it fell on him, breaking his neck. He died instantly.

"TELEGRAPHIC DESPATCHES." The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) 26 Apr 1878: 5. Web. 21 Sep 2013 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5930194>.

Anne Morley had seven siblings. Five died young. William Morley born about 1849 and Peter Morley born about 1851 had both died in England before the family emigrated in 1853. Elizabeth Morley died at Collingwood Flat on 10 March 1854 aged 5 years old of "Tabes Mesenterica":  tuberculosis or swelling of the lymph glands inside the abdomen. Children became ill drinking milk from cows infected with tuberculosis. This is now uncommon as milk is pasteurised. ("Tabes Mesenterica (Meaning Of)." Encyclo Online Encyclopaedia. Encyclo, 2012. Web. 21 Sept. 2013. <http://www.encyclo.co.uk/define/tabes mesenterica>.) Harriet Ann Morley died at East Collingwood on 5 January 1858 of atrophy aged 15 months. Mary Jane Morley died age 3 in 1858.

Henry Dawson, the son of Isaac Dawson and Eliza Skerrit was born on 30 Jul 1864 in Corby, near Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. He had a twin brother, Charles, and at least eight other siblings, of whom one, George Dawson (1862 - 1863) died aged less than two years old.

Edith Caroline Edwards, daughter of Francis Gilbart Edwards and Caroline Ralph was born on 16 Sep 1871 in Sunnyside, Ballarat, Victoria. She had nine siblings of whom two died young. Benjamin Gilbart Edwards (1887 - 1888) was born in Ballarat and died aged 10 months at Richmond in Melbourne. Ernest Francis Gilbart Edwards (1891 -1901) died aged 10 in Brighton.

The siblings of my paternal great grandparents all survived to adulthood except one.  Mary Jane Cudmore, one of 13 children, died aged 11 months on 20 November 1884 and is buried at Brighton cemetery, Adelaide.

I know only a little of the siblings of my maternal great grandparents and I have details only of those that survived to adulthood. It may be that they all did survive, but more research is needed to be sure.

I don't have enough details to look back one further generation to the siblings of my and my husband's great great grandparents. While I have details about a few of the families, information on others is missing.  Hence I shall mention only one death from that generation.My great great great grandfather wrote about the death of his son at Heathcote and sketched his grave. The headstone, although damaged, still survives.

Sketch by Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy of the grave of his son Philip who died at Heathcote aged 3 years. From opposite page 33 of his book Memoirs of Mrs. Poole and Mrs. Chauncy

 Philip Lamothe Chauncy (23 March 1851 - 19 May 1854)  was the first son of Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy and his wife Susan Mitchell.  He died before my great great grandmother, Annie Frances Chauncy was born. In his memoir about his wife, Philip wrote:

... our first son, named Philip Lamothe, was born on the 23rd March, 1851. I think my dear Susie's maternal instincts were unusually strong, and oh how true she was to them! How devoted she was to that child! He grew up to be a lovely boy, the admiration of all who knew him; but he had too heavenly a look for this world. He was the source of the most inexpressible delight to his mother; her eyes used to feast on his beaming little face; she looked the most un-utterable blessings on him. But alas, he was too exotic a plant to live on this earth, and was taken from us by our all-wise God, at Heathcote, Victoria, on the 19th of May, 1854. To the day of her death, his words and looks and little actions were fresh in her memory. I think she never completely recovered from the shock occasioned by the death of our little Philip; indeed, I now remember she said, shortly before she was taken from us, that she had never got over it, although she was quite resigned to the will of God, and would not have been so selfish as to have wished him back again.  (Chauncy, Philip Lamothe Snell Memoirs of Mrs Poole and Mrs Chauncy. Lowden, Kilmore, Vic, 1976.Pages 37-8)

In May 1854, our darling little Philly caught cold, and Dr Sconce, the Government Assistant Surgeon, was called in to attend him. On the 12th of that month, Dr Robinson happening to be in our parlor-tent, and hearing Philly cough, said, "That child has croup." O what agony the information caused his dear mother. A day or two after this we removed him into the large new stone building which had just been erected for officer's quarters, but he gradually sank, and expired on the 19th May 1854, after a week's illness. (Chauncy Memoirs already cited, page 47)

A recent photo of the grave of  Philip Lamothe Chauncy at Heathcote with thanks to (and permission to reproduce from) Carol Judkins of http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ausvsac/Index.htm

Most of our forebears came from Victoria and we are fortunate in the high quality of vital records which provide a lot of information for family history.  In the summary below, where cause of death is not stated I have not obtained the death certificate.

Summary of our aunt, great aunts and uncles and great great aunts and uncles who died as children :

Aunt :

• Gwendolyn Phillis Sullivan died age 2 in 1935 of meningitis

Great aunt and great uncles :

• Caroline Young died age 2 1/2 weeks in  1895 of "debility from birth"
• William Ernest Dare Morley died age 15 days in 1880 from "congestion of the brain"
• Emil Oswald Manock died age 7 1/2 months in 1914 of a "hole in the heart"

 Great great aunts and great great uncles :

• George Young died as an infant in 1854
• Annie Young died age 10 months in 1873 from dysentery
• Laura Young died age 2 in 1876 from diphtheria
• Edmund Young died age 6 in 1876 from diphtheria
• Caroline Young died age 8 in 1876 from scarletina maligna
• William John Way died age 6 months in 1858 of "congestion of the brain"
• Mary Jane Way died age 4 months in 1859 of "cancer of the eye"
• Martha Way died age 13 months in 1875 of rubella
• Harriet Elizabeth Way died age 9 in 1879 of typhoid
• Thomas Bailey Cross died age 2 in 1875
• John Plowright died age 4 days in 1875 having been born prematurely
• Frederick John Plowright died age 14 years in 1878 from an accident
• William Morley died as an infant or small child before 1853
• Peter Morley died as an infant or small child before 1853
• Elizabeth Morley died age 5 in 1854 from  Tabes Mesenterica
• Harriet Ann Morley died age 15 months in 1858 of atrophy
• Mary Jane Morley died age 3 in 1858
• George Dawson died before he was 2 in 1863
• Benjamin Gilbart Edwards died age 10 months in 1888
• Ernest Francis Gilbart Edwards died age 10 in 1901
• Mary Jane Cudmore died age 11 months in 1884

Trove Tuesday : Nihill v. Fox

This strange case concerns the grave of my fourth great grandfather.

Daniel James Nihill (1761 - 1846) died at SeaView, Adelaide, South Australia on 14 October 1846. He is now buried in the Old Catholic section of West Terrace cemetery, but was first buried in the Protestant section.

The South Australian Register on 30 March 1860, reported a dispute between two of his seven children, James Nihill (1823 -1877) and Frances Fox née  Nihill (1826 - 1895), over the place of burial of Daniel Nihill. James had arranged for his father to be buried in the Protestant section of West Terrace Cemetery. In September 1859, however, he found that his sister Frances had arranged for her father's remains to be exhumed and reburied in the Roman Catholic section. James took his sister to court over the matter.

Their mother, Daniel's wife, Dymphna Nihill  née  Gardiner (1790 - 1866), was a witness in the court case. She was quite frail and rather deaf. 

At the time that Daniel Nihill's grave was opened, all that was left were some bones in the place of a decayed coffin.  The bones were placed in a new coffin for re-interment.

Daniel Nihill was said not to have been interested in religion.  James Nihill asserted that his father made only an outward profession of Roman Catholic faith in Ireland because "it was a disturbed period". However Daniel did not, as far as James knew, attend a Roman Catholic Church while living in South Australia. 

Frances was a Catholic. In the court case it was stated she became a Catholic in 1847.  She married Arthur Fox (1817 - 1853) on 26 July 1846.  Arthur Fox was said to have meddled in the Nihill  family's Protestantism, to the extent of arranging for a priest to visit the day before the death of Daniel Nihill.

Arthur Fox had been in partnership with James Nihill. After Arthur's death in 1853, James Nihill was a trustee of his estate but had been asked to resign. 

There seems to have been several disputes that went to court between James Nihill and Frances Fox since the death of Arthur Fox.

The jury's verdict was in favour of James Nihill, awarding him 40 shillings and stipulating that the the tomb was to be restored at the expense of the defendant, Frances. However, the judge decided that effect could not be given to the restoration of the tomb. The outcome of the case was thus that Frances Fox had to pay her brother 40 shillings but the body of Daniel Nihill was to be allowed to remain in the Catholic section of the cemetery.

The expenses incurred by James in erecting the tomb and enclosing the site in the Protestant section of the cemetery were reported as being between £30 and £40.  

James had retained the South Australian Attorney-General to represent him in court.

I contacted the Adelaide Cemeteries Authority about the case.  They have few records from the 1840s and 1850s. There is a notation in a lease register book that the lease taken out by James Nihill was surrendered in 1856 but with no other detail.  Perhaps this is when Frances arranged the re-interment, although from the newspaper report it seems that James only discovered in September 1859 that his father's body had been moved.  The Adelaide Cemeteries Authority do not have records about when the Fox family purchased the grave site.  As the Protestant grave site lease was surrendered in 1856, the Authority cannot identify who is using the site now but it seems it was not reused by a member of the Nihill family.

"LAW AND CRIMINAL COURTS." South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900) 30 Mar 1860: 3. Web. 24 Sep 2013 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49896301>.