Researching Beyond the BDMs.
Elizabeth O'CONNELL
Well I thought I had my Henry FREEMANTLE sussed. He was born to William, a yeoman, and Hannah (nee BROWN), in 1825 at Woodcot (spelt variously), Hampshire, and died in 1879.
His wife to be, Ann POWELL, was born at nearby Compton, Berkshire. They married in 1847 when Henry was 22 and Ann was 19 years of age. My 2x great grandmother Rose Hannah (Rosa) arrived VERY soon after. She appears to be an only child, which is somewhat unusual for those times.
Henry was obviously capable and responsible as he was a miller at the Fulling Mill, near Whitchurch, Hampshire, and employed three men. The process of fulling is where fuller's earth is used on woolen cloth to produce a firm texture and soft drape in the fabric by tightening and shrinking the cloth into a closely woven product of high quality. The water mills provided power to drive hammers to press and knead the fabric and could be heard across the fields.
At an early age of 26 years, after only six years of marriage, Ann died and was buried in Whitchurch in 1854.
Perhaps this loss, coupled with the mechanization of the fulling process whereby large mills took business from smaller local mills, had the effect of pushing Henry to the edge, because in 1867 he was declared bankrupt. His principal creditor was a Mr William Farr of Andover, a maltster, which may say something about Henry's state of body and mind at this stage.
At the age of 52 years in 1879 Henry died in Whitchurch. But certainly he was not an old man, and by all accounts he was not a lonely man either. Henry's mother made provision in her will, written soon after Henry's death, for three children of Mary NEWPORT 'who for some years lived with my late son Henry'!
Although at the time of the 1861 Census Mary Newport, then 23 years of age, was living with her 65 year old widowed father William, so too was her four year old son, William Henry. Ten years later her father has passed away and she is living with her three children but clearly, from Henry's mother's will, has some relationship with Henry about this time.
I have since found a descendant of Mary, so now after Elaine's presentation on DNA for genealogy I could perhaps confirm whether Mary's children were indeed Henry's as well.
So the moral of the story is .. no, I'm not going to comment on Henry's eleventh hour marriage, his drinking, or his possible co-habiting arrangement .. the moral of the story is, don't just stop with BMDs, look deeper. Search for census records, wills, newspaper articles and in any local history collections to flesh out your ancestors and their families. Do some careful google searches and you may even find some lost cousins.
Elizabeth O'CONNELL
Well I thought I had my Henry FREEMANTLE sussed. He was born to William, a yeoman, and Hannah (nee BROWN), in 1825 at Woodcot (spelt variously), Hampshire, and died in 1879.
His wife to be, Ann POWELL, was born at nearby Compton, Berkshire. They married in 1847 when Henry was 22 and Ann was 19 years of age. My 2x great grandmother Rose Hannah (Rosa) arrived VERY soon after. She appears to be an only child, which is somewhat unusual for those times.
Henry was obviously capable and responsible as he was a miller at the Fulling Mill, near Whitchurch, Hampshire, and employed three men. The process of fulling is where fuller's earth is used on woolen cloth to produce a firm texture and soft drape in the fabric by tightening and shrinking the cloth into a closely woven product of high quality. The water mills provided power to drive hammers to press and knead the fabric and could be heard across the fields.
At an early age of 26 years, after only six years of marriage, Ann died and was buried in Whitchurch in 1854.
Perhaps this loss, coupled with the mechanization of the fulling process whereby large mills took business from smaller local mills, had the effect of pushing Henry to the edge, because in 1867 he was declared bankrupt. His principal creditor was a Mr William Farr of Andover, a maltster, which may say something about Henry's state of body and mind at this stage.
At the age of 52 years in 1879 Henry died in Whitchurch. But certainly he was not an old man, and by all accounts he was not a lonely man either. Henry's mother made provision in her will, written soon after Henry's death, for three children of Mary NEWPORT 'who for some years lived with my late son Henry'!
Although at the time of the 1861 Census Mary Newport, then 23 years of age, was living with her 65 year old widowed father William, so too was her four year old son, William Henry. Ten years later her father has passed away and she is living with her three children but clearly, from Henry's mother's will, has some relationship with Henry about this time.
I have since found a descendant of Mary, so now after Elaine's presentation on DNA for genealogy I could perhaps confirm whether Mary's children were indeed Henry's as well.
So the moral of the story is .. no, I'm not going to comment on Henry's eleventh hour marriage, his drinking, or his possible co-habiting arrangement .. the moral of the story is, don't just stop with BMDs, look deeper. Search for census records, wills, newspaper articles and in any local history collections to flesh out your ancestors and their families. Do some careful google searches and you may even find some lost cousins.
My Family Research.
My mother's families largely all arrived in Otago during the gold rush times while my my father's family arrived into the North Island for for various reasons from 1840 onwards until 1930.
My Southland Family are RYAN sisters who married and settled in the area – Mary married Patrick FLANAGAN in 1869, Nora married Thomas MULVEY in 1873, Kate married Peter MALLON in 1882 and Hannah married John WALKER in 1884 and settled in Invercargill. The Flanagans and Mulveys were publicans in Gore and the Mallons were farmers at Chatton. The sisters were a sister to my g g/mother Anne Ryan who married Anthony O’CONNELL at Naseby in 1870.
My Earliest Arrivals were CAMERONs on board the 'Blenheim', which arrived into Wellington in 1840, leaving Scotland just before the Census of 1841 ... not very helpful! They settled in the Turakina Valley.
My Needle in a Haystack Find was my John SMITH .... in London!
A Favourite Resource is the ‘Log of Logs’ volumes which turned up the shipboard log and account of the voyage of
one ancestor’s journey to New Zealand.
My Most Unexpected Find from ‘talking with the locals’ was the home of my gg g/father in Tipperary, and a direct descendant of his brother (my third cousin once removed) by way of the early internet. It was very amazing 'returning' to the place where my gg g/father had played with his brothers and sisters before setting off for the other side of the world, never to see any of them again.
The Fall of Singapore.
My grandparents Mavis (nee BALMER) & Bill LAMPEN-SMITH were on the Grasshopper which went down on 14 Feb 1942, evacuating from Singapore.
They survived the bombing to ultimately be imprisoned by the Japanese on Sumartra, at Padang then Bankinang, being released and making it back to NZ for Christmas, 1945. Mavis was a mere 4 stone and 3 pounds when released from Bankinang. The COFEPOW website is an excellent testament to the Far East POWs of this time. Bill was English and worked for the British company ‘Cable & Wireless’ in communications so was one of the last to leave Singapore. Mavis, with a rare blood type had too much blood taken from her and became ill, missing the boat away from Singapore they should have been on.
My father had been evacuated to ‘who knew where’, as a ten year old by himself, one month earlier. He did not find out until after the war that his parents had survived.
After the war my grandfather was awarded an MBE ‘at the request of his fellow prisoners in recognition of his efforts for others during internment. This was a huge commendation, that he was trusted to put other prisoners before himself in such inhumane conditions endured over such a long period.’
My Family Names:
ABBOTT Stoke Damerel, Devon, ENG 1800s
FREEMANTLE Woodcott, Whitchurch, Hamps, ENG 1800s
LAMPEN Co. Devon, ENG; pre 1860
SKINNER Devon, ENG 1740 - 1840
SMITH St Albans, Herts, ENG > New Zealand 1930's
JEFFREY ENG 1740s - 1840's
GODWIN Middlesex, ENG 1800s
BALMER Tynan, Co. Armagh, IRE > Auckland, NZL from 1847 >Manawatu, NZ
CAMERON Invermaille, ARG > Turakina, NZL from 1840
LAIRD Scotland > Manawatu, NZ 1840's
DOWLING Ardfert, Co. Kerry, IRE > Hyde, Otago NZL from 1860s
GRIFFEN Ireland > Aust > Otago, NZ 1860's
CONNELL Birchgrove, Co. Tipp, IRE > Aust > Otago, NZ 1850's
RYAN Co. Limerick, Ire > NZ 1860's
HANRAHAN Co. Wexford, IRE > St Bathans, Otago, NZ 1800's
FENNESSY Coolagaree, Scargill, Co. Clare, IRE > St Bathans, Otago, NZL 1800's
TODD Tullamore, Co. Derry, IRE > Otago, NZ 1800'
MULHOLLAND Castle Dawson, Londonderry, IRE > Otago, NZ 1800's
My Husband's Family Names:
GILDEA Boyle, Co. Roscommon, IRE > Otago abt 1860's
HARTSTONGE Ireland > Otago abt 1860's
HEFFERNAN Ireland > Otago abt 1860's
McCABE Ireland > Otago abt 1860's
O'CONNELL Co. Kerry, Ire > NZ 1860's
TRAINOR Ireland > Otago abt 1860's
ABBOTT Stoke Damerel, Devon, ENG 1800s
FREEMANTLE Woodcott, Whitchurch, Hamps, ENG 1800s
LAMPEN Co. Devon, ENG; pre 1860
SKINNER Devon, ENG 1740 - 1840
SMITH St Albans, Herts, ENG > New Zealand 1930's
JEFFREY ENG 1740s - 1840's
GODWIN Middlesex, ENG 1800s
BALMER Tynan, Co. Armagh, IRE > Auckland, NZL from 1847 >Manawatu, NZ
CAMERON Invermaille, ARG > Turakina, NZL from 1840
LAIRD Scotland > Manawatu, NZ 1840's
DOWLING Ardfert, Co. Kerry, IRE > Hyde, Otago NZL from 1860s
GRIFFEN Ireland > Aust > Otago, NZ 1860's
CONNELL Birchgrove, Co. Tipp, IRE > Aust > Otago, NZ 1850's
RYAN Co. Limerick, Ire > NZ 1860's
HANRAHAN Co. Wexford, IRE > St Bathans, Otago, NZ 1800's
FENNESSY Coolagaree, Scargill, Co. Clare, IRE > St Bathans, Otago, NZL 1800's
TODD Tullamore, Co. Derry, IRE > Otago, NZ 1800'
MULHOLLAND Castle Dawson, Londonderry, IRE > Otago, NZ 1800's
My Husband's Family Names:
GILDEA Boyle, Co. Roscommon, IRE > Otago abt 1860's
HARTSTONGE Ireland > Otago abt 1860's
HEFFERNAN Ireland > Otago abt 1860's
McCABE Ireland > Otago abt 1860's
O'CONNELL Co. Kerry, Ire > NZ 1860's
TRAINOR Ireland > Otago abt 1860's
Some of My Ships:
Blenheim 1840 UK to Port Nicholson / CAMERON families
Slains Castle 1840 UK to Port Nicholson / BARON family
Sir Robert Peel 1846 UK to Auckland / BALMER with the 65th Regiment
Java 1846 UK to Auckland via Sydney / BALMER with the 65th Regiment
Commodore Perry 1857 UK to Melbourne / CONNELL
Oscar 1861 Melbourne to Port Chalmers / CONNELL
Bongares 1862 Melbourne to Port Chalmers / CONNELL
Shalimar 1869 UK to Otago / RYAN