Monday 19 March 2018

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 11: Lucky - Crusader to New Zealand

In December 1874, Captain Renaut sailed his ship The Crusader into Lyttleton Harbour, 
New Zealand with 374 passengers on board.

The Crusader departed from Plymouth on the 25th of September and made the passage in 97 days 
with very little illness reported.  
The surgeon superintendent was Dr. John Guthrie who settled in Christchurch.  
On the voyage Dr Guthrie found it necessary to appoint two nurses, Mrs Cleaver and Mrs Lindon.

The Crusader developed a hole and the well was taking in water.
The water was successfully pumped out throughout the voyage but the pump kept breaking down and not too much water continued to come in.  It is said that on arrival at Lyttleton harbour a fish skeleton was found in the well and so it was thought that the fish body had blocked the hole thus stopping the ship taking on more water and sinking!

My great great grandparents, Robert Forsyth and his wife Jessie nee Farquhar were on board the Crusader with their little son Alexander.  
They were very LUCKY to arrive safely.

Robert and Jessie Forsyth went on to have a large family in New Zealand


Photo A Large Sailor's Woolie of the Clipper Ship The Crusader at Anchor in New Zealand
Circa 1875-85
courtesy of Paul Vandekar  
 http://www.vandekar.com/archives/details.asp?inventoryNumber=NY07221



The Press newspaper reported the Arrival of the Crusader in its edition on the 1st of January 1875.
Everyone spoke most highly of the Captain  "The passengers and Immigrants alike testifying to his unwearying care and devotion during the passage".

An excerpt from that newspaper article.


Saturday 17 March 2018

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 10: Strong Woman

There are plenty of strong women in my family tree even though they may not think so.

Some of their stories are heartbreaking, all are inspiring.

Most inspiring to me at the moment is my first cousin Denys in New Zealand.

Denys and I didn't know each other existed until we did an AncestryDNA test at almost the same time 10 months ago.  

We are actually half first cousins, sharing the same paternal grandfather. 

Click the link to read about  Our DNA discovery

Despite not having met in person yet we have grown very close.  

Denys has been through the heartbreak of losing a younger brother who was only 17 years old, enduring an awful first marriage, losing her second eldest daughter to suicide and now supporting her dearly loved current husband in his battle with terminal cancer.



Your heart is one of the best Denys xx



Strong women in my family tree that I have previously written about:

Mary Agnes Adams nee Morgan   My paternal great-grandmother












Tuesday 6 March 2018

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 9 - Herbert Hulme's Will

Herbert Joseph Hulme
photo from the album of my
maternal grandmother
Daisy Fleming
nee Morgan.




The theme for week 9 of the 52 Ancestors challenge is 
"Where there's a Will". 


My grandmother's maternal Uncle Herb was born Herbert Joseph Hulme at Oxley, Victoria in 1892.

I think Uncle Herb must have been a bit of a character judging by this photo that is in my Nan's album.


Front left is my Nan, Daisy Morgan, behind her is "Aunt Chub" who was Herb's sister Pleasance Alice Hulme.  Nan couldn't remember who was hidden behind the pole. The young girl peeping around the post is Herb's niece, Dulcie Simmonds (the executor of his Will, Dulcie Simmonds), then Herb pulling a face and in the background is Nan's father Bill (William Thomas) Morgan.

Herb never married and died on the 8th of October 1969 at Wangaratta aged 77 years.

He was the second son and second youngest child of the ten children of Joseph Hulme and Anna Dorothea nee Bartsh of Milawa.

Herbert and his sister Pleasance, who I wrote about in week 6 of this challenge, were both unmarried and were left the family farm when their father died in 1920.  Their mother had died in 1908 at the young age of 53.

Pleasance had died in 1965 so Herb may have sold the farm.
I am awaiting the Probate inventory to find out but Herb left quite a sum of money to both the Wangaratta Technical School and St. Paul's Church at Milawa for scholarships in his name as described below.

The family Bible was left to his niece Jessie Jean Pollack, nee Hulme who was the only daughter of Herb's older brother, Sydney Frederick Hulme.

One day I will take a trip to Milawa to see the Church.

*Updated - A couple of months later my son took me on that trip to Milawa.




More information and photos of St. Paul's Church can be seen at the
website of Australian Christian Heritage
ChurchesAustralia



Transcription.
THIS IS THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT of me HERBERT JOSEPH HULME of Milawa in the State of Victoria, Farmer.

1. I REVOKE all former wills and testamentary dispositions made by me and declare this to be my last will and testament.

2. I APPOINT John Kenneth Gibb and my niece Dulcie Enid Collier, hereinafter called my Trustees, to be the executors of this my will and Trustees of my Estate.

3. I GIVE AND BEQUEATH to my niece Jean Pollack my family bible.

4. I DIRECT my Trustees to divide my household furniture and effects in accordance with any directions I may leave.

5. I DESIRE that my body be cremated and my ashes deposited within the Church yard at St. Paul's Church of England Milawa and that a suitable memorial Tablet in bronze be placed over my ashes at a cost not exceeding the sum of Forty dollars to be paid out of the residue of my Estate.

6. I GIVE AND BEQUEATH the sum of Six thousand dollars to the Wangaratta Technical School Advisory Council upon trust to invest the same and to apply the Income from time to time therefrom arising, for the provision of Scholarships for students at the said school studying a course in Agricultural Science such Scholarships to be known from time to time as the "Herbert Joseph Hulme Scholarship" and I direct that the receipt of the Treasurer or other proper officer for the time being of the said Council shall be a full and sufficient discharge for my Trustees.

7. I GIVE AND BEQUEATH the sum of Eight thousand dollars to the Church of England Trusts Corporation of the Diocese of Wangaratta upon trust to invest the same and to apply the Income from time to time therefrom arising for the provision of Scholarships for students at St. Columb's Hall Theological College Wangaratta or at such other Theological College as the Bishop in Council of the said Diocese may from time to time decide such scholarships to be known from time to time as the "Herbert Joseph Hulme Scholarship" and I direct that the receipt of the Treasurer or other proper officer for the time being of the said Trusts Corporation shall be a full and sufficient discharge for my Trustees.

8. ALL THE REST RESIDUE AND REMAINDER of my real and personal property whatsoever and Wheresoever I give devise and bequeath to my Trustees upon trust to sell call in and convert the same into money with discretionary power to postpone such sale calling in and conversion for such time as they shall think fit and after payment thereout of all my just debts Funeral and testamentary expenses Federal Estate and State Probate duties to hold the same upon trust for the Church of England Trusts Corporation of the Diocese of Wangaratta and I direct that the same and the Income from time to time therefrom arising shall be applied by the said Trusts Corporation for such general purposes fo the Church of England in the said Diocese including the provision of homes for elderly
people or the maintenance education and benefit of children as the Bishop in Council of the said Diocese may from time to time in its absolute and uncontrolled discretion decide and I further direct that the receipt of the treasurer or other proper officer for the time being of the said Trusts Corporation shall be a full and sufficient discharge to my Trustees without their being bound to see to the application thereof.

IN WITNESS whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 15th day of May One thousand nine hundred and sixty-seven.