Mystery Monday - Are these the same man?

Are these three photos of the same man? - what do you think?

the above three photos are from the photos below.  Mr. Thomas Kelly (my 2nd great grand uncle) was born in Tipperary Ireland in 1843.  He died in New Zealand in 1912.  His wife, Juliana was born 1851 and died in New Zealand in 1925.  They adopted a child but it is not known when the adoption took place.  The child they adopted was born in 1885.

said to be Mr and Mrs Thomas Kelly

said to be Mr Thomas Kelly

said to be Mr Thomas Kelly

said to be the same Mrs Kelly

Sunday's Obituary - My own dearly loved Mum.

My Sunday's Obituary post today is for my own dearly loved Mum
who passed away last Monday the 23 of April.  She was laid
to rest with a beautiful graveside service on Friday the 27th of April at Pine Lodge Lawn
Cemetery, Northern Victoria.

Mum's eulogy

The third of Daisy and Archie Fleming’s four children, Amelia Joan was born at Wangaratta on 5th September, 1937; her siblings are Ken, Margaret and Elaine.

Joan was brought up in North East Victoria. The family moved around a lot for work.
Joan left Rochester High School at about fourteen years of age, and worked in grocery stores in Wangaratta and then Shepparton.

Through friends, Joan met Kerry Forsyth in 1957 and they married at the Church of England in Mooroopna in 1958.  Joan looked after the home and their two children - Kerryn who was born in 1958 and Ross who arrived two years later in 1960.
Once the children were attending school, Joan worked as a kindergarten assistant at St David’s Kindergarten in Shepparton.
Later on, Joan and Kerry were divorced.

While attending a country music club meeting in 1975, Joan met Bud Oster and they married on 1st December, 1981 at Mount Major.  They lived in Shepparton and Joan continued to work for the Yakka clothing company for a while, then later in food services at the Mooroopna Hospital, until it closed.

Bud and Joan bought the General Store at Dookie in 1990, where they worked for five years. After they sold the business they continued to live at Dookie for another five years. Bud went back to his previous occupation in automotive spare parts sales … and Joan retired.
When Bud had his annual holidays they used to enjoy exploring Australia.

Until recently Joan loved working as a volunteer at the Revamp Op Shop in Fryers Street, Shepparton.

In her younger years Joan played tennis, and later she took up bowls, playing first for East Shepparton and then Dookie.
She loved gardening, roses being one of her favourite flowers, and she also grew vegetables.  She enjoyed crosswords, word puzzles, scrabble, card games such as euchre, five hundred and canasta … and Joan was also an avid reader of crime stories.
She enjoyed most genres of music, but particularly loved country music, and some of her favourite singers were Rod Stewart, Roy Orbison, Jimmy Barnes, Neil Diamond … and the list goes on.

In the last five years or so, Joan has contended with ill-health, and so she and Bud moved to Rodney Park eight months ago.  Joan suffered pneumonia and some heart failure last Christmas and she was admitted to GV Base Hospital for a time, before returning home.
On Wednesday 18th April Joan was re-admitted to GV Base after a cardiac arrest.  Joan died there on Monday 23rd April 2012 with family by her side.

A very caring, sometimes stubborn, always generous person, with a good sense of humour, Joan was very protective of her family and was a loving wife, mother, grand-mother and great-grand-mother.

Horsing around with her much loved son.

Joan leaves Bud, her husband of thirty-one years; she leaves her two children - Kerryn and Ross; she leaves her six grand-children - Andrew, Lisa, Samantha, Kathryn, Prudence, and Simeon;

She leaves two great-grand-children - Khaylen and Nevaeh and would have dearly loved to have met her treasured, soon-to-be-born, great grandchild.

Joan is survived by her three siblings - Ken, Margaret and Elaine.

My beloved mum is now reunited with her own beloved mum.  We love you Mum and Nanna.

Funeral Card Friday - Agnes Morgan

Agnes Morgan was my paternal grandmother's Aunt.

A hard post to write

I haven't written a proper post for a week or so.

My emotions are on a roller coaster ride at the moment.

My dear Mum is on life support in ICU at our local hospital after suffering a heart attack last Wednesday.

I love my Mum dearly and it has been so hard to watch her health deteriorate over the last couple of years.

She is 74 years of age and can be stubborn to say the least.

Mum and I when I was 5 years old and flowergirl at my Aunt's wedding.

She is lucid and aware of what is going on around her although she says she can't see.

Tomorrow I hope to find out from the doctors more of what to expect over the next few days.  They say the next option is palliative care but she can't leave the hospital while on a ventilator.  I don't know what to expect.

My brother and my son went to visit her tonight and they told her they would see her again at the weekend.

Mum told them she would be "Upstairs" I am crying while typing this.  It is just so hard on my stepdad, my children and my brother.

My daughter is expecting her first baby early in July.  She is very close to her Nanna and she is going to call her bub Mia Amelia if it is a little girl.

Mum's first name is Amelia although she has never liked it and is known as "Joan" which is her middle name.

Please say a prayer for my Mum.

Thank you.

Sunday's Obituary - Margaret Fleming nee Hart

My great grandma Fleming was born Margaret Hart on the 23rd of July 1869 at Eglinton, Clunes, Victoria.  She was the eldest daughter of Peter Hart and Agnes nee Mason.

Margaret Fleming nee Hart (seated) with two of her daughters, Maggie and Nellie.

Margaret married Donald Fleming on the 13th of November 1889 and they had eleven children who all lived  well into middle and old age.  Margaret died on the 24th of August 1960 at King Valley.  She was 91 years of age.

OBITUARY FOR MRS MARGARET FLEMING

from Wangaratta Chronicle-Despatch Wed 31st Aug. 1960.

The funeral of one of the first pioneers of the King Valley district was held on Friday 26th August 1960.
Mrs Margaret Fleming, aged 91 years, who with her late husband, was the first to take up a selection of the Hyem estate more than 63 years ago.
The Rev. C.L. Oliver, warden of St Columbs Hall officiated at home and at the graveside.
Coffin Bearers:-
D and H Fleming (sons) H. Rutledge and D McLaren (sons in law)
Pall Bearers:-
R. Vines (son in law); S. Fleming (nephew); J. Ball (son in law); A Crockett; K. Vines; F Fleming and H Black (grandsons) and J Ball ( brother in law) .
Mrs Fleming is survived by the following members of her family:-
May (Mrs Crockett of Albury); Donald (Edi); Essie (Mrs. Black of Bacchus Marsh); Millie (Mrs Rutledge of Echuca); Margaret (Mrs Ball of Myrrhee); Nellie (Mrs Vines of Myrtleford); Myrtle ( Mrs McLaren of Shepparton); Archie (Shepparton) and
Harold (King Valley).  One son Albert predeceased his mother.
George Handley in charge of funeral arrangements.

Surname Saturday - Hulme

We have traced our Hulme family back to  a marriage in 1810 between Daniel Hulme and Mary nee Wood at St. Pancras, Middlesex, England although it is not known if this is where our family originated.

The surname is very widely spread around the United Kingdom.

Mary and Daniel moved to Fulham in later years and that is where they were buried.  Family story has it that Daniel was a midshipman in Nelson's Navy but no documentation has been found to support that yet.
Mary had a grocer shop in High Street Fulham for many years and it was later taken over by her son George and then his descendants.
In Australia the surname is pronounced as "Hullm" sounding the 'l' but members of the family whose lineage remained in England pronounce it "Hume".

Many of Daniel and Mary's children and grandchildren migrated to Australia including my great great great grandfather William Cluff Hulme and his wife Hephzibah nee Land and their son Joseph.

My great great grandfather, Joseph Hulme born 1843 Putney , London, England
died 1920 Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia

Daughter of Joseph Hulme, my great grandmother, Ada May Hulme
born 1884 died 1965 Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia

This interesting surname of English and Scottish origin with variant spellings Holme, Home, Hume Hulme, and Holmes, is a topographical name for someone who lived by a holly tree, deriving from the Olde English pre 7th Century "hole(g)n", Middle English "holin, holm" meaning "holly", "holm-oak". It may also be a topographical name for someone who lived on an island, in particular a piece of slightly raised land lying in a fen or partly surrounded by streams, deriving from the Old Norse "holmr" meaning "small island", or it may be a locational name from places called Holme in Bedfordshire, Derbyshire, Huntingdonshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Westmorland, and the East and North Riding of Yorkshire, deriving from the same element.
The surname dates back to the late 12th Century (see below). London Church records include one George Hulme, who married Dorrytyr Coocke on February 16th 1602, at St. Michael Bassishaw, and Joane, daughter of Thomas Hulme, who was christened on August 9th 1612, at St. Andrew's, Holborn. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger de Holm, which was dated 1186, in "Sir Christopher Hatton's Book of Seals", Leicestershire, during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Below are photos of Ada Hulme's brother, Herbert Hulme and sister Pleasance Hulme.

                 

Trove comes up trumps yet again

For many years the death of my ggg grandfather Andrew Fleming has eluded our family researchers.  

Today Trove came up trumps yet again.

I stumbled across this death notice for his wife Ellen that names Andrew's place and year of death!

Why hadn't I found this before?

I searched for a death record in Victoria for Andrew 1836-1888 but there were only 3 in the 1870s.
No other deaths for an Andrew Fleming or Fle*ming (spelling variation search)

There was one death in 1854 for a William Fleming aged 42 born in Scotland.


On Andrew and Ellen's daughter, Ellen's, marriage to John Dart she states her father's name as William.  Was Andrew known as William?  Mother was listed as Ellen Finlay.

I did a search for a Will for the William Fleming who died 1854 but he died intestate.  According to his probate record he was a labourer of King Street North Melbourne and his widow was Ellen Fleming of Curzon Street North Melbourne but the death certificate gives her maiden name as McQueen.

So still no death certificate for Andrew Fleming .... why?
Although at least we now have a place and year.

Military Monday - John Forsyth (Boer War)

Ten contingents of New Zealand soldiers participated in the Boer War and they all received the Queens South Africa medal pictured right. 

John Forsyth was the much loved grand-dad of Anne-maree Osborne and Margaret Tyson nee Forsyth and their brothers David, Mark and Michael.  He was my great grand Uncle but I never had the privilege of meeting him.
Anne-maree and I have had lots of fun over the last ten years extensively researching our Forsyth ancestors.

John Forsyth was born on the 10th of May 1879 at Rhodes Swamp, Christchurch, New Zealand, third son of Robert Forsyth and Jessie nee Farquhar.  He married Melva Carleton Watson on the 7th of February 1929 at the Methodist Church in Morrinsville, New Zealand.
He married later in life as he was busy fighting for the Empire in both the Boer War in South Africa and WW1.

This post is about his Boer War service, his WW1 service will follow another day.

John is listed as John "Forsythe" in the Auckland War Memorial Cenotaph database, we're not sure why an 'e' was tacked on.  Perhaps at some stage a full stop was written at the end of Forsyth and it looked like an 'e'.

Trooper John Forsyth 3836, enlisted in the 6th New Zealand Contingent, known as the "Silent Sixtth", on the 18th of January 1901 at Wellington.  

His attestation paper shows that he was drafted from the Studholme Mounted Rifles with whom he had been a Trooper for nine months.  At that time he was a farmer, 21 years and 8 months of age, living at Coutts Island, Kaiapoi. He was five foot seven inches tall, had a chest measurement of thirty-five inches and weighed 10 stone six pounds. 
He listed his mother Jessie (also known as Jean) as his next of kin. 

The sixth contingent embarked on the SS "Cornwall" on the 30th of January 1901 and arrived in South Africa in March 1901.  Below is a newspaper article about the Cornwall's departure. 

Queen Victoria had died at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, on the 22nd of January so in deference to this the SS Cornwall sailed with no demonstration at the send off.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 25, 30 January 1901, Page 2

Click here to read the rest of the article 

In a letter from Pietersburg, dated April 10, James Robertson, writes to his parents at New Brighton with an account of the sixth contingent's experiences. 

This was published in the newspaper on the 27th of June 1901.

 Star , Issue 7135, 27 June 1901, Page 1

Read the rest of the News article here 

Following are some links to sixth contingent photos at New Zealand history online:

Members of the Sixth Contingent which left for South Africa in January 1901.

A cold night's sleep: members of New Zealand's Sixth Contingent sleeping out on theveldt (open plains) in South Africa, circa 1901.

New Zealand troopers from the Sixth Contingent move across open plains in South Africa, 1901. This photograph was possibly taken by Private William Raynes, a Waikato farmer serving with No. 16 Company.

Jessie Forsyth must have had to give permission for her son to remain  ...... with the army?

Tribute page for our Servicemen

Sentimental Sunday - Alec Morgan

My Great Grand Uncle, Alexander Morgan, married miss Lavinia Stuart on the 5th of February 1894 at Pauatahanui, Porirua, Wellington, New Zealand.  

He wrote this beautiful wedding poem to her using each letter of her name to begin each line.  

copy of this card written by Alexander Morgan was kindly given to me by his great great grandchildren

                  Look  down ye angels from above

                  And guard the darling one I love

                  Vanish all evil from off her way

                  Impart heavens blessings day by day

                  No sorrow cloud that dear sweet face

                  Imprinted with such holy grace

                  And open to the world to trace

                  So innocent and pure is she

                  That 'tis I pray her life may be

                  United with all peace and love

                  And guarded by thee from above

                  Receiving her when life is o'er

                  To rest with thee for evermore.