More than just the 3 R's

A few years ago I made a small photobook about the members of Dad’s maternal grandfather’s family who emigrated to New Zealand in 1841. It’s been in the back of my mind to do something similar for other emigrant/settler families too. I thought I might make a start by jotting down some notes as a Christmas present for him – partly because it’s so hard to know just what to buy a 94 year old.

But in building out the story for the children in this family (his paternal grandfather's line) I came up against the same old dearth of information about education and where they might have gone to school. It’s not even that long ago (in the scheme of things), which makes it more frustrating that there doesn’t appear to be surviving records.

I suspect that they may have attended a church school in either the parish where they lived or a neighbouring parish. They are noted as scholars on the census prior to leaving the country. Then where did they go to school after they arrived in New Zealand in 1862?

I found some clues for the previous generation though.

In the 1841 census, Sarah Norman (12) and her younger sister Caroline (8) are enumerated in the “household” of the schoolmaster at Cutcombe, Somerset. This was likely to be a church school. Great to see girls, the daughter’s of farmers, getting an education. Their elder sisters were above school age on this first census available readily for family historians, but it seems likely they too would have had the opportunity to attend school.

In 1841 schools and schoolmasters were asked to record the names of the children who had attended in the last week as the census was taken very close to the summer holidays beginning (6 June). There were all sorts of rules about who could be recorded and who couldn’t – those with a governess weren’t “at” school so different rules applied. However, if you are lucky you might find the governess enumerated with a family and can then speculate as to which children she taught.

James Davys (15) was enumerated in Barnstaple, Devon at a school led by Elias Bray. It has taken a lot of pondering and searching outside the box, but I have found that this school which I originally thought I had identified as a Free Grammar School was actual Mount View Academy. A boarding school for boys. As the census indicated it was located at 66 High Street, whether this was also the address where the boys lived is unclear. Since finding James there, I have presumed that his elder brother may also have attended there previously and I have often wondered what subjects were taught. Sometimes you can get clues about that in the occupations recorded for some of the teachers, but many of them are just “teacher”, “schoolmaster/mistress” or “assistant schoolmaster”.

Anyway, having recently had some better luck with the search in FindMyPast for British Newspapers since they recently changed it I though I would have another try. And lo and behold!

Mount View Academy was established in 1828 by Elias Bray. He remained the principal until 1856 when he retired and Hugh Gawthrop became principal. But what did they teach? And what did it cost?

North_Devon_Journal_15_July_1841_0002

North_Devon_Journal_23_July_1857_0001

According to in2013dollars a guinea was slightly more value than a pound, but more or less became a pound as we remember it in the pre-decimal world (although people still talked of guineas even in the 1980s! I remember my grandmother mentioning them). One hundred guineas in 1841 would be the equivalent now of almost £13,000, so 25 guineas for a years tuition including board would be around £3000. Interestingly in2013dollars also says that since 1841 the British pound has LOST 99.218% of it’s value, meaning that todays prices are 127.93 times higher than they were in 1841 and that today’s pound can only purchase .078% of what it could then.

That makes the cost of living crisis were are all in currently bite just a little more.

North_Devon_Journal_11_June_1857_0005

North_Devon_Journal_16_December_1858_0005

Examinations at the Academy were held at the end of each term and were public, this makes me think they weren’t written exams, but more like recitals or spelling bees style. Parents and families were invited to attend and prizes were given. Often at the end of year events the boarders presented a gift of thanks (an inkstand, bowl, lamp) to Mr Bray.

I wonder, did James’ family take up the invitation to attend the examinations and celebrations? How did James travel back and forth at the beginning and end of each term. I don’t believe there was a railway that early, so a carriage or coach must have been the only option. Something to explore another time.

So, this was an interesting little foray into education. What an educated young man my great great grandfather was, and so pleased to see that my great great grandmother also had some formal education a long time before education became compulsory. It hasn’t helped me learn where or how the following generation was educated, but even if they were home schooled they should have all received a broad education from their parents knowledge.

Back to what I had started now, having been pleasantly distracted, and rewarded.

The Family of William Norman and Sarah Vickery

On Friday 19 December 1817 at St Mary Magdalene in the tiny village of Withiel Florey in Somerset a wedding took place. Just three days before the winter solstice. It was the only marriage that year, in fact it was 15 months since a wedding had been celebrated there. Four days earlier William Norman accompanied by his future brother-in-law had been granted a license after swearing an oath to the Lord Bishop of Bath & Wells. William was from Huish Champflower a neighbouring parish to his bride. The license states both bride and groom were upwards of twenty one years…the church record says they were married by license with the consent of parents. Both William and Sarah signed their own names in the register.

Why would consent be required if they were both of age ? Perhaps it was because William and his bride Sarah Vickery were first cousins.  William’s father and Sarah’s mother were brother and sister. Theirs was a family deeply rooted, like many in this branch of my tree, in the parishes on either side of the border between Devon and Somerset on or near the Brendon Hills and Exmoor.

Sarah and William spent the early years of their marriage farming at Tripp Farm in Clatworthy.

It was there in 1818 that their first child was born just three months after the death of Sarah’s mother. In her honour they named their daughter Jane Vickery Norman. They farmed there for at least six years before moving to Treborough where they lived and farmed at Chapmans Farm. By the time they arrived in Treborough they had three children: Jane, Marianne (Mary Ann/Marian) and William. Another daughter Elisabeth had lived just 15 weeks. A further two daughters, Sarah and Caroline completed their family at Chapman’s.

At Chapmans, the census in 1851 recorded that there were 260 acres and that William was employing 3 labourers.

Marianne was the first of their children to marry. On 8 October 1846 she married Thomas Davys of Kingston in the parish of Raddington. Her siblings Jane and William were witnesses to the marriage. Two pages later in the church record, Jane and William were witnesses to another marriage. This time Sarah married James Davys, the younger brother of Marianne’s husband, on 18 January 1849. On the same page, four months later Jane married Joseph Partridge on 12 April. James Davys was a witness this time along with William. Turn the pages a couple more times – 1852 was a popular year for marriages in Treborough and there is Caroline’s marriage to Thomas Langdon Norman, a first cousin, on 24 June. This time George Sutton was the witness alongside William. Thomas Norman’s father was a brother of Caroline’s father, William.

William married Mary Dommett Raddon in Exeter, Devon in 1860, they had one daughter and lived most of their married life in Bristol where William was a publican running the Bell Inn in Hillgrove Street for a number of years before retiring to Nailsea.

After her marriage Jane and her husband farmed at Monkham Farm near Luxborough. They had just two sons before Joseph died in 1853. Jane stayed and ran the farm, her parents came to live there too until their deaths. William died 12 April 1874 and Sarah 1 January 1881. Jane died at Monkham Farm 30 July 1887.

Marianne and Thomas lived at Kingston which he had inherited from his father and grandfather. They had a large family of six daughters and three sons. Two of the sons died young, the third trained as a jeweller and had a business in Truro, Cornwall. They spent some years away from farming in the drapery business in Bristol, but returned to Kingston for the last twenty years of their lives.

James and Sarah lived first at Nethercott Farm in Lydeard St Lawrence. They were there on the 1851 census where James was farming 80 acres of land and employing 1 labourer. On census night Sarah’s younger sister Caroline was visiting and they were parents to one son. Their second son would arrive 6 months later. I had hoped that birth certificates might reveal their places of residence so that I could create a timeline, but no. For the first four children just the parish of their birth was recorded. However sons number 3 & 4 were baptised at Bathealton and their birth certificates state Milverton - which is a sizeable parish - as their birthplace, which suggest that home was no longer Nethercott. They were at Hurstone by 1857 though as the three youngest children are recorded as being born there. On census night 1861 they were at Hurstone with their family of six boys. Just one month after the census they would welcome their first daughter, however Caroline lived just 7 months.

It was Hurstone they left behind, servants and all, when they joined the growing emigration movement, packed up their family and set off for New Zealand in 1862. It has been suggested that James was left £600 by his grandmother, in contrast Thomas as the eldest son was left the lease of Kingston. This endowment, it has been speculated was possibly used to fund the move and establish James and Sarah’s new life in New Zealand.

Their plans did not initially come to fruition, but they were obviously made of tough stuff. Three more children completed the family after their arrival in New Zealand, one born in Auckland and the youngest two in the Coromandel where gold was the lure. Farming was something they knew and they pursued this endeavour in the Tuhikaramea area near Hamilton.

It was in Thames that Caroline, her husband and young daughter joined James and Sarah, arriving in Auckland in 1864. Sadly Caroline died at Shellback Creek near Tararu on the Thames Coast just 5 years later. Caroline & Thomas’ daughter Harriett married her first cousin, James and Sarah’s second son.

Other members of the wider Norman family were also emigrating from England, several cousins and an uncle went to Canada and America – some even fought in the Civil War. I’m sure there are others too – I just haven’t found them yet. 

Drapery was big business it seems and several other members of the Norman family and the Davys family were in this industry in the 1800s – another area I need to research further and record. Time permitting there are more new blog posts under development.

I have some other posts about members of the wider family, or which mention them if you are interested to read them while you wait for me to get organised.  The Great Chatsworth Rail Disaster  . YMCA and Land - there may be others.

I have made a map it still needs a bit of tweaking but for now using the link should allow you to move about the locations I have talked about.

George Henry Cooper

George Henry Cooper was the youngest son of Samuel Cooper &  Elizabeth Hill. He was born in Wellington, New Zealand in March 1843, eighteen months after the family had arrived in the colony.

Again, not much is known about his early life. It is likely he and his elder brothers attended school in Sydney Street, Thorndon, though records to verify this have not been found, perhaps do not even exist.

In June 1868, George’s brother Fred and brother-in-law Michael Twomey advertised in the Evening Post their plan to dispose of their Ginger Beer, Aerated Water and Cordial Manufactury Business on Molesworth Street by lottery. I believe this was the business they had taken on after the death of another of George’s brothers, Thomas in 1867. Two hundred tickets were to be sold at £1 each. A letter to the editor of the Wellington Independent dated 29 April 1867 and published 30 April signed by George indicates that he too was assisting in the business which had been his brother’s.

It appears that either 25 year old George had the winning ticket or that perhaps the lottery did not work and he simply bought the business. Whichever was the outcome, from 1868 George carried on the business, first at Mulgrave Street and then relocating later that year to Thorndon Quay in what eventually became known as the Hotel Cecil block.

In October 1868 George married Elizabeth Carrick (or Calvert), who worked alongside him in the business and also a small shop adjacent to George’s factory where she sold ha’penny cakes, lollies and of course ginger beer. A letter to the editor entitled “Old Wellington” published in the Evening Post 8 September 1934 in response to a previous reminiscent article helps to place these building on the Thomas Ward maps held at Wellington City Archives. (From the maps it would seem that the start/end points of Thorndon Quay & Lambton Quay may have changed over time.) Also in this block and adjacent to Elizabeth’s store was a general store identified as Osbourne’s. The writer also states that prior to being run by the Osbournes the general store had been Stagg’s. This was an exciting revelation as that meant that Frederick Stagg – cousin to all these Cooper boys was living right amongst the family in Wellington.

In 1869, when his mother died George was reputedly in Kaikoura as mentioned in a notice (not yet verified) in the Kaikoura Herald recording the death in Wellington of “mother of John and George Cooper. I’m not sure why George would be in Kaikoura, unless simply visiting his brother. He can’t have been living there as his business was established in Wellington by then.

George and Elizabeth had no children of their own. I have often wondered if they cared for the orphaned children of his brother Thomas. At least one of the children later worked in the bottling and cordial industry and may have had their start working for their uncle. However, when George died of a stroke aged 40 in 1883 he left everything to his wife Elizabeth to be hers and hers alone – free from the control of any future husband she may have. After her death the money obtained from the sale of his real and personal estate and effects was to be divided equally between the children of his brothers John (of Kaikoura) and Frederick (of Wellington). The shares of any of those nieces and nephews not reached 21 was to be held in investment until they were old enough. No mention was made of the children of his other siblings, Thomas, Elizabeth or James.

Elizabeth did remarry, in 1888 to Charles Brodie – another ginger beer manufacturer in Wellington. He seems to have assumed control of George’s business and absorbed it into his own company. Elizabeth died in 1911, her will was dated 14 March 1889 – a year after her marriage to Charles – and left everything to him. He was described in her will as a gasfitter – but at her death his affidavit describes him as a gentleman. A bit of a rise through the ranks of society – I wonder if any of John or Frederick’s children ever did benefit from their uncle’s estate.

Samuel Cooper

Samuel Cooper, my 3 x great grandfather, was probably born in Montacute, Somerset or a nearby parish in about 1789, no baptism record has been found for him yet. His parents John Cooper and Ann Pullman had married in Stoke sub Hamdon in the summer of 1784. The marriage record says they were both of the parish although John was described as a Sojourner.

Samuel earned his living as a Tailor, it is unclear where he learned this trade but occupations in the rag-trade feature throughout the census’ of the mid 19^th century. Perhaps his father was also a Tailor, but no records survive to confirm that. Almost as many townsfolk were listed as Glovers, Leather dressers, Weavers and Tailors as were recorded as Ag Labs in the 1841 and 1851 census’.

Samuel’s brothers John and Uriah are often mentioned in the Churchwarden’s accounts for St Catherine’s, Montacute, being paid for work on the roads in the parish, cleaning the inside of the church tower, washing down the wall between the church and the chancel, picking up boundary stones and other menial tasks. Samuel’s father John died in March 1810, most likely a few days after the baptism of his son Thomas, who subsequently died a month later. From the church records for Stoke sub Hamdon and Montacute it seems John and Ann had at least 10 children, however only half of them lived to adulthood. After John’s death Ann often appeared in the Churchwarden accounts receiving financial assistance from the parish.

Samuel’s sisters Ann and Mary married in 1812 and 1818. Mary died just six years later, Ann however lived to be 101, almost 102. Samuel married Charlotte Hann on 11 May 1818 in St Catherine, Montacute, 6 weeks after his sister Mary had married. He and Charlotte had a son Charles in September, followed by a daughter Mary Anne in January 1820. Charlotte died in the same month. It is unclear whether Mary Ann survived, however on the 1841 census there is an Annie Cooper of the right age, a Glover and single parent. There only seems to be one Cooper family in Montacute and Yeovil this whole time, so maybe ?

On the 1821 census, found amongst the documents in the parish chest (and available thanks to the Church of the Latter Day Saints), only the name of the householder is recorded, then tally marks to denote the numbers of people within given age frames and identifying their occupations. Samuel is there, living alone and engaged in a trade. His mother Ann is in a different house, where his brother John is recorded as the householder. John is engaged in agricultural work. The ages of the others, a male aged 10-15, 2 males aged 20-30, another 30-40 and a female aged 50-60 seem likely to be Ann 57, her sons, John 33 & Uriah 13 and two other unknown people. Not knowing the name of Charlotte’s father made it difficult to place Samuel’s children. Hann is a much more common name in Montacute than Cooper ! However the Churchwarden accounts record Samuel receiving assistance from the parish for himself and his child/children up until 1821.

Samuel remarried on 17 September 1821 to Elizabeth Hill. In the margin of the church register is a note "First marriage solemnized after rebuilding of the chancel". There don’t seem to be many people named Hill either in Montacute so nothing is known of Elizabeth prior to her marriage. But, she is definitely a Hill despite many people naming her otherwise in their trees having accepted an error on her eldest son’s death certificate as correct. I now have 4 documents where her maiden name is correctly recorded as Hill.

Of his siblings, Samuel appears to be the only one who could sign his name. He did this for both of his marriages, and also as a witness to another marriage in the parish. Charlotte his first wife signed her name, but Elizabeth did not. As a Tailor and businessman, the ability to read and write would have been necessary, I imagine.

Emigration schemes to New Zealand enticing free settlers to take the opportunity to settle a new colony at the far reaches of the globe began advertising in the late 1830’s. I guess we will never really know what Samuel’s motivation was to pack up his family and leave for New Zealand. At about the same time his brother Uriah was planning to leave Montacute too, although he would make his new life in the colonies which later became Australia.

Competition for work, and overall work opportunities may have been deciding factors. Times were changing in 1830/1840s England. Cottage industry weavers and glovers were being replaced by larger urban factories. Even in a tiny village like Montacute there were about 7 other Tailors in the 1841 census.

Samuel & Elizabeth applied for passage to Wellington on the Lord William Bentinck but did not sail for some reason, re-applying instead a few months later for passage on the Oriental which was to leave Plymouth bound for Wellington and New Plymouth. Their youngest son Frederick was 5 months old at the time of their application for passage on the Oriental. So perhaps they had decided to wait until he was a little older before travelling. He would have been about 8 months old had they sailed on the Lord William Bentinck compared to 14 months when the Oriental sailed. 

Samuel and his family don't appear on the 1841 census in Montacute - and so far nowhere else either. The census was taken on 6 June 1841 and the Oriental sailed from Plymouth on 22 June. I have wondered if they were somewhere en route, or perhaps even on board as ships in port were not enumrated in 1841. However being on board twelve days prior to sailing seems a bit extreme, especially since I discovered another family who emigrated on an earlier sailing still at home on census night. Perhaps they just decided not to complete the census as they were leaving.

Samuel’s son Charles, from his first marriage, was married with two children by 1841. He has been a little elusive to track since then – but I think I might have found him in Yeovil. Some more research is required.

Once in Wellington, the family lived in Thorndon Flat, around Little Pipitea, Mulgrave and Molesworth Streets. Samuel continued to make his living as a Tailor. Samuel and Elizabeth had one more child after their arrival in Wellington. Most of their children had married and were growing their own families by the time Samuel died in 1866 and Elizabeth in 1869. Like most early settlers in Wellington they were buried at the Bolton Street Cemetery.

  

U - Uriah

Uriah Cooper has been sitting in my tree for some time. I feel that he fits. The fact that makes some people less convinced is his supposed date of birth.

As I see it, he is a younger brother of my great-great-great-grandfather Samuel Cooper. Samuel too has a pretty fluid date of birth, somewhere between 1789 and 1801 depending which document you are reading. I’ve not yet been able to find a baptism for Samuel, but I believe he (and Uriah) are the sons of John Cooper and Ann Pullman who married in Stoke sub Hamdon, Somerset in June 1784. It appears from the church register that a sister of John’s also married that day.

There aren’t many Cooper families around this area so I think they have to all be connected. John and Ann had several children baptised in Stoke sub Hamdon and by 1797 had moved to Montacute where they had some more before John died in 1810. John was a tailor according to one story I read attached to someone's tree. My great-great-great-grandfather Samuel and his son John were both tailors too, so this new revelation seems like it could have an ounce of truth to it. My Dad and I spent a lot of Saturdays at the National Library in Wellington reading the microfilm copies of the church records for Montacute about seven years ago. We even managed to find evidence for my great-great-great-grandmother’s maiden name, but still haven’t been able to convince everyone who has it wrong in their trees to make the correction.

But back to Uriah. He is thought to have been born between 1798 and 1807. His death certificate in 1878 gives his age as 80, but who knows ? I remember being reminded recently about the literacy levels of our ancestors and that their numeracy skills were likely low too. Did they really remember which year they were born in, if they couldn’t write it down or have a document to refer back to ? And what were their addition skills like ? 80 might just have been a fair assumption made by his wife, the informant…who signed with an x.

My ancestor Samuel emigrated to New Zealand in 1841. Uriah had however left two years earlier and sailed on the Asia to Adelaide with his wife Elizabeth (nee Hockey) and three children. Some sources have only documented 2 children. He appears to have had a run in with the law before leaving England and spent some time in Ilchester Gaol.  He and his brothers may even have been involved in a riot which occurred in Montacute in the 1830s. I wonder if their wives and sisters were involved in the women led riot that occurred around the same time. You can read about the riots here. 

Uriah & Elizabeth stayed in South Australia for about 3 years before moving to Launceston, Tasmania. There they had six more children before moving again to Melbourne where their last two children were born. Uriah appears on the 1856 Electoral Roll living in Hawthorn, Melbourne. I am unsure where they lived in South Australia but it should be noted that there is a small settlement there, in the Adelaide Hills named Montacute after the birthplace of a financier of the Copper mine established there in 1843. I wonder if Uriah & Elizabeth knew John Baker ?

There is also a Montacute in Tasmania, near Hobart. This settlement was also established by a former Montacute resident. Captain William Langdon RN was the son of a former vicar of St Catherine’s in Montacute. He had been granted land in Tasmania in 1823, he regularly traded between London and Hobart and is reputed to have owned his own sailing ship. Other former Montacute residents are thought to have joined him there as well. Uriah though seems to have been further north. Uriah was a sawyer by trade and I imagine he would have had no shortage of work as settlers arrived and timber was required for building.

Uriah and Elizabeth had at least 13 children, not all of whom survived infancy, but many of who went on to marry and have families of their own.  He died at his home in Highett Street, Hawthorn. I know that the church records make the connection look pretty sketchy, but DNA matches are certainly pointing in the right direction. We all have matches coming up with descendants of Uriah, through at least 5 of his children and we and they also share matches with the descendants of their sister Ann. Contacting some of them is my next priority to compare information and see where can help each other.

#52Ancestors, Land

I have been working on a wee project trying to map and connect all the families in one parish; their movements and their descendant’s movements through time.

It all started because I had thought I would use this particular parish as the focus of one of my assignments. I thought I would map the route the enumerator took and document each family and whether there was a connection to my family. That was until I re-looked at the census and discovered a family with our surname which we appeared to know nothing of.

I have spent some time, reading and transcribing the census for 1841 – the first time there is good information about the residents of the parish – and have done the same with the parish records which are available online. In addition, I have found and studied the Tithe Apportionment book and map for the parish.

I’m still not totally sure where they fit in, but I’m probably around 85%. If I could find another couple of wills maybe I will know for sure. In the process though, I discovered that of the five or so farms mentioned in the book which were solely in the parish, all were either owned by members of my family, or farmed by them as tenant farmers for absentee landowners.

A couple of generations earlier, my ancestor had owned the manor here. Exactly which farms made up the manor is not entirely clear. But in 1841 three were still in the possession of his descendants; four if you count the adjacent farm which for some generations had been owned by another family who were cousins several times over to my family.

Tenant farmers included two uncles and a second cousin – plus the mysterious family who instead of being tenant famers or landowners were recorded as Agricultural Labourers on every document I found. DNA is suggesting a link, I just need to find some further evidence.

This is just one parish – there are several others I want to study too, to give a fuller picture of where they lived and how they lived. Thanks to the COVID-19 #StayAtHome requirements maybe I will get them sorted in the next few weeks too.

My roots run deep in Somerset

For the past week we've been staying with some distant relatives - 6th cousin distant ! That means having to go back to the mid 1700's to find the marriage of our common ancestors.

These cousins run a farm stay on their family farm. It is in a lovely little village on the levels of Somerset where they were fortunate to be just high enough that the flooding last winter/spring did not seep into their home or cottages. There isn't much going on here, as a visitor, but it would be a great place just to sit and relax, enjoy the pool and the sunshine if you didn't want to go exploring. We've been truly spoilt while we've stayed. Last Sunday we enjoyed lunch with some other cousins (5th once removed I think) who are in their 90's but full of life and with a great sense of humour. They chatted about all sorts of family, and it was hard to keep up with who was who all the time.

We've been out everyday as well, getting lost, driving down teeny laneways and discovering the teeny places our Davys family lived and farmed before they emigrated to New Zealand...and where some still are today. Clatwothy, Selworthy, Monksilver,Brompton Ralph, Chipstable, Wiveliscombe, Milverton, Wellington, Raddington, Waterrow and more that we haven't managed to get to this time. Some are larger than I imagined, many only have a few houses and a church.

Raddington Church built c1754

We met the gentleman who owns the farm where my great-great grandparents were tenant farmers before emigrating in 1862 with their children. He was a wonderful source of knowledge and had a collection of old photographs of the village at the bottom of the lane as well as some of the house. He also had copies of all the tything allotment information. We were able to have a tour as well since it was not being used. The house is available to book - wouldn't it be great to have a family reunion there ? How else would you fill nine bedrooms ? He told us how they had uncovered the enormous fireplaces, and altered other aspects to make it a little more modern inside. Walking up the 17th century staircase was awesome, to think that "our people" had walked those same steps each day.

Kingston Farm - farmed by Thomas Davys, brother of James Davys

Hurstone - farmed by James Davys before emigrating to NZ

The view from the front steps !

On other days we've been to Exeter, Watchet, Wells (though it poured with rain so we need to go back), through Glastonbury and had a good look at Taunton and Bridgwater. We also went to Montacute (where the Cooper family came from) and East Chinnock (where the Bartlett family was from). We've even joined the National Trust.

Montacute

Today we went to the beach at Lyme Regis. It rocked ! But was very pretty and a gorgeous day for a trip to the seaside. More on that next time. Tomorrow we are off again, back to Bristol for a show and then on to see another part of the country.

Goodbye Bristol, Hello Bath (and Stoke St Gregory)

Getting a rental car here has been an interesting process, but get one I did. However, we needed to get a taxi to the airport to pick it up. They have a system here where you can pre-book a taxi which sounds great in theory, but it seems when they arrive they aren’t quite what you expected. It has happened twice now.

Today the driver only just managed to get our monster bags into his Mercedes sporty type car for the drive out to the airport which is miles away. Once we got there, there was a queue of people to pick up cars and two people working. As well as doing the paperwork for each person, they also had to man the barrier to let the completed renters exit the carpark. Thirty minutes later we had a car, and piled our bags into it relatively easily. We were off, in pretty much a brand spanking new car, with no maps – because they were a bit budget in that department.

Following signs seemed like the sensible option, and very soon we arrived in Bath. Total contrast to Bristol. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is absolutely stunning, and so many museums and activities to experience. Plus, all of this AND the shops are right in the heart of the city. Today as well as all the normal tourist crowd it was graduation at the university so there was extra traffic and less parking.

We parked, found a lovely place for lunch and then marvelled at the shops and soaked up the vibe. People were so much warmer than they seemed in Bristol, willing to stop and chat instead of scurrying off and avoiding eye contact. We looked at 3 flats after lunch and are going to have trouble choosing between them I think.

Then it was back to the car, with our new map book and off to Holly Farm. There were some tense moments of map reading, and a couple of instance where the driver doubted the map readers skill, and the map reader used a shouty voice instead of a SatNav voice.

But, we made it and have been made to feel most welcome. Our hosts, who are related distantly (6^th cousins to me with common ancestors who were born early 18^th century) have given us all sorts of ideas for places to visit and even other places we could consider to live. More of that as time goes on.

Great Grand Uncle Watty

My Dad's family were tenant farmers in Somerset. There were a number of farms which passed down through several generations. When he started researching our genealogy Dad spent hours at the British High Commission looking up addresses and wrote many letters in the hope someone would reply and be able to fill in the gaps and take us back further. It worked too - took a little longer than emailing mind you.

They were ecstatic about reconnecting as they had always wondered what had become of the family who emigrated. My great great grandfather and his brother were the only children from the marriage of their parents. Their mother went on to remarry, and I was to eventually discover, have several more children. It seems though, that the boys' paternal grandmother left them money in her will - 600 pounds. One brother remained in Somerset, but the other packed up his family and emigrated to New Zealand with the Albertlanders in 1862.

They don't seem to have ever taken up the land offer which was part of that scheme though and lived mostly in Auckland and Hamilton. When they emigrated James and Sarah bought with them their six eldest children. Later we would discover that they had lost their seventh  child  aged 6 months shortly before leaving their farm of 140 acres & servants & farm labourers, with a most amazing house which is still standing albeit partially rebuilt www.hurstone.com Surely I have a hereditary claim on it dont I ? Money shouldnt need to change hands at all.

Anyway some of the sons, and I think even James briefly, caught gold fever in the 1870's and 1880's and spent some time on the Coromandel and Thames goldfields. Dad had been able to account for all of his grand uncles (uncles of his father) except for one. Walter. He knew he had been mining near Waihi and I remember wandering around cemeteries with him, in the days before people began to transcribe headstones, in the hope we would find one with the right name. But no. Dad wasn't even entirely sure he had died in New Zealand. He recalled talk of him being in Australia as well, and most intriguingly he remembered that his grandparents had a gold nugget on their mantlepiece that had been bought back for them by Walter. But bought from where ?

Walter was 7 years old when the family emigrated to New Zealand, 18 months younger than my great grandfather. I wonder what it was that captivated him about mining, that led him to spend his life "chasing the weight". Was the excitement and adventure ? Or the monetary reward ? As a kid I remember my Dad being a rock collector with a view to polishing up the gems he discovered. There were holidays where he scrabbled around in the undergrowth being rewarded with bits of amethyst and quartz. Is that what it was like for Walter too ?

So my search began,  I tracked down a death index for a Walter James Davys with the correct age in Geraldton West Australia, so we ordered the certificate and it did seem we had found Uncle Walter. But we knew nothing else of his life - apart from that he had never married. So that was that, the certificate got filed away, and the date added onto his record on the family tree.

Then came the advent of digitised newspapers. Here in New Zealand Papers Past supported by the National Library, enabled me (and then Dad because he is so intrigued by it all) to search for Uncle Walter. We learnt he was quite a successful prospector in Thames and Coromandel. He had a number of claims, and popped up in the paper giving evidence in court over disputes with other prospectors and in a landmark case with the Kauri Timber Company who disputed the rights to the minerals being mined underground. Walter was also injured in a rockfall reported in the Thames Star 7 August 1885 (3rd column near the top) and his recovery in the Thames Advertiser 12 August 1885. In an article about Ohinemuri - History of the Goldfields in the Te Aroha News 3 October 1885 he was referred to as "the well known prospector". The ongoing enquiry investigating the dispute between the Kauri Timber Company and the propectors in 1897 gave me my next clue. It reported that Walter Davys had since left Tairua and New Zealand for Australia. And here is where my relationship with TROVE began.

Walter was known as Watty in Western Australia. He was a much respected prospector and it would seem something of a billiards player too. He spent his days on the Coolgardie and possibly in Queensland (though I cant find much about that yet). He gave great names to his mines, Westralia Waihi near Davyhurst (the town named after him) was one, it yielded 20000 pounds ! Thats a lot of gold, and a lot of money. How amazing to read this (amongst other articles) and  to see the photo in the Perth Sunday Times 25 April 1926 . Watty continued to prospect well into his 80's in the Dongarra. I keep going back to see if there are more digitised editions where I can learn more abou this pioneer ancestor of mine.

On www.ancestry.com.au I found some shipping information for Walter returning to Australia from Auckland - I wonder whether that was after he bought the gold to give his parents and/or siblings ? It has been so great to find all this information and share it with my Dad. Newpapers are a mine (excuse the pun) of information to help build a picture of our forebears. If it werent for Trove we'd have still been calling him Walter - Watty has much more character dont you think ?

He was 88 when he died in 1944, and it seemed as late as 1939 still chasing the weight at Dongarra. I wonder what ever happened to the gold nugget on the mantlepiece...


This post forms part of Trove Tuesday as suggested by Amy, from Branches, Leaves & Pollen.