Y - Y Chromosome

Why?

This is the one we don’t all have. You only have a Y chromosome if you are male.

It doesn’t mutate very often and is passed father to son. There are markers which can determine where your family originated and show their path out of Africa. I don’t get all the science of it yet though.

Additionally, because it is passed father to son it can be a source of proving family lines. Which Smith line is the right Smith line? Are we really Joneses or could we be Prices?

A few years ago, I paid for tests for my Dad and my Mum’s cousin.

Mum’s cousin because we have a brick wall in that branch and I hoped we might find some other people. I remember being hopeful when the results came in because there was one match with the “right” surname. But there are no matches close enough to determine anything yet.

For Dad it was more to see if there were any other people testing and try to confirm the family name. The results were pretty much not results at all, so far back it was pretty much prehistoric! To be fair many lines in the family have daughtered out – but not all.

For both, I just need more people to test.

I went through the family tree and looked at DNA matches and have made a list for Dad’s paternal line of people who fit the criteria. But I don’t know 90% of them, and it isn’t cheap. Plus, we’ve all been there contacting DNA matches trying to make a connection and not getting replies for months, years or ever.

For Mum’s brick wall though I have nobody. Well, I have my male cousins, and Mum’s cousin has sons and grandsons, but they are most likely to just match and not provide a window into the past. These candidates are the only male descendants of Mr Brick Wall great great grandfather. There aren’t even a lot of autosomal matches hinting at connection in this branch. So where to go?

So, just in case you are a DAVYS who is the SON of a DAVYS and you might be interested in testing maybe we can make a deal?

Or if you are a FULLER (with roots in London/Kent/Essex) who is the SON of a FULLER it seems so much harder but maybe it is still a possibility.

Contact me male cousins, second cousins, second cousins once removed, third cousins, fourth cousins even any of you fifth cousins in England.

W - William Reuben George Betts

William was born in Chelsea, London on 27 December 1841. His birth is registered as Reuben George, but by the time he was baptised at St Luke, Chelsea in January 1842 his name had become William Reuben. On the 1851 census he was recorded as Reuben. He was the second child and only son of Thomas Betts and Anne nee Horskins. He was a first cousin of my great great grandmother.

William’s father was recorded as a Distiller when he married Ann and a Brewer’s Labourer on the 1851 census. On subsequent censuses he is recorded as a Labourer. William was usually recorded as a Labourer too, but on Christmas Eve 1865 when he married Elizabeth Rice in Wandsworth, he gave his occupation as Engine Driver. At the baptism for his eldest son, he is recorded as a Stoker.

In July 1874, with his wife and three eldest children, William emigrated to New Zealand. His cousin, my great great grandmother had been living in Christchurch since 1860. Did they come because they knew she was already settled there? Or was there other family already here as well? They had five more children once in Christchurch, although only two survived into adulthood.

Christchurch was still a small town in the 1870s, they surely knew each other although I have never heard talk of this family before myself. They lived and worked in the same growing suburbs as well.

In 1900 the family were living in Southampton Street, Sydenham. Their three eldest children Elizabeth, James and Walter were already married. James was employed as a compositor; Walter was a bootmaker and very shortly would have a shoe store on the corner of Colombo and Byron Streets. There appears to be another Betts family living in Sydenham. James marries a daughter from this family but perhaps they are connected some other way too? Potentially cousins of William.

In another potential twist or hypothetical coincidence. Two of my grandfather’s cousins ran a printing and stationery business in Christchurch. Where did they learn this trade? Could it be that they worked for their Betts cousins who were compositors and in the print trade?

A DNA match revealed this surprise connection. Until then we had absolutely no idea anyone else in this family had emigrated. Let alone to the same flourishing city or that William and his wife were buried just a row apart from my great great grandparents.

Do you know this family? Maybe we can collaborate.

Week 2: Favourite Photo #52Ancestors2023

I have been deliberating about photos for two weeks now, trying to pick one.

There aren’t truckloads of photos in our family. Not “old” ones. There are plenty of more recent holidays and adventures as a family as my parents took lots of photos and slides when were kids and to a certain extent that love of photography has been passed on - at least to some. A lot of digital images though, stored in the cloud somewhere or on phones and other devices. Not as easy to pick up and reminisce about.

This one, then, made the cut.

It is taken at Sumner Beach near Christchurch, New Zealand about 1908-1909, I am guessing, based on the ages of the children. Only one person looking at the camera, or at least in the general direction, and the others with faces turned or obscured by hats. Cave Rock and the pier are in the background.

The gentleman standing is my great grandfather, John Fuller. Every photo we have of this man, he is wearing a hat that shades his face. EVERY one! John was born in Christchurch in 1866, the second son of Julius Fuller and Maria, nee Horskins. He worked for the railways and for most of his employment was based at Middleton Station.

The children are his three eldest. Edith (Edie) the eldest born 1902, at the back looking at her father or toward Cave Rock, Frank (facing the camera) born 1904 and Albert (Bert) my grandfather born 1906, bending over studying the sand perhaps.

Who took the photo? Maybe my great grandmother?

The family lived in Upper Riccarton, in the Wharenui Hamlet. To travel from there to Sumner would have been a relatively long, bumpy, probably cramped tram ride. Possibly requiring a change of tram in central Christchurch to continue on the way.

Its hard to tell which season it is from their attire. No bare feet on the sand for those kids! But there is someone in the water down the beach a bit further.

Climbing Cave Rock was a popular pastime for those who made the journey to Sumner. There had been a Yard and Mast Arm on the rock since 1865 alerting ship’s captains to the conditions when crossing the bar to dock at Ferrymead or sailing around the heads to dock at Lyttelton. I imagine climbing the rock dressed in petticoats and long dresses, carrying a parasol might not have been easy.

The pier in the background is crowded with people strolling along its length, taking in the sea air. Toward the end of the pier you can see the roof of the Sumner Lifeboat Institution, along with a slipway. The building was built in 1898, but there had been life savers and lifeboats stationed there since the 1870s.

There would most likely have been tea rooms serving refreshments, a band rotunda and possibly swings and roundabouts near to the tram stop or in the small seaside village. There were definitely donkey rides. You can read more about them here.  I had never thought about them as being an Edwardian family until reading this, but they were, and I think from now on I will try to remind myself of that.

cropped and enlarged from original photo

Julius, Julius, wherefore art thou Julius ?

Last Monday I took a trip to Essex. Mostly I was going so that I could meet Lauren off the train on her way back from Belgium. But also because I thought it was an opportunity to do some family tree research without having a reluctant companion.

So off I went in search of the elusive great great grandfather who hasn’t left much of a paper trail for us at all. I drove around in circles a little in the area I “think” he was from, and spent some time at the Essex Record Office reading parish records. Very helpful people there, with all sorts of advice. But still, he is hiding. Grrr. 

Nana always said that "in England Timms' were ten a penny, but you never heard of much of Fuller's, although in New Zealand it was the other way around". She was right again I think.

So anyway, these are my photos from my day in “Julius country” 

they have these here too it seems...

Industrial Action leading to Emigration

Goodness knows where yesterday went - but I am sure that somewhere in the world it is STILL Christmas Day. I'm sure I just read that Hawaii is 23 hours behind NZ, and I know LA is about 19 hours behind, so my cousin there must still be celebrating after Santa's visit.

I had great intentions for this post after having rediscovered some events in my family tree. Three sets of my 2 x great grandparents were married in Christmas week. December 25, 26 and 27. My great great grandparents Sarah Elizabeth Laney and George Bartlett were first generation Kiwis when they married at Bartletts Creek, Marlborough in 1870 but the others were married in England. Maria Ann Horskins married Julius Fuller at St Mary, Newington, Surrey in 1859 and were bound for New Zealand just a few months later. Their youngest son would marry the daughter of Sarah Ann Daniels and Edward Mark Vose in 1901.

Sarah and Edward were married on December 25, 1862 - 150 years ago this Christmas Day - at St Margaret, Plumstead, Kent. Edward was the 3rd or possibly 4th son of Edward and Elizabeth (nee Weller) Vose. Edward snr was in the Royal Sappers & Miners, Edward jnr had been born in Ireland while they were stationed there surveying and mapping the country. Sarah was the 5th daughter of Josiah & Hannah (nee Carter) Daniels born in West Lavington, Wiltshire. Edward jnr and his brothers all seem to have found employment  of some sort at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, Edward was a labourer at the time of their marriage, but by 1871 was listed as a Gas Stoker on the census. Sarah moved to London perhaps with her sister Elizabeth by 1861, as both are employed in the household of Walter Mitchell M.A. Assistant Hospellier (?) at St Barts Hospital. I'm not exactly sure what that means but since his wife's occupation was given as "Clergyman's Wife", I'm guessing it is something along those lines. Sarah, aged 17 (18 on the census) was the nursemaid. There were eight children ranging from 12 down to 2 year old twins - I bet she was busy. Eighteen months later she was married.

In 1879, the little family with their four children emigrated to New Zealand. They came on the Stad Haarlem, a steamer and made the trip in 51 days. The Vose family became market gardeners in Canterbury at Prebbleton and Riccarton. Sarah was a well known local midwife in her new community - I wonder if she had worked as one in England before they emigrated. So, where does Trove come into all this ?

Well its all about the Stad Haarlem. I had read the diary kept on board through the voyage, and some snippets from local papers, but I found more on Trove which I hadnt seen before, and which give a bit more insight into the decision to emigrate that these people made, and of the "experiment" to take large numbers at once on a ship not actually designed to take so many.

Gippsland Times (Vic. 1861 - 1954) Wednesday 5 March 1879 page 3 article62026700-3-001

 South Australian Register (Adelaide SA 1839 - 1900) Thursday 13 March 1879 page 5 article42973041-3-001

The following was an article from Plymouth Thursday 30 January 1862, but published in Australia in March.

South Australian Register (Adelaide SA 1839 - 1900) Thursday 13 March 1879 page 6 article42973028-3-001

  The Argus (Melbourne Vic 1848 - 1956) Tuesday 15 April 1879 page 5 article5939453-3-001

Table Bay, I discovered is in South Africa - the stopover there was reported in the South Australian register as well, from the Cape papers - but appears to have been shorter than the eight days reported at her arrival in New Zealand.

South Australian Register (Adelaide SA 1839 - 1900) Monday 14 April 1879 page 7 article42970688-3-001

And the final decision about this "experiment" in emigration

 South Australian Register (Adelaide SA 1839 - 1900) Tuesday 27 May 1879 page 5 article42976128-3-002

So, there we go, Happy Sesquicentennial Anniversary to Sarah and Edward - and now I know a bit more about their voyage and their fellow emigrant shipmates.

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