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A Question the Records Can't Answer

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A #52ancestors prompt -    most of the records we use in genealogy don’t tell us the “why” and “how” of our ancestors’ lives.  W e can read the records of what happened, but how did our ancestors feel? What was it like? What would you ask that ancestor? Well, this prompt was made  for my paternal great-grandfather, Gaspar Sigović!  So this post will be part genealogical record, part research and part interpretation on my part! The main document that I had, at the start of my research, was Gaspar's naturalisation certificate (more on that later), which listed him as Gaspar Sedgwick, a fireman, living in Newtown, inner-west Sydney for 25 years since coming from Austria on the "Lady Belmore" in 1874. There is a fire station near 27 Australia St, Newtown, so I assumed he worked there, and came yodelling from the Sound of Music! But my father and his Sedgwick relatives had discovered he came from Cherso (Italian for Cres) - they had 15 March 1855 and Sidovic as a pos...
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Third Fleet ancestor - Thomas Mansfield

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A couple of years ago, I posted that my first ancestor to arrive in Australia was Samuel Freeman, a convict on the Earl of Cornwallis, who arrived on 12 June 1801. However, more recent research has found that my 5th Great-Grandfather, Thomas Mansfield (also known as Thomas Mansell), was the first to arrive—on the "Matilda," part of the Third Fleet that transported convicts here. Stay tuned for the link to Samuel Freeman! Thomas Mansell was born around 1756 (based on his age of 72 on his burial certificate), around Surrey, England. He's my 5th great-grandfather on my father's side: Thomas Mansfield/Mansell (5th great-grandfather) Elizabeth Sandall (4th great-grandmother) Mary Anne Burn (great-great-great-grandmother) Thomas Freeman (great-great-grandfather) Susannah "Jane" Freeman (great-grandmother) Cora Parsons (paternal grandmother) Terry Sedgwick (father) Another Ancestry member has listed his parents as Robert and Mary Mansell, but I haven't found a...
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My Lumsden links - Scottish estates, rebellion and highland flings!

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On my paternal grandmother's side of the family, my grand-aunt Olive has "Lumsden" as her middle name, as does her grandmother (my great-great-grandmother), Elizabeth Lumsden Archibald, who was born in 1856 in Goulburn in the NSW southern highlands before moving up to the Tamworth area and married at 16! Anyway, I always thought it was a bit weird and that it must have been a family name. So, I went searching through records, mostly to be sure fathers and mothers are who they are supposed to be, and hit a few dead ends. Her father was John Duncan Archibald (alas, not of the famous Archibald art prizes fame), who was born around 1836 in Aberdeen, Scotland, and came to Australia from Scotland in 1854 on the "London" - he was listed as a saloon waiter, and gave his occupation as ship steward on Elizabeth's birth certificate. His name combines his dad's surname of Archibald (or Archie) and his mother Catherine's surname Duncan. Catherine was born in 1797...
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Over the sea

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I'm using the theme from 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks of "Water" to inspire this post - I'm going to interpret this as "ancestors who travelled over water to get to Australia" to trace my direct lineage and how they got here. All four of my grandparents were born in Australia, but once we get to great grandparent level, we start to have immigrants: Gaspar Sedgwick/Sigovich - Gaspar (or Jaspar, as some records have him listed), my great-grandfather on my father's father's side, born in 1855 in Cherso/Cres, Austria/modern-day Croatia. It took us a while to figure out his history - we thought he may have changed his name from something like Segvich. We found naturalisation papers from 1900, which indicated he came to Australia in 1874   from "Austria" on the Lady Belmore. Well, I've searched the records of the Lady Belmore and can't find any record of a Sedgwick/Segvich/Legwich or anything similar coming over. But there may be records...
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