Stories from Dead Relatives

This weeks theme on #52ancestors in 52 weeks is "The Old Homestead". Now that's a really American term and I don't really have much information on an old farm that has stayed in the family for generations. But we do a bit of family history linked to a house. "Fifeshire" - 9 Eurobin Ave, Manly (Sydney's northern beaches). It was owned by my great-grandmother (my mother's father's mother) Emma Ivanhoe Morton. She was born in Manly in 1878, and married Arthur John Hardwick in 1909 and they lived in Brookvale, NSW. However, after he ran off with another woman, she lived with her son George Arthur Hardwick in Redfern and Punchbowl, before moving purchasing the house in Manly. Emma Ivanhoe Hardwick (Morton) in December 1924 She would have named it "Fifeshire" because her father, David Morton, was born in Pittenwheem, Fife in Scotland, before coming to Australia in 1859. Pittenwheem Harbour, Fife, Scotland George Arthur l...

For this week's theme of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks we have Misfortune. In my tree, I have so many relatives who were born, lived a mundane life, popped out a few kids (some of whom died young), and then shuffled off their mortal coil. They certainly weren't rich, didn't live exciting lives and luckily very few of them experienced huge misfortune. We do have at least one notable exception, however. Vincent Lovell McCarthy was the Great-Uncle of my husband. He was the fourth child of Daniel Joseph McCarthy and Margaret Spinks (and the younger brother of my husband's paternal grandfather). He was born in Dubbo, New South Wales in 1891, like all of his siblings, and appeared to live all of his childhood and youth in the area. However, on 26 July, 1912, it appears his life came to an abrupt end at the age of 20, being murdered by George Albert Thorby, in Wongarbon, a town nearby: The coroner at Dubbo found: "Verdict: I find that ... Vincent Lovell McCarthy...

For this week's #52ancestors, the theme is Lucky. So today, being St Patrick's Day and all, we will discover William Buckley, who is Andrew's father's mother's mother's father (so his 2nd great grandfather).  William was born in Ferbane, Offaly County (formerly Kings County), Ireland in about 1834 (I haven't been able to find a reliable record of this - it is estimated from other documents). His father was Carson (or perhaps William) Buckley and his mother was Julie Doyle. I think he came to Australia as a free settler in April 1857 on the FitzJames . He married an Irish lass Margaret McBrien when he was 25 in Parramatta, NSW in January 1859. They had 13(!!!) children, one of whom was Julia Catherine Buckley born in 1873, who went on to have Sabina Langdon in 1893, who was Andrew's paternal grandmother. William worked as a labourer and died in October 1918 in Toongabbie, aged 84. In Australia, there was another famous William Buckley, who was ...

I'm doing my family tree and I thought I might try to share some of it with you (the plan is each week with a prompt from the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks to write and share your genealogy, but we'll see!). This is my father's mother's mother (so my great-grandmother) Susannah Jane Freeman, or Grandma Parsons as she was known. She was born 28 Sept 1873 in Crow Mountain, near Tamworth, NSW. With her husband, Charles Parsons, she had 7 children (one before her marriage - scandal! and supposedly the last one at age 51 - we are not sure of the story behind that one!). She died in 1956 aged 82 of heart disease. That's her on the left - so good to see an old photo of people enjoying themselves! So, for International Women's Day this week and for the Strong Women theme of  # 52ancestors , I think she looks like a strong and formidable female ancestor.