Over the sea

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 missing or incorrectly digitised. When I'm retired, I'll look through the shipping records to see for myself.

Lady Belmore - Gaspar Sedgwick/Sigovich 1874?

I did find a record of an A. Sichvich, which could be him. This is from the 1871 English Census, and he was a cook onboard the Czoerning, which was from Fiume, a city in the Austrian state known for shipbuilding and a port city. It is current-day Rijeka, Croatia. I haven't found any information on this ship.

There is also a record for Jas Sedgwick arriving on 8 June 1979 on the Alcongacua arriving from London at age 24 years, which would put his date of birth at 1855, which would be right. This Jas Sedgwick was listed as a draper, which doesn't fit. So, I'm not sure about his one. Below is a picture of the Algongacua.

The Alcongacua - Gaspar Sedgwick in 1879?

We found this photo in old piles of photos my dad had - we think it's Gaspar on board a ship, which would fit with his occupation of "seaman" listed on his marriage certificate in 1882. Which ship is it? I don't know. Is it him? It looks a bit like the same man in photos when he was quite a bit older in the early 1900s. Still a mystery to be solved!

We think this is Gaspar. It looks like a sailing ship rather than a steamer.
I wish I knew more about this photo!

Cecelia (Celia) Morley - my Great Grandmother was married to Gaspar. Her old sister, Catherine Morley, came out from Ireland in 1874 (we think) as a 20-year-old with (I think) her Aunt (I wonder if that is where she met Gaspar?). Kate had 7 children with Gaspar from 1883 through to 1892. She died at age 38 from what I think is internal strangulation of the intestine which caused her to lose weight. 

But back in 1884, she sponsored her sister, Cecelia, and her brothers Luke and Thomas, and I think her mother, Bridget, to come over from Ireland. They all came out on the SS Abergeldie, a pretty new ship that brought immigrants to Sydney as part of the Orient Line. A newspaper story about the arrival says: 

"The passengers were dealt with liberally - potatoes, fresh bread, and unlimited fresh water were at command daily, and so pleased were the people on board with their treatment that they presented addresses to Captain Slader, thanking him for his attentions to their requirements."

The SS Abergeldie - Cecelia Morley in 1884

I'm not sure where Cecelia lived on her arrival, but by 1894, she had married the widow Gaspar and presumably looked after his children from Kate. She went on to have five children with Gaspar from 1897 to 1910, including my grandfather, Joseph Patrick Sedgwick, in 1897.

Charles Frederick Jeremiah Parsons - is my great-grandfather on my father's mother's side. He was born in Papanui, a suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1868. His father, Jeremiah Parsons, emigrated as an assisted immigrant from Sherborne in Dorset, England, at age 36, with his wife Eliza and two children, Alfred and Annie, in 1863.

I'll probably never know why, but in 1895 at the age of 26, Charles departed Wellington, New Zealand, on the SS Wakatipu as an unassisted immigrant, arriving in Sydney on 25 January (although the record says L.F Parsons - but I can't find any other record, and this would fit, so I'm going to assume they got the first initial wrong). 

The ship doesn't look very big or luxurious, so thank goodness the trip was only five days between New Zealand and Australia!

 

Wakatipu - Charles Parson in 1895

Charles Parsons went on to marry Susannah "Jane" Freeman in 1898, and they had six children together, including my grandmother, Cora Parsons, in 1900.

Susannah Jane Freeman, my great-grandmother (Cora's mother, Charles' wife), was born in 1873 in the area known as Crow Mountain, north of Tamworth, NSW, so not much over-the-sea is happening there! Her father, Thomas Freeman, was also born in Australia, near Warkworth (in the NSW Hunter Valley) in 1845. Thomas' father, Emmanuel George Freeman, was born also born in Australia, in Richmond, NSW, in 1816. Finally, we get to his father (my 4x great-grandfather) Samuel Freeman, who was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, England came out as a convict on the Earl of Cornwallis in 1800. I think that trip would have been hard-going! You can read about his amazing life in this post here.

Earl of Cornwallis - Samuel Freeman in 1800

Jane Freeman's mother, Elizabeth Lumsden Archibald, was also born in Australia in Goulburn in 1856. However, her father, John Duncan Archibald (my 3x great-grandfather), was born in Boharm, Morayshire, Scotland, in 1830. He arrived in Sydney on 21 September 1854 and was listed as a "saloon waiter" on the ship "London". That would have been a long trip to be a waiter on! He married shortly afterwards to Susannah Brown in Surry Hills, Sydney, and his occupation on Elizabeth's birth certificate was a "ship steward" (maybe this is why I love cruising!). I think the "London" would have been a ship launched in 1832 to carry passengers from England to India. From 1840, she made two voyages carrying immigrants to New Zealand and two voyages transporting convicts to Tasmania. She then became a transport for several years, eventually colliding with a barque in 1866 and sinking.

Susannah Brown came out to Australia in 1853, aged 21, with her family as an Assisted Immigrant on the "America", a journey that took 135 days and sounds absolutely awful:

"The America left Liverpool on the 27th August, and has made a tedious passage of 135 days, during the latter part of which period she has been short of provisions. She had headwinds during the first part of the passage, and since making this coast. She was supplied with provisions by the barque Cape Horn on the 21 inst, and subsequently by the schooner Primus. The Captain also sent into Port Macquarie for a supply, and here some of the seamen deserted but were subsequently apprehended on the road to New England.

She brings 325 immigrants, of whom 63 couples are married, 20 male and 70 female adults are single, 96 are boys and girls between one and fourteen, and 13 are children under one year. There were 12 births and 14 deaths on the passage, the latter consisting of 5 adults and 9 children. There had been several cases of diarrhea and of scarlatina on board...the surgeon reports that there are no infectious or contagious cases of sickness now on board, and, considering that the provisions have been short, the passengers appear to be generally healthy and strong. It appears, however, that some of them have been very subordinate towards the Captain of the ship."

Source

On my mother's side, all my great-grandparents were born in Australia. My great-great-grandfather Arthur John Hardwick (Snr) was born in 1862 in Upper Forge, near Shropshire, England. He came to Australia at age 21 as an apprentice on the crew of the "Allonby" in 1883. He was an iron forge labourer. 

Allonby - Arthur Hardwick (Snr) in 1883

His wife, my great-great-grandmother, was Effie Clara Broome, born in 1866 in Willenhall,  Warwickshire, England. She immigrated from London via Cape Town as an Assisted Immigrant on the ship "Abyssinia" in 1887 when she was 20, sponsored by her brother, Ernest, who arrived on the "Aberdeen" in 1885. Interestingly, the "Abyssinia" was one of the first Cunard express steamers built to carry steerage passengers, so I'm sure this was a more pleasant voyage than many of the others here!

Abyssinia - Effie Broome in 1885

My great-great-grandfather was David Adamson Morton, born in 1840 in Pittenweem, Fife, Scotland. He came to Australia in 1859 as an 18-year-old crew member on the schooner "Callender". It looks like he travelled between Sydney and Melbourne a few times.

His wife, Mary Boyer, was born in Castle Bromwich, Warwickshire, England, in 1838 and travelled to Australia on the "Arthur the Great" in 1856 when she was 18. The journey wasn't straightforward, however, and it got stranded, not once but twice, near Point Wilson, Port Phillip, near Melbourne, carrying 463 immigrants. I have not been able to find any images of the ship by that name.

And finally, my great-great-grandfather William Henry "Jack" Martin, who was born in Penzance (yes, the Pirates of Penzance fame), Cornwall, England, in 1860, made the trip out at the ripe old age of 3 years, with his father (also William Henry Martin, a tin miner) and his mother Mary Jane and his infant sister, Elizabeth, aged 9 months, on the "Severn" in 1863. His brother sponsored his father and came to Mitchell's Creek, near Bathurst, NSW. I can't find any images of a ship of that name that would be in service then.

The family tree gets slightly complicated when he married his cousin Martha Jane Martin at age 21 in 1882 at Inverell, NSW. She was also born in Cornwall, but came out aged just 17 with her father, Benjamin Champion (46), also a tin miner and brother of William Henry Snr), mother Martha (46), her sisters, Elizabeth Champion (14), Susan Mary Martin (12), Sarah A (10), Percy (7) and Esther (4)  on the "Oaklands".

Oaklands - Martha Martin in 1882

Of course, there are many more relatives who arrived over the water, but these are the main ways my direct lineage arrived in Australia. Mostly in the late 1800s, mostly free settlers, except for Samuel Freeman, a convict in 1800. I still think those long voyages on those ships would have been a far cry from my luxurious cruising over water today! Just one of the fascinating parts of tracing family history.