Old Family Photograph

The Trove Tuesday blog post from Backtracking here prompted me to post this old family photograph from our collection which has caused family arguments concerning the identity and gender of the subject. Most of the family are convinced that it is my Grandmother Cluna Donnelly nee O'Connor, however one of my cousins is certain that it is our Grandfather Mervyn Donnelly as he claims that Nan told him that is who it is and said that Mervyn's mother Bridget Donnelly nee Lambert dressed him for the photograph this way as a joke. His story has been discounted by most of the family due to Mervyn having extremely dark hair from birth. It is worth mentioning that Bridget Lambert also had an illegitimate daughter Josephine Lambert who died as an infant (a fact not widely known within the family until recently), so the photograph may well be of Josephine and the story Bridget's way of keeping a photograph of her on display without questions being asked and judgements made.

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The Kendall Children.

I started this post a while ago and was going to finally finish and post it yesterday however our four grandchildren came over and I got sidetracked. Our grandchildren range in age now from six down to one; they are so full of life (each of them lights up a room when they enter it) and we feel extremely blessed to have them in our lives. After spending the afternoon researching this post, their arrival made this tragedy even more poignant for me and so I appreciated their company even more than usual and hugged them a bit tighter too! This morning I woke up to a cold, wet and windy Wagga day and the thought of three little girls out in August weather like this, in light weight dresses with no shoes or jumpers impacted on me even more. Those poor babies! One of the girls was found still clasping her doll that she had carried with her over the whole tragic journey. When my husband and I were looking around the Wagga Wagga Monumental Cemetery some time ago we came across a very sad he

Trove Tuesday - The Murder of Patrick McCooey

These articles involve my 5th Great Grandmother Ann Puckeridge (nee Maund) and her son William Puckeridge (my half 4th Great grand Uncle). Ann was born in England and married her first husband Joseph Puckeridge around 1796. There are records of two children being baptised in St Marylebone, Middlesex, England for this couple Sarah (1799-?) and James (1800-?). Their lives took a turn in 1800, when Joseph was sentenced to death for stealing scotch ticking, this sentence was later remitted to transportation for Life. In 1801 Joseph, the convict and Ann his free wife arrived in Australia on board the ship Earl Cornwallis , their English born children's fate is unknown. They went on to have the following children in Australia: William (1802-1877), John (1804-1885), Ann Sawyer nee Puckeridge (1806-1882), Mary Ann (1809-1818), Richard (1812-1881), Joseph (1814-1857) and Henry (1817-1819). Joseph worked as a brickmaker in Australia and died in Sydney in 1818. In 1820 Ann married J

Trove Tuesday - Death of a Centenarian

The year I turned twelve my Great Great Grandmother Flora Ann Worldon nee McDonnell passed away just two months short of her 105th birthday. She was born at the Inn owned by her Father and Uncle at Five Mile Creek, Gundagai in 1875; the ruins of which can be still seen today near the 'Dog on the Tuckerbox' and lived a full and interesting life. Growing up she had always been part of the family folklore. I have always known her to be my oldest ancestor at the time of their death but now it seems that my 5th Great Grandmother Ann Costello nee Hogan at 105 years of age has overtaken her for top ranking. There do seem to be some embellishments and discrepancies in the article however, she had been in Australia for only twenty nine years not over half a century and her immigration files have her birth year c.1798 rather than c.1782 that would be required for her to die in 1887 aged 105, so more research is required for verification of her exact age. Source: DEATH OF A CENT

Tracing Family Branches

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