Friday Finds: Mary Stevens

I thought that I would use Fridays to document some of my research finds. Some are small and just supply me with a more complete picture of a family members life, while others are larger, more important pieces in the genealogy jigsaw. The finds are what keep me going as they provide a sense of satisfaction, enjoyment and purpose to the whole endeavour.
My Stevens/Stephens branch of the family tree has been a source of numerous finds over the years. When I disregarded the 'known facts' and looked at it through fresh eyes I found a lot of information that was not in the official family history. Forgotten people in family trees are always a source of sadness and it is satisfying to rediscover their lives, however long or short and acknowledge and remember them.

Mary Stevens

Mary Stevens is my great Aunt, the daughter of John Patrick Stevens and his wife Ada Louisa Jones. Born on 4th August 1914 at Jugiong, New South Wales she survived for just twenty four hours before dying on the 5th August 1914 due to prematurity. Unfortunately she was not included in any of the previous family histories and no headstone is recorded for her within the transcriptions for Jugiong Cemetery where she was buried on the 6th August 1914. After finding her death in the NSW BDM Death Indexes I sent off for her certificate and waited to discover more details about her.

NSW BDM Death Index Listing for Mary Stevens

Registration Number	Last Name	Given Name(s)	Father's Given Name(s)	Mother's Given Name(s)	District
10987/1914	STEVENS	MARY	JOHN P	ADA L	GUNDAGAI

Source: NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages

Death Certificate for Mary Stevens

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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

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Tracing Family Branches

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