Tracing Family Branches

Today’s post involves my 5th Great Grandmother Mary Rhall nee Cassidy’s second husband Michael Reynolds.  Michael Reynolds was a convict who was transported to Australia with a life sentence and arrived on board the ship Lord Sidmouth in 1821. More information on him can be found here .  He is also mentioned in previous posts here  and here . TICKET OF LEAVE PASSPORT No. 44/586       28th August 1844. Name:  Michael Reynolds Ship:  Lord Sidmouth (2) Year of Arrival: 1821 Where Tried: Leitrim When Tried:  July 1820 Sentence: Life Ticket of Leave No. 42/1825 Allowed to . . . travel to Manero for the purpose of collecting stock for 12 months    On the recommendation of the Berrima Bench, dated 22 Aug 44 44/9038 Source: New South Wales, Australia, Tickets of Leave, 1810-1869 for Michael Reynolds.  Retrieved from Ancestry.com.au

Today's post involves my Great Grandfather Leo Battye. Source: EMPLOYMENT FOR 200 MEN (1935, September 19). The Gundagai Independent (NSW : 1928 - 1939), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225003068 Transcript: Near the old 'Bushman's Daughter,' Leo Battye and Sam Blake are prospecting.

Today's photograph is of my husbands Uncle William Allardyce James Martin, who was known as Jimmy and it has quite a story attached to it! Jimmy was the oldest son of William Allardyce Martin and his wife Violet Helen Marguerite nee Murray.  As I have written about previously (see here ) I spent nearly twenty years researching the wrong William A. Martin and his family due to being given an incorrect primary source document.  This year thanks to Barbara Cooper discovering my blog post and getting in touch with me I am finally researching the right family and working on some fascinating new leads!  More than this however Barbara has sent me three absolutely priceless, precious photographs of my husbands family that will be treasured by our family for generations to come.  This photograph of Jimmy is one of the three and has been in Barbara and her family's, especially her late Mother's, safe keeping since the 1930's in England.  Thanks to Barbara, it has now tra...

Today's post involves my Grandmother Cluna Irene Donnelly nee O'Connor. I have put a list together of all of the addresses for her that I can verify through Electoral Rolls.   Previous posts mentioning her can be found here , here , here , here , here , here , here  and here . 1933 Griffith Street, Stockton, NSW - Home Duties 1943 6 Russell Street, Cardiff, NSW - Home Duties 1949 6 Russell Street, Cardiff, NSW - Home Duties 1958 6 Russell Street, Cardiff, NSW - Home Duties 1963 6 Russell Street, Cardiff, NSW - Home Duties 1968 23 May Street, Cardiff, NSW, 2285 - Home Duties 1972 23 May Street, Cardiff, NSW, 2285 -Home Duties 1977 18/1 Cohen Street, Speers Point, NSW, 2284 - Home Duties 1980 18/1 Cohen Street, Speers Point, NSW, 2284 - Home Duties Source: Ancestry.com. Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Retrieved from  https://search.an...

Today's post involves my 1st cousin three times removed Ada Edna Polsen and her marriage to Charles Smith at Gundagai in 1929.  A post about Ada’s parents wedding can be found here . Source: WEDDING BELLS (1929, April 8). The Gundagai Independent (NSW : 1928 - 1939), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224971872 Transcript: WEDDING BELLS SMITH-POLSEN A pretty wedding was celebrated in St. John's Church, Gundagai, on Wednesday last, when Mr. Charles Smith, of Moss Vale, and Miss Ada Edna Polsen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Polsen, of Hospital Hill, Gundagai were married.  Miss Flo McCarthy played the Wedding March, as the bride (who looked sweetly pretty) entered the Church, on the arm of her father.  The Rev. S.G. Davis tied the nuptial knot. The bride was gowned in a pretty frock of crepe de chene, and a beautiful long embroidered veil was arranged mob cap fashion over a wreath of orange blossoms.  She carried a beautiful b...

Today’s post involves a Trove newspaper article that mentions my Great Grandmother Bridget Anastasia Lambert, who was a schoolteacher in various locations in New South Wales from 1891 until her resignation in 1900.  More posts on Bridget can be found here , here ,  here , here , here , here  and here . BUDGONG. (1900, December 22).  The Shoalhaven News and South Coast Districts Advertiser (NSW : 1891 - 1937) , p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13573115 Transcript: BUDGONG The annual picnic and presentation of prizes in connection with the Budgong public school took place on the 14th inst.  Some 200 persons attended, amongst them being many visitors from Kangaroo Valley, - one party, of 14, earning the distinction of travelling in the first coach (in charge of “Jim” Hetherington) that had ever been driven to Budgong. Under the ample shade of trees in Mr. C. T. Randall’s grounds, lunch, consisting of sandwiches and confectionery...

This has been a milestone month for my blog as it has reached over 50000 page views!  I was not sure which would happen first for me this year, my turning fifty or reaching the 50000 page view mark (by the way I hit the half a century mark first 😉) but I am grateful and delighted that both goals have been achieved. I thank everyone who reads my blog for doing so and hope that it has been and continues to be informative and entertaining for extended family members and others!  Upon reaching this milestone I took a good look at my blog and realised that the name didn’t really fit properly, as I have pushed past most of our families branches roots in Australia and ventured overseas to various parts of the globe and so I have renamed it ‘Tracing Family Branches’.  The new title is a bit of a play on my first name and I believe it better reflects the content and direction of my blog. My passion for genealogy continues to grow and I am so glad that I decided to pursue this in...

Today's article involves my husbands Great Grandfather August Felix Wilhelmus Noya in the Dutch East Indies.  In 1924 while working for the Department of Finance he was accused of embezzlement. I am extremely thankful that I not only do I have access to these wonderful international resources via the internet but also for translation websites that enable me to understand what on earth such articles are about! Source: "De Verduistering bij het Departement van Financiën.". "Bataviaasch nieuwsblad". Batavia, 03-11-1924.  Retrieved from  http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:011040782:mpeg21:a0016 I have more posts involving A.F.W. Noya here ,  here ,  here ,  here  and  here .

Today's post involves my Great Aunt Dorothy Jean Stevens.  She was the daughter of John Patrick Stevens and his wife Ada Louisa (nee Jones) and the sister of my maternal Grandfather Roy Thomas Stevens.  In 1946 she married George Wilfred Briggs at Young, New South Wales.  The marriage apparently did not last very long with him applying for a divorce in 1953 on the grounds of desertion.  According to the Stevens family history she went on to live in a de facto relationship for many years but unfortunately died of a stroke aged forty six in 1973 and is buried at Rookwood Catholic Cemetery in Sydney. It appears that George Briggs married again in 1953 and died in 1984. Dorothy Jean Stevens  Source:YOUNG (1946, November 18). Cootamundra Herald (NSW : 1877 - 1954), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article143775671 Transcript: Miss Dorothy Jean Stevens, of Wombat Street was married in St. Mary's to Mr. George Wilfred Briggs, of Moppity ...

Today's post concerns my Great Grand Uncle William Henry Lambert.  Previous posts I have done on him can be found, here and here .  William was the Lord Mayor of Sydney in 1921. Someone was a very passionate supporter of him!  I guess with politics it can really be said that the more things change the more they stay the same. Source: WILLIAM LAMBERT. (1921, July 7). The Australian Worker (Sydney, NSW : 1913 - 1950), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145772697 Transcript: WILLIAM LAMBERT. LORD MAYOR LAMBERT, of Sydney, has many enemies, and for that reason he has also many friends. It would be hard to say of which he should be most proud, for both, though in different ways, are a tribute to his worth as a representative of the Labor movement. Last Monday night the Town Hall was filled with his friends.  From every part of the city they came - thousands of earnest eager men and women, glad to bear testimony to the sterling ...