Tracing Family Branches

Today's article for Trove Tuesday mentions two of my relatives, my 2nd Great Grandfather Edward Batty/Battye and my half 3rd Great Grand Uncle Richard Worldon.  While Edward Battye survived this experience and was awarded a Royal Humane Society Bronze Medal for his actions during the flood, Richard Worldon was drowned and left behind a widow and ten surviving children. Source: BY TELEGRAPH.] (FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.) DISASTROUS FLOOD AT GUNDAGAI. (1891, June 29). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 5. Retrieved July 9, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28270926 Source: THE FLOOD AT GUNDAGAI. (1891, July 2). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 6. Retrieved July 9, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13829934 Source:ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY OF AUSTRALASIA. (1891, November 21). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 5. Retrieved July 9, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8643349 Ri...

My 5th Great Grandmother Mary Turner (also known as Mary Wilks/Wilkes) is my earliest known and documented Australian relative.  She was tried at Worcester on  5th March 1785 and sentenced to seven years. Mary arrived on the ship Lady Penrhyn   in 1788.   It seems the 5th of March was not an auspicious trial date for Mary in 1785 or later in 1789!   On the 5th  March 1789 she was tried for stealing six cabbages from the garden of William Parr, she was found guilty and sentenced to 50 lashes.  Later in March 1789 she also was in trouble for her testimony in the trial of  Royal Marines accused of stealing from the government stores  (six of them were found guilty and executed) in which it was believed by some that she had perjured herself.  Mary was sent to Norfolk Island in 1790 on board the ship Sirius .  Apparently she stayed on Norfolk Island until 1793 when she returned to Port Jackson on board the ship Kitty .   Her de fact...

The inquest into the circumstances surrounding the death of my 4th Great Grandfather Thomas Battey is the subject of my Trove Tuesday article this week.  Source: A GALLON OF WINE PER DAY, AND THE DEATH OF THE TOPER. (1870, October 27). Queanbeyan Age (NSW : 1867 - 1904), p. 4. Retrieved June 11, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article30581135 Transcript: A GALLON OF WINE PER DAY, AND THE DEATH OF THE TOPER. An inquest was held on last Saturday forenoon by Dr Blake the district coroner, and a jury, touching the death on that morning of a man named Thomas Battey, a carrier by trade, who by a three weeks indulgence, first in excessive quantities of brandy, followed by the consumption of at least a gallon of colonial wine per day, drank himself into his grave.  A singular circumstance in the case is, that for a fortnight of the period mentioned, the deceased kept to his bed, and during the whole time, up to the moment of his death, the...

I am a huge fan of Trove it is a wonderful research resource and is very much a national treasure! For my first Trove Tuesday post I have selected an article involving a snake bite.    Source:Yass Items. (1885, November 6). Southern Argus (Goulburn, NSW : 1881 - 1885), p. 2. Retrieved May 7, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article109772979 Transcript: Bitten by a Snake.- On Wednesday evening Mr. E. Batty, of North Yass, was bitten on the left leg by a snake, at that part of the Yass river known as McFeetor's.  Batty says he did not see the snake until he felt the bite, and the snake was making the second attack on him when he killed it.  He then cut a piece of flesh out of his leg, about the size in circumference of half-a-crown and nearly a quarter of an inch thick, and went on to Mr. W. Davis', when Mrs. Davis blasted some more of the flesh away with gunpowder.  His leg was then tightly strapped above the knee, and he was brought into Yass to...