Tracing Family Branches

My husbands Great Aunt Kathleen Murray died on the 22nd of December 1919 off the Sultan Shoals, Malacca Straits on board the ship Ipoh with her cause of death being recorded as dyspnea following a badly ulcerated throat.  Kathleen was only ten years old and had been a border at the Penang Convent along with her three sisters Violet, Molly and Dolly, until she had fallen ill.  Her mother Helen had gone to Penang and was bringing Kathleen to their home in Singapore when tragedy struck.  Kathleen was buried in Singapore on the 23rd of December 1919. Death at Sea record for Kathleen Murray As I have previously posted (see here ) her death was reported in The Straits Times newspaper on the 23rd December 1919, which can be found here .  The Straits Times, 23 December 1919, Page 8 Untitled 'A sad occurrence took place on board the Ipoh on the voyage from Penang to Singapore, Miss Kathleen Murray, the second daughter, age 10, of  Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Murray of Singapo...

 Today’s snippet concerns Helen Murray nee Stillfried, my husbands paternal great grandmother.  In an advertisement found here in the Singapore Standard on the 11th June 1951 found at NewspaperSG, she gave notice that she was applying for naturalization. The advertisement was also published in the same newspaper on the 12th June 1951. NOTICE NATURALIZATION NOTICE is hereby given that Mrs. Helen Murray of 342 East Coast Road, is applying to the Governor for naturalization and that any person who knows any reason why naturalization should not be granted should send a written and signed statement of the facts to the Colonial Secretary, Singapore.  Mrs. Helen Murray 342 East Coast Rd. More posts mentioning Helen came be found here , here ,  here , here , here  and  here .

I am having a genealogy long weekend and as I had been making new discoveries about my husbands paternal family line I decided to chase up to see if there was anything new in the Singapore Newspaper Archives (see here ) that would give me any new information about this branch of his family.  I wasn’t disappointed as new newspapers have been added that provided me with the death notice for James Harvey Murray, who is my husbands paternal Great Grandfather.  We now have more questions than ever of course (as is the nature of genealogy) but it is another vital piece of the puzzle and a very interesting find.  Why his death was advertised in this paper and by whom we do not know. Deaths at this time in Singapore were not a rare occurrence, so why was his the only one listed?  Was the fact that his wife was Eurasian with a Japanese mother influential? The request for Java papers to copy this makes sense in that his wife Helen Murray nee Stillfried Rathenitz, daughters Dor...

Today's family notice is for my husbands Great Grandmother Helen Murray (nee Stillfried Rathenitz).  Helen was the daughter of Baron Raimund von Stillfried-Rathenitz and Nishiyama Haru.  Placed in a convent school in Singapore with her sisters, prior to her fathers permanent return to Europe from Japan in 1883, she lived most of her life in Singapore.  In 1906 she married James Harvey Murray and together they had four known children Dorothy (Dolly), Mary Clare (Molly), Violet Helen Marguerite (my husbands grandmother) and Kathleen (who died aged 10 in 1919). Death: Mrs Helen Murray, aged 75 dearly beloved mother of Mrs V. Martin and Mrs M. Kloppenburg, at her residence, 342, East Coast Road, Singapore, at 11:30 last night (14.2.55).  Funeral today cortege leaves for the Church of the Holy Family, Katong, at 5 p.m. for Bidadari. Source: The Straits Times, 15 February 1955, Page 7. Retrieved from  http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers

James Harvey Murray is my husbands Great Grandfather and prior to my research we only had the barest of details and a few family stories about him.  We had heard that he was smuggled out of Ireland with the assistance of Catholic priests after shooting someone.  We were also informed that he was a very large violent man who had done very well for himself in business (something to do with cinemas) after his arrival in Asia, and that he lived with his part Japanese wife and daughters in a large house in Singapore. At some stage his business interests supposedly suffered a down turn but the family remained comfortable. It was not known when he died but it was supposed to be some time before the Second World War. He is proving to be quite an interesting character to research.  Definitely a family black sheep and not the nicest person to have ever lived, but people come in all shapes, sizes and character types and I am not interested in judging them.  I still have a lot ...