Caroline Barton did go to Tasmania - Update

I have found a record for a child of Francis Pogson and Caroline Barton being born in Hobart, Tasmania in 1849.  The parents names are specifically given as Frank Pogson and Caroline Barton.  The name of the child was Caroline Bertha Pogson and she was born on 26 July 1849.

Presumably this child died since by 1851, Caroline Barton had given birth to a second daughter called Caroline (my great-great grandmother).

Was Caroline's return to England associated with the death of Caroline Bertha?   The mystery of why she left Francis continues.  I am glad, however, to have proof that Caroline did go to Tasmania with Frank.

Hoolihan Surname Study

After 5 months, I have finally finished inputting the Houlihans for Co Kerry into the database, Wikitree and zeemaps.  It took a lot longer than I ever expected.  I am now moving on to Queens County.  That county will be quick.  After that is Co Limerick, there are many residents there.

Looking at zeemaps, I am wondering if the "Hoolihans" are a different strain to the "Houlihans".  There are no Hoolihans in Kerry or Limerick.  The Hoolihans are in the centre and south east of Ireland.  Not sure what conclusions to draw yet but it is interesting.

I suspect that more analysis of BMD and Griffiths is going to be required to finalise my theories.

Who Died in the West Indies?

I have been inputting details of some of my Myers forebears today into FTM and Wikitree.   I came to insert the information for Sir William Myers, my 6th great uncle.  He was Commander in Chief of the British Forces in the Leeward Islands before meeting his demise in 1804.  Sir William is buried in St Michael's Cathedral in Barbados.

I found a reference to the memorial stone for Sir William Myers in this church, he died in Barbados three weeks after being made a baronet.  How is that for bad luck?!  Interestingly, the church records state that "he was the 14th of 18 members of his family to have died on entry to the West Indies."   Who were these 17 relatives of his (and therefore potentially me) to have died in the West Indies?

The Pogsons were related to Sir William by marriage (it was Sir William's niece, Emily, who married Thomas Pogson).   Would the Pogsons have been included in this tally?  Emily was certainly very proud of her uncle and there are references to mementos about Sir William in her will.  But lets ignore the Pogsons for now.  So far my tally of dead "Myers" in the West Indies is as follows:-

• Sir William Myers, died in 1804, Barbados
• Mary Myers (wife of Christopher James Myers, nephew to Sir William), died in 1804, Barbados
• James Myers (nephew to Sir William and brother-in-law to the said Mary Myers), died in December 1804, Barbados.
• Sir William Myers, son of the 1811 Sir William, died in battle in 1804, also in the West Indies.

Who were the rest?   Mary Myers had a niece, Catherine Palmer, who died in Barbados aged 9, she is referenced on the memorial gravestone.  Perhaps we should include her in the tally.  Still leaves me with 13 more ancestors to find somewhere in the death & burial records of the Caribbean.



The Mystery of Caroline Barton and Francis Pogson

I have found a distant cousin thanks to the internet, Peter Driver, who has been fantastic in helping me uncover details of my Driver ancestors.  Peter is now helping me to do some research on Caroline Barton and Francis Pogson.

Peter has found several potential candidates for Caroline Barton in the parish registers.  He asked me to send him a copy of Caroline and Francis's marriage certificate.  This led me to read the various certificates that Mum had ordered in more depth, and I discovered some interesting nuggets when reviewing the timelines.  Here is a copy of the latest email I have sent to Peter, it is self explanatory.

I have a memory of a child, Caroline Bertha, being born in Tasmania.  I will need to dig this out as it would support my hope (theory!) that Caroline travelled to Tasmania with Francis.

One day, I know it, Caroline Barton will reveal herself and her secrets.    And nothing has changed my view that Francis Pogson was a hapless rogue who failed to stand by his wife and children.  If he was born today we would say he was born with a sense of entitlement.  Thomas Pogson's wealth did his son no favours.

**

Hi Peter, attached is a copy of the marriage certificate of Caroline Barton and Francis Pogson.  Married August 1847.

I have found the birth certificate for Francis and Caroline's first child, Arthur Neville, born 10 January 1846 registered in Notting Hill.  A second child, Emily Jane, was born 29 June 1847 registered in Waterloo.  The third child, Caroline Annie (my ancestor) was born 5 November 1850, registered in Lambeth. 

The birth certificate for Arthur Neville gives Caroline's name as "Caroline Pogson formerly Barton", as do the other two birth certificates. On Arthur's certificate, Frank's job is given as "Lieutenant in the Army" and on the others, "gentleman".

I don't know, this is total supposition, but perhaps Caroline Barton was his mistress and then when child no 2 came along, Frank had an attack of responsibility and decided to marry her!!!   Would explain a few things, I never really understood why the Pogson clan did not stand behind Caroline Annie, she travelled to New Zealand as a young woman on her own with presumably little money, whereas other Pogson grandchildren lived fairly well. 

One other interesting thing, Frank came to Australia in the late 1840s and was still in Tasmania in 1851.   Caroline was back in England by 1850.  I will need to do some research to see if I can find her travelling to Tasmania with Frank, or equally whether I can find her returning to England by 1850.   It does not seem likely that he would have gone to Tasmania, come back to England by 1850, and then gone back again (or maybe he did) to Tasmania and then being in the midst of insolvency proceedings by 1851.  Need to find out the cause of the split with Caroline and when it happened.   

One last thing, there is a 1851 census record of Caroline Anne Pogson, aged 3 months, living with her mother Caroline Pogson and elder sister Emily aged 3  in Nottingham.  The birth locations of both girls are given as Lambeth, Caroline Barton Pogson gives her place of birth as Nottingham, and her age as 27.  She is listed as married and her occupation as lace maker (I think, the writing is very faint).  So perhaps she returned to Nottingham because this is where she came from and she was a single mother having split with Francis?

Caroline Annie also listed Francis Pogson as her father on her death certificate in Australia.

So I guess, apart from immigration records, can we find a Caroline Barton born to Thomas Barton (horse dealer) in Nottingham?

Thanks again for helping me with my research!

The Drivers and the Sayers

Sometimes you have to think outside the box.  So that is what happened this week.

According to A Genealogical History of the Extinct Baronetcies of England by Burke, my 6x great grandmother, Mary Driver, was descended from the Moores of Kentwell Hall.

Basic research on the internet, however, had failed to substantiate this.  So I decided early one morning this week to try some experimental google searches.  I knew from parish records that Mary Driver had married George Cockrein in 1744 and came from Earl Stonham.  So I threw the key words into Google to see what would come up.

To my amazement, I found a family tree that showed Mary Driver baptised in Earl Stonham in 1721, the daughter of Thomas Driver and Pleasance Sayer of Ipswich.  How amazing!!!  And even more wonderful, this family tree stretches back several more generations.  I believe this link is correct because the dates and locations for Mary Driver work AND her mother is said to be Pleasance, and the name Pleasance carried down my family tree until the mid 1800s.  Coincidental, but enough for me to stake my family tree on it!!

I have got in touch with Peter Driver and started transcribing some wills. The first one is William Sayer, grocer of Ipswich, who died in 1681 and the father of Pleasance.  More on that in future blog posts.  I have also downloaded a will of Thomas Driver but I am not sure which one he is yet.  I will transcribe that one too, I am sure!

Happy Genie Dance as they like to say!!  None of my FTDNA matches have the name Sayer or Driver in their lists - but we shall see there, too!

And a footnote, it was my Mary Driver's niece (also called Mary Driver) who married the Moore of Kentwell Hall!  The Pesky Pogsons were talking up their connections again :-)

"My Dearest Boy..."

Last weekend I visited Mum and Dad.  While I was there, I took the chance to scan some old family photos.  My first post, with the picture of the Munro family in front of the verandah at Sunnyside, contained one of these photos.

Tucked away behind one of the photos was a letter from Viva Kathleen Reeder Munro (1878-1917) to her eldest son, James, my grandfather, on his eighteenth birthday.  I can calculate the approximate date of the letter from this, about 26 December 1916:

(page 1 of 4)

Viva was staying at the Jubilee Sanatorium, in Dalby, Queensland, away from her family in Warwick.  According to the notes on the letter, she was staying there in the hope she would recover from poor health.  The Jubilee sanatorium had been established to commemorate the jubilee of Queen Victoria and successfully treated many consumptive patients.  Unfortunately, Viva was not among of the lucky ones, and would eventually die from the effects of tuberculosis 18 months later. 

Viva's first sentence: "Very many happy returns on your 18th birthday.  I trust you will be spared strong and well to see your 81st".    This was not to be.  It is a sad irony that James himself would be admitted to the very same sanatorium in years to come, also suffering from tuberculosis.   James died aged 52 from a weak heart, an inheritance from this illness.

What I have learned about my great-grandmother Viva from this letter?  She loved her son - she calls him "Jig"!  I never knew that this was his pet name.  Viva was also creative, she tells James that she won first prize for the most original costume at the carnival.  What was it?   I have no idea and would love to know.  The letter also refers to people who are unknown to me, "Pally" and "Auntie".  And, most poignant of all, she talks about her health, saying she feels cooler and is starting to feel a bit better. 

I am delighted beyond measure to have found this letter.  All I know about James and Viva is what my mother has told me.  They are both enigmas, all I have are photos.  This letter is Viva's voice from almost 100 years ago.  It tells me something about her, and her love for her family and her son.  It is sad for me that Viva was away from her husband and children when this 18th birthday milestone took place.

James, my grandfather, preserved this document because it was treasured, maybe it was the last letter his mother ever wrote to him.  You treasured this letter your entire life Daddy Jim.  I am your grand-daughter and you never knew me.  But I feel I know you a little better now and, like you, I will treasure this letter always.


(This post was inspired by Julie Goucher's Book of Me Project, topic #42, Handwriting).

Welcome to the Blog!

This blog is to record my family history searches for my family tree.  "Hoops" stands for my family, "Mazes" for my husband's.  There is lots to research on this journey.

This weekend I have been at Mum & Dad's.  I have been scanning and uploading old family photographs using the best gadget I have bought this year, my Flip Pal!!

Lets open my blog with this one:  the Munro family taken at their house Sunnyside, in Warwick Queensland c.1912.

In this photo are my great-grandparents, James Robert Duncan Munro and Viva Kathleen Milward Reeder, and their three children, James Robert Duncan (the boy standing behind the seated group and my grandfather), Alexander Norman and Kathleen Laura Munro.  Also with them is Mrs Violet Field, their house-keeper.

This photo is poignant for me as it captures a moment in time before sadness would descend the family.  Within 10 years Viva and Kathleen would be dead.  Sunnyside is cruelly ironic.

I will try to keep up to date with this blog, recording my family history discoveries for posterity. 

Welcome to the blog!