Finding and facing the absolute facts about Edward Atkins

In that all or nothing way of things emails have been flying thick and fast as a result of our recent doubts.

What we need to ascertain is how likely it is that the Edward Atkins cited in the death notice for 1891 is our Edward Atkins. 

To list the facts we have:

Edward Atkins is recorded as living in the Clare Valley as a farmer, in 1849.  He and Elizabeth were married in the Clare Valley which is about 50 kilometres south of Wirrabarra Forest. It is a long way from Wirrabarra to Clare but if Edward had friends at Penwortham, and perhaps it was the closest Anglican church, then it would be worth the journey.

His marriage record for January 12, 1857 to Elizabeth Mashford Lewis has them residing in Rocky River, which is the Wirrabarra Forest Area. They were married at St. Mark's Church, Penwortham and the witnesses were Abraham Cundall, farmer, Connaught (Clare Valley) and E. Greenslade, no occupation listed, Penwortham.

N.B. In some later information an Ellen Greenslade is listed as applying for a publican's licence in the Penwortham area. She may have been a friend of Elizabeth's and Elizabeth may have worked at a hotel given family experience through her mother Mary Cann Mashford who was listed as a publican in the 1841 Devon census.

Edward's age is given as 44, his trade as a blacksmith and his father as Joseph Atkins. The officiating minister was William Wood.

This links our Edward with the Edward Atkins registered as living in the Clare Valley in 1849.

The following mention of Edward and Elizabeth is made in Flinders Ranges Research:

http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/wirrabaraforest.htm

On 22 November 1857 blacksmith Edward Atkins and his wife Elizabeth, nee Marshford had a daughter, Elizabeth followed by another daughter, Mary on 8 December 1859.

The next record is for the birth of Edward and Elizabeth's son, James Haynes Atkins on January 2, 1862 where Edward is now listed as a shepherd, living at Charlton. Charlton was the settlement which grew up around the Charlton Mine in Wirrabarra Forest and the name of which was later changed to Wirrabarra. 

Photo: Edward Atkins with his daughters Elizabeth Atkins (Cox) on the right and Mary Atkins (Ross) on the left.
 

The Wirrabarra Forest was also known as White Forest or Whyte's Forest.

It is a fact that our Edward was living and working in the Wirrabarra Forest from the time of their marriage until at least 1862 when James Haynes Atkins was born. 

These are the only absolute FACTS we have about our Edward Atkins. And now comes the possibles and maybes.

On January 3, 1843 an Edward Atkins married Hannah McLeod at Trinity Church, Adelaide. He is listed 'of age' and his occupation is given as blacksmith. The witnesses were Wm. Lilford and Elizabeth Parker. They were married by licence. Edward is listed as a bachelor.

There are a number of children born to Edward Atkins 'father' between 1843 and 1856 mostly in the Clare Valley.

We have some facts showing that by 1875 Elizabeth Atkins was living in Gladstone but nothing to suggest that Edward was with her.We have records showing that Elizabeth Atkins  signed over land to her oldest son, George Lewis,  in Gladstone in 1875. Mary, the youngest daughter of Edward and Elizabeth gave birth to an illegitimate child, Edward Welsh Atkins in 1877 and John Mashford Lewis died at his mother's residence in Gladstone in 1888. There is no mention of Edward Atkins and some suggestion that he and Elizabeth may have separated.

And then we have a death notice:

“Atkins.-On the 15^th November, 1891 at the residence of his son-in-law, Whyte Park, Wirrabara, Edward Atkins, aged 84 years. A colonist of over 50 years, leaving 1 son, 5 daughters, 47

grandchildren and 3 greatgrandchildren to mourn their loss. Gloucestershire papers please copy.”

Given the ages of James, Elizabeth and Mary and the children they had between them in 1891 it is clear that this Edward Atkins had more than these three children and was not living with a wife or did not have a living wife.We have at this point no record that Elizabeth Mashford Atkins or any of her children posted a death notice for our Edward Atkins which would clearly establish him as NOT the Whyte's Park Edward. 

The link to our Edward Atkins is the area - Whyte Park, Wirrabarra. As a colonist of over 50 years he is clearly likely to be the Edward Atkins who married Hannah McLeod in 1843.

Other research has brought up an Emily and Margaret Atkins, both of whom were married at the residence of John Pole, a shepherd, at Booleroo Station. Emily married Edward Puddy on 4/5/1872 and Margaret married Jasper Newberry, on 24/12/1872.  Both Emily and Margaret record their fathers as an Edward Atkins with no record of a mother's name. It is a reasonable guess that Emily and Margaret were sisters. 

Booleroo Station is about 18 kilometres north of Wirrabarra Forest and it is conceivable that our Edward worked here as a shepherd. Wirrabarra Station is another possibility but given the scarcity of settlers in the area at the time, it is highly likely that those living in Wirrabarra and places like Booleroo Station, knew each other.

A John Pole married an Ann Atkins on 23/12/1887 at an Adelaide Registry office and her father is listed as Edward Atkins.  The marriage date seems late for this to be the John Pole living at Booleroo Station but it is possible that Ann and John lived together for quite some years before marrying. Ages were something of a moveable feast at this time, particularly on marriage records and writing can be hard to decipher.

 I have not seen this marriage record and I am wondering if there could be a mistake for the year with writing on such records difficult to define at the best of times. A marriage date of 1877 would more likely draw these women together.

In addition, John McKinnon,  married Jane Atkins on the 25/12/1867 at Saint Mark’s Church Penwortham. She was aged 22 years at the time of her marriage. Her father was called Edward Atkins. If Jane Atkins was 22 years of age in 1867 she was born in the year 1845.

The fact that Jane Atkins was married in the same church as Edward Atkins and Elizabeth Mashford Lewis suggests a possible connection. This also suggests that our Edward may well be the Edward who married Hannah McLeod and who had children, possibly six, before he married Elizabeth.

In addition,  a Sarah Atkins, aged 26, married James Stacey on 8/4/1872 in Saint Mark's, Penwortham as well. Her father is also listed as Edward Atkins.  Sarah would have been born in 1846, within the time-line for the children of the Edward who married Hannah.

The Clare Historical Society has come up with records showing a son, Joseph, baptised at St Barnabas Church of England, Clare in 1851 with parents Edward and Hannah Atkins. It seems a stretch to think that the co-incidence of our Edward being in the Clare Valley and marrying in the Clare Valley in 1857 might not be this same Edward having children with a wife called Hannah!

Even more so given that our Edward lists his father's name as Joseph and it was traditional to hand on this name to at least one son, often the first-born but not necessarily. James Haynes Atkins did not give any of his son's his father's name but we have reasons to suspect there had been a family falling out which might explain this omission.

If our Edward had a son called Joseph by a first marriage it would explain why he did not call his son by Elizabeth Mashford, Joseph. 

The same Edward and Hannah Atkins had a daughter baptised in the same church in 1854 which would fit with our Emily Atkins Puddy.

Another child, no name given was baptised in the same church in 1850 to Edward and 'Anne' Atkins although the writing is indistinct and Hannah and Anne are not dissimilar.  So a Hannah Atkins with husband Edward, was alive and living in the Clare Valley in 1854, just three years before our Edward would marry my great-great-grandmother.

More importantly, St. Mark's, Penwortham and St. Barnabas, Clare are in the same parish.

ABOVE: Edward Atkins.

Here is the list we came up with for possible children of Edward and Hannah Atkins: 

·       Henry Edward born 1843, probably Adelaide where Edward and Hannah married.

·       Jane McKinnon nee Atkins 1845, born Clare.

·       Margaret Newberry nee Atkins 1847, born Clare.·    

·       Sarah Stacey nee Atkins 1850, born Clare.

·       Joseph Atkins born 1851, born Clare.

  Emily Puddy nee Atkins 1854, born Clare.

In 1857 Henry, if still living would have been 14; Margaret would have been ten; Sarah, seven; Joseph six and Emily three and given the times, and the tendency for children to appear every two years, with twelve months of breastfeeding acting as a natural contraceptive, there may well have been seven or eight children born to Edward and Hannah Atkins during their thirteen or fourteen years of marriage.

This certainly provides more than enough children to provide the multitude of grand-children recorded for the Edward Atkins who died at Whyte's Park in 1891. The question is: Is this our Edward Atkins?

So there are clues to make it believable that our Edward married Hannah McLeod first and that he is the Edward living with his son-in-law at Whyte Park, Wirrabarra when he died. We know our Edward was in Rocky River, Wirrabarra. We know he was first a blacksmith then a shepherd. We know he worked as a shepherd in the Wirrabarra Forest - Booleroo area in 1862, but we do not know for certain that he is the Edward listed on the death notice. There is a lot of circumstantial evidence but that is not fact. 

The Edward who married Hannah has 'disappeared' and yet is likely to be the Edward who re-appeared as a resident in the Clare Valley in 1849. This was the year Elizabeth Mashford Lewis's brother John Cann Mashford died, of dropsy, in Adelaide  on September 11.  John was a tailor, residing at Kensington and his brother George registered his death, not knowing that two days after the first  anniversary of his brother's death,  he would also be dead.

George May Mashford, Shoemaker, residing at Kensington, died of typhus fever  on September 14, 1850. Typhus is usually carried by lice and ticks spread by rats and was common in crowded unsanitary conditions. One wonders if George had ended up in gaol given press records showing altercations with his brother-in-law Peter Lewis as I have previously recorded on the blog.

A mere two months later, Mary Cann Mashford, Elizabeth's mother died of 'natural decay' on November 14. Although having lost two sons in the space of a year it may well have been a broken heart. Mary's age is listed as 61, widow residing at Kensington,  and her death was notified by her younger son Josiah Labbett Mashford,  occupation Sawyer (an old term for someone who saws wood), residing at Kensington.

By 1850 Elizabeth's two sisters Mary Ann and Jane had moved to Melbourne and Josiah was also dividing his time between Adelaide and Melbourne. Elizabeth was alone with what sounds like a difficult marriage, 18 month old George and four week old John. Her third child Henry was born at Marryattville in 1854 and died at the age of 16 months in 1855. 

Josiah had taken out timber licences in Adelaide around 1850, no doubt in the Wirrabarra Forest area (see pic above)  and one wonders if  after the death of her son, and what sounds like the breakdown of her marriage, she moved out of Adelaide to the either Wirrabarra Forest or the Clare Valley, where, within two years she would marry Edward Atkins.

It is now a matter of finding some facts which fit the framework of clues linking Edward Atkins with Hannah McLeod - Emily Puddy - Margaret Newberry - Jane McKinnon - John Pole - Booleroo Station- Whyte's Park - the name Joseph - the trade of blacksmith - Clare Valley -  and Gloucestershire.

And the mystery deepens as mysteries can

In that way of things with family research, one thing leads to another possibility. The 'clues' if you like are littered throughout the dross and dregs of history; called into place by conjecture.

I was doing a search on Edward Atkins yesterday, trying to find a marriage for him in England between 1844 and 1849 and birth records for Jane or Margaret Atkins. I had no success with the latter but I did come across a marriage for Edward Atkins and Mary Welch, July 30, Swinford, Worcester which fits with Cousin Luke's search area and birth certificates he found for a Jane and Margaret Atkins.

But more than that, the name Welch struck a chord. My great-grandmother Mary Atkins Ross had an illegitimate son in 1877 whom she named Edward Welsh (close to Welch and either could be a misprint) Atkins and whose father she gave as Edward Welsh. Co-incidence? Of course it might be but it also might be a clue as Cousin Luke suggested when I raised it with him.

Here is his theory which actually makes a lot of sense and would certainly explain the clearly massive rift between Edward Atkins and his wife, Elizabeth Mashford Lewis Atkins and their children, Elizabeth, Mary and James and the 'blanket of silence' which was dropped over Edward's three older daughters.

 I did see the name Welch some time go, wrote Luke, and believed it may have been a match but I found the connotations disturbing. What I am beginning to think more and more, and hence why it disturbed me so much, is that Mary Ross nee Atkins was giving a clue to everybody about who the real father of her first child was. She names her first child Edward Atkins and listed the father as Edward Welsh. I have never come across the name of Edward Welsh in any of the research I have done so far. EG no birth, death, marriage, shipping record etc. Things just do not add up.



It may be the case that the real father of Mary Ross nee Atkins first child was her father Edward Atkins. This may make sense for a number of reasons.


1) Incest happens today so it certainly happened in the 1800s especially in country area


2) Mary Atkins gave birth to her first child Edward Welsh at Gladstone in 1877 and not at Wirrabara where Edward Atkins was living. Did Mary Ross nee Atkins and her mother leave Edward Atkins by 1877? If they did why?


3) John Lewis died at his mother residence at Gladstone in 1888. Thus, Elizabeth Atkins had her own home separated from her husband. It is known that in 1875 she signed over some land in Gladstone to her son George Lewis so she may have been a woman with some financial means and could have lived in her own home in Gladstone separated from her husband.

And I would add here that Edward Atkins may have signed over property and money to his wife Elizabeth in order to keep the shameful secret a secret. This could explain why he was living with one of his daughters at the time of his death.


4) When Mary Atkins married Charlie Ross in 1888 she left her father's name out of her marriage certificate. Her father was alive at the time of his daughter marriage so this could be a clear indication that Mary Ross nee Atkins had disowned her own father. Maybe Edward Atkins was the father of his own daughter’s first child and it was keep a secret between the family members and was the reason why Elizabeth Mashford left her husband.


5) It may also explain why not one of Edward Atkins’ children or his wife placed an obituary in the papers. (At least, not one that as yet been found). They disowned him and wanted nothing to do with him. Edward Atkins died at the residence of his daughter and son in law Margaret and Jasper Newbery at Whyte Park. It may be that his other daughters saw Elizabeth Mashford as the wicked step-mother and was telling lies about her husband (their father) to protect the reputation of her own daughter. This could also explain why Mary Ross nee Atkins never mentioned she had step-sister. The story of the Lewis step-brothers passed down as oral history, but never the step-sister. May be the step-sisters took their father's side and did not believe Mary Ross nee Atkins side of the story.

6) Mary Atkins named her first child “Edward” the same name of her own father and named the father’s last name as “Welsh.” “Welsh”and “Welch” are so close in terms of spelling that Mary Ross nee Atkins could have got the spelling wrong. Was she giving a clue as to who the real father was by using the maiden name of Edward Atkins’ second wife? This would also be insulting to her step-sisters and a reason as to why no story ever came down in the family oral history because the step-sisters may have had nothing to do with the children of Elizabeth Mashford.


Maybe I am wrong and Edward Atkins is no longer around to protect himself from my theory so I am some what apprehensive to mention it to you. However, if Edward Atkins did marry a “Welch” the association, at least for me, is disturbing.


What do you think?

I think Luke may definitely be on to something. If we can find the name Welch or Welsh mentioned in regard to any of his three older daughters or for a confirmed marriage for Edward Atkins, then this theory gains solid ground.

There are always reasons as to why things happen and there is enormous satisfaction in being able to understand what those reasons were. The fact that Edward and Elizabeth were clearly and irrevocably separated and that there was also a major split between him and his three children by her indicates that something major happened to bring it about.

On a Baldock family site I found details of a Jasper Newberry, born 1842  who married Margaret Atkins, born 1847 in the residence of John Pole, Booleroo Station, South Australia on December 24, 1872. They had two children, Elizabeth born November 5, 1880 in Wongyana, South Australia and Edith born October 5, 1889, in Glenorchy, near Wirrabarra, South Australia. This is of course the area where Edward Atkins lived and worked first as a blacksmith and later as a shepherd. (See photos above.)

The Newberry (Newbery) girls married the Baldock brothers and ended up in Port Pirie, a town where I lived for four years in the early seventies. I had family there and did not know it. Elizabeth married Charles (Ted) Edward Bee Baldock in 1907 and Edith married Arthur James Bee Baldock in 1913.

I have sent an email off to the descendant noted on the Baldock website and while it is slim, there's a chance he might know more about Margaret Atkins which will help us fill in the picture. But we have come a long way.

NB: Stephen Knowles replied to my email and said:
The reason I have Jasper NEWBERRY & Margaret ATKINS in my file is to illustrate the fact that their daughters Elizabeth & Edith are sisters. The brothers who Elizabeth and Edith married are my wife Kim's 2nd cousins 3 times removed.



The only extra info which I have which isn't shown online is that Margaret's father is Edward. I've noted that Jasper is also spelt Gasper, and his father is William NEWBRY (sic).

And he has promised to keep me in mind should any further information come to hand. In the meantime Luke is sending off for a birth certificate for the Sarah Atkins he found and I await death certificates for Edward Atkins (trying again with more detailed information as last time it came up with nothing) and Jane Atkins McKinnon and Margaret Atkins Newberry.