The long shot which was way too long it seems

It was a long shot but too long it seems, for the Port Pirie researcher says the Charles Stuart Ross I thought might have been a missing child of our Charlie,was actually a baby who died at 22 months, not 22 years, his parents are clearly listed and  his father was Alexander Ross.

As the email states:

Sorry to disappoint you on the thought of Charles being married twice. I can only find the one marriage on record and the person below was born to Alexander Ross and Philis Mudie in Pt. Pirie. Alexander and Philis had several other children besides Charles Stuart and unfortunately did have some bad luck with children surviving at that time. Alexander and Philis married in Adelaide and had their first child also called Charles in Adelaide. The first child lived 2weeks. Charles Stuart was in actual fact only 22mths old when he died, not 22yrs as you have quoted below. The council is going through old records and at times they are a little hard to decipher so I can understand that it would be easy to get it mixed up with yrs and mths if the record just shows 22 recorded. This is why we go to the death records to confirm the age at death which shows him as being 1yr and 10mths old.

I am having a little trouble finding any records of Charles Ross in Pt. Pirie. I have yet to go through the old Recorders but not having an exact year this might be a long drawn out exercise. We have been through some of the old Advertisers and as yet have not found his name among those that have jumped ship. Pity we do not know his Uncles name or the name of the ship he may have been on.

This is not to say that Charles Ross was not married more than once and there is not a first wife from Port Pirie or even children but just to say these children are definitely not his.One would have thought an earlier marriage would be found and if no such record exists it suggests our Charlie was a somewhat exceptional man remaining single for so long. Or perhaps just a poor one, money being the crucial ingredient at the time, if one were to wed.

Then again, perhaps he had a family back on Ithaca and was sending money home. If something happened to that family in the mid 1880's it might push him to find another wife and to irrevocably commit to Australia as home.

The Port Pirie researcher is finding it tough going to track anything down which might relate to our Charles Ross but I shan't give up hope yet. Another long-shot thought dropped into my mind today and that was, given the independence of thought seen in many of Charlie's descendants and noticing an image of the Freemason's from Port Pirie, I am wondering if it is worth checking any connection with that organisation. I have sent a note to the researcher to that end.

I am thinking if nothing comes of this then the next step is to settle myself in the South Australian State Library for the time it takes to go through copies of the Areas Express and look for other stories about Charlie.

From the tone of his obituary I would hazard a guess that he had been written about previously and his roving career detailed in a general article on a local personality. He was well liked by many and it sounds as if he had an interesting life before moving to Gladstone - more than enough to whet the interest of any journalist on a quiet day.

Time will tell.

Was Charlie Ross also married more than once?

While waiting for researchers to get back to me I have been doing some more pondering on ways to 'find' Charlie Ross.

The newspaper article provided valuable information in that it gave a 'date' for his arrival in Gladstone and the information that prior to that he had been settled in Port Pirie. The word 'settled' implies that he had been there for some years.

Looking at his age when he married Mary Atkins there is a good chance that a man of thirty-nine in that day and age may well have been married before. I had considered the possibility that he had left a wife and family behind on Ithaca but I doubt that given the reference to his 'roving career' and the fact that boys joined ship as young as eleven and probably no later than fifteen. I am taking the middle position and guessing he set sail 'on his uncle's ship', as the family story goes, around the age of thirteen. This means he could have had a roving career of some seven to ten years and arrived in Port Pirie at the age of twenty or so.

This would have given him around fifteen or more years in the town where it seems highly unlikely that he would remain unmarried. It seemed to me a search of cemetery records might be the way to go and there I found a Charles Stuart Ross who could possibly be a son. I have passed the information on to the Port Pirie researcher on the basis that it is well worth checking out.

ROSS, CHARLES STUART

Surname	ROSS
Given Names	CHARLES STUART
Cemetery	PORT PIRIE
Section	COMMON PROTESTANT 1
Plot/Grave/Niche	40
Last Residence	PORT PIRIE
Age at Death	22 YRS
Date of Burial	29/09/1892
Minister Officiating	REV. CHAPMAN
Burial/Order Number	709

Comments

CP ,LOT 40, GRAVE:6

Photo: Port Pirie smelters circa 1907... the year Charlie Ross died.

Charles Stuart Ross would have been sixteen or seventeen when our Charlie Ross went to Gladstone - more than old enough to be working and to remain behind. As to what happened to a first wife, I would guess that she died although I have found no records for a suitable 'fit.' She may not have of course, women left their marriages in the same way that men did - not as often, but it did happen.

Her death is a more likely explanation given that Charlie Ross would have made regular trips to Port Pirie to source his fish for the Gladstone trade and a 'living wife' would be rather too inconvenient. If this Charles Ross were found to be his son, the lack of family knowledge could be easily explained by the fact that Charlie and Mary's children were toddlers when he died - the couple having been married barely four years when Charles Stuart Ross died in Port Pirie.

A marriage certificate for Charles Ross, with the same details, perhaps even with a place of birth or Greek surname, found in Port Pirie would be a huge step forward. I can only hope.

There is another possible Ross child buried in Port Pirie:

ROSS, FRANCES MAY

Surname	ROSS
Given Names	FRANCES MAY
Cemetery	PORT PIRIE
Section	COMMON PROTESTANT 1
Plot/Grave/Niche	74
Last Residence	PORT PIRIE
Age at Death	11YRS
Date of Burial	07/12/1897
Minister Officiating	SALVATION ARMY CAPTAIN
Funeral Director	SYMONDS
Burial/Order Number	1167

Comments

CP ,LOT 74, GRAVE:3

Photo: Port Pirie Cemetery.

It is a long shot but the fact that she would have been one the year Charlie went to Gladstone could also serve as an explanation for his departure - the death of his wife. Given the times it is more likely that the child would have been handed over to grandparents or other member's of his dead wife's family. And given that she also died while Charlie and Mary's children were still very young, serves as an explanation for a lack of family knowledge should she indeed be found to be a child of his first marriage.

As things now stand I may not need to get to Ithaca to find out his Greek name and place of birth although it remains a long shot - however, it is a shot and it may well bring results.

I have also decided that Ithaca is the most likely place of his birth out of the two possibles - Ithaca and Kythera. Both sound phonetically similar and there is a large Kytheran community in Port Pirie so I had wondered if this was his birthplace. However, having been in touch with the Kytheran community seeking for possible name fits, given that we know, from the signature on his marriage certificate that his Greek name began ROS, it looks like Ithaca and Rossolimos remain the best bets.

The two Kytheran names which were suggested were RAISIS and ROUSSOS but it is absolutely clear that neither of these fit the ROS which we know began his Greek name given his mistake in signing and the corrections made.

It is not much progress but it is progress.

Luke has also been busy and has come up with the following information:

I wrote a letter to the Yass & District Historical Society about 3 weeks ago and received a reply from them a few days ago. No real news on Edward Atkins, but I will report what they told me. They have access to Ancestry.com so there is no point repeating what they got from Ancestry, but they have access to records not available to us like the Yass Bench Books 1834-1837.  They have no records for Edwin/Edward Atkins except he was assigned to Henry O'Brien. His brother was Cornelius O'Brien and they shared their assigned convicts between them. They said if a convict kept a low profile then there would be no records which suggest that Edward Atkins behaved himself.

There is a record for a Charles Atkins aged 21 arrived on the ship called the Heron in 1833 and tried in Essex. He was assigned to Cornelius O'Brien and is recorded in the bench book in 1836 for disobedience and neglect of duty. I notice that the report from England that Edward had a brother called Charles Atkins. Could this be the same person? I know there is no way to prove it or not. It may be a relation of Edward if we can find out where he was born. I have not done any research on Ancestry.com on this Charles Atkins who was a convict as yet, but I think it worth a try.

The only other thing is that Henry and Cornelius O'Brien were Magistrates in the Yass area for many years along witth a person called William Hampton Dutton. W.H Dutton went to South Australia via Victoria in 1839 because there was a severe drought in the Yass area. They state in the letter:-" It is possible that your Edward went to South Australia at the same time. It is not implausible that Dutton may have encouraged Edward who had a clean record with no infringements to go to S.A with him. W.H. Dutton was instrumental in establishment of Hahndorf South Australia."


This is certainly a possibility although we still have the E.Atkins recorded on the same ship which brought his first wife Hannah McLeod to Australia. However, this does not mean that the Dutton connection does not work. Edward may well have returned to England after he completed his sentence, as the UK researcher suggests and made the decision to go to South Australia instead of returning to New South Wales, because of guidance from William Dutton.

Charles Atkins was born in 1810 according to the researcher's report, which would make him 23 in 1833, however, ages and dates of birth are often wrong. It is certainly possible that he could be this Edward (Edwin) Atkins's older brother.

At this stage we are strong on conjecture and weak on facts but we have been here before and more than once has intuition and conjecture been ultimately validated. Here's hoping it will be again. A first marriage for Charlie in Port Pirie could provide a wealth of facts - not to mention a horde of relations!

At the turn of the century there were fifty Greeks in south Australia and 1,000 as a whole. Most worked as mariners or wharf labourers and only four or five were recorded as having shops – mostly fish shops. You would not think it would be too difficult to find out more about Charlie if he was one of only fifty in South Australia and one of only half a dozen who owned a shop? Of course he may not have owned a shop and may simply have had a cart and worked out of home.

Photo: Ithaca in the 18th century.

And it seems Ithaca was one place from which these earliest Greek settlers in Port Pirie came. Hugh Gilchrist, a former ambassador to Greece wrote a series of books titled Australians and Greeks where apparently the most information that one can get on the earliest days of Greeks in the country can be had. I have ordered the book, hoping, but not expecting that Charlie Ross, alias Carolus Rossolimos might get a mention.

As far as SA naturalisation records show the earliest Greek in Port Pirie was Peter Warrick, the surname being seriously anglicized. He was naturalised in 1892 when he was working as a carpenter in the town. His birthplace was Kalamata, Peloponnese. It would have been so convenient if Charlie has become naturalised but there is no evidence that he ever did and so no information. Then again, if he really did jump ship and was listed as a deserter somewhere - not that I have found that either - then he would keep a low profile.

If we can find the necessary evidence it would make Charlie one of South Australia's earliest Greek settlers and Port Pirie's first!

The hooks are thrown just waiting for a catch to pull in

This is another of those waiting times. I have thrown out some research lines and now must wait for a catch to appear.

A researcher in Port Pirie is working on Charlie Ross's time there and although the chances are slim of anything coming up it remains possible. How wonderful to find a record of a Greek fishmonger with his Greek name registered along with his place of birth? I would be over the moon. It would also be wonderful synchronicity given that Pirie is one of my former homes.

I also have a researcher working on the Atkins/Haynes families in Gloucestershire which might throw light on my great-great-grandfather's ancestry. Here's hoping that we get to know more about the origins of Edward Atkins.

But I have to say, if I had a wish list and could only have one result it would be for my great-grandfather Charlie Ross. Was his name Rossolimos or something else? Was he born on Ithaca or Kythera or somewhere else? What was his Greek name?

It's waiting time with fingers crossed.

The convict factor is raised again for Edward Atkins

Photo: The convict ship Florentia made two voyages to Sydney - in 1827 and 1830.


Following a report from the UK researcher who has been looking into Edward Atkins, we are once again considering the possibility that he first came to Australia as a convict.

This was raised some time ago when an Edward/Edwin Atkins was found in a New South Wales convict Muster and later recorded as working at Yas Plains.

Edward Atkins    1830  Florentia    (on convict muster record but not transcribed to ship record)  24 yo Gloucester

compared to

Edwin Atkins      1830  Florentia  (transcribed to ship record)  19 yo  from Yas Plains.

But Kylie's research makes it unlikely there are two people involved. She said: 

Photo: Shepherd's hut in mid 19th century.

One reason I think there is only one person here is that there are no conflicting records, no conviction for Edward Atkins, no ship record etc, and there is no Edwin Atkins in the 1837 muster.  If you check the muster record the ancestry.com year of birth is worked off the arrival date not the current year.  I think the age is the current age, 24 (and he should have been at least 25 if he was 19 in 1830), take that from 1837, not 1830 and you end up with a close enough year of birth to be the same person.  It is also possible that this is our Edward, and that he started out as Edwin.  Interestingly the comment I have for Yas Plains in 1835 is that there is only a few scoundrelly convict shepherds there.

Yas or Yass Plains is just inside the NSW/South Australian border, some 300 kilometres from Gladstone and this Edwin/Edward was not only a blacksmith but was transported for stealing a sheep. Our Edward was a blacksmith and later worked as a shepherd. 

The O'Brien brothers, Cornelius and Henry, from County Mayo, Ireland, settled this area in 1833 and employed Edwin/Edward Atkins and other 'scoundrelly' convict shepherds.

 Photo: Edward Atkins circa: 1870 with Mary (left) and Elizabeth.

The Certificate of Freedom report on Edwin/Edward Atkins says he  had dark grey eyes, sandy hair, a ruddy-freckled complexion, eyebrows meeting and he was 5ft. 71/2 inches and had a tattoo HEA on his right inside wrist. The photo of our Edward clearly shows the fair and possibly ruddy and freckled complexion and the sandy hair and dark eyes and the height looks right when compared to the height of his eldest daughter Elizabeth who is standing beside him.


All in all it is quite a good 'fit.' And then we have the report from the UK researcher: 

Here are my findings upon my recent research into your family of Atkins.  As I originally posited, and as I believe you yourself in your several blogs, the Atkins and their connections stem in all likelihood from Gloucestershire.  Please find below my initial findings after reviewing the information you have kindly supplied on your Atkins family. 

Your ancestor Edward Atkins, as you have discovered, married twice in Australia.  Firstly, to Hannah McLeod in 1843 and secondly, to Elizabeth Lewis nee Mashford in 1857.  You state that at present you state that you have found no death notice, as yet, for Hannah Atkins sometime between 1854 and 1857 – she could have perhaps have returned to Britain on a visit and if so, could have died there, although I have not been able to find a suitable death entry, or perhaps she was registered as having died say in Australia but no notice was put in the paper.  I presume that you have located her death entry in the Vital Records?

Edward Atkins death notice is intriguing and provides some clues as to possible avenues of research.  All told, from both marriages, Edward had three sons and six daughters.  The death notice states that he had one son and five daughters, so this suggests that two of his sons were dead (Joseph died as an infant in 1855), and, that one of the daughters had died by 1891.  The most interesting ‘clue’ is the final sentence ‘Gloucestershire Papers please copy’, that surely indicates that Edward has originally hailed from Gloucestershire, or at least had family living there.

You supplied a possible marriage of a Joseph Atkins and an Ann Haines in Cirencester in Gloucestershire in 1809.  I have also discovered this marriage. From the two marriage certificates of Edward, that you kindly copied to me, states that Edward’s father was called Joseph. This, and the Hai(y)nes connection makes for a strong possibility that this couple were the parents of your Edward. 

To try and prove, or disprove, this theory I have done some initial research which will have to be evidentially proved by searches in the relevant parish registers at the Gloucestershire Record Office, if you think this appropriate, or I can see if there are any printed transcripts for the relevant parishes.  My findings and suggestions for further research are stated below:

Joseph Atkins married Ann Haines in 14 August 1809 in Cirencester in the county of Gloucestershire.  By looking at online sources and indexes I have been able to trace the following children born to this couple.  As stated above, in order to prove the veracity of this information original or transcripts of the parish registers will need to be consulted, as in many cases intimation as to witnesses at marriages and occupations of bridegroom can be included in original registers where it can be missing in transcripts.

All the children were baptised in Cirencester, Gloucestershire:

Charles Atkins bp. 1 July 1810

Henry Edwin Atkins bp. 23 February 1812

Joseph Lewis Atkins b. 18 January 1814, bp. 13 February 1814, bur. 3 April 1814

James Webb Atkins b. 14 August 1816, bp. 5 October 1816

Susannah b. 30 November 1817, bp. 3 January 1819

David Atkins b. 31 March 1822, bp. 19 May 1822

Thomas Haines Atkins b. 20 June 1825, bp. 24 July 1825, d. 30 October 1825

Mary Ann Haines Atkins b. 10 January 1827, bp. 4 February 1827

Upon searching the 1841 census for England, I located the following sibling:

James W. Atkins and his wife Jane, and son George aged 1 were living in Cheltenham.

Figure 1 - James Atkins, 1841 Census of St Mary, Cheltenham

There was no sign of Joseph and Ann, the parents, nor any other of the children.

I have however found possible deaths for Joseph in Cheltenham in 1860 and Ann in Cheltenham in 1865, both aged 74, which would give a year of birth c. 1791 which is not too far from their suggested birth dates of 1788 and 1789 respectively.

In Slater’s Directory of 1850, under Cirencester, I found one entry that may be of interest – Payne & Atkins, of Castle Street, who were listed as milliners and straw bonnet makers.  This may be a female enterprise, perhaps one of the sisters listed above in partnership with another person?

Subsequent censuses revealed George Atkins and David Atkins with their spouses, but not ‘Edward’ Atkins at all, which seems to suggest that he was elsewhere.

Figure 2 - David Atkins, 1851 Census of Cheltenham

Figure 3 - George Atkins, 1861 Census of Lutterworth, Leicestershire

Figure 4 - David Atkins, 1861 Census of Stroud, Gloucestershire

Figure 5 - David Atkins, 1871 Census, Stroud, Gloucestershire

                                                                                                                                              

I have found that a David Atkins married a Hannah Holder in Cheltenham, during the September quarter of 1842, which seems to tally with the above.

I would like to suggest that the Henry Edwin Atkins listed above is in fact your Edward Atkins.  The reasons being that from the information that you have supplied, and by looking at various lists of people travelling to and from Britain and Australia, I believe that your ancestor first set foot in Australia as a nineteen year old convict, Edwin Atkins, sentenced to 7 years, this being in 1830. 

Convict Registers

Edwin Atkins              Gloucester Assizes      7 April 1830    7 years                        

Convict & Passenger Records

Edwin Atkins    19      Florentia          1830    7 yrs  Protestant          Hy O’Brien  ‘Yes Plains’

NSW Muster Rolls

Edward Atkins           20        Florentia          1830                Gloucester

Therefore, by his first marriage in 1843, on a return to Australia, he would have served his sentence and returned to England c. 1837/40.  The economic climate at home may have prompted a move back to Australia and its possibilities for settlement and employment.  This is of course only a theory that will need to be substantiated one way or another.  To this end I have located an entry in the Convict Registers for an Edwin Atkins (see fig. 1) sentenced as mentioned above, for 7 years transportation.  I feel it would be beneficial to see if the case is entered in the Gloucester Assize Records as the birth date and county of origin tally with the man who was born in Cirencester.  On his return to Australia, ‘Edward’ Atkins may well have felt a slight change to his name was advisable?  It is interesting to note that his eldest son was called Henry, his second Joseph and the third has the Haynes name included.

Further research in the Cirencester family also found possible further siblings for Joseph Atkins, who was baptised 22 June 1788 in Cirencester:

Mary Ann Atkins b. 26 June 1795

Thomas Howell Atkins bp. 26 June 1796, d. 28 August 1797

Thomas Atkins bp. 1 July 1798

All born in Cirencester, whose father was stated as being a Thomas Atkins.

I have also found a marriage between a Thomas Atkins and a Grace Boulton on 3 June 1778 in Cirencester who could well prove to be the parents of these children.  As before, a search in the parish registers would be beneficial.

Please let me know if you would like me to put in hand the further research suggested.  A search in the local newspapers in the Gloucestershire area may  prove beneficial as would a systematic search in the parish registers of Cirencester and Cheltenham as well as a search in the judicial records to prove that Edward / Edwin Atkins who was sent to Australia is the same chap who was baptised in Cirencester in 1812.

If our Edward is Henry Edwin Atkins it would also make sense why his first-born son was called Henry Edward. His second son with Hannah got the name of Joseph, his father's name and his third son, with Elizabeth was called James which was the name of H.E. Atkins's brother.


Two of his siblings also carry the name Haines(Haynes) as does Edward's third son and perhaps by this time he was prepared to give the name Haynes to one of his children - or, given that we don't have a middle name for Joseph, it was a name already bequeathed without our knowing.

The next step in the process is for the UK researcher to do the work required to prove that this Henry Edwin Atkins is the convict who came to Australia on the Forentia in 1830 at the age of nineteen. If it is then it is highly likely he is also our Edward because he would have had enough time to return to England in 1837 before re-appearing in South Australia in 1840 on the same ship with Hannah McLeod.

A little insight into Charlie Ross puts form on the phantom!

Photo: Port Pirie circa. 1880.

Fellow researcher Luke has been busy digging through records in the search to find out as much about the Atkins/Ross family as possible and in the doing has come across a little ‘snapshot’ from the past which gives some insight into the ephemeral nature of the long lost Charlie Ross.

From the Areas Express and Farmers Journal Friday September 13th 1907:

“It is with sincere regret we have to report the death of Mr Charlie
Ross, of this town after a protracted illness from asthma etc.
Deceased was born 58 years ago, and when a young man left his native
land-Greece-and after a roving career during which he had his fair
share of adventures came to South Australia and settled in Port Pirie. Eventually he came to Gladstone
where for more than 20 years he has carried on his vocation as a
purveyor of fish etc. Although taking no part in public affairs, he by
his unostentatious, but genial manner won a large circle of friends,
who sadly deploy his death which took place on Sunday. The remains
were interred in the Gladstone Cemetery on Monday, the Rev J Raymont
officiating. The greatest sympathy is felt for the widow-a daughter of
Mrs Atkinsen (Atkins) and her five children."

This says that he sold fish in Gladstone for 'more than twenty years' so he must have moved from Port Pirie sometime between 1887 and say, 1885ish. He married Mary in 1888 which is nineteen years before his death and if he was a purveyor of fish in Gladstone for more than twenty years it means he was living in the town for a few years before marrying and perhaps before meeting. If he had moved to Gladstone to marry Mary then the epitaph would have said 'nearly twenty years' not 'more than twenty years.'
There is a poignant note to this – my grandfather and his name-sake, another Charlie Ross was also a most unostentatious and genial man who won a large circle of friends. My father was a rather more complex character, at least at home although in that way of ‘social angel and home devil’ he also was seen as an unostentatious and genial man who won a large circle of friends. Perhaps my great-grandfather was the same. It is nice however, to know that he was so respected and widely loved.

And I would love to know what his adventures from his roving life were? It sounds as if he was a seaman and travelled the world for quite some years before arriving in Australia and deciding to stay.

The other unexpected piece of information is a nice bit of synchronicity – yet again – which has him initially settling in Port Pirie, where I also lived for four years in the early seventies. This makes me think I might be able to find out more about him, important information such as date of arrival, place of birth and Greek name, from Port Pirie records.

It is highly likely that Charlie originally set up his fishmonger business in Port Pirie and continued it once he moved to Gladstone. Perhaps he met Mary Atkins when she visited Port Pirie. There must have been some sort of connection between the time he arrived in Australia and when he married her in 1888.

If Charlie was born in 1849 and left Greece as a young man then he could have arrived in South Australia as early as 1870. That is eighteen years before he married Mary so there is every chance that he had an earlier marriage and possibly children. The other alternative is that he left as a young man but spent ten or more years as a sailor before arriving in Port Pirie sometime in the early to mid 1880’s. If I can find some sort of record of his arrival in Port Pirie it will be invaluable. I have written to the Port Pirie History Group to ask for help with the research.

Once again there is a Port Pirie connection, the town having appeared a number of times in ancestry research on my mother’s side and there I was in the early seventies, knowing none of it, and with four years to do ‘on-the-ground’ research. But, as they say, here is where we are at and slowly but surely the pieces of the past drop into the present to put together a better picture than we had of Charlie Ross, whose specific origin and Greek name I have yet to find.

I am also wondering if the family story about jumping ship was true given that he settled in Port Pirie, where he could have been easily found as a deserter. Given his accent and the way stories are transferred one wonders if the story he told his children was about his life on board ship, arriving in Australia – although we were told Port Germein, then again, it could have been and he travelled down to Pirie and settled – got mixed up with a story about someone else who had jumped ship.

However, there will either be something more to be found about Charlie Ross in Port Pirie or there will not be.

Photo: Smelters Port Pirie circa 1900

 Luke also came across a few other pieces of information regarding Elizabeth Mashford and Peter Lewis. He writes:

I had a look at the records of the Royal Adelaide
Hospital located at the South Australian Genealogy Society. I found
the following:-

Name:                                     Peter Lewis.
Age:                            32.
How Long in Colony: Brought in by the Police
Occupation:               Servant Male.
Circumstances:                      Delirium Tremens.
Adm:                          12/4/1848.
Discharged:                12/7/1848.

Delirium Tremens is the result of alcoholism which may explain the violence which we know was a part of the marriage and which extended to Elizabeth’s brother, George.  What seems strange is that he was admitted on April 12 and not discharged until three months later! That seems a very long time to be in hospital. One wonders if the date is incorrect or whether he was actually hospitalised but in police custody.

Name:                         Eliza Lewis.

Age:                            23.
How Long in Colony:           Direction of his Excellency
Occupation:               Emigrant.
Circumstances:                      Dysentery.
Adm:                          2/5/1848.
Discharge:                              1/6/1848.

Elizabeth, from the record, also appears to have been in hospital for nearly a month which seems a very long time for dysentery, a disease which usually takes its course within days and not longer than a week. This is something I unfortunately know first-hand having suffered from it while living in Bombay, India, more than once.

I do not think we can say 100% that these people are our Peter and
Elizabeth Lewis. There is an age difference: I.E If I am wrong Kylie
let me know, but Peter Lewis was born c1812? If the above person is
our Peter Lewis and he was 32 in 1848 then he was born c1816 so there
is a difference. However, he was a servant, but then again so were a
lot of people so it does not really proves anything. What “Brought in
by the Police” means I really do not know unless they found him
somewhere? The one about Eliza Lewis also show an age different.
However we all know that there is sometimes an age different. I know
Kylie if it is our Peter Lewis it does not really help you to trace
him back any further, but all information can be useful. I also do not
understand what “Direction of his Excellency” means?

I also found a burial record for Henry Edward Atkins. Edward and
Hannah’s first son, but there is a small problem with it. The record
just states:-

Parish Records
Burial
St Barnabas C of E
Clare

Henry Edward Atkins
Buried 2/1857
Age 7 years.

If this is ours Henry Edward Atkins and he was 7 years of age in 1857,
according to the above record, it means he was born in 1850. However
his birth record states he was born in 1843 therefore he should be 14
years of age when he died in 1857. This is a gap of 7 years between
the two ages which is quite a lot which would be difficulty to
explain. However, in the light of any other records for a Henry Edward
Atkins existing EG marriage etc this person could be our Henry Edward
Atkins. If it is him then he died after Edward Atkins and Elizabeth
Lewis nee Mashford were married. Also how many other Henry Edward
Atkins were living as a young male in the Clare Valley around the same
time. If this is out Henry Edward Atkins then the one surviving son in
Edward Atkins’ obituary is James Atkins or there is another son which
we just do not know about. If this is the case how do we find another
son because I cannot no longer think about how another son can be
tracked down.

This may actually be a second Henry Edward Atkins given the habit of the time of naming a second son after a first who had died.  
And Kylie added a bit more clarity: 

This fits with my Peter Lewis, a drunk picked up by the police!!  The age

fits with the marriage pretty much, only 1 year out.  He was 30 when married

Nov 47 and 32 here, only 5 months later.  1812 was from the possible death I

found in Victoria, and I think that was a professional estimate by the

hospital staff, probably older than he really was due to aforementioned

drunkenness!!

I am more doubtful of the Eliza Lewis, the age is out by a few years and the

occupation, Emigrant, is strange for a married woman.  It sounds more like a

new arrival, straight off the ship.  A quick search of the FamilyhistorySA site shows the name is fairly common.

The Henry Edward Atkins is interesting.  One explanation I could think of is

that this is a second Henry Edward.  They may have 'reused' the name.  It

could be a transcription error etc but such inaccuracy in a child's age is

very rare. 

As for George's children, he had nine.  The attached pages are from the

bible I have.  All those up to Eva are his, the last three are

grandchildren.  I had this list, and could find all except the 2nd child,

George Wilson, on the SA registers.  When Ancestry came up with the whole of

Australia's indexes I found him in Queensland.  Registered as George Lewis

Lewis, and the mothers name was Sarah Barbara, but the date was right so I

ordered a certificate.  

A few more small pieces from the past to paint the picture

Map from 1865, from "Bailliere's  South Australian Gazeteer

and Road Guide which shows Booyoolie Station where Elizabeth Mashford Lewis worked and probably met Edward Atkins..

In painstakingly putting together the pieces of the past in order to put together a more accurate picture of our ancestors the latest small 'sherds' to emerge from the dust have come from fellow researchers Luke and Kylie.

Booyoolie, which was obviously a challenge for the times, unused as they were to non-English names, was an Aboriginal word said to mean 'boiling up the smoke cloud' or 'foggy place' which pretty much amounts to the same thing.

It appears in records in a fantastical assortment of phonetically inspired spellings including: Bouelee, Beauewele, Boyley, Booyooloo. The original spelling was Booyoolee but it ended up Booyoolie. 

 Luke found the latest death notice for Elizabeth in the local Gladstone newspaper for 1908:


"We have to record the death on Monday last, at the residence of her
daughter, Mrs Ross, of Mrs Atkins, one of our oldest residents. The deceased
arrived in South Australia on March 17th, 1847 in the "Princess Royal" and
went to Booyoolee Station in 1856. She leaves one son Mr George Lewis and
two daughters Mesdames Ross & Cox. The old lady was nearly 90 years old."

The interesting thing is that it gives us a date for Elizabeth's arrival in the Gladstone-Booyoolie area. As Luke writes:

It would more than likely that Mary Ross nee Atkins gave the information to
the newspapers. Most of the above information we already know. However,
knowing that Elizabeth Lewis nee Mashford moved to Booyoolie Station in 1856
is revealing I think. She must have applied for a job on the station as a
maid or domestic servant. (Just as well they did not do Police check in
those days as she would not have got the job as a result of her two days in
prison).

I assume Peter Lewis was not around when she moved to Booyoolie Station, and
she would have to had taken young George and John with her. It is more than
likely that she met dear old Edward Atkins at Booyoolie Station. It would
not surprise me if he worked there as well knowing his trade as Blacksmith,
Bushman and Shepard. Of course they were married in 1857 not long after she
arrived.

Knowing she moved from Adelaide to Booyoolie Station fills in a bit of a
mystery for me because I wondered about how the two of them must have met if
Edward Atkins was up north and Elizabeth was in Adelaide.

The other thing about this article is that it lets us know exactly where
they may have lived before moving to Wirrabara. On their marriage
certificate their place of residence was just listed as "Rocky River" I
always assumed that it must have been somewhere along the Rocky River near
Wirrabara because that was where Elizabeth, Mary and James were born. If
their place of residence was Booyoolie Station, when they got married, I
would think it would have been listed on their marriage certificate as place
of residence. May be they lived outside the boundaries of the station
somewhere along the Rocky River outside of Gladstone?

The other interesting thing about this article is that there is no mention
of Edward Atkins. A lot of the time the papers would state something like
"wife of the late Edward Atkins" or "a relict of the late Edward Atkins" The
omission of this is not prove itself that there may have be a split in the
families of Hannah McLeod and Elizabeth Mashford, but in conjunction with
all the other clues, that there may have been a split, I think it adds more
weight.

 And I can only agree. The omission of Edward's name, given the times, is strange. We can explain the omission of Elizabeth's name from his death notice because it was put in by the children from his first marriage but to have no notice given by Mary Atkins Ross, to her father, when she 'writes' her mother's death notice, suggests there is a mystery here which is yet to be solved.

 Perhaps as Luke has previously suggested, the 'bastard' child which Mary had while still a teenager may have been the result of incest and the reason why Elizabeth moved to Gladstone with her children.

 Kylie responded with the map seen above and some of her own thoughts:


I have been trying to sort out who owned what and where
each lease was.  I have begun to realise that following the Hughes family
may give us some extra information on our family.

It is likely that there was an outstation named Rocky River at the time on
Booyoolie Run and that is what is referred to on the marriage certificate.
From other research I have done I have worked out it was likely Booyoolie
had about 36000 sheep on it and that each shepherd looked after 2000-3000
sheep.  The sheep were taken out each morning and brought back into a yard
at night where a night watchman looked after them.  So there would have been
at least a dozen different shepherds plus the night watchmen spread over the
Run.  (which fits with the 12 wells and dams below) I have worked out the
Run went up to Wirrabarra area.  Laura was excised out of the Run to
establish the town. 

The family seems to have had a fairly consistent connection with the Hughes
family. Edward, George and James definitely worked for them.  I think John
Lewis may have also.  George went to Nockatunga station that JB Hughes owned
in Queensland in 1875.  http://www.pastoral.com/nockatunga.html .  

This site raised my curiosity: http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/jhgen/web/lewis.html .  I have emailed the page owner but have had no reply.  There was either two George Lewis's up there, including a brother John, or he is mistaken.  I know my George was up there as one of his children was born there in May 1875, so I am wondering
if this guy is correct.  I also know that as a boundary rider my George
would have been an experienced fencer so it fits that he would be sent there
for a fencing project.

I am guessing the reason that Edward left Bundaleer is that HB Hughes sold
it in 1854 and moved to Booyoolie.  Charlton/Wirrabara was owned by HB
Hughes' father-in-law, before he established White Park.  I suspect that
Edward always worked for the family and the sons got their jobs with them as
soon as they were old enough. 

Elizabeth moving up in 1856 fits with the suspected death I have for Peter
Lewis in 1854. 
 
Anyway this is the Bailliere's entry on Rocky River:

Rocky River (County Frome and Victoria) is a fine stream rising in the S. of
mount Remarkable, near Melrose, and flowing in a S. direction through
pastoral country into the Broughton River, on its N. Side.  In the
neighbourhood of this river are belts of finely timbered land, wooded with
large gum and pine.  The country is very fine and forms magnificent sheep
runs.  A singular variety of the wild duck has been observed in the
locality, being only half web-footed, and having the power of perching on
the boughs of trees.  There is a resident magistrate in this neighbourhood -
H. B. Hughes, Esq, J.P.

[so it was not a single place in 1865]

The entry for Booyooloo Run:

Booyooloo Run (county Victoria) lease No. 38: occupier, H.B. Hughes; area
194 miles; grazing capability, 50,000 sheep or 255 per mile; old rental and
assessment:  Pounds 502 5s 11d,; Mr. Goyder's valuation, Pounds 2716,
excluding improvements valued at Pounds 2387.  This run is situated on the
Rocky river and on the N. road via Clare, 20 miles E. of Port Peri (Pirie) - the
shipping port, 45 miles N.W. of Clare, and 130 miles N. of Adelaide.  It
contains about 7000 acres of good purchased land, and consists of well
grassed undulating and hilly country with gum flats.  It is watered by the
Redbank creek, the Rocky river, and 12 wells and dams, and has good roads in
all directions.

So we now have a date for Elizabeth's move from Adelaide to the mid-north and an ongoing connection with the Hughes family.  John Bristow Hughes had been born in England in 1817 and arrived in South Australia around about the same time as Edward Atkins. Although Hughes would go on to have a far more notable career.

He went first to Tasmania however, in 1840 and then came on to South Australia the following year. He married In 1847 at Holy Trinity Church, Adelaide where Edward and his first wife, Hannah McLeod had been married and where Elizabeth Mashford would marry Peter Lewis the same year.

Hughes and his wife moved north to Bundaleer shortly after their marriage and his lease also included the Booyoolee and Gnangwea areas. His brothers Bristow and Herbert Bristow - Bristow clearly an important name in the Hughes family - developing these areas.

In 1854 Hughes sold Bundaleer and moved to Adelaide to live. He lived in Woodville, where my husband's family settled and was a member of the Legislative Council and then a member for Port Adelaide in the first House of assembly in 1857. He became treasurer shortly after but resigned within a year to return to England - under medical advice.

He returned to Australia two years later, no doubt cured of whatever ailed him and was back in Adelaide by 1875. He was one of the original founders of St. Peter's College - a school my son would attend many years later. He died in 1881, drowning at Point Lonsdale while on a visit to his Victorian properties.

Edward Atkins would outlive his former employer by ten years and would die in the mid-north of South Australia where he had worked for so many years and no doubt, had grown to love.

Luke went on to explore further on Rocky River:

The map started me thinking about Rocky River as an outstation. I had a look on
Trove and found that the newspapers referred to Rocky River as a river
EG near the Rocky River or along the Rocky River. However, they also
referred to Rocky River as some sort of place. Below are a few
examples

TENDERS. Post Office. May 27th. 1851.
Scaled tenders will be received at this office until Tues day the 17th
of June next, at noon, for the conveyance of Her Majesty's mails, once
a week, between Clare Village and the Police Station at Mount
Remarkable, passing through the stations of Messrs,…at Rocky River,
and of the Messrs. White at Charlton, for the period from the 1st July
to 31st December, 1851, both days inclusive.
South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA: 1839 - 1900)

Friday 30 May 1851


A dividend of twenty shillings in the pound will be payable on and
after Saturday, Dec. 6, to those creditors of George Gosling, late of
Rocky River, stock keeper, deceased, who have proved their debts. A
dividend of seventeen shillings and sixpence in the pound will be in
course of payment on.

South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA: 1839 – 1900

Friday 5 December 1851

BIRTH. On the 6th instant, at Boeulee(varied spellings for Booyoolie), Rocky River, the lady of
Herbert Bristow Hughes, Esq., of a son.
South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA: 1839 - 1900)

Wednesday 16 May 1855

The nearest Magistrates are Mr. Herbert Hughes, of Rocky River, about
thirty-five miles; and Mr. Grant, northward of Frome, twenty-seven
miles.

South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA: 1839 - 1900)

Tuesday 4 November 1856

ROBBERY IN A BROTHEL.-Three girls of the town, named Copley, Saqe and
Brown were charged with robbing William Murdock Mackinnon, in the
employment of Mr. Stephen King, of the Rocky River

The South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA: 1858 – 1889

Wednesday 22 February 1860


Herbert Bristow Hughes; Residence, Rocky River

 South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA: 1858 - 1889)

Tuesday 26 April 1864


It seems clear that Rocky River was some sort of place especially if
Mr Hughes was a Magistrate there. However, I cannot seem to find a
place called Rocky River. Do you think that Booyoolie Station was
called Rocky River before it was called Booyoolie Station? Or did
people called Booyoolie Station unofficially as Rocky River?

Also the papers referred to a spot or a crossing on the Rocky River
where people could cross it and there seems to be some sort of housing
around this crossing.

Also do you both think that it may be worth while to write to the
present owners of Booyoolie Station to see if they have any old
records? With George Lewis, Elizabeth Mashford and James Atkins
working there, and more than likely, John Lewis and Edward Atkins
working there, some old records or even old photos may still exist.
How we would find an address for them I really do not know. Would you
two have any ideas on this?

I am also thinking about this because there may be a private cemetery
on the station and it could be where Hannah Atkins nee McLeod could be
buried?