Writing Family History with the University of Tasmania

For the past few months I've been studying another subject towards the Diploma of Family History with UTAS. The subject comprised 6 short e-tivities of maximum 250 words each, and a longer assessment task of around 1000 words.

For this task I chose to write a portion of Ada's story. Ada Morrant was my great, great, grandmother. Her life sounded really desperate. She had a journey on a ship from London to Sydney at age three, a number of siblings dying when she was a child, then her mother died. She spent some time in the Sydney Benevolent Asylum while her mother was admitted there, possibly for a breakdown after losing a baby. She married a violent man to whom she was pregnant, and while he was in gaol she fell pregnant to another man and had to give that baby away (my great grandfather). The older child (the reason she had to get married) was boarded out to 12 different families over 12 years, all over NSW. He was returned to her when he was 14. She was reported by the police as missing for a while. She lost another child as an infant. When she was an adult her alcoholic father suicided and she found him. He had already been in and out of asylums for years. She later died of kidney disease. Poor thing. I wish I could give her a really big hug.

I was pleased to get a Distinction for this task, and I'm really looking forward to the next subject which is all about Convicts.


Assessment Task 2: Not Long Enough

Ada reflected on the drama and heartbreak she had endured over her life and wondered how she managed to bear it all. Arriving in Sydney with her mother and older brother at age three (1), she was happy to be reunited with her Pa, who she barely remembered from their old home in Surrey, England (2). In the years after they arrived another three sisters were born (3,4,5) but only one lived longer than six weeks, her darling sister Annie. Thinking back to the children she herself had lost (6,7), she found herself feeling some of the grief her mother must have experienced at losing two children in England (8,9), and then another two in Australia. It was no wonder that Ma spent some time in the Infirmary (10).  While the six weeks Ada had spent waiting for her at the Sydney Benevolent Asylum at age five had felt like a lifetime back then, it was merely a speck of time from the distance of 35 years later. She still missed her Ma deeply, even though she had died when Ada was only ten (11) .

From her hospital bed Ada’s mind drifted to when she met William. What a mistake that was, she thought with the hindsight of 32 years. Although, if she hadn’t met William she wouldn’t have had her own boy. He was also named William, and he was such a blessing to her, so her thoughts softened a little. Of course she’d had to get married to his father, being in the family way and all, but she didn’t know about his violent temper at that stage. He was a butcher, so he had a trade, and they lived together above the butcher shop on Botany Street at Waterloo (12). Looking back, she did feel a bit sheepish about telling so many fibs to the minister when they were married. If she had told the truth they wouldn’t have been able to marry at all. Saying they were both 21 when she was only 18 meant that she didn’t have to find where her father had disappeared to yet again to obtain his permission. Why William also lied was a mystery, thought Ada, when he was actually 25 and old enough to not need anyone’s permission, but then again he could lie and cheat like a master.

Poor little William was a sorry sight when he was born. His father said he was ruptured (13) but what did he know, or care? A hernia was not a big problem, and those doctors were able to fix it when he was ten (14). He was so lucky to survive the beating his father gave him at only eight months of age (13). The judge described it “as one of the most shocking it has ever been my painful duty to listen to the recital of”(13). Thankfully there was no permanent damage to young William, after the extensive bruising and both black eyes healed. She hoped his father got what he deserved while he was in Goulburn Gaol (15). She was glad that she never saw him again once he was released after five years so she never had the opportunity to ask. Ada was just glad to see the back of him. Two years with that man was more than enough.

Part of her did squirm a little when she reflected that he chose the same church they were married in to marry again five years later (16). St Silas at Waterloo. The hide of him! Did he really think the minister wouldn’t realise that he was still married to Ada? She thought that the three extra years he spent in Goulburn Gaol for that deed  was his just desserts. Silly man. She fleetingly wondered if he had the same cell as last time. Good riddance to bad rubbish, she thought, when she had heard that he had died only last month (18). She felt a bit smug to have outlasted him. Just.

She thought about Henry again. How she wished their lives had turned out better. He was a little bit younger than her, just one year, but he lavished such attention on her. He sure was a good cure for the loneliness she felt with William being in gaol. She supposed it was inevitable that she would end up pregnant to him. He scarpered off back to Newcastle (19) to some coal mine or other, leaving her pregnant and with baby William to look after with no support at all. The tragedy of his death (20) overshadowed her feelings of resentment for leaving her like that. The newspaper reported that he had cut his own throat with a knife (21). She couldn’t imagine anyone doing that to themselves, but her own father had done exactly the same thing only two years later (22). How very strange it was that both her father and the father of one of her children had died at their own hand using the same method. She shuddered at the gruesome thought.

She let her mind wander to a life that could have been, if Henry had stayed with her. Maybe his parents advised him not to get involved with her, seeing as she was already married with a child and with a husband in gaol. Surely Ada wasn’t their first choice for a daughter-in-law. They were the ones who insisted on the baby being handed over to foster parents in Wallsend, far enough away from their own lives in Paddington (23). Ada could almost smell the Benevolent Asylum again, as she conjured up memories of walking into the imposing entrance after being judged sufficiently needy by the Ladies’ Committee to be admitted (19). She thought they must have taken pity on her situation,
but she also felt like a tramp to have fallen pregnant to a man who wasn’t her husband. They didn’t know that what she had with Henry was so special and that only their circumstances kept them apart.

Ada sighed and closed her eyes for the last time. 49 years (24) just wasn’t long enough.

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Sources:

1 New South Wales Government. Inward passenger lists. Series 13278, Reels 399-560, 2001-2122, 2751. State Records Authority of New South Wales. Kingswood, New South Wales

2 Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1841.

3 NSW Birth Certificate 1869/3966 District of Redfern Emily Morrant

4 NSW Birth Certificate 1872/1640 District of Sydney Annie Margaret Morrant

5 NSW Birth Certificate 1874/5472 District of Waterloo Minnie Morrant

6 NSW Death Certificate 1888/125 District of Sydney Emily M Barrett

7 NSW Death Certificate 1908/2684 District of Paddington Reginald Barrett

8  Surrey, England, Burials, 1813-1987

9 Surrey, England, Burials, 1813-1987

10 Sydney Benevolent Asylum, Journal entry CY 1220 02 July 1869

11 NSW Death Certificate 1875/3998 District of Waterloo Emily Morrant

12 NSW Marriage Certificate 1883/3088 District of Waterloo William Barrett and Ada Morrant

13 The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Wednesday 3 September 1884, page 6

14 State Records NSW series #13358 Dependent children registers 1883-1923 (11/22094-130; microfiche copy SR Fiche 7003-7317)

15 New South Wales, Australia, Gaol Description and Entrance Books, 1818-1930

16 NSW Marriage Certificate 1888/3367 District of Waterloo William Barrett and Margaret Hossack

17 New South Wales, Australia, Gaol Description and Entrance Books, 1818-1930

18 NSW Death Certificate 1913/15448 District of Newtown William Barrett

19 Sydney Benevolent Asylum, Inmates Journals, October 1883 – December 1886, Journal 2, Z A 7236 CY 1968 (compiled about 21 September 1885)

20 NSW Death Certificate 1901/15733 District of Wallsend Henry B Gibb

21 The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Wednesday 27 November 1901, page 10

22 The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Saturday 18 July 1903

23 NSW Birth Certificate 1883/9644 District of Waterloo William J Barrett

24 NSW Death Certificate 1913/15190 District of Sydney Ada Barrett

How I concluded what Andy's real birthday was, thanks to the University of Tasmania

Late last year the University of Tasmania offered an online subject called Introduction to Family History, as part of a Bachelor of General Studies. Almost 1500 of us enrolled in the course, although not all students finished. The assessments led up to the production of a research report based on a research aim, or answer to a problem that we identified, and we had to source the relevant documents to help us reach a conclusion based on these records.

I chose to find out the real date of birth of my great grandfather, known by various names such as George or Andrew (Andy) COLLINS, but also with the surname BARRETT, and also GIBB. He only went by the COLLINS name, William James BARRETT was his real mother's husband, but his real father was Henry Burgess GIBB. I don't know if he ever knew of his real paternity. The COLLINS family of Wallsend, NSW, fostered him as a baby in 1885 and he listed them as his parents when he married by great grandmother, Rosanna KING, in 1907.

Here is my research report on how I concluded the real date of birth for Andy COLLINS:

HSP105 Introduction to Family History
Assessment Task 3: Research Report

Research Aim
1. What was the exact date of birth for my great grandfather George Andrew Collins, being registered twice, showing dates of birth as 13 Nov 1885 and 14 Nov 1885?

Key Sources
Primary Sources: 
1. NSW Marriage Certificate, District of Waterloo, William Barrett and Ada Morrant 1883/003088
2. NSW Birth Certificate, District of Sydney, George Andrew Barrett 1885/003731
3. NSW Birth Certificate, District of Sydney, Andrew Gibb Barrett 1885/003889
4. Sydney Benevolent Asylum, Register of admissions and discharges, December 1882 – December 1886, Register 2, Z D577 CY 1815 (compiled about 21 September 1885)
5. Sydney Benevolent Asylum, Register of admissions and discharges, December 1882 – December 1886, Register 4, Z D577 CY 1815 (compiled about 30 November 1885)
6. Sydney Benevolent Asylum, Register of admissions and discharges, December 1882 – December 1886, Register 5, Z D577 CY 1815 (compiled about 09 December 1885)
7. Sydney Benevolent Asylum, Inmates Journals, October 1883 – December 1886, Journal 2, Z A 7236 CY 1968 (compiled about 21 September 1885)
8. Sydney Benevolent Asylum, Inmates Journals, October 1883 – December 1886, Journal 6, Z A 7236 CY 1968 (compiled about 05 December 1885)
9. Sydney Benevolent Asylum, Index to Discharges, October 1883 – December 1886, Journal 6, CY 1804 (compiled about 07 December 1885)

Secondary Sources:
10. Personal letter from Ellen Collins to Janelle Collins, c1988
11. NSW Birth Index, District of Waterloo, William James Barrett 1883/9644

Biographical Report of George Andrew Gibb Barrett/Collins

Write a report describing what you have learned from your research. What sources were of significant value to your research? Why?
The primary and secondary sources are all vital documents in me being able to draw conclusions and answer my two research aims. I have been careful to source these documents from the time as close to the event as possible, and from reputable sources. The most significant source was the Sydney Benevolent Asylum Inmates Journal(7), which revealed the father of my great-grandfather to be a man other than the one on his first birth certificate(2).
Research Aim:
What was the exact date of birth for this same great grandfather, being registered twice, showing dates of birth as 13 Nov 1885 and 14 Nov 1885?

To answer this Research Aim I needed proof of my great grandfather’s birth. I searched for a Birth Registration for him, and came away with two certificates (2)&(3), for the same child.  The first of the two registrations was on 18th December 1885 (#0037312) in Sydney, NSW, and the second was 13 days later on 31st December 1885 (#0038893), also in Sydney. Both certificates contain a mixture of facts and fabrications.
Almost every detail on certificate #0037312 contradicts the corresponding detail on certificate #0038893. The first certificate shows a date of birth as 13th November 1885, whereas certificate(3) shows his DOB as 14th November 1885. To clarify this anomaly I contacted the parties who have researched and copied the Sydney Benevolent Asylum records, and purchased primary sources including journal entries, register entries, and indexes for my great-great grandmother’s admission and discharge from the Asylum in 1885, which also recorded Andy’s birth. His DOB is recorded in two documents, a monthly register of admissions and discharges(5), compiled approx. two weeks after the birth, and an index to discharges(10), compiled sometime after June the following year (1886). Both records show Andy (named George Andrew BARRETT) as being born on 13th November.

There are a number of reasons that the dates of birth might have been recorded differently on the two birth certificates. The Benevolent Asylum has initiated the creation of the earlier of the two certificates, which was created only five days after the event. The date of 13th November on this certificate corresponds with the dates they record on their admissions and discharge registers. The later certificate was completed using information given by the mother, rather than the Asylum, and the mother had a number of possible reasons for giving incorrect information. Her circumstances were that this baby was from a pregnancy by a man other than her husband. At around the time the husband would have found out about the pregnancy he assaulted their toddler, almost causing young William’s death. The father was arrested, tried, and gaoled for this offence. When the mother, Ada, was admitted into the Asylum the notes(7) say: "Barrett Ada, 22 years, CE native of England, arrived in the colony when young. Father William Moran, painter, whereabouts unknown. Husband in Goulburn Gaol for 13 months serving a sentence of 5 years for ill treatment of his child. Barrett is now pregnant to Henry Gibb, miner, Newcastle. Confinement expected this month. No means."

Ada must have been under enormous strain. She was only 22, had no idea where her father was (her mother had died when she was 11), she was pregnant with an illegitimate child, her violent husband was in gaol, and she had witnessed an attack on her other child, who had been handed over to the Boarding Out Officer to be placed into foster care on 3rd October, only weeks before Andy’s birth. Ada was admitted to an asylum for the destitute, the same place she had been admitted to for six weeks when she was almost five years old when her mother was in the infirmary and her father was destitute. If Ada had a traumatic time during her first stay here, those anxieties would be in the front of her mind as she is admitted this time. As well as this she was illiterate, so mistakes could easily have been made on the second birth certificate, as she would not have been able to complete the form herself, or verify the accuracy of what was recorded on her behalf. These differences may also have been deliberate. Possibly Ada was trying to disguise the birth of this child so he couldn’t be traced by his step-father once he was released from gaol. She may have thought that providing another name, a move from Sydney to Newcastle, and different DOB for the child would give him a fresh start in his new life with his foster family. Possibly Andy was born very near to midnight and Ada genuinely believed his DOB to be 14th not the 13th. Andy himself believed his DOB to be 13th, as that was the day his birthday was celebrated, as indicated on the letter to me from Ellen Collins(10). Ellen was known to us all as Aunty Barrie as her maiden surname was Barrett - no relation.

All of these sources are of great significant to my research, as they provide direct evidence of what happened at the time. The Sydney Benevolent Asylum records (4-9) would have been compiled by a clerk in their office, who would probably have had no reason to record inaccurate data. The birth certificates (2 & 3) also provide evidence of the facts of the time, although as we have seen they are not 100% accurate.

Conclusion to Research Aim: Based on the evidence shown from these sources I conclude that Andy’s DOB was in fact 13th November 1885, not 14th November 1885.

Conclusion

What can you conclude from your research? What further questions do you now have?
Conclusion to Research Aim: Based on the evidence shown from these sources I conclude that Andy’s DOB was in fact 13th November 1885, not 14th November 1885.
As is usual with family history, answering a set of questions seems to generate many more. This search has highlighted to me some areas of research that I can undertake to gain a further understanding Andy and Ada’s lives in the late 1880’s.

Further questions generated by this research:

1. Did Andy know his father was Henry Gibb, not William Barrett Sr? He told his daughter-in-law, Ellen, that it was Barrett.
2. Was there any connection between Ada’s or Henry Gibb’s families and the Collins family that raised Andy?
3. At the time of Andy’s birth Henry Gibb was a miner in Newcastle. Ada registered Andy’s birth and said she was from Jesmond (a suburb of Newcastle). Was she only there to give her child away, or had she moved there?

I received a Distinction for this report, which I'm happy with. The whole course was a wonderful way to learn how to choose a question to answer, gather around the relevant sources, and analyse them to reach a conclusion that hopefully actually answers the question. I'm sure most of us answered one question, which in turn generated many others, as is the way in family history.

I love Trove, but sometimes ......

I don't know of one genie out there who doesn't love Trove for newspaper searches related to our ancestors, but sometimes, no matter how well we fill in the search fields the article we know is there just won't show up. This was the case for my gg-grandmother, Ada MORRANT (1864 - 1913). I'll write her story another day, as it's quite a doozy. 

I was searching for any kind of death notice in the paper for her,  so I was typing my fingers down to stubs on Trove, looking for her using a name-based search. Nothing. I tried variations on the spelling of her married name, Barrett, as well as her own name, Morrant - still nothing. I KNEW it was in a newspaper because I'd found it on the wonderful Ryerson Index, another resource us Aussies are lucky to have at our disposal.

Ryerson Index result for Ada Barrett's funeral notice

Luckily, there is more than one way to skin a cat (apologies to cat lovers). Instead of searching using Ada's name, I searched as if I was reading an actual paper edition of the Sydney Morning Herald for 27 December 1913, and virtually turned each page until I got to the Funeral Notices. And there she was. 4 times! How Trove didn't OCR these entries correctly I'll never know, but at least Ada was there, and well loved by her children and friends judging by the notices.

Sydney Morning Herald funeral notices 27 Dec 1913

So even though I've had a whinge about Trove in the past here, still