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.

Father's Day 2013 tribute

Having been inspired by Jill Ball's GeniAus post this morning about Father's Day, here is my tribute to the fathers in my family.

Firstly, my husband, Dean. He's been a step-dad to my 2 grown-up sons, and is an awesome father to our two daughters. Here he is at the Sanctuary Cove boat show last year, wishfully thinking that this boat was actually his:

Next, the men whose DNA I share:

Gerald Andrew Collins (1941 - )

My father, Gerry (Gerald Andrew Collins), is a retired coal mine first aid officer, & school bus driver. He used to drive us on our school excursions, which gave us kids lots of cred. Back in primary school. Everywhere he would travel when he did his two laps of Australia he would know someone. There are never 6 degrees of separation to my Dad, only ever 2 or 3, especially if you're from Cessnock! He's battling lung cancer as best he can, and the world won't be as sunny without him in it. He answers the phone to his brother with the words: "He ain't heavy" instead of "hello", calls me "Old Nell", and always ends our phone calls by calling me "Pet". His philosophy is "If you can't say anything good about someone, don't say anything at all." He's never even said it to me (not that I can remember but surely he did at some stage), although he lives it every day. I try and live by his example, and pass it along to my children.

Andrew William Collins (1907 - 1994)

This blurry pic on the right, taken on the lakefront at Wangi Wangi NSW in 1993, is 4 generations of our Collins family. In the wheelchair is my grandfather, Andy (age 86), my Dad Gerry, me as a spring chicken, and my eldest son, Stewart, who was only a few weeks old at the time.     

Andrew William Collins (my "Pa") was also a coal miner, as well as a bread carter, canary breeder and at one stage a driving instructor. He was really lucky to avoid being killed in the Bellbird Colliery Disaster in 1923, when he was 16. He had been offered to work "a doubler" (working two shifts in a row), but didn't take it on. The explosion happened in that second shift. He was a really gentle man. When I lived with he and my grandmother for a couple of years (a privilege I didn't appreciate at the time, especially for it's genealogical value!) I would come home from school in an afternoon and he'd ask if I learned anything. The answer was always "Nup", even if I did occasionally learn something. That was our standard greeting. He loved to sit in the sun on the front verandah of his Cessnock home and say hello to anyone who walked past, as he tapped the rubber end of his walking stick on the wooden boards.

His Dad was another Andy, or George Andrew, depending on the document, was also a coal miner. The name Andrew runs through the family all over the place in many generations, including my brother. (I've recorded them all so future descendants won't get confused by them.) I wrote about him here: http://janellestree.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/my-biggest-genealogical-wish-apart-from.html

He was born at the Sydney Benevolent Asylum in 1885, and was fostered by the Collins family from Newcastle, NSW, at about 6 weeks old. His marriage certificate was in the name Collins, listing his foster-parents as his parents, so if I hadn't had a heads-up about his parentage from a great-aunt I would be merrily chasing someone else's tree. Then, this hush-hush family secret information turned out to be wrong anyway! His real father's name was listed on his mother's entry into the Benevolent Asylum when she was heavily pregnant: Henry Burgess Gibb (1865 - 1901), coal miner from Newcastle. He was working there at the time, although his family had emigrated from Liverpool, England, about 1857, and were living in Sydney. Maybe Henry was home to visit his family when he met Ada Barrett (nee Morrant). I have no photos of Henry. He committed suicide (another story to be told there) in 1901, age 36. Ada's husband, William Joshua Barrett,  was in Goulburn Gaol at the time of Andy's birth, for the attempted murder of their toddler son, William James Barrett. I calculated the Ada was about 3 months pregnant with Andy when the awful attempt on William's life took place, so my guess is that William Joshua Barrett knew about the pregnancy, had just found out about it, or worked it out for himself. 

Here is Henry's son and my great grandfather, Andy:

Andrew/George Collins (1885 - 1952)

So even though we are proud Collins', from the age of 19 I thought my surname was meant to be Barrett, then a few years ago I found that it should've been Gibb. Weirdly, the same goes for my Mum's side of the family. Her father was George Millard Kerville (1911 - 1991). His father was actually Leo Gabriel (1889 - 1962), not Horace Alfred Kerville (1872 - 1939), even though he was given the Kerville name. Leo started as a boarder in Grandpa's mother's house, but they had a relationship that lasted many, many years and many children. They didn't marry until Horace died in 1939. Yet another story! So my mother's surname should've been Gabriel instead of Kerville. Ah, families. Gotta love 'em!

My Grandpa, George Millard Kerville, was an eccentric master cabinet-maker, who also made his own wine out of anything and everything. He had a cellar dug out of the red dirt under his house in Port Macquarie, NSW, and he would sneak us grandkids a sip of mead that he'd made. He had a garage/workshop where he had all his machinery and tools, which always had wood shavings on the floor, and smelled like cedar. When we would visit in the school holidays he would let us make things out of his off-cuts, so there was lots of nailing and PVA glueing, with not much to show at the end of it. We loved playing in the cedar shavings, especially the then curly bits, which must have been off the hand plane. His motorbike must not have come to NSW when he moved the family there from Victoria in 1954, as I've never seen it at his house. When my Grandmother, Edyth Mary Tuck (1920 - 2003), was in labour with my mum and her siblings he took her to the hospital in the side-car of the bike. I'm sure the ride would've sped labour along!

Grandpa George in 1963, age 52

George Millard Kerville, about 1950, outside his home in Ashburton, Vic.

So to the fathers in my life, thank you for being there, for being the wonderful men that you all are, and for giving me life. I'm ever so grateful.

My biggest genealogical wish (apart from a time machine, of course)

This is my great-grandfather. He was born on 13th November 1885 at the Sydney Benevolent Asylum, which was like a hospital for the destitute, where Central Railway Station now stands. His birth was registered twice by his mother (which is fraud, sorry Ada!), once in Sydney, and once when he was six weeks old, in Jesmond, near Newcastle, NSW. His father was not Willam BARRETT who was Ada's husband (who was in Goulburn Gaol for the attempted murder of their infant son, Andrew's older half-brother Willam - a story of it's own!). 22-year-old Ada (nee MORRANT), with her husband in Gaol and a toddler in tow (ahem!) 'found comfort in the arms of' Newcastle miner Henry Burgess GIBB, and the Benevolent Asylum has his name as Andrew's father, a fact which we would never have known if it was not for another researching relative, Sandra. Collaboration is the key to overcoming brick walls, I believe. Andy's middle name in the second registration below is another clue to his paternity.

The NSW Births, Deaths, Marriages has him listed twice, and I have a copy of both certificates.

Registration/Last Name/Given Name(s)/Father's/Mother's Given/District
Number                                               Given Name(s)  Name(s)

3731/1885 BARRETT  GEORGE ANDREW  WILLIAM   ADA    SYDNEY

3889/1885 BARRETT  ANDREW GIBB                             ADA    SYDNEY

Known as Andy, he was a coal miner, husband to Rosanna KING, and father to six sons. Born as a BARRETT, but fostered by the COLLINS family in Newcastle as a baby, he named his foster-parents as his parents on his wedding certificate. I have only found out about this skeleton in the COLLINS closet because my great-aunt by marriage, and Andy's daughter-in-law, told me about the COLLINS-BARRETT story in 1989. I'm sure she had no idea about the even bigger skeleton named Henry GIBB! If she hadn't let that cat out of the bag I would have been completely stumped and would never have found Andy's birth once, let alone twice!

So, onto my wish: I wish there was a website where everyone had a number as well as their name, like the registration number of their birth. So Andy might be #1885/3889 (with a link to #1885/3731), then when he married Rosanna KING (maybe #1890/4850) we can track who these people are in relation to their births - that we have the right Andy, not another man by the same name (all you Smiths out there can thank me later). Then when Andy dies, that event is linked to #1885/3889 as well, so we know it was him the death refers to. Births of their children could also be linked to these numbers as well. We could attach our own name and email address to these people as descendants &/or researchers, so that other people looking at Andy would be able to contact me or another family researcher if they wanted to.

Sound good? Hopefully people like the state BDM's won't mind? Do they own that registration number?? So if anyone has the ability/money/time/expertise/inclination to set this all up, feel free. Just remember me in the royalties when the big names in internet genealogy come knocking for inclusion into their searches. Thanks!

 

PS Andy was apparently a teetotaller, but it looks mighty like a schooner of beer in his hand. Busted!