Cruckshank wedding photo

This photo has been in my family since it was taken in 1913, 1914 or 1915, and I now seem to be the lucky custodian. It does need some restoration, though, as it's looking a bit spotty in parts.

Does anyone recognise the people in it? I know the older woman on the far right is my paternal great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Lorne CRUCKSHANK (nee BRACKENREG) - (also sometimes spelled Cruickshank). Her husband, John CRUCKSHANK, died in 1912 and Elizabeth is wearing mourning black, and John's not in the photo, so I presume it was taken since then.
Three of Elizabeth's four sons all married in 1914 or 1915, and a daughter in 1913.

So the contenders are these four of her eight children:

a) Ruby Clare CRUCKSHANK marrying Percy A JONES (1913 - West Maitland)
b) Sidney Herbert CRUICKSHANK marrying Maude Annie BENNETT (1914 - Hamilton)
c) Leslie George CRUCKSHANK marrying Louisa Elizabeth HALL (1915 - Narrabri)
d) Cyril Douglas CRUCKSHANK marrying Minnie Florence METCALF (1915 - Cessnock)

Does the placement of the mother-in-law mean anything? If she's standing next to a man does that indicate that he's her son? Or maybe just the best man, possibly unrelated? Her flower is the same as the buttonhole on the man she stands beside, but I don't think he's the groom. I think the groom would be the other seated man with roses in his buttonhole which seem to better match the bride's bouquet. Also, he's sitting in a much fancier chair - surely the groom would get a flashier chair than the best man! I presume the bride always stands in wedding photos so as to show off her dress at it's best.

Any/all ideas welcome :)

Update: well the verdict is in, and it is actually option (e)!!, Ida Ellen MAHER (nee CRUCKSHANK) marrying Wilmott Herbert BAILEY in 1915. My uncle, Kevin COLLINS, recognised Mott BAILEY as he always wore a moustache, which was rare for those times. Mystery solved. (Sigh of delight and relief.)





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!

  

Michael Stewart aka The Genealogy Widower has entered his 10 More Minutes song in a competition. If you'd like to vote for his song, cut & paste this link into your browser. Thanks!

https://artistsignal.com/thegenealogywidower

This is a beautiful poem written by that prolific poet known only as Anonymous, given to me by my friend, travel buddy, and relative on the Cruckshank side, Marguerita.
Feel free to pass it along.

Ancestors

If you could see your ancestors

All standing in a row

Would you be proud of them or not

Or don't you really know?

Some strange discoveries are made

In climbing family trees

And some of them, you know, do not

Particularly please.

If you could see your ancestors

All standing in a row

There might be some of them perhaps

You wouldn't care to know

But there's another question, which

Requires a different view:

If you could meet your ancestors

Would they be proud of you?

10 More Minutes song by the Genealogy Widower, Michael Stewart

I hope you get as much of a laugh from this song as I did. I dedicate it to all the long-suffering partners out there, the ones who'll wait (or even help!) while we trawl through a cemetery looking for a headstone that's "just got to be here somewhere!"

Here's a link to the song, and below are the lyrics:

http://www.reverbnation.com/thegenealogywidower




10 More Minutes by The Genealogy Widower.

I get home from work to the same routine
I'm the one making dinner, my wife stares at the screen
I'm watching the evening news, she's following up some lead
I say "Lets go to bed?' and she ignores me...as she says
*
"Ten more minutes, I'll be right there!"
Then four hours pass on by
"Ten more minutes!" She just found something
She'll be staying up all night
*
When the weekend comes I hope to hit the scenes
But she's in hot pursuit that means she's glued to her seat
There's this great big fire building up in me
I must admit, I want to burn all those shaking leaves
Every time she says...
*
Chorus
*
So we live out the same scene almost everyday
We may be in the same room but she's
miles and miles away
*
Chorus out

Just starting out with the ancestor list, so many of them!!

Welcome to my first ever blog posting! My aim is to mention and tell some of the life story of my ancestors, a few at a time. Hopefully I'll hear from other descendants - fingers crossed!

Here's a list of all my first ancestors to step foot on Australian soil, and I'll be gradually chatting about all of them. Once I've done my side of the family I'll move onto my husband's side as well.

From my father's side:

• John GIBB b.1831 Liverpool, England.................arrived Sydney between 1856-1858
• Ellen Lester MOLLOY (his wife) b.1829 Liverpool, England..................................ditto
• William George John Hilton MORRANT b.1836 Camden Town, Surrey, England.........arrived Sydney 1866
• Emily Jane SCRIVEN (his wife) b.1838 Coombe Heath, Croydon, Surrey, England...............................ditto
• Patrick John O'NEILL b.1794 Hacketstown, Co.Carlow, Ireland.......arr'd William Metcalfe Sydney 1844
• Esther O'BRIEN (his wife) b.1820 Ballybrack, Co.Wicklow, Ireland.......arr'd William Metcalfe Sydney 1844
• Patrick MOONEY b.1803 Modreeny (near Thurles), CoTipperary, Ireland....died on the journey David McIvor 1852
• Julia HOWE (wife of Patrick MOONEY) b.1814 Modreeny (near Thurles), CoTipperary, Ireland....arr'd David McIvor Sydney 1852
• Henry CRUCKSHANK (or CRUICKSHANK) b.~1815 London (?), England......................arr'd Tasmania 1836-1841
• Thomas DIXON b.1801 Raby, Sunderland, England.....arrived Tasmania
• Helen BROWNLOW b1801 Raby, Sunderland, England..............arrived Tasmania
• James BRACKENREG (or BRACKENRIG) b.1758 Hamilton, Lanarkshire, Scotland........arrived Sydney in 1790 as a soldier on the Second Fleet's Neptune
• Catherine EADES (nee MILLER) b.1765 Warwickshire, England...............arr'd with soldier husband Jospeh Eades on the Second Fleet's Surprise 1790 to Sydney, & later married James Brackenreg
• Thomas STUBBS (convict) b.1774, London, England (?).............arr'd Sydney 1791 Albermarle
• Esther SALAMON (convicted as Esther SPENCER) b.1775 England (?)......arr'd Sydney 1796 Indespensible. Esther is my favourite ancestor as she led such a colourful life, although her life before her conviction as a 19yo married Jewess remains a mystery
• Samuel BAILEY (convict) b.1792 London, England (?)...............arr'd Sydney 1817 Lord Eldon
• Sarah SMITH (convicted as Sarah MORRIS) b.1799 England.........arr'd Sydney 1826 on Princess Charlotte with daughter Jane Morris
• John KING b.1815 Co.Clare, Ireland......................................arr'd in Victoria 1841 on Neptune
• Mary ANGLIM (ANGLEUM?) b.1815 Co.Clare, Ireland.......arr'd in Victoria 1841 on Neptune
• James AMBROSE b.1816 Co.Limerick, Ireland............arr'd in Victoria 1841 on Branken Moor
• Mary McGRATH b.1823 Co.Limerick, Ireland.................arr'd in Victoria 1841 on Mary Nixon

From my mother's side:

• James GABRIEL b.1862 St Finnbarr's, Co.Cork, Ireland...........arr'd Victoria 1888 with the British Royal Navy
• Minnie Louisa TURNER b.1857 Birmingham, Warwickshire, England.....arr'd Victoria 1888 on Potose
• Henry MILLARD b.~1813 Surrey, England...........................................arr'd by 1842 in Victoria
• Jane CORBETT b.~1815 England (?).....................................................arr'd by 1842 in Victoria
• Martha Ann CORDELL's parents or grandparents - whoever they were!!!
• Henry TUCK b.1810 Isle of Skye, Scotland (allegedly).......................arr'd Tasmania ~1822 (?). Henry's another mystery person in my tree. Was he really born in Skye? No proof available either way.
• Catherine FALVEY b.1813 Co.Cork, Ireland..................arr'd Tasmania in 1829 on Bussorah Merchant as "wife of a sawyer" who was Henry Tuck, but no mention of Henry on the same ship. Their marriage date (according to the family bible) is also a mystery, as it's 14 Feb 1829 which would've been before they boarded in Cork to come to Tasmania. Why was Henry in Cork if he'd come out here 7 years before? No record in Tasmania, Victoria, or the IGI.
• Patrick KENNEDY b.1797 Co.Tipperary, Ireland.................arr'd Victoria 1859 on the Lightning
• Anne ?? (wife of Patrick Kennedy) b? presumably Co.Tipperary.......................................ditto
• William Walter CLEAVE b.1808 Devon, England...arr'd Victoria 1844-45 on the "Theresa"
• Dorothea DRIVER b.1809 Co.Wicklow, Ireland................................................arr'd before 1852
• Andrew RICHEY b.1788 Downpatrick, Co.Down, Ireland........................arr'd 1839 on Garrow
• Mary HARPER b.1789 Downpatrick, Co.Down, Ireland...........................arr'd 1839 on Garrow 

So there you have it, all of my "people". At least 4 of them were convicts, but whatever else they were - they were bloody brave!

Enough for one night. As my patient husband says: "they'll still be dead tomorrow".