Curiosity

(John Johnson and grandson Jack, my Papa about, 1916)

Sr. Ambrose put both her hands on my desk and looked me in the eyes, “Your name is Johnson, so your ancestors would be from England!” She had set the class a project, “go home and find out where your family were before they came to Australia.” No one in my class, or possibly in the school, had an indigenous background so our ancestors had come from somewhere. 

I was about ten years old at the time and had not really thought about where I had come from. I knew where I lived and that was about it. We were studying Australian History (not sure what the subject was called then), and the gold rush. 

Mum was one of those people who argued everything that was said. If you said something was green she would argue it was more blue! So when I got home I asked the big question, where did our ancestors come from. Mum’s answer was, England and Ireland, pretty boring as that is where most of my classmates had descended from, except those who had come from Holland, there were a number of families in our area from there, and I thought them exciting. 

Dad however stated that “Old Johnny Johnson was from Sweden.” Wow, how exciting was that! Mum’s response was, “Oh Rob, don’t be bloody stupid!” But he bit back, “No, Dad’s grandfather was Swedish!”. So Sr Ambrose was wrong! The Johnsons came from Sweden, no boring old England! I did not know of anyone who came from Sweden. Suddenly, history was a very interesting subject. 

Along with that, I found out that I had a number of gold miners sprinkled through that history as well. That year at school we wrote and performed a play about gold miners. 

Unfortunately, my Grandfather died shortly after that so I never got to ask him about his grandfather. If only I had more time with Papa. I found out years later that he was the grandson who spent a lot of time with his grandfather and possibly knew all about him. John married an Irish lady and they had one son, who went on to have three sons. Papa was the eldest and a favourite with his grandfather. 

John’s marriage certificate states his parents were Peter Johnson and Albertine. I have a photo of a lady who is supposed to be John’s sister who went to America but no more information. DNA has many matches to the area around Sweden, Finland, and Norway, but I am yet to pin down any common ancestors. I have found a marriage between a Peter Johannisson Sandsten and Albertine Oberg in Stockholm. This may well be them, but I am still investigating, even after all these years. I have family histories go back centuries, to ancient castles in England, however, the Swedish side is still a mystery. 

My curiosity has never died with this one and will continue until I can solve it. 

Updated now I found them. I posted on a Swedish FB site. with all my little jigsaw pieces. Within a few hours, I had the best result. A lady had found my family. 

I told the group that John Johnson supposedly was born to Peter and Albertine in about 1839 in Gothenburg Sweden. I had no idea of a maiden name. Peter was a cooper by trade.

When John's wife died she suddenly had a middle name, Horsldt, this was on her death certificate, and death notice in the paper.  Anne was Irish and I doubted her middle name would be Horsldt. Then in the 1903 electoral Roll John was John Horstedt Johnson but  I was told that the names I was giving were not Swedish. 

I also was given a photo of a lady, taken in America, who was supposed to be John's sister. Uncle Jim said her name was Sylvia. Uncle Jim had a sister Sylvia and I wondered if he had this confused. John was supposed to have had 2 sisters who went to America. 

I knew John was a Merchant seaman of some kind and he said he had come to Melbourne on board the Triton. I spent many hours looking for the passenger ship "Triton". I eventually found the "Triton" was a merchant ship and it had left Warrnambool for Sydney the day before John said he landed in Melbourne. I also found several records for John Johnson, a Swede, the right age, working on ships between Melbourne and Sydney. 

Then came the results! Johan Hörstedt, born 30 August 1839, to Sven Peter Hörstedet, a cooper,  and Albertina Andersdatta (I had a lot of Andersen/son) DNA matches in Norbotten, Sweden. Sven was the son of Jöns Hörstedt. I later found Sven's christening and he was Christened Sven Peter Jönsson. 

Sven Peter and Albertine had children Johan, Josephina, August Ferdinand, Sofia Loisa Amalia,  Albertina Wilhelmina Maria, and Tekla Maria. So Silvia was in fact Sofia, which was confirmed when I found a passport photo of her. Sofia (Sylvia) and Tekla both went to America travelling often back and forth. 

When Albertina died she had written in her will that Johan was a merchant seaman but she did not know where he was. Also August went to sea but no one knew where he was either. We know August jumped ship in Cardiff, another name change? 

Suddenly everything I had fitted together. 

Two days later I had a message saying that a lady on a Swedish speaking FaceBook page was looking for this exact family. She needed to figure out where to find Johan and August. I was excited to write to her and say "Johan or John is my gg grandfather and he ended up in Australia." 

Kersten Larson is a cousin on Albertina's side of the family. She has written a book on her family and much to Kerten's delight she was able to include John's family and some of his descendants in the book. 

We have also found Sofia's passport photos and it is the same lady I had the photo of. Josephina married a sea captain as well and after she passed away her children changed their name to Herstedt and also moved to America. 

Who says Family History is boring! 

 

Favourite Photo

This is a difficult one. Over the years I have collected and had so many photos sent to me. I get very excited over these, I love them, especially if I had not seen the person before. 

Many years ago I was given the album that belonged to my three times great grandparents. One photo of have him shows a gentle old man with thick white hair and beard, which my three-year-old granddaughter exclaimed excitedly when I told her who he was…” and he is Santa!” I feel he would have liked that. 

However, a more recent photo was of my great-great-grandmother Maria Royle (Nichols) born in 1836 in Hobart. She was illegitimate, however, DNA has shown she is most likely the daughter of George Edols, who died before she was born. We believe her mother may have worked for him and possibly came to Australia as a servant to his wife and family. 

Maria (pronounced Mariah) married Roger Royle, an ex-convict, when she was just seventeen. She had two children before they made the move to Sale in Victoria. She then went on to have another twelve children, including my great-grandmother. Despite all of these children, she gained work as a monthly nurse/midwife. 

The photo, I was sent, was of her in her nurse's uniform. In it, she looks tall and slim. Her hair is tied back, under a cap, very tightly and it looks like she does not have teeth. She looks quite formidable and her face quite sharp and pointed. Her eyes are quite strange, possibly very pale and she has high cheekbones. There is a photo online of her brother, he too has these very same cheekbones and is more proof they are related, they are very much alike. 

On the back of the photo, it is written “Mrs Royle Snr. Dad’s Mother.  Maria Royle born Tas, 1837. She bought 1/2 of Sale into the world with presence Dr Horgenor. She would go into the homes of her patients for 1 month, apart from caring for the mother & new babe, house kept for the husband and other children” There is also a sticker for an enlargement and framing from M.P. Butler and Sons, of Bairnsdale. 

Interestingly, the family bible states that Maria was born on 26th March 1837, however her Christening certificate states she was born on 27 Dec 1836 and was christened 23 April 1877. 

There were two Dr Haganauer’s in the area, Gus and Henry. Henry was based in Traralgon and changed his name to Hagan after the war. However these men may have been a bit young to assist Maria with her deliveries, but maybe one of them did in her later years as a nurse. 

A couple of years later I was sent another photo. This is one of Maria with her youngest daughter, Mary (Molly). In this one she is in a wheelchair. Her death certificates states that she suffered from Rheumatoid Arthritis and Heart disease and this was for ten years. This is the photo I find is one of my favourites. She put on some weight, softening her features and making her look to be a gentle soul. It is the one where I just wanted to give her a cuddle. The great, great-granddaughter who sent the photo was not sure it was the same lady, but a study of both photos, you can see it is the same lady. 

This is one ancestor I really admire. Having fourteen children of her own, and then going out to help other women would not have been easy. Many women work and have families these days, but with not so many children. 

Benjamin, the son of John (a sorter and dyer) and Fanny (nee Mellor), grew up in his birth town but left to pursue an apprenticeship in carpentry. On finishing this he found a position on the London Railway to help establish this new mode of transport in England. He then moved on to Lancashire, chasing the same and purchased a hotel there. 

It was in Kendal that he met and married Isabella Jenkinson.  Their son, Alfred Townley Woodhead, was born a year later and it was then that Isabella became ill and died from Pthsis, when Alfred was just eight months old. 

Isabella was just nine years old when her mother, Bella (Woofe) died and I believe Isabella then went to her aunt and uncle, Mary and Thomas Townley, of course this is a theory but would explain Alfred’s middle name. 

Benjamin quickly married Sarah Clarke, who also had a son, born a few months before Alfred. I wonder if Sarah was bought in to help with Isabella’s son and was maybe a wet nurse. Benjamin had married Sarah within three months of Isabella’s death. 

A year later, their daughter, Fanny, was born and Benjamin secured a job in South Australia to help build the railway there. This was in 1850, tickets were purchased and they set sail on the “SHIP” and arrived in Adelaide in January 1851. Sarah was again pregnant and Adelaide was experiencing a very hot summer. It was not long that Ben and Sarah decided that the climate was not for them and they moved on to Melbourne. Their son Benjamin was born while they were living in Collins Street, Melbourne. 

Favourite Find

When Alfred was married, he listed his mother as Sarah Taylor. My Uncle and Cousin were also both avid genealogists and all three of us spent years trying to find the marriage of Benjamin Woodhead to Sarah Taylor and the birth of Alfred. We did find a marriage at about the right time and were quite excited. It all fitted nicely. One day I took the plunge and purchased the marriage certificate. Of course coming from England it took some time. 

The certificate arrived saying his father’s name was Joseph … his father was John. Benjamin was a weaver … He was a carpenter and his father a carpenter … his father was a dyer and sorter. Also Benjamin was illiterate, however 3 years later he had a beautiful signature, not one of a newly literate person. This was not the right certificate for our Benjamin. 

I then decided to follow up with census information. Benjamin was already in Australia when the 1851 census was taken, however Benjamin and Sarah (Taylor) were there. I knew that Benjamin’s wife, Alfred’s mother, had already passed away so then a search for a different marriage and a possible death of the wife ensued. The next was Benjamin Woodhead to Isabella Jenkinson. This was a likely one and I found that Isabella died about the time Alfred’s mother died. More certificates. This time the information was correct. They had married in Kendal on 27th September 1846. Alfred was born on 22nd July the following year, information in his daughter’s birthday book, which I still have. 

I still could not find a birth or baptism for Alfred. But then… I did find a birth of an Alfred Townley Woodhead and a christening. However, his parents are listed as John and Frances Woodhead, Benjamin’s parents! I then sent for the birth certificate and it was all correct. Parents are Benjamin and Isabella. 

I can imagine the conversation in the church? Baby’s name? Alfred Townley Woodhead. Parents? Oh John and Frances… Benjamin has given his parents names, no Alfred’s. 

Alfred was only eight months old when his mother died. Benjamin married Sarah Clark/e a few months later. She already had a son, John, who took the Woodhead name, and was only a few months older than Alfred. I wonder if she was a wet nurse called in to help with the feeding and caring for a newborn baby to a sick mother. I gather this is where the Sarah came in on Alfred’s marriage certificate, just not sure about the Taylor name. He never used his middle name, Townley, maybe he confused this with Taylor or the registrar. He may have believed this was where his middle name came from. 

                                                             Foundation

Benjamin Woodhead watched as the Foundation Stone for the Fitzroy town hall was laid. A list of names in alphabetical order were etched into the stone, his name, starting with W was last listed. This was Melbourne’s first Suburb and he originally voted against it becoming a suburb siting money concerns. However, this moment was a moment of pride. He would be remembered even if it was only by name.

By the time the town hall was built, in 1874,Benjamin had already served twelve years on the council and was now a Police Magistrate. He had nine children and his own dairy business, which he started soon after arriving in Melbourne. 

After becoming ill a Dr told him that he needed to start drinking a particular bovine milk. He purchased a cow for this purpose but word got around and people began coming to him for this milk. The business grew from there. From my research it seemed the cows were kept on Alexandra Parade, which ran behind his Cecil street Home. 

Benjamin was 82 years old when died  in 1902, he owned a number of houses, a shop (which I believe was his son’s business as a bootmaker) and the Recreation Hotel (which is now a coffee shop and appartments). He never ran the Hotel. 

Many of these days do not feel the anxiousness of sending our children to war and wondering if we will ever see them again. There are still people in our Armies being deployed to war zones, and sadly there are a few who do not come home, but at times there have been thousands sent off, and many did not come home or came home damaged in many ways.
It was a different world then, a much simpler world but the fears would have been the same. But imagine waiting day after day to hear word of a love one. A letter saying they are safe or a letter from the war department giving news you do not want to hear or even start to imagine.

My great great grandmother Mary Ann Hackett was born in Hampshire, England in July 1836. Her mother, Harriet Butler, had originally married John Kearshall in 1831, a soldier serving for Canada. He had joined the military at just 17 years of age. I have not been able to trace him but assume he was killed as Harriet then married an ex-soldier in January 1836.

Henry Hackett had served in the 35th Royle Scotts Regiment of Infantry. The Royle Regiment of Foot. He joined in March of 1815 and was marked as under age. He served in the West indies and also the  Mediterranean. He was discharged in 1834 where it is said he was a bad soldier and continually in hospital. He had a chronic liver complaint. Henry died 18 March 1842 in the Workhouse, just four months after his daughter Elizabeth  Hannah was born. (There does not appear to be further records for Elizabeth).

Harriet then went on to marry William Hales, another soldier who served on the Britannia, was on the "Benbow" in Syria and "Hyacinth" where he received the China Medal. He then retired as a Greenwich Pensioner. He too was a widower. They had children Charles, who seems to have died as a baby and Charlotte. Charlotte married George Adnams. They had thirteen children, after Charlotte died, George remarried and had another 5 children. His father was also a Greenwich Pensioner.

George Adnam's mother was also a Butler born in Hampshire and it is possible that her and Harriet  were cousins.  Also Mary Ann Hackett married James Walkeden and his mother was also Butler. All 3 of these Butler ladies were born in Alverstoke, Hampshire.

Mary Ann grew up amongst ex soldiers and no doubt heard stories surrounding them. She came to Australia, met James Walkeden who had come to meet the ship. It is not known if he came to meet Mary Ann however we do know his nephew was on the same ship.

James had come to Australia as a sailor but left to find his fortune in gold, as many men did. We have not been able to locate a marriage for James and Mary Ann but according to children's birth certificates they married two days after Mary Ann landed in Melbourne.

They then left for the "Ovens" Stanley, Victoria where their first child, Harriet, was born. After that they travelled south and ended up at Fiery Creek, Great Western and finally Stawell. There were six children born in all, however Ada, the last child was registered at birth but nothing on her since, we assume she died very shortly after birth.

 

#52Weeks, High House, St Bees, Cumberland, England

 I spent years trying to trace my g grandfather John Robert Fox's family. He was born in New Zealand but came to Australia before marrying. I had his birth certificate but back then they just listed his parents, not where they came from or when and where they married etc. We are very lucky in Victoria with this information recorded.

High House, St Bees Cumbria photo Jill Coulthard

Then came the internet! I had gone into the library one day determined I was going to find Charles James Fox and his wife Harriet Pollard. It appeared they never married in New Zealand so I started on the English IGI, which at that stage was still microfiche by county. Then I remembered that the Mormans now had this on CD and may be quicker and can do a sweep of all counties.
I made my way up there the following day and advised the Librarian what I was looking for. She pulled out the Victorian BDM? I had just told her New Zealand!
But there it was, the marriage of Charles and Harriet! in Victoria. From there things went crazy. I purchased the marriage certificate and found that Charles was in fact living in New Zealand but Harriet was at that time in Castlemaine. But now I had their parents names, Harriet was the daughter of Robert Pollard and Mary (Hart) while Charles was the son of Rev John Fox and Faith (Huddleston) both of Cumberland, England.
There was a Rootsweb group started for the Fox Family. I put up my names to see what would happen. Within hours someone from Texas contacted me to say she had gone to Cumberland seeking her Fox family and passed on the information of the Fox Family of St Bees Cumberland.

Here was a family history that went back to 1500s! and yes on checking this was my family. I was then able to go to the GRD (Genealogical Research Directory), this was published each year for people trying to find links. It was here that I was able to find Jill Coulthard who was also researching this family. I wrote to Jill sending her copies of evidence that I had linking my family to hers. I also sent her my email address. Within days I had an email. She was very excited as she had never had a reply to her entries.
Research shows that Antonii Foxe was living in High House when his son Gwalfridi Foxe was born in 1544. Antonii is my 11x great Grandfather. Since then all these generations of the Fox Family have grown up at High House.
One family member visited there once and was shown through the house but was advised, "this is not the original house, it was rebuilt about 300 years ago"! This came from the then current occupant Anthony Fox, the name still carries.
Part of the property has now been sold off and one of the cottages has been turned into a holiday rental. I will have to visit that one day.

This is New High House photo Jill Coulthard 

My last ancestor there was Charles James Fox who was the son of the Rev John Fox, who was the minister of Haile, Cumberland but also Headmaster of the St Bees College for some 12 years. The family have a very strong presence in the school from its inception.
Charles James Fox went to New Zealand, came to Melbourne and married Harriet Pollard before returning to New Zealand where their three sons were born. It was after the youngest of those sons died from croup that they returned to Australia where Charles died of pneumonia aged 42 years and is  buried at Chewton, Victoria.  The eldest is my grandmother's father, she was Olive Cecilia Fox and she had 2 brothers whose families carry on the name here in Australia, and other families have also come to Australia.
There  is a massive history for this family just in this house.

A Haunting Photo

It is only a photocopy of the original but is still quite haunting. Baden Powell Barwise poses here with his younger brother Horace. These are two of the sons of Henry William Barwise and Florence Lily (Pearce). Baden was born in Prahran in 29 May 1911 and  was the first child for Henry and Florence. At that time Henry listed his occupation as Timber Carter. 

Baden Powell Barwise and his brother Horace 

WW1 started when Baden was only  a toddler and on 19 January 1917 his father who appears to be going  from job to job, joined the forces to help protect his country and possibly be able to bring in a steady income. Baden was not quite five years old, his brother Horace only a year younger and a third brother Leonard 2 years younger again, and their mother was to find she was again pregnant after their father had left to go overseas to fight for his country.  http://livinginballan.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/henry-william-barwise-1882-1948.html

I wonder if this photo was taken for Henry to carry with him to war? People often did not smile in photos back then but these little fellows look like they are really not happy. 

People seeing off the "Arcanius" in Melbourne. Was Baden here seeing off his father.  

Henry was hospitalised with influenza at one time but within a month he was again back on the fields of France as a driver. 

However on the 9 May 1918 Baden was admitted to the Alfred Hospital suffering with Diphtheria, he had already been ill with for 3 days . He was only a few weeks from his seventh birthday. Two days after being admitted he passed away. His mother had him buried at Coburg Pine Ridge Cemetery on 13 May 1918. She was now at home with three other children, possibly worried if they too would come down and meet the fate of their older brother.  In the hospital admission book there were 15 on the page, 14 had this horrible disease of which Baden and another had died.  

Families were often devastated by the deaths of their children to these now preventable diseases. This is just another example of how mothers having to be strong and carry on alone while their men were at war. 

Two months later his father takes ill and is suffering from neurasthenia, and other Post Traumatic Stress type illnesses. There is no mention of him receiving the news of the loss of a son in his records but  it has been said through the family that he took the news badly. The timing matches with he getting the news and him taken down with these illnesses depression and myalgia. He was also suffering  from Rheumatism which probably made him feel more helpless. 

Baden never lived to meet his other 3 siblings and his father never recovered from his mental health issues. This carried on through all the children, most ending their childhoods in orphanages as their mother spent time in and out of hospital and his father living on the streets, unable to cope with "normal" living, and was eventually found dead in a farm shed where he had died from heart failure. 

• Birth Certificate #14373 1911
• Record of Patients admitted into the Queens Memorial Infectious Disease Hospital 
• Death Certificate # 4513 1918
• Australia WW1 records, 1914-192
•  http://www.gmct.com.au/deceased-search/

I have just signed up for #52 Ancestors in 52 weeks. I did have a plan but this has gone by the wayside this week. I had contact from a man whose son in Law is the grandson of one of my Dad's cousins. There is not a lot on this side of the family so it was good to hear of them. It has put me back on track for the search of John Johnson, our original ancestor who made his way and settled in Australia. My paternal great great grandfather. Oh and what a merry chase he is leading me on.

I was only about 9-10 years old when I first learnt of him. We were studying the gold rush and our teacher asked if we knew were our ancestors came from. I had always had a fascination with people who came from other countries and saw my family as pretty boring really. My teacher came to my desk and said "your name is Johnson, so you are probably English". Even that sounded boring.
So I went home and asked Mum and Dad where we had originated from. Mum was all English and Irish but it was Dad who said his had come from Sweden. I remember Mum being rather shocked and telling him not to be so ridiculous. But Dad insisted, John Johnson was Swedish. That made my day, how exciting, an ancestor that was other than English or Irish.

However, when I started my research I found John Johnson was not so easy to trace. I purchased books on Swedish Genealogy and would pick up anything that would help me in this search.
His marriage certificate gave his age as being born c 1839, in Gothenburg Sweden and his parents were Peter and Albertine. He named his only son Peter so his father's name of his fitted well.

John and Anne Johnson (nee Farrell)

I then found that John had been Naturalised. The records gave his date of birth and the fact that he came to Australia via "Triton" and of course he was born in Gothenburg Sweden. Shipping records did not find anything for the "Triton" coming to Australia in 1863, the year he quoted on his naturalisation papers. I have since found the "Triton" a merchant ship, or cargo ship, leaving Warnambool on its way back to Sydney the night before the date John gave as his arrival in Australia.

Only this week I have found a number of records for different ships with John Johnson (Sweden or Gottenburg) leaving Melbourne for Sydney. On one he is listed as Carpenter, which is what Uncle Jim (Dad's Uncle) told me he did. Said he came out as a Ship's Carpenter. His marriage and his son's birth certificate list him as a labourer. He did live in the shipping type area, Williamstown, Fisherman's Bend, South Melbourne. Did he just see himself as a labourer who picked up work where he got it. Later years he is listed as a fisherman, deep sea?

The other interesting thing is that when he gave the informations for his wife's death he gave her the middle name Horsdlt. This had me puzzled until Bob Frears (my new contact) pointed out that there is a John  Horrsdadt Johnson, Fisherman, at Fisherman's Bend listed on the electoral rolls.
The death notice in  The Age (Melbourne, Vic : 1854 - 1954) on 3 June 1891 also has this middle name for Anne.

Is it possible that this is his real surname? I have asked the question on a Swedish Genealogical site and still waiting on an answer at this time. It is like John has sprinkled little hints all over but trying to interpret them to find him is another story.

My Brother's YDNA test has not come up with anything even close to Sweden! But he is definitely descended from John as family photos prove. It is amazing how we can pick such likenesses through the centuries. 

I will continue to search for John and who he really is as I go along. 

John Horrstadt Johnson with grandson (my grandfather) Jack registered John Royle. 

Please read my other post on this family, Curiosity! We found John's family!