• About
  • Ahentafel index
  • Books
    • Champions from Normandy
    • C F C Crespigny nee Dana
    • Pink Hats on Gentle Ladies: second edition by Vida and Daniel Clift
  • Index
    • A to Z challenges
    • DNA research
    • UK trip 2019
    • World War 1
    • Boltz and Manock family index
    • Budge and Gunn family index
    • Cavenagh family index
    • Chauncy family index
    • Cross and Plowright family index
    • Cudmore family index
    • Dana family index
    • Dawson family index
    • de Crespigny family index
    • de Crespigny family index 2 – my English forebears
    • de Crespigny family index 3 – the baronets and their descendants
    • Edwards, Ralph and Gilbart family index
    • Hughes family index
    • Mainwaring family index
      • Back to 1066 via the Mainwaring family
    • Sullivan family index
    • Young family index

Anne's Family History

~ An online research journal

Anne's Family History

Category Archives: ahnentafel

Updating my Ahnentafel index

09 Sunday Aug 2020

Posted by Anne Young in ahnentafel, tree completeness

≈ 8 Comments

When I started this blog eight years ago, one of its pages was a pedigree spreadsheet with Ahnentafel numbering. Today I updated the published index on this website.

An Ahnentafel (German ‘ancestor board’) table assigns a unique number to each person.

On your own Ahnentafel chart you are number 1. In the previous generation your father is 2 and your mother is 3. Your father’s number is calculated by doubling yours; your mother’s number is one plus double yours.

This scheme continues up the generations. Your paternal grandparents are 4 and 5. Your maternal grandparents are 6 and 7. Men have even numbers; women odd.

My table starts with my children as number 1 and incorporates both my husband Greg’s forebears and mine.

I use Ahnentafel numbering to keep track of our Most Recent Common Ancestors (MRCA), ancestors we share with our DNA matches, provided, of course, that I have been able to establish what the genealogical relationship is.

The update of my Ahnentafel index made me think about our progress on the tree. The last time I reviewed our tree progress was March 2020. At 31 March 2020 my tree showed 344 of the possible 1023 forebears up to 10 generations of 7th great grandparents. I know all 32 of my children’s 3rd great grandparents and thus all 62 of their possible ancestors to that level. At the 4th great grandparent level I know 53 of their 64 possible 4th great grandparents.

Direct ancestors whose names I know are coloured; blanks represent those whose names are unknown to me. Chart generated by DNAPainter.

In the four months since March I haven’t made any progress in identifying more ancestors in these 10 generations, but I have made a little progress in the generations beyond, with two more 8th great grandparents, four 9th great grandparents, two 10th great grandparents, and two 11th great grandparents. Adam and Eve are coming up.

GenerationAncestors identifiedTree completeness at this level
Parents2 of 2100%
Grandparents4 of 4100%
Great-Grandparents8 of 8100%
2nd-Great-Grandparents16 of 16100%
3rd-Great-Grandparents32 of 32100%
4th-Great-Grandparents53 of 6483%
5th-Great-Grandparents72 of 12856%
6th-Great-Grandparents76 of 25630%
7th-Great-Grandparents80 of 51216%
8th-Great-Grandparents66 of 10246.45%
9th-Great-Grandparents43 of 20482.10%
10th-Great-Grandparents31 of 40960.76%
11th-Great-Grandparents21 of 81920.26%
12th-Great-Grandparents12 of 163840.07%
Tree completeness calculated by DNAPainter.
There is limited pedigree collapse: 10 people appear twice as our children’s 3rd great grandparents John Way and Sarah Daw were cousins who married.

Our family tree, including indirect relatives, has grown from 10,481 people in March 2020 to 10,928 as at August 2020. It now has 17,204 records (previously 16,099), 2,238 images (previously 2,109), and 305 stories (previously 289). I have added 65 posts.

These statistics give me a quick measure of the progress I’ve made. There still a long way to go…

Related posts

  • Tree progress March 2020
  • My Most Recent Unknown Ancestors
  • lifespans of 2nd great grandparents
  • X, her mark

DNA testing results one year on

13 Thursday Jul 2017

Posted by Anne Young in ahnentafel, DNA, genealogy tools

≈ 13 Comments

To see what DNA testing might show about our family history, in June last year my husband Greg and I submitted samples of our DNA to Ancestry.com for autosomal DNA analysis. Greg also took a Y-DNA test through the Family Tree DNA company.


What did I hope to learn?


I had no particular questions about my side of the tree that I thought DNA tests might answer, though I did hope that I might find some of my relatives on my mother’s side who, I had been told, had emigrated from Germany to the USA.


My mother was born in Berlin. After WWII when there wasn’t enough to eat, food parcels addressed to her family began to arrive from the United States, sent—she was told—by her American cousins.  When I talked to her about my DNA testing she was a little sceptical but she thought it would be interesting to trace her American relations.


On Greg’s side of the tree there were some dead ends that I hoped DNA analysis might provide a way around. In May 2016 I blogged about these in a post [Poor little chap], with a hypothesis about the parents of Greg’s great grandfather Henry Sullivan (1862-1943).


When our test results came back I quickly found some meaningful matches on Greg’s tree. Some of his cousins had tested too, and we were able to make links between our pre-DNA trees and the DNA information.


I started a spreadsheet to record these matches and, to confirm the links I had found, I sent messages through AncestryDNA’s system to people who appeared to have matching results.


My spreadsheet has these fields:


  • Who took the test – me, my husband, a cousin
  • Match name and/ or Nickname (for Ancestry, GEDmatch, My Heritage, 23andMe alternate names)
  • Company or companies testing
  • point of contact – sometimes the kit is managed by someone other than the person who provided the sample
  • Email address for match or contact
  • Received – when I receive a message or email to help me remember and track messages
  • Notes – always a handy field
  • Line, if known, or grouping of tests- family line, sometimes I know the line from shared matches or other clues, otherwise I can group tests which share matches
  • MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor) – I enter the 2 surnames of the couple I also use Ahnentafel numbers at the beginning of the field which are handy for sorting generations
  • Cousin (cousinship) – eg: 3C or 4C-1R
  • estimated relationship
  • shared surnames
  • linked tests (shared matches)
  • Tree – copy in the URL of any tree or site for the match’s tree
  • GEDmatch ID number of match
  • Chromosome summary
  • GedMatch Autosomal Comparison – copy and paste from the Gedmatch comparison (this can get a bit lengthy and detailed so I don’t always include it)


A screenshot of the first 11 rows of my spreadsheet where I track matches. I sort the spreadsheet on most recent common ancestor and since the Ahnenetafel number is used to begin the field, the spreadsheet is sorted with more recent ancestors first. (click on image to enlarge)

I also used the ‘Notes’ field on AncestryDNA when I had contacted the match and added a star to matches so that I could see at a glance who I had contacted, when I contacted them, and the likely match.


A screenshot of an AncestryDNA match where our trees correspond and the most common recent ancestors are identified. There is a yellow star on the top left hand side of the screen which can be used to identify matches of interest. The notes field in the middle of the screen can be used to summarise contact, GedMatch numbers and likely shared ancestry.
A screenshot of a DNA match where our trees on ancestry do not intersect. In fact I have identified the most common recent ancestors through correspondence with another cousin and shared DNA. Although I messaged using the green “Send Message” button in the top right hand corner, the cousin did not reply. I also unsuccessfully used the brown “Contact” button on the top right of the screen for the Ancestry Profile – see screenshot below.



Initially my DNA matches meant nothing to me. There seemed to be little connection between my DNA matches and my document-based tree.


However, over the last year I have received replies from people we share DNA with, and have been able to compare our family trees and determine where they intersect. For many of these matches, I have been able to draw some conclusions as to our likely most recent common ancestors, particularly when several of us share the same DNA and have intersecting document-based trees. So far we have more than 30 matches where we can identify the most recent ancestors we share.

DNA has added to the evidence I have used to build and document my family tree. To date I have not found any DNA-based evidence which suggests my document-based tree is inaccurate. Unfortunately I have yet to find any cousins sharing DNA on my mother’s side of the family.

Our family tree showing points on the tree where we have common ancestors with  cousins who  share DNA. (You can click to enlarge, but the tree has been reduced in size and individual forebears are not legible)

Related posts
  • Poor little chap – considering what we might learn from testing our DNA
  • DNA analysis: slow progress
  • DNA analysis: taking the tree back two generations
  • DNA analysis: matching the DNA results to the”paper tree”
The Legal Genealogist observes in her post of July 2 2017 That YDNA lament “you can’t be matched to somebody who hasn’t tested” and that there are good reasons for the lack of German DNA matches to date.

lifespans of 2nd great grandparents

01 Sunday May 2016

Posted by Anne Young in ahnentafel, demography, geneameme

≈ 1 Comment

This week genealogy blogger Randy Seaver has invited followers to look at the lifespans of their second great grandparents.

The mission:

1)  We each have 16 great-great grandparents.  How did their birth and death years vary?  How long were their lifespans?  

2)  For this week, please list your 16 great-great grandparents, their birth year, their death year, and their lifespan in years.  

I maintain an ancestor table spreadsheet using the Ahnentafel numbering system of my own and my husband’s forebears.  Sometimes it is very easy to get distracted by the breadth of the family tree. It is useful to look back at the main trunk.

Mine and my husband’s great great grandparents are the 3*great grandparents of my children.  They are numbered 32 to 63 on the table

Name Ahnentafel number age at death lived
George Edward Young 32 64 1826-1890
Caroline Clarke 33 44 1835-1879
John Way 34 76 1835-1911
Sarah Daw 35 58 1837-1895
James Cross 36 54 1828-1882
Ellen Murray 37 64 1837-1901
John Plowright 38 79 1831-1910
Margaret Smyth 39 63 1834-1897
Sullivan 40 I do not know anything about the parents of Henry Sullivan
? 41
John Morley 42 65 1823-1888
Eliza Sinden 43 85 1823-1908
Isaac Dawson 44 42 1831-1872
Eliza Skerrit 45 65 1834-1899
Francis Gilbart Edwards 46 65 1848-1913
Caroline Ralph 47 46 1850-1896
Philip Champion de Crespigny 48 77 1850-1927
Annie Frances Chauncy 49 25 1857-1883
Edward Walter Hughes 50 68 1854-1922
Jeanie Hawkins 51 79 1862-1941
James Francis Cudmore 52 75 1837-1912
Margaret Budge 53 67 1845-1912
Wentworth Cavenagh 54 72 1822-1895
Ellen Jane Mainwaring 55 75 1845-1920
August Bolz 56 76 1840-1916
Wilhelmine Bamberg 57 82 1844-1926
Karl Bertz 58 78 1854-1932
Henrietta Ritter 59 80 1862-1942
Mathias Manogg 60 74 1851-1925
Agathe Maria Lang 61 74 1852-1926
Gustav [Alfons] Waldemar Karl Peters 62 44 1860-1904
Agnes Helene Louise Stern 63 57 1861-1918

The average lifespan is 65.8. The median, middle of the range,  is 67 to 68. The average lifespan for men was 67.3 (median 68)  and for women was 64.3 (median 64).

My great great grandmother Annie Frances Champion de Crespigny née Chauncy (1857-1883) died at the age of 25 of pelvic cellulitis after a 3week illness.

Greg’s great great grandmother Eliza Morley née Sinden (1823-1908) was 85 when she died of asthenia (weakness) and cancer of the pharynx after an illness of 10 week.

This generation was born between 1822 and 1862. The most recent death of this generation of our family was 1942: my great great grandmother Henrietta Bertz née  Ritter (1862-1942).

My mother with her great grandmother Henrietta Bertz née  Ritter Easter 1941

X, her mark

27 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by Anne Young in A to Z 2014, ahnentafel, demography, genealogical records, statistics

≈ 2 Comments

In 2012 at http://www.lonetester.com/2012/10/family-history-through-the-alphabet-challenge-x-is-for-signatures/ Alona Tester blogged about ‘X is for signatures’. She included examples of certificates where ‘X his mark’ showed that someone could not sign his name.

I looked though my collection of birth, death and marriage certificates for examples of people who could not sign their name.
On the birth certificate of Alice Young, born in 1859, the informant, her mother Caroline née Clark, could not sign her name and made an X. On the birth certificate of Caroline Young in 1867, the informant was her father George Young. He signed his name. In 1878 the birth of James Ernest Young was registered and the informant was Caroline. This time she appears to have signed her name. The informant’s name is in a different handwriting to the details on the rest of the certificate. Perhaps Caroline had learned how to sign her name in the twenty years between the births of Alice and James.

Informant’s details from the birth certificate of Alice Young. Birth registered in Victoria number 4807 of 1859. Caroline was also the informant on John Young’s birth in 1856. She signed with her mark on that certificate too.

 

Informant’s details from the birth certificate of James Ernest Young. Birth registered in Victoria number 20382 of 1878. Other details from the certificate and from the preceding certificate have been left to show the difference in handwriting, which suggests that this might be the signature of Caroline.
Sarah Way née Daw was the informant on the 1868 birth certificate of her daughter Emily Way. She could not sign her name and made a mark. However, in 1896 Sarah’s husband John Way signed his name as the informant for the registration of the death of his son John.

When she registered the birth in 1864 of Henry Dawson at Corby, Lincolnshire, Eliza Dawson née Skerritt, his mother, could not sign her name. Her husband Isaac was able to sign his name when they married in 1855. She signed the marriage register with her mark.

These are the only examples I could find in my family documents of people who could not write their own name. All three women were great great great grandmothers of my husband. Eleven of his other great great great grandparents could sign their name.

These women were all born in the first half of the nineteenth century. All their husbands could sign their own names. In the next generation, their children, both girls and boys, could write their own name.

Some demographers have argued that illiteracy is linked to the size of families, in particular that education diminishes fertility. For example, a study of demographic changes in Britain from the 1850s to the early twentieth century found that “the extension of basic literacy is related to increases in female labour market participation, which is in turn related to fertility reduction”. (Newell and Gazeley) The data from my family does not support this hypothesis. None of the women in the table below were ever in paid employment. I cannot see any link between the literacy of my own and my husband’s great great great grandparents and the size of their families.

 

Age at marriage, children and dates of birth for our great great great grandmothers

 

Name Ahnentafel number literacy number of children age at marriage age when first child born age when last child born age at death lived Notes
Caroline Clarke 33 no 13 18 18 43 44 1835-1879 Includes one set of twins.
Sarah Daw 35 no 10 17 18 37 58 1837-1895  
Ellen Murray 37 passenger list stated she could read and write 11 19 20 41 64 1837-1901  
Margaret Smyth 39 passenger list stated she could read and write 7 21 19 38 63 1834-1897 had a child before she married
Eliza Sinden 43 signature appears on birth and death certificates 8 25 26 41 85 1823-1908  
Eliza Skerrit 45 no 10 21 24 38 65 1834-1899 Includes one set of triplets. This is the only English family. The last child was born at the time Eliza’s husband, Isaac Dawson, died.
Caroline Ralph 47 signature appears on marriage certificate 10 20 21 43 46 1850-1896  
Annie Frances Chauncy 49 yes 2 20 21 24 25 1857-1883 died young
Jeanie Hawkins 51 yes 4 21 22 31 79 1862-1941  
Margaret Budge 53 yes 13 21 22 44 67 1845-1912  
Ellen Jane Mainwaring 55 yes 10 20 20 37 75 1845-1920  

The women in this table were Australian, with the exception of that of Eliza Skerrit, wife of Isaac Dawson, who was from Lincolnshire, England. I have not included my German great great great grandparents as I do not have the relevant data.

A graphical representation of the above data for our great great great grandmothers

click to enlarge

Reference:

  • Newell, A. and Gazeley, I. (2012) The declines in infant mortality and fertility: Evidence from British cities in demographic transition, Economics Department Working Paper Series, University of Sussex, No. 48-2012 retrieved from http://ftp.iza.org/dp6855.pdf 27 April 2014

Australia Day: Climbing our family’s gum tree

26 Sunday Jan 2014

Posted by Anne Young in ahnentafel, geneameme, Germany, Governor LaTrobe, immigration, Ireland, Scotland

≈ 2 Comments

092 Termite mounds and gum tree copyCLIMBING OUR FAMILY’S GUM TREE, a blogging challenge from Pauline Cass for Australia Day 2014
My children have fifty-one direct ancestors who were immigrants to Australia. It has been quite a job to gather and arrange this information about them.

My first ancestor to arrive in Australia was my fifth great grandfather George Taylor (1758 – 1828). He came to Tasmania in 1822 with wife Mary née  Low (1765 -1850) and his family. His descendants still run Valleyfield near Longford, the property he and his sons farmed.

“Valleyfield” Epping Tas. The “Taylors” have lived here for over 100 years. , about 1914 – about 1941 Photograph in the collection of the State Library of Victoria. Accession number H22546. A.C. Dreier postcard collection. Retrieved from
https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/pictoria/gid/slv-pic-aab47005

Were there any convicts? There are no convicts on my side. On my husband Greg’s side we know that Caroline Clarke, his great great grandmother who married George Young, was born in New South Wales about 1835. We haven’t been able to trace her parents, so perhaps they were convicts.
Where did our ancestors come from? Twenty-six from England, seven from Scotland, two from Wales, eight from Ireland, and four from Germany.  One of our English forebears was born in India. There are at least four immigrants in the list of fifty-one that I know nothing about.


Did any of our ancestors arrive under their own financial steam? Many paid their own passage, and there were some assisted immigrants.  Only one seems to have worked his way to Australia. This was John Plowright, who stated when admitted to Maryborough Hospital in 1873 that he had arrived in the colony on the Speculation from London about 1853 and his occupation was mariner.  He wasn’t listed as a deserter but perhaps he signed off to go to the goldfields.
How many ancestors came as singles? couples? families? Thirty-two of the fifty-one immigrants, or sixty percent, came as families. Thirteen came as single immigrants and there was only one couple without children: John and Sarah Way.
Did one person lead the way and others follow? There are quite a few instances of this. 

  • The de Crespignys probably came because Charlotte’s brothers had been given jobs by Governor Latrobe. 
  • The Edwards probably came because Mary’s sister Sarah and her husband Francis Tuckfield were already in Australia. 
  • Philip Chauncy followed his sisters, who had arrived in Adelaide two years previously. 
  • The Plaisteds followed Ann’s sister and brother, who had arrived twelve years earlier in Adelaide. 
  • Isabella Hutcheson née Taylor followed her parents and brothers to Tasmania in about 1833 after the death of her husband.  She came with five young children.
  • My grandfather came first after the war and his wife and daughter joined him ten months later. My grandfather was the only immigrant to arrive by air.
Which state(s)/colony did our ancestors arrive? Eight arrived in Tasmania, eighteen in Victoria, fifteen in South Australia, two in Western Australia and four migrated to the Australian Capital Territory.


Forty-two, or ninety percent, of our forty-seven immigrant ancestors arrived before 1855, one arrived in 1888, and the remaining four arrived in the middle of the twentieth century after World War 2.

Number of arrivals by year of arrival:

1822 1833 1835 1836 1838 1839 1840 1849 1850 1852 1853 1854 1888 1949 1950 1960
2 2 3 1 2 2 3 6 3 3 6 9 1 1 2 1
Did they settle and remain in one state/colony? No, for example

  • the Ways moved from South Australia to Victoria and then to New South Wales
  • the Ralphs moved from Victoria to South Australia
  • the Plaisteds and the Hughes moved from South Australia to Victoria
  • the Cudmores and Nihills moved from Tasmania to South Australia
  • the Hutchesons moved from Tasmania to Victoria
  • Philip Chauncy moved from South Australia to Western Australia to Victoria
Did any of our ancestors leave Australia and go “home”? William Snell Chauncy visited his children in South Australia for only twelve months before returning to England. Gordon Mainwaring and his wife Mary née Hickey both died in England as did their son-in-law, Wentworth Cavenagh-Mainwaring. My grandparents and mother visited Germany.

generated by https://www.tagxedo.com inspired by the image by Sharon at https://shazlex.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/australia-day-challenge-2014.html who also responded to the challenge

Sepia Saturday 196 : Sick Children

27 Friday Sep 2013

Posted by Anne Young in ahnentafel, cemetery, Chauncy, Cross, Cudmore, Dawson, Edwards, Heathcote, Manock, medicine, Morley, Plowright, Sepia Saturday, Sullivan, typhoid, Way, Young

≈ 1 Comment

This week’s Sepia Saturday blog prompt is an illustration of a little boy sick in bed.

I have no pictures of sick children who are related to me, but in my family tree there are many instances of childhood deaths from illness.
During my childhood, I suffered appendicitis and was hospitalised but had no major infection, though I think I remember suffering from chicken pox. I can remember my brother having the mumps and having his tonsils out when he was small.

My parents both spoke of serious illnesses in their childhood. Among these illnesses, my father had scarlet fever and my mother diphtheria.  My father was an only child and my mother has one sister – neither suffered the death of a sibling.

The father of my husband Greg was an only child, but Greg’s mother had several brothers and sisters including one, Gwendolyn Phyllis Sullivan (6 January 1933 – 30 May 1935), who died young.  Marjorie, Greg’s mother, had helped to care for Gwendolyn and never forgot her little sister who died of meningitis when only two. Marjorie, who was 13 years older, had left school to help look after Gwenny when she was born. Marjorie recalled the little girl was sick with stomach cramps on Monday and died on Wednesday; 30 May was in fact Thursday but perhaps she died early that morning.  Gwendolyn is buried at Malmsbury cemetery, Methodist Comp. 2 Sect 1 Grave 164.  It seems that she has no headstone. (Judkins, Carol. “Malmsbury Cemetery.” Carol’s Headstone Photographs. Rootsweb, Apr. 2008. Web. 20 Sept. 2013. <http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ausvsac/Malmsbury.htm>.)

Greg’s paternal grandfather Cecil Young had one brother, one sister and three half-siblings.  His sister Caroline Young (June 1895 – 10 July 1895) died 2 1/2 weeks after she was born on 10 July 1895. The cause of death was given as “debility from birth”. She is buried in Timor cemetery.

Greg’s paternal grandmother Elizabeth Cross was one of ten children.  They all lived to adulthood. Greg’s maternal grandfather Arthur Sullivan had four brothers and sisters, a half-sister and a half-brother, William Ernest Dare Morley, who died on 2 February 1880 at East Brighton of “congestion of the brain” aged 15 days. Greg’s maternal grandmother, Stella Esther Gilbart Dawson, was one of eight children, all of whom survived until adulthood.

Of my grandparents, only my maternal grandmother had a sibling who died young.  Emil Oswald Manock was born on 17 April 1914 at Steglitz, Berlin and died there on 3 December 1914. My grandmother told me her brother died from “a hole in the heart”.

Our great grand parents’ generation

John Young, my husband’s great grandfather, had 12 siblings, five died young.  The first child of George and Caroline Young was George Young who was born and died in 1854, probably at Beechworth.  His birth and death predate civil registration in Victoria and there is no death certificate. He was remembered on each of his sibling’s birth certificates. Annie Young died 16 April 1873 aged 10 months of dysentery at Lamplough. In 1876 the Young family lost three children within a month. On 31 March Laura Young died aged 2 from diphtheria after an illness of 5 days.  On 21 April her brother Edmund Young aged 6 years also died of diphtheria after an illness of 14 days. On 27 April Caroline Young aged 8 1/2 years died of scarletina maligna (acute scarlet fever) after an illness of 1 week.

Sarah Jane Way, the wife of John Young, had nine siblings of whom four died young. William John Way died aged 6 months on 18 January 1858 of “congestion of the brain” at East Collingwood, Melbourne.  Mary Jane Way died age 4 months on 19 June 1859 of “cancer of the eye” also at East Collingwood. Martha Way died aged 13 months on 10 August 1875 of rubella at Parkes, New South Wales. Harriet Elizabeth Way died two days after her ninth birthday on 18 May 1879 of typhoid fever at Parkes.

Frederick James Cross had ten siblings. One died young. Thomas Bailey Cross aged 2 died at Carngham on 28 January 1875.  In the photograph below taken about 1890, Thomas is represented by the dark cloth on the floor in the lower right hand corner of the picture.  On the back of the photo his name was with those of his brother’s and sisters. 

Ellen Cross and family about 1890. Picture from Gale Robertson, great grand daughter of Frederick James Cross and great great grand daughter of Ellen.

Ann Jane Plowright, wife of Frederick James Cross, had six siblings. Two died young. John Plowright died on 20 January 1872 aged 4 days old after a premature birth at Homebush near Avoca, Victoria. Frederick Edward Plowright died aged 14 years at Homebush on 24 April 1878.  He was cutting down a tree and it fell on him, breaking his neck. He died instantly.

“TELEGRAPHIC DESPATCHES.” The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957) 26 Apr 1878: 5. Web. 21 Sep 2013 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5930194>.

Anne Morley had seven siblings. Five died young. William Morley born about 1849 and Peter Morley born about 1851 had both died in England before the family emigrated in 1853. Elizabeth Morley died at Collingwood Flat on 10 March 1854 aged 5 years old of “Tabes Mesenterica“:  tuberculosis or swelling of the lymph glands inside the abdomen. Children became ill drinking milk from cows infected with tuberculosis. This is now uncommon as milk is pasteurised. (“Tabes Mesenterica (Meaning Of).” Encyclo Online Encyclopaedia. Encyclo, 2012. Web. 21 Sept. 2013. <http://www.encyclo.co.uk/define/tabes mesenterica>.) Harriet Ann Morley died at East Collingwood on 5 January 1858 of atrophy aged 15 months. Mary Jane Morley died age 3 in 1858.

Henry Dawson, the son of Isaac Dawson and Eliza Skerrit was born on 30 Jul 1864 in Corby, near Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. He had a twin brother, Charles, and at least eight other siblings, of whom one, George Dawson (1862 – 1863) died aged less than two years old.

Edith Caroline Edwards, daughter of Francis Gilbart Edwards and Caroline Ralph was born on 16 Sep 1871 in Sunnyside, Ballarat, Victoria. She had nine siblings of whom two died young. Benjamin Gilbart Edwards (1887 – 1888) was born in Ballarat and died aged 10 months at Richmond in Melbourne. Ernest Francis Gilbart Edwards (1891 -1901) died aged 10 in Brighton.

The siblings of my paternal great grandparents all survived to adulthood except one.  Mary Jane Cudmore, one of 13 children, died aged 11 months on 20 November 1884 and is buried at Brighton cemetery, Adelaide.
I know only a little of the siblings of my maternal great grandparents and I have details only of those that survived to adulthood. It may be that they all did survive, but more research is needed to be sure.
I don’t have enough details to look back one further generation to the siblings of my and my husband’s great great grandparents. While I have details about a few of the families, information on others is missing.  Hence I shall mention only one death from that generation.My great great great grandfather wrote about the death of his son at Heathcote and sketched his grave. The headstone, although damaged, still survives.
Sketch by Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy of the grave of his son Philip who died at Heathcote aged 3 years. From opposite page 33 of his book Memoirs of Mrs. Poole and Mrs. Chauncy

 Philip Lamothe Chauncy (23 March 1851 – 19 May 1854)  was the first son of Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy and his wife Susan Mitchell.  He died before my great great grandmother, Annie Frances Chauncy was born. In his memoir about his wife, Philip wrote:

… our first son, named Philip Lamothe, was born on the 23rd March, 1851. I think my dear Susie’s maternal instincts were unusually strong, and oh how true she was to them! How devoted she was to that child! He grew up to be a lovely boy, the admiration of all who knew him; but he had too heavenly a look for this world. He was the source of the most inexpressible delight to his mother; her eyes used to feast on his beaming little face; she looked the most un-utterable blessings on him. But alas, he was too exotic a plant to live on this earth, and was taken from us by our all-wise God, at Heathcote, Victoria, on the 19th of May, 1854. To the day of her death, his words and looks and little actions were fresh in her memory. I think she never completely recovered from the shock occasioned by the death of our little Philip; indeed, I now remember she said, shortly before she was taken from us, that she had never got over it, although she was quite resigned to the will of God, and would not have been so selfish as to have wished him back again.  (Chauncy, Philip Lamothe Snell Memoirs of Mrs Poole and Mrs Chauncy. Lowden, Kilmore, Vic, 1976.Pages 37-8)

In May 1854, our darling little Philly caught cold, and Dr Sconce, the Government Assistant Surgeon, was called in to attend him. On the 12th of that month, Dr Robinson happening to be in our parlor-tent, and hearing Philly cough, said, “That child has croup.” O what agony the information caused his dear mother. A day or two after this we removed him into the large new stone building which had just been erected for officer’s quarters, but he gradually sank, and expired on the 19th May 1854, after a week’s illness. (Chauncy Memoirs already cited, page 47)

A recent photo of the grave of  Philip Lamothe Chauncy at Heathcote with thanks to (and permission to reproduce from) Carol Judkins of http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ausvsac/Index.htm

Most of our forebears came from Victoria and we are fortunate in the high quality of vital records which provide a lot of information for family history.  In the summary below, where cause of death is not stated I have not obtained the death certificate.

Summary of our aunt, great aunts and uncles and great great aunts and uncles who died as children :

Aunt :

  • Gwendolyn Phillis Sullivan died age 2 in 1935 of meningitis

Great aunt and great uncles :

  • Caroline Young died age 2 1/2 weeks in  1895 of “debility from birth”
  • William Ernest Dare Morley died age 15 days in 1880 from “congestion of the brain”
  • Emil Oswald Manock died age 7 1/2 months in 1914 of a “hole in the heart”

 Great great aunts and great great uncles :

  • George Young died as an infant in 1854
  • Annie Young died age 10 months in 1873 from dysentery
  • Laura Young died age 2 in 1876 from diphtheria
  • Edmund Young died age 6 in 1876 from diphtheria
  • Caroline Young died age 8 in 1876 from scarletina maligna
  • William John Way died age 6 months in 1858 of “congestion of the brain”
  • Mary Jane Way died age 4 months in 1859 of “cancer of the eye”
  • Martha Way died age 13 months in 1875 of rubella
  • Harriet Elizabeth Way died age 9 in 1879 of typhoid
  • Thomas Bailey Cross died age 2 in 1875
  • John Plowright died age 4 days in 1875 having been born prematurely
  • Frederick John Plowright died age 14 years in 1878 from an accident
  • William Morley died as an infant or small child before 1853
  • Peter Morley died as an infant or small child before 1853
  • Elizabeth Morley died age 5 in 1854 from  Tabes Mesenterica
  • Harriet Ann Morley died age 15 months in 1858 of atrophy
  • Mary Jane Morley died age 3 in 1858
  • George Dawson died before he was 2 in 1863
  • Benjamin Gilbart Edwards died age 10 months in 1888
  • Ernest Francis Gilbart Edwards died age 10 in 1901
  • Mary Jane Cudmore died age 11 months in 1884
Follow Anne's Family History on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Categories

  • . Surnames (537)
    • Atkin (1)
    • Bayley, Bayly, Baillie (3)
    • Beggs (11)
    • Bertz (3)
    • Bock (1)
    • Boltz (18)
    • Branthwayt (1)
    • Bray (2)
    • Brown (1)
    • Budge (7)
    • Cavenagh (22)
    • Cavenagh-Mainwaring (23)
    • Champion de Crespigny (147)
      • apparently unrelated Champion de Crespigny (5)
      • CdeC 18th century (3)
      • CdeC Australia (22)
        • Rafe de Crespigny (10)
      • CdeC baronets (10)
    • Chauncy (28)
    • Corrin (2)
    • Crew (4)
    • Cross (18)
      • Cross SV (7)
    • Cudmore (60)
      • Kathleen (15)
    • Dana (28)
    • Darby (3)
    • Davies (1)
    • Daw (3)
    • Dawson (4)
    • Duff (3)
    • Edwards (13)
    • Ewer (1)
    • Fish (8)
    • Fonnereau (5)
    • Furnell (2)
    • Gale (1)
    • Gibbons (2)
    • Gilbart (7)
    • Goldstein (8)
    • Gordon (1)
    • Granger (2)
    • Green (2)
    • Grueber (2)
    • Grust (2)
    • Gunn (5)
    • Harvey (1)
    • Hawkins (8)
    • Henderson (1)
    • Hickey (4)
    • Holmes (1)
    • Horsley (2)
    • Hughes (20)
    • Hunter (1)
    • Hutcheson (3)
    • Huthnance (2)
    • James (4)
    • Johnstone (4)
    • Jones (1)
    • Kemmis (2)
    • Kinnaird (4)
    • La Mothe (2)
    • Lane (1)
    • Lawson (3)
    • Leister (6)
    • Mainwaring (34)
    • Manock (14)
    • Massy Massey Massie (1)
    • Mitchell (4)
    • Morley (4)
    • Morris (1)
    • Movius (2)
    • Murray (6)
    • Niall (4)
    • Nihill (9)
    • Odiarne (1)
    • Orfeur (2)
    • Palliser (1)
    • Peters (2)
    • Phipps (3)
    • Plaisted (9)
    • Plowright (16)
    • Pye (2)
    • Ralph (1)
    • Reher (1)
    • Richards (1)
    • Russell (1)
    • Sherburne (1)
    • Sinden (1)
    • Skelly (3)
    • Skerritt (2)
    • Smyth (6)
    • Snell (1)
    • Sullivan (18)
    • Symes (9)
    • Taylor (4)
    • Toker (2)
    • Torrey (1)
    • Tuckfield (3)
    • Tunks (2)
    • Vaux (4)
    • Wade (2)
    • Way (13)
    • Whiteman (7)
    • Wilkes (1)
    • Wilkins (9)
    • Wright (1)
    • Young (29)
      • Charlotte Young (3)
      • Greg Young (9)
  • .. Places (376)
    • Africa (3)
    • Australia (172)
      • Canberra (10)
      • New South Wales (10)
        • Albury (2)
        • Binalong (1)
        • Lilli Pilli (2)
        • Murrumburrah (2)
        • Orange (1)
        • Parkes (3)
        • Wentworth (1)
      • Northern Territory (1)
      • Queensland (5)
      • Snowy Mountains (1)
      • South Australia (43)
        • Adelaide (30)
        • Glenelg (1)
      • Tasmania (9)
      • Victoria (104)
        • Apollo Bay (2)
        • Ararat (1)
        • Avoca (10)
        • Ballarat (14)
        • Beaufort (5)
        • Bendigo (3)
        • Bentleigh (2)
        • Betley (1)
        • Birregurra (1)
        • Bowenvale (1)
        • Bright (1)
        • Brighton (4)
        • Carngham (3)
        • Carwarp (1)
        • Castlemaine (3)
        • Charlton (2)
        • Clunes (1)
        • Collingwood (1)
        • Creswick (2)
        • Dunolly (2)
        • Eurambeen (4)
        • Geelong (6)
        • Heathcote (5)
        • Homebush (12)
        • Lamplough (3)
        • Lilydale (1)
        • Melbourne (12)
        • Portland (8)
        • Prahran (1)
        • Queenscliff (1)
        • Seddon (1)
        • Snake Valley (4)
        • St Kilda (1)
        • Talbot (4)
        • Windsor (1)
        • Yarraville (1)
      • Western Australia (2)
    • Belgium (1)
    • Canada (4)
    • China (3)
    • England (112)
      • Bath (5)
      • Cambridge (5)
      • Cheshire (2)
      • Cornwall (14)
        • Gwinear (1)
        • St Erth (9)
      • Devon (6)
      • Dorset (2)
      • Durham (1)
      • Essex (1)
      • Gloucestershire (10)
        • Bristol (1)
        • Cheltenham (5)
        • Leckhampton (3)
      • Hampshire (2)
      • Hertfordshire (2)
      • Kent (4)
      • Lancashire (3)
      • Lincolnshire (3)
      • Liverpool (10)
      • London (8)
      • Middlesex (1)
        • Harefield (1)
      • Norfolk (2)
      • Northamptonshire (11)
        • Kelmarsh Hall (5)
      • Northumberland (1)
      • Nottinghamshire (1)
      • Oxfordshire (6)
        • Oxford (5)
      • Shropshire (6)
        • Shrewsbury (2)
      • Somerset (3)
      • Staffordshire (11)
        • Whitmore (11)
      • Suffolk (1)
      • Surrey (3)
      • Sussex (4)
      • Wiltshire (4)
      • Yorkshire (3)
    • France (14)
      • Normandy (1)
    • Germany (22)
      • Berlin (12)
      • Brandenburg (2)
    • Guernsey (1)
    • Hong Kong (2)
    • India (11)
    • Ireland (40)
      • Antrim (2)
      • Cavan (3)
      • Clare (2)
      • Cork (4)
      • Dublin (9)
      • Kildare (2)
      • Kilkenny (4)
      • Limerick (6)
      • Londonderry (1)
      • Meath (1)
      • Monaghan (1)
      • Tipperary (5)
      • Westmeath (1)
      • Wexford (3)
      • Wicklow (1)
    • Isle of Man (2)
    • Jerusalem (3)
    • Malaysia (1)
    • New Guinea (3)
    • New Zealand (3)
    • Scotland (17)
      • Caithness (1)
      • Edinburgh (1)
    • Singapore (4)
    • Spain (1)
    • USA (9)
      • Massachusetts (5)
    • Wales (6)
  • 1854 (6)
  • A to Z challenges (244)
    • A to Z 2014 (27)
    • A to Z 2015 (27)
    • A to Z 2016 (27)
    • A to Z 2017 (27)
    • A to Z 2018 (28)
    • A to Z 2019 (26)
    • A to Z 2020 (27)
    • A to Z 2021 (27)
    • A to Z 2022 (28)
  • AAGRA (1)
  • Australian Dictionary of Biography (1)
  • Australian War Memorial (2)
  • Bank of Victoria (7)
  • bankruptcy (1)
  • baronet (13)
  • British Empire (1)
  • cemetery (23)
    • grave (2)
  • census (4)
  • Cherry Stones (11)
  • Christmas (2)
  • Civil War (4)
  • class (1)
  • cooking (5)
  • court case (12)
  • crime (11)
  • Crimean War (1)
  • divorce (8)
  • dogs (5)
  • education (10)
    • university (4)
  • encounters with indigenous Australians (8)
  • family history (53)
    • family history book (3)
    • UK trip 2019 (36)
  • Father's day (1)
  • freemason (3)
  • French Revolution (2)
  • genealogical records (24)
  • genealogy tools (74)
    • ahnentafel (6)
    • DNA (40)
      • AncestryDNA (13)
      • FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA) (2)
      • GedMatch (6)
    • DNA Painter (13)
    • FamilySearch (3)
    • MyHeritage (11)
    • tree completeness (12)
    • wikitree (8)
  • geneameme (117)
    • 52 ancestors (22)
    • Sepia Saturday (28)
    • Through her eyes (4)
    • Trove Tuesday (51)
    • Wedding Wednesday (5)
  • gold rush (4)
  • Governor LaTrobe (1)
  • GSV (3)
  • heraldry (6)
  • illegitimate (2)
  • illness and disease (23)
    • cholera (5)
    • tuberculosis (7)
    • typhoid (7)
  • immigration (34)
  • inquest (1)
  • insolvency (2)
  • land records (3)
  • military (128)
    • ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day (7)
    • army (7)
    • Durham Light Infantry (1)
    • Napoleonic wars (9)
      • Waterloo (2)
    • navy (19)
    • prisoner of war (10)
    • Remembrance Day (5)
    • World War 1 (63)
    • World War 2 (18)
  • obituary (10)
  • occupations (43)
    • artist (7)
    • author (5)
    • aviation (3)
    • British East India Company (1)
    • clergy (2)
    • farming (1)
    • lawyer (8)
    • medicine (13)
    • public service (1)
    • railways (3)
    • teacher (2)
  • orphanage (2)
  • Parliament (5)
  • photographs (12)
    • Great great Aunt Rose's photograph album (6)
  • piracy (3)
  • police (2)
  • politics (17)
  • portrait (15)
  • postcards (3)
  • prison (4)
  • probate (8)
  • PROV (2)
  • Recipe (1)
  • religion (26)
    • Huguenot (9)
    • Methodist (4)
    • Mormon pioneer (1)
    • Puritan (1)
    • Salvation Army (1)
  • Royal family (5)
  • sheriff (1)
  • shipwreck (3)
  • South Sea Company (2)
  • sport (14)
    • cricket (2)
    • golf (4)
    • riding (1)
    • rowing (2)
    • sailing (1)
  • statistics (4)
    • demography (3)
  • street directories (1)
  • temperance (1)
  • Trove (37)
  • Uncategorized (12)
  • ward of the state (2)
  • Wedding (20)
  • will (6)
  • workhouse (1)
  • younger son (3)

Pages

  • About
  • Ahentafel index
  • Books
    • Champions from Normandy
    • C F C Crespigny nee Dana
    • Pink Hats on Gentle Ladies: second edition by Vida and Daniel Clift
  • Index
    • A to Z challenges
    • DNA research
    • UK trip 2019
    • World War 1
    • Boltz and Manock family index
    • Budge and Gunn family index
    • Cavenagh family index
    • Chauncy family index
    • Cross and Plowright family index
    • Cudmore family index
    • Dana family index
    • Dawson family index
    • de Crespigny family index
    • de Crespigny family index 2 – my English forebears
    • de Crespigny family index 3 – the baronets and their descendants
    • Edwards, Ralph and Gilbart family index
    • Hughes family index
    • Mainwaring family index
      • Back to 1066 via the Mainwaring family
    • Sullivan family index
    • Young family index

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Follow Anne's Family History on WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Anne's Family History
    • Join 294 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Anne's Family History
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...