A miniature note

A year ago I wrote about a miniature portrait of my grandfather Geoff de Crespigny painted by the wife of his maternal uncle, Olive Amy Hughes née Chatfield (1880 – 1945). Olive married Vyvyan Hughes in 1916. Sadly, he died soon afterwards in a military hospital.

Before her marriage Olive Chatfield lived in Adelaide from about 1910 to 1916. She returned to New Zealand in November 1916.

A de Crespigny cousin has sent me a photograph of a portrait of Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny, Geoff’s father, my great grandfather.

A miniature portrait of Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny in the possession of a cousin

I think this miniature was painted before my great grandfather left for overseas service with the Australian Imperial Force in May 1915. Or perhaps it was painted from a photograph taken before he left; the portrait is  similar to a photograph that appeared in the Adelaide Express and Telegraph on 20 May 1915.

OFF TO THE FRONT. (1915, May 20). The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide, SA : 1867 – 1922), p. 5 (4 O’CLOCK EDITION. SPORTS NUMBER). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article209986299

Related posts

• Miniature portrait of Geoff de Crespigny by Olive A Chatfield
• Arthur Murray Cudmore World War I service (discusses the departure of the contingent of Adelaide doctors including both my great grandfathers)
• No 3 AGH (Australian General Hospital) Lemnos Christmas Day
• U is for Unibic biscuit tin

Triangulating Matilda’s DNA

Three years ago my husband Greg and I sent off our DNA for analysis. There were three family history puzzles I thought DNA techniques might solve. One concerned the parents of Greg’s great grandfather Henry Sullivan. Who were they? I didn’t know. I thought DNA data might help.

We knew Henry was brought up in an orphanage in Geelong, but its records told us only that he had been abandoned by his parents, nothing more. We could not find a likely birth certificate for him.

I revisited the problem, reviewing digitised newspapers at Trove and widening my date search slightly. I wrote up the results at `Poor little chap‘.

Henry was committed as a State Ward on 11 June 1866. He was said to be four years old. Both his parents were living but he had been deserted. Looking at the newspapers for the month before Henry was committed I found a report that mentioned a ‘‘little one’ who had been abandoned by a woman named Sullivan.’ The newspaper stated that ‘The decrepit and indiscreet creature walked off with the child clinging to her.’. Perhaps this child was our Henry.

Following through various newspaper reports I came to the view that this Henry was the child of William Sullivan (born 1839) and Matilda Frances Sullivan formerly Hughes (born 1845). Matilda Sullivan was the daughter of Matilda Priscilla Hughes nee Moggridge formerly Derby (1825 – 1868) and the step-daughter of David Hughes (1822 – 1895). Matilda Sullivan had another son, Eleazer Hughes (1861 – 1949). Eleazer Hughes had left descendants. I hoped that by matching Greg’s DNA with the descendants of Eleazer Hughes I might be able to confirm the hypothesis of Henry Sullivan’s parents.

Greg and his brother Dennis, his first cousins BS and MS, and his second cousin LB all share DNA with various descendants of Eleazer Hughes.

The challenge with DNA matching is to be confident about which of your forebears you have inherited the shared DNA from.

For close relations where you knew the test-takers beforehand and when the amount of shared DNA corresponds to the amount expected to be shared given the relationship, a shared DNA match is taken to be evidence of the relationship. If you have access to the shared chromosome details then you can attribute the shared ancestry to the shared DNA.

When the relationship is more distant you need to be confident that the DNA is shared from a particular ancestor and not from some other shared ancestor. That other ancestor may be on a part of the tree you or your match have not yet documented, that is, you do not know about your shared relationship. A measure of this is tree completeness -how many of your forebears have you documented for the necessary generations. If you are looking at an expected third cousin relationship then you expect to share great great grandparents. The question then becomes whether you and your match have both documented all sixteen of your great great grandparents. Only then can you be completely confident there is no another possible explanation of why you share DNA.

When it comes to fourth cousin relationships you are one more generation back. Both you and your match need to have documented thirty-two third great grandparents but also you need to take into consideration other possible relationships that might account for the amount of DNA that you share.

The distance between two gene loci on a chromosome is measured in centiMorgans (cM), defined as ‘the distance between chromosome positions for which the expected average number of intervening chromosomal crossovers in a single generation is 0.01’, that is, how likely the segment is to recombine as it passes from parent to child.

If two sets of DNA are compared, a higher number of shared centiMorgans means greater confidence in the match, that is, greater confidence that the match represents a closer relationship.

Any given number of centiMorgans though can represent a variety of relationships. The Shared cM Project is a collaborative data collection and analysis project created as part of research into the ranges of shared centiMorgans associated with various known relationships. A tool called the ‘Shared cM Project 3.0 tool’ v4 allows users to compare the amount of DNA shared with a match with the accumulated results of the data collection of more than 25,000 relationships and their shared DNA. Using the tool is an aid to understanding what relationships are most likely to be represented by the amount of shared DNA.

The more generations back  the higher the chance that no DNA is shared between descendants. It is possible for third cousins not to share DNA and the likelihood that fourth cousins share DNA is only in the order of 50%.

If three people share one segment of DNA and they know how they are related, then we have more confidence that the shared DNA comes from particular ancestors.

Greg and L B are second cousins. They have tested their DNA at AncestryDNA and uploaded to MyHeritage and GedMatch. At AncestryDNA they share 242 centiMorgans across 9 segments and at MyHeritage they share 254.6 centiMorgans across 9 segments. (I have previously discussed my experience of variations in DNA matches between
companies.)

Greg and L B are half third cousins to D J G. D J G’s great grandfather, Eleazer Hughes, was the half-brother of Greg and L B’s great grandfather Henry Sullivan. At MyHeritage Greg shares 89.2 centiMorgans across 4 segments with D J G. L B shares 64.1 centiMorgans with D J G. The amount of DNA shared between the cousins falls within the probabilities predicted using the shared cM tool.

Greg, L B and D J G share one triangulated segment on chromosome 10. The segment is 47.7 centiMorgans long.

I believe this DNA segment on chromosome 10 was inherited from Matilda by Greg, L B and D J G.

I checked that there was no other likely relationship to explain the DNA match by tracing the grandparents of DJG. Greg’s family tree and the tree of LB are both complete and documented up to their great great grandparents.

LB and Greg do have other matches with descendants of Eleazer Hughes but so far I have not been able to triangulate the DNA to a single segment. AncestryDNA, which has the most DNA matches, unfortunately lacks the tool, a chromosome browser, to demonstrate the triangulation.

 

Postscript: the poor little chap grew up, married and had a family. It seems he had a contended adult life. You can read about him at H is for Henry.

Florence Sullivan (nee Hickson), Elaine Sullivan, Anne Sullivan (nee Morley), and Henry Sullivan at “Navillus”, 7 Evelyn Street, East Bentleigh from the collection of a cousin and used with permission

 

 

F is for Flintshire

In 1985, Helen Hudson nee Hughes (1915 – 2005), my grandfather’s first cousin, published a family history with the rather lengthy title, ‘Cherry stones: adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland; Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales; Hale of Gloucestershire, Langford Sidebottom, Cheshire; Shorten of Cork, Ireland, and Slater of Hampshire, England who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850, researched, compiled and written by Helen Lesley Hudson‘ (Berwick, Victoria: H.L. Hudson, 1985).

For me her book, based on papers, old letters, and paraphernalia she inherited from her father, is a researcher’s treasure-house. At the moment I’m preparing for a family-history trip to England, and I’m finding ‘Cherry stones‘ particularly useful, for it includes details of Helen’s travels to the “Old Country” visiting the places our forebears came from, and I’ll be doing something similar.

Helen and her husband Bill visited Holywell in Flintshire twice. She wrote about walking around the graveyard of the ancient church beside St Winifrede’s Well Sanctuary, where she found many graves of our Hughes family.

She also wrote about a visit she made to Trelawynydd, formerly known as Newmarket. My fourth great grandfather, Edward Hughes (1803 – 1876) was born at there. FindMyPast has the baptism records for Trelawnyd, Flintshire, and these include an Edward Hughes baptised 23 January 1803, the son of Edward and Ann Hughes. Helen gives Edward’s birth date as 17 January 1803. I am not sure what document she based this on. Edward Hughes is a common name – Hughes is the eighth most common Welsh surname – and there are plenty of other candidates for our Edward.

On 21 April 1821 Edward Hughes of Holywell, Flintshire married Elizabeth Jones of Ysgeifiog at Ysgeifiog. [Ysgeifiog pronounciation]. Ysgeifiog is less than five miles from Holywell. Helen’s tree had 1823 as the date of this marriage, but I have located a likely parish record at FindMyPast giving the date as 1821.

Samuel Hughes (1827 – 1896), their eldest surviving child and my third great grandfather, was baptised at the Great Crosshall Street Chapel of Welsh Congregationalists, Liverpool. The baptism record gives his birth date as 12 October 1827. Helen’s tree has 13 October 1827 and gives his place of birth as Liverpool. Edward Hughes was stated to be a joiner of Norris Street, Liverpool.

At the time of the 1841 census Edward, Elizabeth, four children (Samuel, Mary, Henry, and Eliza) and a child Goodman Jones, I assume a nephew of Elizabeth’s, were living at Drinkwater Gardens, Liverpool. Edward was a joiner. There were no live-in servants.

On 20 January 1849 Samuel Hughes arrived in South Australia on the Gunga, which had left Liverpool on 16 September 1848. Helen states that Edward, Elizabeth, Mary, and Henry also arrived on the Gunga but there seems no record on the passenger list of any other family member.

In 1851 I believe Edward and Elizabeth Hughes and one daughter, Mary, were living in Heathfield Street, Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales. Edward was a builder, employing 30 men.

I have not been able to find the immigration record for Edward and Elizabeth Hughes. Elizabeth died in Brighton, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, and is buried in Brighton cemetery. Edward returned to England and died 4 May 1876 at South Norwood near London. A death notice in the Melbourne Argus  stated he was late of Sandhurst and the father of Samuel Hughes. He had been living with his daughter Mary Hewitt nee Hughes.

Helen Hudson wrote that there was a family story that Edward had lost a lot of money in Peruvian Bonds but she was not able to verify it. Nor can I. Helen also wrote that Edward was on the Bendigo diggings and that he and Elizabeth were living in View Street, Bendigo at the time of Elizabeth’s death.

I am glad that Helen wrote up her family researches in such detail. Much more information has become available since 1985 and online searching makes the task of finding and gathering information far easier than it was. I am sure she would have enjoyed researching today and verifying what she knew. I look forward to retracing her footsteps in Holywell during our visit to the United Kingdom in May.

St. Winifred’s Well or Holy Well, Flintshire, Wales. Line engraving by G. Hawkins, 1795 Image retrieved through Wikimedia Commons who obtained the file from the Wellcome trust.

Sources

• Hudson, Helen Lesley Cherry stones : adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland, Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales … who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850. H.L. Hudson, [Berwick] Vic, 1985.
• “Liverpool: Churches.” A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4. Eds. William Farrer, and J Brownbill. London: Victoria County History, 1911. 43-52. British History Online. Web. 12 March 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol4/pp43-52.
• ancestry.com  – census records:
  • 1841 census : Class: HO107; Piece: 559; Book: 26; Civil Parish: Liverpool; County: Lancashire; Enumeration District: 35; Folio: 43; Page: 29; Line: 23; GSU roll: 306941
  • 1851 Wales census : Class: HO107; Piece: 2466; Folio: 145; Page: 57; GSU roll: 104215-104217

 

Miniature portrait of Geoff de Crespigny by Olive A Chatfield

My father has a small collection of family portraits. One is a miniature of his father Richard Geoffrey “Geoff” Champion de Crespigny (1908 – 1966) as a child.

The portrait is signed  ‘O. A. Chatfield’. This was Olive Amy Chatfield (1880 – 1945).

Olive Chatfield was born in New Zealand, the fourth of eight children of an architect named William Charles Chatfield (1852 – 1930). Olive’s mother Mary Chatfield nee Hoggard (1853 – 1896) died when Olive was 15.

In November 1910 Olive Chatfield ‘of New Zealand’ was one of the artists in the 13th annual Federal Art Exhibition in Adelaide, a showing organised by the South Australian Society of Arts. I am not sure when Olive Chatfield came to Adelaide or why she was living there.

In March 1912 Miss Olive Chatfield donated a miniature portrait of Lady Bosanquet, wife of the South Australian Governor, to the Art Gallery of South Australia. Described as ‘gouache on ivory, 7.6 x 6.3 cm’, it remains in the Gallery’s collection,

In 1914 and 1915 Olive Chatfield is mentioned several times in Adelaide newspapers, usually under ‘social notes’.

On 3 April 1916 Olive Chatfield married Vyvyan Hughes (1888 – 1916), Geoff’s maternal uncle. Vyvyan Hughes died a few weeks later in a military hospital in Ceylon.

Vyvyan Hughes with Olive 1916

Olive Hughes did not re-marry, and in November 1916 returned to New Zealand, where under the name of Mrs Westbury Hughes she practiced as a professional artist specialising in miniature portraits. Some of her work was exhibited by the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts.

Photo of Olive Hughes accompanying an article in the Sydney Sun of 16 December 1923

ART AND HEREDITY (1923, December 16). The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 – 1954), p. 1 (Women’s Supplement). Retrieved December 6, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222682064

Olive Hughes died in Wellington, New Zealand on 10 July 1945.

There is a family resemblance down the generations between Geoff and his descendants.

Geoff de Crespigny

Geoff’s son

Geoff’s grandson

Geoff, his son, grandson, and great grandsons

Sources

• MARRIAGES. (1916, April 8). Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 – 1954), p. 32. Retrieved December 6, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87243826
• Family Notices (1916, May 18). The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 – 1929), p. 8. Retrieved December 6, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59818703
• AUSTRALIAN ART. (1910, November 3). Evening Journal (Adelaide, SA : 1869 – 1912), p. 4. Retrieved December 5, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207214665
• PERSONAL. (1912, March 23). Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 – 1931), p. 34. Retrieved December 6, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article164772419
• Art Gallery of South Australia Collection: item 0.634
• ART AND HEREDITY (1923, December 16). The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 – 1954), p. 1 (Women’s Supplement). Retrieved December 6, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222682064
• PapersPast: New Zealand digitised newspapers:
  • Notes for Women, New Zealand Times, Volume XLI, Issue 9507, 15 November 1916, page 5. Retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19161115.2.25
  • Notes for Women, New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9777, 28 September 1917, page 9. Retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19170928.2.59

• • At the Art Gallery, New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10271, 5 May 1919, page 3. Retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19190505.2.9
  • Sketch Exhibition, Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 121, 23 May 1919, page 4. Retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NEM19190523.2.27
  • Social Gossip, Free Lance, Volume XIX, Issue 1006, 15 October 1919, page 22. Retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZFL19191015.2.34
  • Dispute over a miniature, Sun, Volume VII, Issue 2099, 5 November 1920, page 4. Retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SUNCH19201105.2.16
  • Deaths, Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 9, 11 July 1945, page 1. Retrieved from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19450711.2.4

Related post

• K is for Kanatte General Cemetery in Colombo

 

The wreck of the “Casino”

My third great aunt Helena Gill was drowned in a shipwreck in 1932.

Helena Lucy Gill née Hughes (1866-1932 ), seventh of the eight children of my 3rd great grandparents Samuel Hughes (1827-1896) and Sally Hughes née Plaisted (1826-1900), was the younger sister, by twelve years, of my great great grandfather Edward Walter Hughes (1854-1922).

Recently I came across a transcription of her headstone (in the Ancestry.com series ‘Victoria, Australia, Cemetery Records and Headstone Transcriptions, 1844-1997’), which reads:

Name Helena Lucy Gill
Death Date 10 Jul 1932
Burial Place Victoria, Australia
Cemetery Melbourne
Section B
Religion Baptist
Transcription In loving memory of dear mother Helena Lucy GILL died heroically helping others in shipwreck of “Casino” at Apollo Bay, 10 Jul 1932, age 65 Duty nobly done.

Helena married Luther Albert Gill in 1892. They had two children:

• Gwendoline Ruby Phyllis Gill (1893-1977) who married Henry Vincent Budge in 1910
• Vera Ila Gill (1903-1986), known as Ila, who married Charles Dudley Care in 1926.

In 1909 Helena, then living in Maribyrnong Road, Moonee ponds, sued her husband in the Prahran Court for maintenance. His address was Chapel Street, Windsor. The court found in her favour.

From 1914 Helena appears on the electoral rolls as ‘stewardess’ with her address ‘SS Casino, Prince’s Wharf, S.M.’ On the 1913 roll her address was 68 Maribyrnong Road, Moonee Ponds, and her occupation home duties. It seems that when her daughter Ila turned 11, Helena went to work as a stewardess.

The Belfast & Koroit S.N. Co’s S.S. “Casino” . Image from the State Library of Victoria. Image no. H92.302/23 http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/195620

The SS Casino, 160 feet, was an rivetted-iron coastal steamer, based in Port Fairy on the south-west coast of Victoria, owned by the Belfast and Koroit Steam Navigation Company (Belfast was the early name for Port Fairy).  The company was formed in March 1882 and took delivery of the Casino the same year.

The ship, built in Dundee, Scotland and launched in February 1882, was intended to service the north coast of New South Wales and was named for the town of Casino, New South Wales. The owners of the new company successfully bid for her when she was travelling through Warrnambool, Victoria, and the Casino arrived in Port Fairy on 29 July 1882.

She carried cargo and 25 passengers between Melbourne and Portland, stopping at Apollo Bay, Warrnambool and Port Fairy, over the next five decades making around 2,500 voyages.

South-west coast of Victoria from Google maps

The saloon of the SS Casino with “swivel chairs that were bolted to the floor to allow passengers more comfort when the ship was moving through rough seas”. Image from the Port Fairy Historical Society retrieved from https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/5555779e998fc21654210769

Early on the morning of 10 July 1932 the SS Casino sank in Apollo Bay while trying to secure a mooring. There was a south-easterly gale and a heavy swell. Coming alongside the jetty the Casino grounded on its anchor, fatally piercing the hull. The captain first tried to get an offing, but realising the vessel was sinking, turned to beach her. A few cables from the shore she was overwhelmed and sank in three or four fathoms.  Captain Middleton and nine other members of the crew were drowned, Helena one of them.

S. CASINO WRECKED (1932, July 11). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 7. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203804052

(1932, July 11). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954), p. 1. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page26392479

Drowned Stewardess (1932, July 11). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954), p. 1. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242973343

Helena’s body, with the bodies of four other crew, was recovered. She was buried in Melbourne General Cemetery.

STEWARDESS OF CASINO BURIED (1932, July 13). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954), p. 6. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242978243

The wreck of the Casino, now a scuba diving site, lies in nine metres of water 400 metres from the shore. Her propeller and bell are part a memorial to the ship at King George Square in Port Fairy. The ship’s wheel is displayed in the Apollo Bay Hotel.

Postscript

The name “Franklin Gill” is transcribed with the dedication on Helena Gill’s gravestone. I do not know who he was or how he was related to Helena. I have since visited her grave at Melbourne Cemetery and there is no mention of Franklin Gill – apparently a transcription error. I have amended my copy of the transcription above.

Headstone on the grave of Helena Lucy Gill at Melbourne General Cemetery Baptist section B grave 731.

Sources

• PRAHRAN COURT. (1909, September 25). Malvern Standard (Vic. : 1906 – 1931), p. 3. Retrieved May 11, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66385277
• MORE DOMESTIC INFELICITY. (1909, September 25). The Prahran Telegraph (Vic. : 1889 – 1930), p. 5. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article144516207
• “S.S. Casino.” Victorian Heritage Database, Heritage Council Victoria, vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/shipwrecks/108/download-report.
• “SS Casino.” Curated by Lynda Tieman, Port Fairy Historical Society, Victorian Collections, Museums Victoria, 3 Mar. 2017, https://victoriancollections.net.au/stories/ss-casino.
• “S. S. Casino.” Monument Australia, Monumentaustralia.org.au, monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/disaster/maritime/display/33118-%22s.s.-casino%22.
• Riddiford, Merron. “Trove Tuesday – S.S. Casino.” Western District Families, Merron Riddiford, 9 July 2013, westerndistrictfamilies.com/2013/07/09/trove-tuesday-s-s-casino/.

 

B is for Beatrix

Beatrix Hughes

One of my great grandmothers was Beatrix Champion de Crespigny née Hughes (1884-1943). She was born on 23 April 1884 in Ascot Vale, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, the eldest child of Edward Walter Hughes (1854-1922) and Jeanie Hughes née Hawkins (1862-1941). Edward Hughes was  the manager of the Bank of Victoria in Beaufort, Victoria, from about 1888 until his retirement in 1919.

Beatrix had three brothers:

• Reginald, born 1886 in Essendon, a suburb of Melbourne
• Vyvyan, born 1888 in Beaufort
• Cedric, born 1893 in Beaufort

As a girl Beatrix studied music and in 1902 did well in her examinations, but beyond this I know very little about her when she was young.

No title (1902, March 6). The Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 – 1924), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207621650

 

The Hughes family knew my 3rd great grandmother Charlotte de Crespigny (1820-1904) and her daughter Rose Beggs who lived at Eurambeen near Beaufort. There are several mentions of the Hughes family and Trixie Hughes in letters written by Charlotte de Crespigny in 1900 and 1902. Charlotte de Crespigny’s grandson Trent de Crespigny, then known by his family as Con, was a frequent visitor to Eurambeen in the holidays.

In about 1900 in a letter to her daughter Ada (1848-1927), Charlotte de Crespigny wrote:

Monday
We had a very pleasant evening, both afternoon tea and a magnificent iced cake with almonds all over it, and a lovely tea, 14 sat down to it. Con’s ducks were most delicious, and a magnificent ham and meat pies, sweets of all sorts. I wished so much you could have had some of the good things and Loo would have enjoyed the ducks so much. Con and Rose were wishing he was there and you too. I was thinking all the time what a dull old Sunday you would all be having, without any servant.
After Tea, Frank drove me with Rose and Mr. Minchin to the other house. All the young people walked in the lovely moonlight. They stayed out playing games till nearly 10 when Frank came in and read prayers. After that, supper and home, Mr Hughes and all the whole crowd walking home Anna and Ethel, [?] coming as well, having a little more refreshment. They did not go till after the Hughes and Minchins drove home, near 12, and then Con and Jack walked back with them enjoying the moonlight, no one wore any hats or bonnets, and all the white dresses looked so pretty. Trixey Hughes and Edith Minchin gave Rose pretty little presents.

Who was who at the Eurambeen party.

 

 

 

Beatrix Hughes about 1905

 

In 1906 Beatrix married Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny, a doctor then practising in Glenthompson, fifty miles from Beaufort.

1906 wedding of Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny to Beatrix Hughes at Beaufort, Victoria.

WEDDINGS. (1906, September 15). The Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 – 1924), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article210684752

Beatrix and Trent had four children.

The eldest, Richard Geoffrey, known as Geoff, was born in Glenthompson in 1907.

Geoff de Crespigny with his mother Beatrix about 1912

Their second child, Nancy, was born in Adelaide in 1910. Constantine Trent was Superintendent at the Adelaide Hospital from 1909.

In World War 1 Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny, who reached the rank of Colonel, had a distinguished career commanding military hospitals. On the home front Beatrix contributed greatly to fundraising efforts for the soldiers at the front.

In 1919 Beatrix had two more children, twins. Sadly, one of these, Adrian, suffered a brain injury at birth, and spent most of his life in care. The other child was a girl, Margaret.

Trent, Beatrix and Margaret de Crespigny about 1930

Beatrix died in 1943 at the age of 59. Her obituary made mention of her charitable work, drawing particular attention to her contribution to child welfare which included many  year’s service to the Mothers’ and Babies’ Health  Association in Adelaide.

Death Of Lady de Crespigny (1943, November 12). The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 – 1954), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48774207

 

The day after her obituary, the Adelaide newspaper carried a letter from Paquita Mawson, President of the Mothers’ and Babies’ Health Association, and Dr Helen Mayo, the founder of the Mothers’ and Babies’ Health Association and Honorary Chief Medical Officer, who spoke of Beatrix’s wise management and sound decision making.

LADY De CRESPIGNY’S WORK FOR THE M.B.H.A. (1943, November 13). The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 – 1954), p. 6. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48774345

 

 

Related posts

• Trove Tuesday: obituary for Beatrix de Crespigny
• Wednesday Wedding : 11 September 1906 de Crespigny and Hughes

DNA analysis: slow progress

My husband Greg and I had our DNA analysed by ancestry.com in May 2016. The results became available in July. Over the last six months I have spent many hours trying to make sense of the results and contacting DNA cousins.

As a way of learning more about our family history DNA analysis has not been very useful.

At the time of testing I put forward three brick walls the DNA testing might help me get past:

• Henry Sullivan (1862-1943), a great grandfather of my husband, was admitted as a state ward in Geelong in 1866 about the age of four. His parents had deserted him.
• George Young (1826-1890), from Liverpool, a great great grandfather of my husband, provided no information about his parents.
• Caroline Clarke (1835-1879), wife of George Young and a great great grandmother of my husband, was not specific about her birth and I have been unable to trace her parents, perhaps John Clark(e) and Hannah Sline. She said she was born about 1835 in Tumut. But she also said she was born in Sydney.

I have made no progress on the history of George Young or  his wife Caroline Clarke.

DNA testing has provided some evidence that the hypothesis I explored for Henry Sullivan’s family in my blog post of May 2016 is correct. It adds to the body of evidence which includes newspaper reports, an inquest, state ward records and birth, marriage and death records, all of which point to a connection.

MBH, a descendant of Henry’s probable half-brother, has tested. She matches Greg, his first cousin Barry, and a second cousin of Greg’s, LB, also descended from Henry Sullivan. My research suggests that MBH is Greg’s third cousin,. They share a common great great grandmother but are descended from children of that great great grandmother by different fathers. AncestryDNA predicted the relationship between MBH and Greg as 4th cousins with 21.4 centimorgans shared across two segments.

chart showing family connections of related DNA tests

Three of the test results have been uploaded to GedMatch so that we can look at how the DNA inheritance aligns. However, the DNA from the three samples does not match on the same segments.

GedMatch shows the match between Greg and MBH as having only one segment on chromosome 1 of 23.4 centimorgans. It predicts their relationship as having the most recent common ancestor within 4.6 generations. By lowering GedMatch’s default thresholds I find that the second segment is a match on chromosome 2 of 5.9 centimorgans, a size regarded as not genealogically significant. Lowering the threshold still did not reveal a matching segment shared by Greg with both MBH and LB.

Barry, a first cousin of Greg’s, also on the Sullivan side, has tested. He has yet to upload to GedMatch. The tools provided by ancestryDNA show that he shares DNA with Greg, MBH and a third person, IB. Barry separately shares DNA with Greg and LB, that is, Barry and Greg inherited different segments that they share with MBH compared to the segments shared by LB and MBH.

Greg, Barry, and MBH share DNA with a fourth man, IB. IB has a private tree on ancestry.com. Unfortunately he has not responded to my several attempts to contact him. As far as I know he is not a descendant of Henry Sullivan. MBH is unaware of his being a cousin. IB is predicted to be a fourth cousin of Greg’s. His tree (865 people) does not appear to contain the surnames Hughes or Sullivan.

Although it is likely that the DNA matching is for the hypothesised Sullivan and Hughes connections, it is not certain. We don’t have enough shared matches on a specific segment to be confident that the shared DNA demonstrates shared heredity.  Greg, LB and MBH have family trees that have been researched over considerable time and go back a number of generations. There don’t seem to be any other likely connections between the family trees.

Ancestry.com’s DNA database continues to expand rapidly with over 3 million participants to date. Future matches may well provide more definite confirmation of inherited DNA from Matilda Sullivan née Hughes, the mother of Eleazer and probable mother of Henry.

Related post

• Poor little chap

Trove Tuesday: canaries

Domestic canaries by Optiknv (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

 

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS. (1917, January 27). Riponshire Advocate (Vic. : 1914 – 1918), p. 2. Retrieved  from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article119572665

The Miss de Crespigny who donated the canaries was probably my 3rd-great-aunt Viola Julia Constantia Champion de Crespigny (1855-1929).

The canaries were raffled to raise funds for the war effort. The Beaufort Girls’ Patriotic Club forwarded comforts parcels, including parcels of socks, to 130 soldiers from the district.

Advertising (1917, April 7). Riponshire Advocate (Vic. : 1914 – 1918), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article119572958

Later in 1917 Miss de Crespigny donated another pair of canaries to the Beaufort, Waterloo, and District 15th Infantry Brigade Comforts Depot. Mrs E.W. Hughes, wife if the bank manager (my great great grandmother) also made a donation of socks and tobacco.

Advertising (1917, August 18). Riponshire Advocate (Vic. : 1914 – 1918), p. 1. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article119573514

BEAUFORT. (1917, August 20). The Ballarat Courier (Vic. : 1869 – 1880; 1914 – 1918), p. 6 (DAILY.). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article73323890

Breeding canaries was a pastime of my third great grandmother Charlotte Frances de Crespigny née Dana (1820-1904). In 1898, in a letter from Eurambeen to her daughter Ada, Charlotte wrote:

I have 4 beautiful young canaries and the other little hen sitting. Rose has 10 young ones I have to look after.

Charlotte had two sons, Philip (1850-1927) and Constantine (1851-1883) and three daughters, Ada (1848-1927), Viola (1855-1929), and Helen Rosalie, called Rose (1858-1937). Rose married Francis Beggs and lived at Eurambeen and St Marnocks near Beaufort.

In 1900 Charlotte’s letter to Ada mentioned canaries again:

Would you very much mind putting my big canary cage under the tap and clean it for the poor little birds when I come. They will be so crowded I shall have to put them in a bigger cage till I sell them.

I believe Charlotte was at Eurambeen and writing to Ada in Melbourne. It seems from the letters that Viola also lived at Eurambeen with her sister Rose and mother and brother-in-law.

On the 1914 electoral roll Viola is listed as living at St Marnock’s, Beaufort. At the same property were Francis and Helen Rosalie Beggs. On the 1903 roll Francis and Rose Beggs and Viola and her mother were living at Eurambeen near Beaufort.

Viola had four nephews who served in the war:

• Philip Champion de Crespigny (1879-1918) enlisted in 1918, served with the Light Horse and was killed in action in Palestine.
• Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny (1882-1952) enlisted in 1915and served as a doctor.
• Francis George Travers Champion de Crespigny (1892-1968) enlisted in 1917 and served as a doctor.
• Hugh Vivian Champion de Crespigny (1897-1969) enlisted in 1914 but resigned shortly thereafter and joined the British Air Flying Corps.

Constantine Trent married Beatrix Hughes from Beaufort. Beatrix had two brothers who served in the war:

• Vyvyan Westbury Hughes (1888-1916)
• Cedric Hughes (1893-1953)

Beatrix’s third brother, Reginald Hughes (1886-1971) was rejected for enlistment on medical grounds.

Besides these close relatives there were almost certainly many other relatives and friends who served.

Ripon War Memorial: remembering Vyvyan Hughes (1888-1916)

Yesterday we visited Beaufort, 50 kilometers west of Ballarat. The daffodils planted around the War Memorial were at their best. On the memorial I noticed the name of my great great uncle Vyvyan Hughes (1888-1916).  I have previously written about his war service and death.

Beaufort war memorial August 2016

BEAUFORT’S FINE RESPONSE. (1916, February 7). The Ballarat Courier (Vic. : 1869 – 1878; 1914 – 1918), p. 4 (DAILY.). Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74499619

The Hughes family had two sons and a son-in-law serving in World War I. The son-in-law was my great grandfather Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny.

Vyvyan and Olive Hughes shortly before Vyvyan’s departure in April 1916.

No title (1916, May 5). Dunolly and Betbetshire Express and County of Gladstone Advertiser (Vic. : 1915 – 1918), p. 2. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article152662969

In August 1918 an Avenue of Honour of 500 deciduous trees was planted at Beaufort. The war service of both Vyvyan and his brother Cedric was commemorated in this avenue. Each had a tree.

The Beaufort War Memorial was unveiled in 1927 by Brigadier-General Robert Smith, formerly of the 5th Brigade, AIF. Vyvyan Hughes was one of 70 fallen soldiers whose names are recorded on the memorial.

“BACK TO BEAUFORT” CELEBRATIONS. (1927, April 16). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 11. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3849478

In the Victorian Heritage Database the Beaufort memorial is said to be a one-third size replica of  the Salisbury Plains memorial.

In fact the design is based on a monument called the Poultry Cross in the main street of the city of Salisbury. The Poultry Cross is a market cross constructed in the 14th century and modified in the 18th century.

BEAUFORT. (1920, July 27). The Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 – 1924), p. 6. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article211913472

The Poultry Cross in Salisbury photographed by Row17 [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Sources

• RIPONSHIRE SOLDIER’S AVENUE OF HONOR. (1918, August 17). Riponshire Advocate (Vic. : 1914 – 1918), p. 3. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article119575158
• Monuments Australia: Beaufort War Memorial http://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/multiple/display/30302-beaufort-war-memorial  
• Victorian Heritage Database Report: Beaufort War Memorial http://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/126466/download-report

Related posts

• K is for Kanatte General Cemetery in Colombo

A run on the bank in Beaufort

This week’s Sepia Saturday picture is a prompt for the topic of banking.

There are several bankers in my family tree. One of them is my great great grandfather Edward Walter Hughes (1854-1922).

E. W. Hughes from Hudson, Helen Lesley Cherry stones : adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland, Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales … who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850. H.L. Hudson, [Berwick] Vic, 1985.page 81.

Edward Hughes was manager of the Bank of Victoria at Beaufort, Victoria, 50 km from Ballarat. In 1883 when he married at the age of 29, Hughes was working with the Bank of Victoria, though possibly not, so far as I know, at its Beaufort branch. In 1906 he was manager of the Beaufort branch when his daughter Beatrix, my great grandmother, married. His son Vyvyan was born in Beaufort in 1888 but his son Reginald was born in Essendon, Melbourne, in 1886, so I assume Edward Hughes moved to Beaufort about 1887. He retired from his job of bank manager in Beaufort in 1919 due to ill health.

Bank of Victoria, Beaufort, 1890s – from Museum Victoria Reg. No: MM 001094

In mid-April 1893, while Hughes was manager at Beaufort, there was a run on the bank. The branch at Beaufort ran out of bullion and Mr Hughes travelled to Ballarat by the 2 p.m. train for more gold.

A DEMAND FOR GOLD. (1893, April 14). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 5. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193438039

THE BENDIGO ADVERTISER. (1893, April 15). Bendigo Advertiser (Vic. : 1855 – 1918), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88966637

When I think of a bank run I think of the scene from the film  of Mary Poppins when Michael wants to keep his tuppence to feed the birds.

There was a report that the bank declined to take deposits from some of their customers who had withdrawn their funds at the time of the run.

The Portland Guardian (1893, April 19). Portland Guardian (Vic. : 1876 – 1953), p. 2 Edition: EVENING. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65442835

The Beaufort depositors in the Bank of Victoria were right to be wary .  On 28 January 1893 the Federal Bank of Australia in Melbourne had run out of cash and closed. On 4 April the Commercial Bank of Australia, then one of Australia’s largest, suspended operations. Twelve other banks  followed in quick succession and depositors struggled to retrieve their savings.

On Sunday 30 April the Victorian Cabinet met and in an attempt to manage the financial crisis, decided to close all banks for the following week.

The Oxford Companion to Australian History summarises the crisis:

The drying up of British capital inflow after the Baring crisis of 1890 spelt the end of the over-extended financial system. As asset prices fell and borrowers defaulted, the lending institutions came under pressure.The fringe financiers fell first. Eventually, the banks too began to experience financial losses, falling share prices, and panicking depositors. Thirteen of Australia’s 22 banks closed their doors in 1893. All but two reopened within the year. However, all of the survivors had been forced to reconstruct.(page 58)

On 1 May 1893 the Bank of Victoria and other Victorian banks closed their doors for a week.

THE FINANCIAL CRISIS. (1893, May 2). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 5. Retrieved  from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193419212

The Bank of Victoria re-opened at 2.30 on Wednesday 3 May. (SITUATION IN MELBOURNE. (1893, May 4). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 5. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193417046)

On 12 May the shareholders and depositors of the Bank of Victoria approved a scheme of reconstruction. (THE BANK OF VICTORIA. (1893, May 13). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 15. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193419451 LARGE MEETING OF DEPOSITORS. (1893, May 13). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954), p. 15. Retrieved  from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193419452)

E. W. Hughes retired in 1919 aged 65. He died in 1922 in Melbourne.

What People are Saying and Doing. (1919, November 13). Table Talk (Melbourne, Vic. : 1885 – 1939), p. 6. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146472785

I had trouble identifying the building of the former Beaufort Bank of Victoria. In the twentieth century the building, in Havelock Street, was converted to a Masonic Hall. A parapet was added incorporating the Masonic device of a square and set of compasses.  The building has since been subdivided into three flats and sold.

16 Havelock Street Beaufort from Google street view as at February 2010

The Bank of Victoria merged with the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney in 1927. The CBC merged with the National Australia Bank in 1982.

Sources

• Hudson, Helen Lesley Cherry stones : adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland, Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales … who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850. H.L. Hudson, [Berwick] Vic, 1985.
• Foster, S. G. (Stephen Glynn), 1948-, Aplin, G. J. (Graeme John) and McKernan, Michael, 1945- Australians, events and places. Fairfax, Syme & Weldon Associates, Broadway, N.S.W, 1987.  
• Davison, Graeme, 1940-, Macintyre, Stuart, 1947- and Hirst, J. B. (John Bradley), 1942- The Oxford companion to Australian history. Oxford University Press, Melbourne ; Oxford, 1999. 
  
• Wikipedia contributors, “Australian banking crisis of 1893,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_banking_crisis_of_1893 (accessed August 14, 2015). 

Related posts

• K is for Kanatte General Cemetery in Colombo concerning Vyvyan, son of E. W. Hughes, who was born in Beaufort and grew up there. Vyvyan died during World War 1.
• Wednesday Wedding : 11 September 1906 de Crespigny and Hughes  the wedding of Beatrix, only daughter of E. W. Hughes, at Beaufort
• The Bank of Victoria in Collins Street concerning another of my great great grandfathers, Philip de Crespigny, who also worked for the Bank of Victoria