Caroline Young, great aunt of my husband Greg, was born in June 1895 to John Young, a miner, and his wife Sarah Jane née Way at Bowenvale, a gold mining settlement near Dunolly in central Victoria. Caroline, named after John’s mother Caroline Young née Clarke, was his first child. She was the fourth child of Sarah Jane.
On 10 July, aged 17 days, Caroline died of debility, that is, of weakness, which she had suffered from birth. Her death was not certified by a doctor.
Caroline Young was buried in the Timor cemetery on 11 July. The undertaker was Joseph DuBourg; her burial was witnessed by John Tuohy and Alexander Rees.
A few days ago Greg and I drove to Bowenvale, which adjoins another mining settlement, called Timor.* The cemetery, which serves both villages, is known as Timor Cemetery.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that since our last visit, in about 1999, a shelter at the gates of the cemetery had been erected by the cemetery trust, with an information board and several lists and maps. One gave the location of Caroline’s grave. Though there was no headstone, the trustees had marked the site with a small plaque and the name ‘Young’.
At the time of little Caroline’s death, John Young was very probably working for a mining company, though I do not know which. One of the largest was the Grand Duke. We set off across the paddocks to look at what remains. There’s not much left. Between 1869 and 1896 this mine produced 216,000 ounces of gold worth about $500,000,000 today.
One structure that remains more or less intact is a large granite arch, part of the pump house, which kept the underground workings free of water. There are also some mullock heaps, piled-up heaps of excavated and worked-over rock and dirt.
Grand Duke mine site, Timor
Mullock heaps at Grand Duke mine site, Timor
Caroline’s brother John Percy Young was born at Bowenvale in 1896 but by July 1898, when Cecil was born and Sarah Jane died, the family had moved to Rokewood, south of Ballarat, 100 kilometres away. When Sarah Jane died John Young moved back to the Bowenvale district. His sisters cared for the two young boys in Homebush and later in Clunes, nearby.
* Why ‘Timor’? A connection with the former Portuguese colony is not impossible, but a suggestion that the word is the local Aboriginal name for ‘creek’ seems more likely. See John Tully, former President of the Goldfields Historical & Arts Society Inc. (Dunolly Museum) ‘Timor historical tour’, at: https://www.maryboroughadvertiser.com.au/goldfields-getaway/timor-historical-tour
My husband Greg’s great grandmother Sarah Jane Way, daughter of John Way and Sarah Daw, was born in 1863 at Barborah Creek, near Murrumburrah, New South Wales. She was the fifth of John and Sarah’s ten children. I have not been able to find Sarah’s birth registration, but when her younger sister was born about two years later, John was working as a shepherd on Brittons Dam Station, Kitticara, near Murrumburrah. He may have been working there or in the district, earlier, when Sarah was born.
By the time Sarah was about five years old the family had moved to Grenfell. When her sister Emily was born in 1868, her father John was working there as a sawyer. In 1870 Harriet was born near Reece’s Foundry, Grenfell, and John gave his occupation as sawyer. A son, John, was born in Grenfell in 1872, John gave his occupation as miner. A daughter Martha was born at Parkes in 1874; John’s occupation was consistently given as miner from 1872 for the rest of his life.
In Parkes the Way family lived on the corner of Bogan and Church streets.
On 12 July 1882 at St George’s Church of England, Parkes, Sarah Jane Way married Robert Whiteman, a miner, 42 years old from Somersetshire. Sarah Jane was not yet twenty one years old; her father John Way gave his consent to the marriage.
Robert and Sarah’s son Robert Henry was born 10 March 1883.
Sarah’s husband Robert died on 16 February 1884 of pneumonia. Six months later on 19 August Sarah gave birth to their daughter Mary Ann.
On 13 August 1894 Sarah Whiteman gave birth to an illegitimate child who was given the name Jack Walsh Whiteman. Shortly after the birth of the baby she left him in the care of her mother and sister, travelled to Melbourne, Victoria, and there married John Young, a miner, whom she had met at Parkes. John had spent six years in New South Wales.
John and Sarah Jane married in Melbourne on 26 September 1894 at 430 Bourke Street according to the rites of the Church of Christ. The marriage certificate records his address as Bowenvale near Timor, a mining settlement near Dunolly; she was staying at the Mechanics Hotel, Bourke Street.
John and Sarah Jane had three children together:
Caroline was born in June 17895 and died of ‘debility’ on 10 July, when she was just 17 days old at Bowenvale near Timor.
John Percy born 24 August 1896 at Bowenvale.
Cecil born 5 July 1898 at Rokewood, south of Ballarat.
Sarah Jane died at the age of thirty-five following the birth of Cecil on 6 July 1898 at Rokewood. Her death certificate states the cause of death as childbirth and post-partum hemorrhage. She had been attended by a Dr J Raymond Fox. She was buried on 8 July at Rokewood Cemetery. Richard A White, Church of England Minister, witnessed the burial. John Young was the informant of the death certificate. He stated that his wife had been in Victoria for four years and that she had four children:
Robert 15 years
May 13 years
John Percy 2 years
Infant not named (Cecil)
The infant Caroline was not recorded and nor was Sarah’s other son, Jack Walsh Whiteman, who had remained in Parkes. Perhaps John Young did not know that his wife had given birth to an illegitimate boy; perhaps he chose not to list her son with the family in Rokewood.
Yesterday Greg and I drove to Rokewood and visited the cemetery. Several years ago I was told that the burial records had not survived, and there seems to be no gravestone. Still, the cemetery was orderly, well maintained, and peaceful among the cypresses and eucalypts. Not enough, perhaps, but all we can hope for.
John Young, his two sons Cecil and Jack, and his two step-children Bob and Mary Ann Whiteman, photographed about 1899. I am not aware of any photo of Sarah Jane Young nee Way. Photo colourised using the MyHeritage photo tool.
This photo of George Young was passed to us by Noel Tunks of Maryborough
The Lamplough rush of 1859-1860 was one of Victoria’s last great scrambles for gold, the very last for George, who settled on a block of land and became a farmer in a small way. Thirty years later, still a farmer, he died there.
On 6 September 1873, 13 years after moving to Lamplough, George bought ten acres on Breadys Lane near the Lamplough-Greehill Creek Road. Soon afterwards he acquired a second block of ten acres adjacent to it. He first leased the second block then, in 1884, made an application to purchase it.
On 7 August 1877 George Young wrote to the Lands Office about his lease payments.
PROV, VA 538 Department of Crown Lands and Survey, VPRS 439/P0 Land Selection Files, by Land District, Section 49 Land Act 1869, Unit 203, 49/991 Glenmona: letter concerning licence fee.
Lamplough August 7th, 1877
Sir
I herewith acknowledge receipt of circular of the 4th instant stating that it is intended to recommend that my licence for 10 Acres of land that I hold in the parish of Glenmona under the 49th Section of the land Act of 1869 be annulled for non payment of licence fee due on the 1st of November 1878. I can only say that there is an error somewhere, has I have paid the liscence fee at the time it was due and for which I hold the receipt signed by the land Officer at Avoca, said receipt is numbered 205 so that I suppose there’s a duplicate of it in the butt book from which it was taken, the land in question I have thoroughly enclosed three sides with a substantial upright fence of split timber let into ground about 20 inches, and about 5 feet high, the fourth side has a substantial three rail fence of split timber. I have also grubbed and cleared it of a deal of timber, and would have all or at least the greatest portion of it under cultivation but for sickness of self and loss of Horses. I do not reside on it but on my 42nd Section holding which adjoins it, On which I have about one Acre of a garden stocked with Fruit Trees & Vines, and the remainder has been cultivated. I can assure you that I hold the land bonafide has an assistance to living for self and family, and am at present using it to depasture a few Cows
I remain Sir Your most Obedient Servant George Young Lamplough
The error was made by the Lands Office. George’s payment had been incorrectly posted.
His application to purchase the block in 1884 includes his responses to Lands Office questions:
PROV, VA 538 Department of Crown Lands and Survey, VPRS 439/P0 Land Selection Files, by Land District, Section 49 Land Act 1869, Unit 203, 49/991 Glenmona: application to purchase 18.8.84.
What purpose is the land used or occupied? Being a Miner and wishing to make a home for self and family I use the land as a grazing paddock wherein to keep my horse and sometimes a Cow or two When did you commence residing upon the allotment, and have you resided thereon continuously?If not, why not? Has the land adjoins my purchased allotment upon which I have my residence, Gardens, Dam, and which I occasionally cultivate I could not reside upon it
The files of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey, especially his 1877 letter appealing the annulment of his lease, told me a great deal about George Young’s circumstances. He made it clear that he had paid his licence fees on time, that he was using his land in compliance with legislation requiring him to improve the leased land in order to acquire it at the end of the lease.
George Young comes across as a well-informed settler, a solid citizen, more than capable of holding up his end of a dispute with the Colonial bureaucracy.
From the Glenmona Parish Plan, Imperial measure 2680 A Parish plan from VPRS 16171 Regional Land Office Parish and Township Plans Digitised Reference Set. Retrieved through the Public Record Office Victoria https://mapwarper.prov.vic.gov.au/maps/1573
GoogleStreetView image looking towards George Young’s first ten acre block on which he had a house. The original house is no longer standing.
GoogleStreetView image looking towards George Young’s second block. The view was captured in April 2008 during a drought, one of the worst recorded since European settlement.
We visited George Young’s land on 31 December 2023 after I wrote this post. His first block is on the left and the second is the photograph on the right, photographed in the opposite direction.
When more than thirty years ago I began researching the family history of my husband Greg I was given some postcards belonging to his grandfather, Cecil Young (1898-1975) which had been handed down to father, Peter Young (1920-1988).
At that time I didn’t know much at all about the people and places mentioned on the cards. They were from Bob. Who was he? They referred to Homebush. Was this the Sydney suburb of that name?
I now know much more. Bob was Cecil’s older half-brother. Homebush was a gold-mining town in central Victoria.
Bob, born Robert Henry Whiteman on 10 March 1883 at Parkes, New South Wales, was the oldest child of Sarah Jane (1863 – 1898) and Robert Henry Whiteman (1839 – 1884), a miner. In February 1884 Robert Henry Whiteman senior died of pneumonia. Bob was eleven months old. His sister Mary was born six months later.
In Melbourne in September 1894 Sarah Jane married John Young, a gold miner. Bob was then aged eleven and Mary was ten. In 1894 Sarah Jane had given birth out of wedlock to another child (who came to be known as Leslie Leister). She left this child in Parkes, where he was brought up by her mother and sister. It appears that Bob and Mary came to Victoria to live with John Young and Sarah Jane.
John Young and Sarah Jane had three children together:
Caroline 1895-1895, born and died at Timor aged one month
John Percy (Jack), 1896-1918 born at Bowenvale near Timor
Sarah Jane died of postpartum haemorrhage the day after Cecil was born, leaving John Young a widower with two step-children: Bob now aged 14 and Mary 13, and two infants: Jack, almost two, and the newborn Cecil. John’s sisters appeared to have taken care of these children. Jack and Cecil grew up in Homebush with their aunt Charlotte.
The postcard collection has five written by Bob Whiteman to his half-brother Jack. Jack’s birthday was 24 August; three are birthday cards. All five were written between 1906 and 1911. Most are from Moriarty in northern Tasmania, a small settlement fourteen kilometres east of Devonport.
The post card album
16.9.06
Dear Brother Jack
I think you have been a long time answering that postcard that I sent you. So I think when you get this boshter you ought to write.
Give my best respects to all.
Good Bye for the present.
Your loving brother B. W.
Moriarty 21st 9th 1908
Dear Brother Jack
I hope you don’t think that I have forgotten you I have been very busy lately one way and another. I have got my potatoes in I will have to chance what they turn out like now. Hoping you are well as I am myself at present I will say Good Bye.
Bob
Moriarty 8th 12th 1909
Dear Jack I suppose you thought I had forgotten you. We are having dreadful cold weather over here for this time of the year. Wish Aunt and Uncle and Lora a Happy xmas and a prosperous new year for me and accept the same for yourself and Cecil. All this time Good Bye Bob.
(Aunty and Uncle were Charlotte Wilkins née Young and her husband George Wilkins the Lower Homebush schoolmaster. ‘Lora’ was almost certainly Laura Squires, the school sewing mistress. In 1925 she married George Wilkins after the death of Charlotte.)
Moriarty 12.9.1910
Dear Jack
No doubt you will think it funny me sending you a birthday card after letting it pass so long but better late than never I suppose you are both growing fine big boys by this time. I will write you a letter when you answer this so don’t be too long. Have you seen Father lately.
Bob.
Moriarty 8th 1st 1911
Dear Jack, I suppose you were beginning to think I was never going to write but I hope you had a Merry Xmas & New Year. Things were quite enough over this way. How is Aunty & Uncle & Lora getting on wish them all the compliments of the season for me it is rather late but better that than never. I hope you enjoy your holidays. All this time so Good Bye Bob.
My husband Greg was born in the Ballarat Base Hospital in Drummond Street, one of the main north-south streets in the west part of the city.
The hospital is not far from where we live now in Mair Street; Greg likes to joke that for seventy-one years he’s moved himself an average of only three metres a year from his place of birth.
Ballarat Hospital on the corner of Sturt and Drummond streets
When he was born the Young family lived at 505 Drummond Street, five blocks south of the hospital.
A tram on Sturt Street Ballarat in 1945. Photograph from the National Archives of Australia, A1200, L2579, id 6816240
After the War, Greg’s father Peter was employed as an S.E.C. (State Electricity Commission) linesman. His gang had its base at an electricity power station, now gone, on the corner of Ripon Street and Wendouree Parade, a block north of where we live.
Peter travelled to work by bicycle. The S.E.C. depot was a mile or so from the Drummond Street house, ten minute’s pedal.
In 1953, when Greg was three, the Young family moved to Shepparton, then, a year later, to Albury, over the border in NSW. Greg has some memories of this move, but almost none of the house in Drummond Street.
Wendouree Parade looking at East power station on the corner of Ripon Street in the 1930s or 40s. Image from Rotary Club of Ballarat. A flour mill occupied the site before the Ballarat ‘A’ Power Station was constructed on the site in 1904. Part of the mill was used for the main power station building. The State Electricity Commission of Victoria took over operations of the station in the 1930s from the Electricity Supply Company Ballarat. The station ceased operation in the 1950s and the site became the Mid Western Electricity Supply Region Office and Depot. In 1983 the major portion of activities conducted on the site were transferred to a new depot in Norman Street Ballarat and the site completely closed in 1993. It has since been redeveloped for housing. From 1994 Environmental Audit report.
My husband Greg’s great-great grandfather George Young (1826 – 1890) was from Liverpool. George probably arrived in Australia at the time of the gold discoveries in Victoria, perhaps lured by the chance of striking it rich, though it’s hard to be sure, for as yet I don’t know exactly when or why he emigrated, and I know nothing about his parents or his family.
This photo of George Young was passed to us by Noel Tunks of Maryborough
In any case, by 1853 George, following the rushes, was trying his luck on the goldfields. He met his wife-to-be Caroline Clarke on the Ovens diggings, near the border with New South Wales. Their first child was a boy, George, who was born and died as an infant at Beechworth in 1854. George and Caroline had twelve more children. Greg is descended from their oldest surviving child John Young (1856 – 1928).
Greg has had his DNA analysed by Ancestry.com. I have uploaded the results to Family Tree DNA, My Heritage, and GedMatch. His aunt B S has also tested her DNA. Through the DNA results we have connected with cousins descended from George Young and Caroline Clarke. This confirms the documentary evidence for the Young family in Australia, such as it is.
spreadsheet of DNA cousins who are descendants of George Young and Caroline Clarke and have tested at either AncestryDNA or MyHeritage
Greg and the cousins descended from George Young also share DNA with descendants of two men, James Young, born about 1838 in Liverpool, and Philip Young born about 1837 or a few years later in Liverpool.
We don’t yet know how George, James, and Philip are related.
From the amount of the DNA they share we know that B S and her second cousin P L (both great granddaughters of George Young) can be estimated to be about fourth cousins of A A, who is descended from James, and of H S F, who is descended from Philip. H S F and A A can be estimated from the DNA evidence to be about second cousins. Fourth cousins share third great grandparents and second cousins share great grandparents.
spreadsheet showing DNA matches with great grand daughters of George Young and descendants of John Young from Liverpool, plus some other matches that are related but we don’t yet know how.
H S F and A A are likely to share great grandparents, so it is possible that James Young born about 1838 and Philip Young born about 1840 were brothers.
If B S and P L are 4th cousins of H S F and A A, then it seems possible that George Young’s grandfather was also the grandfather of James and Philip Young. That is George was a first cousin of James and Philip.
I have traced the forebears of A A and I P. They are both grand daughters of Christopher Young (1875 – 1927), the son of Philip Young (born about 1837-1840, died 1910).
In 1862, when Philip Young married Mary Code (also spelt Coad) he gave his father’s name as John Young. [Liverpool Record Office; Liverpool, England; Liverpool Catholic Parish Registers; Reference Number: 282 NIC/2/2 retrieved through Ancestry.com]
I have traced the forebears of H S F. She is the daughter of Gerald Salter (1903 – 1986). Gerald was the son of Ellen Alice Young (1871 – 1962). She was the daughter of James Young born 1839, a seaman rigger. When James married Mary Martin in 1864 he stated he was a mariner living at Cropper Street Liverpool and his father was John Young, an engineer. [ Liverpool, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1932 Liverpool Record Office; Liverpool, England; Reference Number: 283-PET-3-67 retrieved through Ancestry.com]
Another researcher has suggested that James Young’s marriage record is in error and his father was in fact James Young, engineer/engine turner, who was born about 1810 in Dundee and died in 1859 (‘late of Monks Coppenhall in Cheshire’). James had a son named James who in 1859 was named as one of the executors in his estate. He was described in the will as an engine fitter of 46 Manchester Street Crewe in the Parish of Monks Coppenhall. [England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) 1860 for James Young retrieved through Ancestry.com]
I have traced the family of James Young 1810 – 1859. In 1861 some of the children were living with their widowed mother, Mary Young nee Harrison, at Manchester Street, Crewe in the Parish of Monks Coppenhall. James, then twenty-three and unmarried was an engine fitter living with his mother. [1861 census viewed through ancestry.com Class: RG 9; Piece: 2616; Folio: 74; Page: 24; GSU roll: 543000]
I have not yet found the death of Mary Young nee Harrison. She does not seem to be on the 1871 census. A possible death is Name: Mary Young Estimated birth year: abt 1813 Registration Year: 1869 Registration Quarter: Jan-Feb-Mar Age at Death: 56 Registration district: Nantwich Inferred County: Cheshire Volume: 8a Page: 224
It is possible that James Young, engine fitter, died before marrying and before the 1871 census. I cannot find him on the 1871 census in Crewe, Cheshire. A possible death of James Young engine fitter is : Name: James Young Estimated birth year: abt 1838 Registration Year: 1868 Registration Quarter: Jul-Aug-Sep Age at Death: 30 Registration district: Nantwich Inferred County: Cheshire Volume: 8a Page: 236 It seems unlikely that James Young engine fitter moved away from Crewe Cheshire and changed occupation to mariner, and it is also unlikely that his father’s name was wrongly recorded on the marriage document.
The family of James Young engineer does not include a Philip Young. The DNA evidence and the evidence of one Canadian shipping record supports the conclusion that James and Philip Young were probably brothers.
The Canada, Seafarers of the Atlantic Provinces, 1789-1935 records retrieved from ancestry.com have a James Young age 43 (born about 1845) on board the barque “Olive Mount” which departed Liverpool 19 March 1888 (discharged with mutual consent). He was discharged 12 March 1888 at Penarth Wales. He was not literate, he signed his name with an x. He was related to another crew member aboard. James was crew number 12 and his rank was able-bodied seaman. Also on board was Philip Young, crew number 11 – I believe this is James’s brother. Although the age is young, I suspect there was pressure for the men to understate their age so as to appear fit for the job.
It is my guess that James Young, forebear of H S F and also A O and P N is the son of a John Young engineer, not James Young (c 1811 – 1859).
Hypothesis: John Young is George Young’s uncle; John Young is father to Philip and James and George Young is their cousin -> A A and H S F are 3rd cousins. B S and P L 4th cousins to A A and H S F. As far as I know A O and P N have not tested their DNA.
Update: A O and P N have tested their DNA with AncestryDNA but neither shares DNA with Greg or his aunt B S. A O and P N are 1st cousins and share 1.104 centimorgans. P N shares 42 cM DNA with I P thus they are estimated 4th cousins. M F C, another descendant of Philip Young, also shares DNA with P N; they share 66 cM – also estimated 4th cousins. M F C shares a small amount of DNA with Greg but does not share DNA with Greg’s aunt B S.
Between 1914 and 1918, 350,000 Australians enlisted in the armed services to fight for their country and the Empire.
Among these were my husband’s grandfather, Cecil Young (1898 – 1975) and his brother, John Percy (Jack) Young (1896 – 1918).
Both men and both their parents were been born in Australia.
When war threatened in August 1914, Australia, a Dominion of the British Empire, knew she was bound to join in. On 31 July 1914 in an election speech at Colac in Victoria, the Opposition Leader Andrew Fisher (ALP) famously declared that ‘… Australians will stand beside the mother country to help and defend her to our last man and our last shilling’. A few days later, on 4 August 1914, Britain declared war against Germany. On 5 August, attempting to prevent a German ship escaping from Port Phillip, Australia fired her first shot against the enemy.
In October 1916 Jack Young, aged 20, signed up, becoming, as a member of the Australian Imperial Force, a soldier of Australia and the Empire.
From 23 July to 3 September 1916 Australian forces suffered badly at the Battle of Pozières in northern France. The Australian official historian Charles Bean wrote that Pozières ridge “is more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth.” Among those killed were Wes Rowlands of Homebush, an acquaintance of Jack and Cecil.
The slaughter in France left the Australian forces under-strength, and it was widely believed that conscription was necessary to maintain troop levels. This was view of the Australian Prime Minister, Billy Hughes, which the losses at Pozières seemed to confirm. Not all Federal politicians supported Hughes, however, and the matter was put to a
plebiscite. After a divisive public debate and strong campaigning on both sides, on 28 October 1916, the “No” vote narrowly prevailed
Jack Young’s enlistment – he signed his attestation papers on 3 October 1916 – came at the height of this conscription debate.
Jack Young was not yet 21 and would not have been conscripted anyway.
After 6 weeks in the AIF Signal School Jack sailed on the ‘Medic’, leaving on 16 December and disembarking in Plymouth 18 February 1917. He was first at Hurdcott camp, 7 miles from Salisbury. A few weeks later he marched out to Sutton Mandeville, 15 miles west. There was a camp at Fovant nearby. From Fovant he was transferred on 7 April to Durrington 20 miles to the north-east; the military settlement of Larkhill is nearby. On 1 January 1918 he sailed for France.
Fovant Badges The badges were cut into the chalk hills near the miltary camp and originate from 1916. From the left:- The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry, 6th London Regiment and the Australian Commonwealth Military Forces.
Group portrait of the Signal Section of the 10th Infantry Brigade, outside the Chateau at Querrieu, 7 July 1918. Pte J. Young is in the back row eighth from the left (fourth from the right). Australian War Memorial photograph E03830
On 26 August, wounded in a mustard gas attack, Jack was admitted to a Line of Communications hospital. On 28 August he was invalided to England and admitted to Beaufort Hospital near Bristol.
On 26 September Jack was discharged on furlough from Beaufort hospital, but on 6 November he was in hospital again, the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital Dartford. At 11:40 a.m. on 9 November 1918, two days before the war ended, Jack died of pneumonia. He is buried at Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey.
It is disconcerting to see personal experiences fading into the historical past.
Yesterday, 18 February, was my wedding anniversary; Greg and I have been married for 35 years.
My memories, of course, are of the church, the bells, the gown and so forth, while the historical fact is now an item in the National Library’s digitised collection of Australian newspapers (most cease at 1956, but the Canberra Times, where our wedding news was reported, has been digitised up to 1995).
In the newspaper wedding photograph I am wearing a Honiton lace veil that my grandmother wore at her wedding and was worn by various ladies of the Cavenagh-Mainwaring family. My English cousins kindly sent it to Australia for me to continue the tradition.
Greg and me on our wedding day with his nieces Cassandra and Jodie and my cousin Vanessa.
Me on my wedding day with the veil
my grandmother Kathleen Cudmore on her wedding day 10 June 1933
Yesterday, 35 years later, Greg and I had lunch with friends and spent an enjoyable afternoon at the National Gallery of Victoria. These events will not reach the newspapers, though perhaps this blog might help to make them discoverable, a (very little) part of history.
Greg at the National Gallery of Victoria on our wedding anniversary
With next Sunday Armistice Day it seems appropriate to recall that today is the hundredth anniversary of the death of one of our family’s WW1 soldiers, Jack Young, brother of my husband’s grandfather.
Jack – John Percival Young – enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces on 6 October 1916. On 25 August 1918, while serving with HQ 10th Brigade – taking part in the so-called Hundred Days Offensive, the Allied attacks that brought the war to an end – he was wounded in a mustard gas attack and was admitted to a Line of Communications hospital. Three days later he was invalided to England, sent to Beaufort Hospital near Bristol.
He was discharged from Beaufort after a month, but within a few weeks he was back in hospital, the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital Dartford.
On 9 November 1918, two days before the war ended, Jack died of influenza and pneumonia. He is buried at Brookwood Military Cemetery.
Group portrait of the Signal Section of the 10th Infantry Brigade, outside the Chateau at Querrieu, 7 July 1918. Pte J. Young is in the back row eighth from the left (fourth from the right).
The mission:
1) Who is your MRUA – your Most Recent Unknown Ancestor? This is the person with the lowest number in your Pedigree Chart or Ahnentafel List that you have not identified a last name for, or a first name if you know a surname but not a first name.
2) Have you looked at your research files for this unknown person recently? Why don’t you scan it again just to see if there’s something you have missed?
3) What online or offline resources might you search that might help identify your MRUA?
The starting point for my ahnentafel list is my children, the list formed by combining my tree with that of my husband Greg.
I know all the names of our children’s 3rd great grandparents.
In the next generation, however, I don’t know the parents of George Young (c.1826-1890), Greg’s great great grandfather. George is number 32 on the index; I don’t know the names of his parents, numbers 64 and 65.
There’s no help from his death certificate; the informant does not name his parents. Other information about him is scanty. From his death certificate I know that he was born in Liverpool, and this corresponds with details that he provided on the birth certificates of his children, but I have not found his marriage certificate. The reason may be that he and his wife Caroline Clarke were married before compulsory civil registration was introduced in Victoria in 1855, or perhaps they never formally married. I have not found a shipping record for him, and I have no evidence that he had any near relations in Australia. Land records, and I have several that concern him, give no relevant information. George did not leave a will. Frustratingly, the name Young is too common to identify George from the many other births in Liverpool about the same time or from people with the same name listed on the United Kingdom 1841 census.
I feel my best hope in identifying George’s parents and finding out more about his life before he emigrated to Australia is through DNA. Several of Greg’s cousins descended from George have tested their DNA. I hope that DNA will lead me to one or more of the descendants of George Young’s siblings. Their research might get me past the dead end I have come to with George himself.
Greg has a number of shared DNA matches (shown in green on the chart). I have not yet identified anybody descending from a brother or sister of George Young.
I do have some DNA matches from people with the surname Young who were born in Liverpool, descendants of Philip Young (1840-1910). I have not yet found the parents and grandparents of Philip to allow me to make the connection between our two trees, although we have several DNA matches. However, having an additional line to search, which appears to be connected by name, place and shared DNA, gives me a better chance of finding the family of George Young.