Tracking immigrant ancestors

Stephanie Ryan Senior LibrarianFamily History

State Library of Queensland

Aims

• to explore some starting points for finding family after their arrival

• to outline some important resources

• to consider approaches to effective searching

How to start family history Family tree: the first step

• Trace back from yourself

• Use a pedigree chart and family group sheet

• Use birth, death and marriage records

• Exhaust Australian sources before doing overseas research

• Maintain a record of all sources used, your purpose and result

Pedigree chart

Getting started

Work backfromyourself !

Family Group RecordListing of parents

Family Group RecordListing of children

Births, deaths and marriagesSourcesCivil records

• Church records• Cemetery records• Newspaper notices• Indexes of deaths recorded elsewhere• Inquests• Wills and intestacies

Qld death certificate: mini biography

Street name changed

Name should be Honora

NB Information on 3 generations Often inaccurate

Death certificate: Queensland

Childrenliving - named

deceased - number

Place of origin – county only

Time in Australia

Other ways of tracking deaths: newspapers funeral notices

• Brisbane Courier 25 July 1883 p 1

Records at SLQ build the family storyShipping listsBritish censusesLetters, diaries, biographies, memoirs, photographsGovernment recordsNewspapersTrove (SLQ contributes); newspapersLocal historiesElectoral rolls, directories

Multi-resource indexes

Shipping and immigration records: find the window of arrivalSearch records between:• the last documented event in country of origin• the first documented event in AustraliaDeath certificate: indicates time and place of the event

Other documented events: eg births, censuses, naturalisationObituaries, diaries, letters, other government records: parl. votes & proceedings, police gazettes, hospital records

Shipping and immigration records: bewareNames: • may be heard, spelt or transcribed incorrectly•may change

Place of arrival: • may be very different from destination• immigrants may travel by coastal vessel or other means - elsewhere“They came together” – not necessarily on the same ship

Shipping and immigration records: search

,

• Use truncation, wild cards and no more information than is strictly necessary for a searchable list.

• Use different variables in changing combinations.• Search Australia wide if necessary

Moreton Bay was part of NSW until 1859 State Records NSW has much better records for the period

• Each state has a state archives but remember to check National Archives

Shipping and immigration records: search

Look at microform indexes & records beyond the net

Compare records of departure with those of arrivalExamples: • Emigrants from Hamburg 1850-1879

UK, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960

• with Queensland Immigration lists 1860-1915 (QSA)and National Archives immigration lists

Finding records at SLQGovernment and Non-Government: Australian material and beyond Electronic resources• Useful websites for family historians:

quality selected internet sites, databases• CD-ROMS• online catalogue and databases• Trove: Australian newspapers online

Useful websites for family historiansNot all the records are online

Franz family left Hamburg 1870 arr 1871

1

Index to Registers of Immigrant Ships' Arrivals 1848-1912 Queensland State Archives

The usual starting point: often little detail

Emigrants from Hamburg 1850-1872Record emigrants at theport of departure

Provide additional detailabout place of origin

Emigrants from Hamburg 1870 Eric

and Rosemary Kopittke

Immigration: local agents’ listsThese may tell you:• where the immigrants went initially• for whom they worked• in some cases who nominated them.

Access on microfilm via microfilm name indexMaryborough 1864-1915 reels 15 and 16Mackay 1894-1911 reel 15Bowen 1873-1896 reel 17Rockhampton1884-1885; 1890-1915 reel 13

Local Agents records Maryborough: Reichstag 1871

Local immigration agents’ records are additional to the Queensland listMay say where the immigrant went or was employedCheck the microfilm index

‘Lost” shipping listsShipping lists which are not on the online indexCheck the name list on the microfilm index for 1860s shipsExamples Fitzjames 1860Castle Eden 1864Queen of the South 1864Flying Cloud 1865Landsborough 1865

Queensland immigration: “lost list”

• Some lists are not on the internet!

• Search the microfilm index forimmigrant names.

• Use the Qld State Archives handbook to find the film no.

• Use Charlie’s list at the desk to find the reference and film no.

Wright family Census 1881

Suggested link to 1861 Census

Provides a starting point for finding their emigration

Queensland arrival: Morden Octavius Wright

Matches for:• age • destination port• time period

Queensland arrival: Morden & Montague Wright 1888

Travelled with brother!

London departure G A C Wright: Find My Past 1893

Queensland arrival: Qld State Archives G A C Wright

Incorrect name

Indexes to multiple resourcesEarly Pioneers Index 1824-1859Indexes over 60 resources for the period held repositories including State Library of Qld, Qld State Archives, Griffith University and the Titles Office

Australian Genealogical Computer Index Vols 1-3Indexes millions of records held at family history societies and libraries Australia-wide

Major advantages: you check records you otherwise might not; enables unexpected links

Qld Early Pioneers Index 1824-1859

Colonial Secretary’s Correspondence

Colonial Secretary’s Correspondence

Find the information at SLQ

http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/230233/SLQ-A2-SERIES-Reel-A2.24-2013-11.pdf

SLQ index: Letters received relating to Moreton Bay and Queensland 1822-1860

Australian Genealogical Computer Index (AGCI)Volumes 1-3 on CD-ROM millions of entries from Australian societies and libraries including• Irish transportation database• cemetery records • shipping arrivals• newspaper entries • council rate books and war memorials • the NSW Government Gazette 1832-1868Value: wide scope potential linkages• The va

Australian Genealogical Computer Index Vol 1

The source abbreviations are explained in a handbook kept at the deskIrish gift: the Ireland-Australia transportation database given to Australia in 1988as a bicentenary giftMany sources, although held in many places, are increasingly available on the net

AGCI

http://findingaids.nationalarchives.ie/index.php?category=18&subcategory=147

Irish transportation database

Petition of Edward Short

Petition for mercyoutlining crime and reason for leniency

Australian Genealogical Computer Index Vol 2

Australian Genealogical Computer Index AGCI 2

NSW Government Gazette13 Jan 1841 p63

Australian Genealogical Computer Index Vol 2

Australian Genealogical Computer Index Vol 2

Australian Genealogical Computer Index Vol 2

Indexes to multiple resourcesOnsite – without chargeAncestry:• covers many countries, huge range of resources• allows for variant spelling• often provides a direct link to documents • creates links to other sources but• may make inaccurate links• indexing may be poor • records may be missing

Indexes: State Records NSW; Ancestry

Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1828-1896 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007

Finding where they came from: ship list

Stanley family

Names spelt incorrectly

Indexes to multiple resourcesFindmypast• Covers UK and Ireland US, Australia• Not as many records as in Ancestry but they cover

many of the same sources• Searching can be clunky and less tolerant of

imprecision• It can be worth checking the other database if you

cannot get a hit on one• Both are free onsite at the library

State Library indexes:

http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/resources/family-history/eresources

Persons called before Government CommitteesWhy is this information of interest?• A diverse range of people gave evidence to

commissions including:farmers, graziers, publicans, seamen, miners, labourers, civil servants and railway employees

• They explained their expertise and special knowledge by providing their background

• They are reported directly, in their own words

Shipping reportsPersons called before Government CommitteesWhy is this information of interest?

• Enquiries revealed the working conditions in a number of occupations and businesses of the time

• They provide a sense of the impact of work on people’s lives and life in the area where they worked and lived

• The information may be nowhere else

Source of information in Committee Reports

Evidence of most early government inquiries is inthe Queensland Legislative Assembly Votes and Proceedings (QLA V&P, later known as the Queensland Parliamentary Papers).

Enquiries covered a range of topics including:• agricultural and pastoral activities• education• mining and railway construction• the police force• conditions in factories and workshops

Shipping reportsOccupations and issues

goldfields civil service land selectionhospitals prisons shopsbakeries hotels alcohol regulationship quarantines and complaints South Sea Islanders labourmeat, cotton, sugar industries

Contents of index• Index to persons called before Queensland Government Committees

Part 1 (1860 - 1901)Part 2 (1902 - 1920)

• Indexes are arranged alphabetically by surname. • Each entry provides: name and occupation of the witness the name of the inquiry the year, volume and page number of the Votes

and Proceedings (Parliamentary Papers).

Death of Thomas Doran

Kate Doran and Patrick Doig on the index

Kate Doran’s evidence

Immigrant experience: Dorans - Dorunda

Dorunda 1886: Dorans

Layout of Dorunda

Blank slide for full page photos or diagrams

Hotels: Patrick Doig

Value of the government enquiriesDorans: • Impact of disease at sea • detailed information on the journey• quarantine of the Dorunda January 1886 • the ship’s design

Patrick Doig: • details of his arrival and work in the colony• conditions of employment in hotels

Newspapers: obituaries may hinder and help

Louisa Howe (nee Stokes)

Warwick Argus 27 January 1914 p5

Ship name and years in Australia incorrect

First husband William Chadburn died in 1857

Newspapers: shipping lists

• Louisa arrived in Moreton Bay on the Eagle in 1849 not on the Essex in 1847

• Cabin passengers named

Moreton Bay Courier Extraordinary September 10, 1849• Steerage passengers are listed as a number only

Louisa Stokes: immigration NSWArrived Sydney aboard John Bright in 1849

Source: State Records NSW Immigration Board list reel 2459

Native place: Islington, Middlesex

Religion: Church of England

Sister in colony

E-resources: British newspapersAccess online with SLQ library cardTimes Digital Archive [London] 1785-2009

19th Century British Library NewspapersIrish Newspaper Archive

All titles are keyword searchable

Local records: Catholic census Fortitude Valley 1865Locates some missing from 1860s shipping indexes up to 1865

Local lists - 1865 Catholic census: useful identifying detail

OM89-13 Roman Catholic Church, Fortitude Valley Records Box 9200

Who were Miss Rye’s emigrants?Lower middle class women:

• who could become governesses or superior servants

• daughters of clerks and professionals earning upwards of 150 pounds/year

• needed but were unable to gain suitable employment

• "distressed gentlewomen“ Miss Rye in a letter from Australia 1865

Value of the letters to the FMCES

• The women wrote letters to accompany their loan repayments covering their emigration

• Their letters provide a valuable insight into their experiences and the life of the times

What happened to the ladies?

Distressed gentlewomen in QueenslandEliza Bernard Conway 1862 went to the Tooth family Sydney

Maria Atherton Young Australia 1862 went to USA

Agnes B Macqueen Light of the Age 1864 sold drawings; housekeeping for her brother

Hannah Wilson Wansfell 1865 struggled with a schoolher daughter ran in Brisbane

Those who disappear: how

• May have died - no proper record kept of death/burial or spelling/name error

• Name change – intentional or not• Broken marriage – one may have moved elsewhere

and remarried• Entry into an asylum – psychiatric covered a range

of issues beyond mental health; alcohol Prisoner

Where is she buried?

Directories• Queensland directories are held

at intermittent periods 1868 -1949

• Residents are recorded until 1939

• The street number is rarely listed

• The exception is in some inner city areas

• In “outer suburbs” and towns the street is listed later, if at all

Queensland directories

Directories• Directories record residents who may not be owners• Researchers look for the first appearance of a name

in a street to indicate residency• Directories are on fiche and on CD-ROM• SLQ has a family history guide on directories online• See Rod Fisher’s article on the background, changes

and problems of directories; linked to online guide

Directories, electoral rolls• Directories record head of household, not all family

residents, in order of house position in street at the time• Electoral rolls may give a more precise address, earlier• Electoral rolls on CD-ROM enable a street name search

1903, 1913, 1922, 1934,1941,1949, 1959

Electoral rolls

• 20th Century rolls showed occupations until the early 1980s

• Some electoral rolls are: on Ancestry, fiche and film on microfiche in alphabetical order per state

1991 to 2007 in books 2012 to 2014 for recent state rolls

Electoral rolls

• Rolls on CD-ROM databases can be manipulated to show all those in a particular occupation or street

• It is possible to find a woman’s married name after the Registry marriage index date limit if she has distinctive given names or occupation

• See the family history guide on electoral rolls

Electoral rolls CD-ROM

81

Letters from migrants on the Winefred

• Winefred marvel MFC 910.45 1997

Letters from Kent migrants in the local paper

Title: TR 1887 Kent Messenger and Maidstone Telegraph Correspondence 1873-1875Subjects: letters (correspondence)Abstract: Photocopies of migrant letters from Queensland.

Access restrictions: Unrestricted access Request then collect from level 4 (Box 6015)

Conditions of use: Copyright expired. For information on reproducing this material, please contact Heritage Collections, State Library of Queensland.

Date: 1873-1875

Description: Extent: 0.01 linear metres

Scope and content: Photocopies of migrant letters from Queensland as published in the Kent Messenger and Maidstone Telegraph newspaper.

Custodial history: Forwarded to Sara Joynes, Queensland Heritage Retrieval Project, by Mr RB Aubry, presumably in response to publicity requests for material

Letters from Kent migrants

E J WinchesterKent Messenger and Maidstone Telegraph5 September 1874 Winefred passenger

Summary•A vast amount of material on individuals and events •Original records are being digitised and put online•SLQ provides access to many records

online via Useful websites for family historians , databases, One Search, indexes•SLQ holds much other material including:

bdm records newspapers multi-resource indexesshipping indexes/records local historieselectoral rolls & directories government reportsbiographies letters, memoirs, diariesphotographs clipping files

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