It was late May 1831, and the ship Larkins was at Deptford preparing for departure. She was to deliver a cargo to Van Diemen’s Land and then bring back tea from China. On board, William Evans (the Royal Navy’s Surgeon), began to write in his journal while Captain William Campbell, Lieutenant Espinasse, Ensign Fortescue, Assistant…
Author: KINdling
The King’s Own James Neale
When James Neale, a Private in the 4th (King’s Own) Regiment of Foot boarded the copper-fastened teak convict ship Jane in Deptford, he was bound for New South Wales. Family lore says he was making a quick escape from the stormy seas of his second marriage. Little could he know that even more troubled waters…
Coming of Age
I’m a teenager, lifting the lid of a shoe box. I’m opening a small treasure chest of memories that my grandmother’s sister has given to me. For keeps. The milky eyes in this photograph of my grandmother’s father – my great grandfather – are looking at me, examining me in the same way that I’m…
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In…
How do you solve a problem like Maria?
Maria Wood said she was born in Parramatta or Paddington around 1830 – but was she? I’m on the trail of solving another mystery that I didn’t even know I had… until I took a DNA test! If you’ve been following my KINdling posts, you’ll know that my father grew up in an orphanage. That…
Finding my Collman family part 5 – George Charles Percival Collman
Down near picturesque Lake Jindabyne, at the feet of the majestic Snowy Mountains, lies the grave of a man who could be my Mystery Great Grandfather, aka MG. But is he MG? Is he my grandmother’s birth father? That’s the six million dollar DNA question. George Collman was born just before Christmas 1877 on the…
Finding my Collman family, part 4 – Robert
Shortly before Christmas, 1908. That’s as precise as I can be about the moment that my great grandmother, Miriam, had a dalliance with a man named Collman. My ancestry DNA results don’t tell me his name but they do indicate that my grandmother’s father descended from a man named Collman and a woman named Weston….
Finding my Collman family Part 3 – Charles and Louisa
In my hunt for my mysterious MG, my Mystery Great grandfather, I haven’t yet spent a single minute researching this Collman-Weston couple. Perhaps that’s because I have convinced myself that Thomas Collman and Augusta Weston are the right Collman-Weston couple. But what if I’m wrong? What if Charles Collman and Louisa Weston are actually my…
Finding my Collman family Part 1 – A Party of Five
Over the past two years I have been on a magical mystery tour trying to work out whose blood is running through my veins. My DNA results have revealed that my grandmother – Edna – was raised by a family that she had no biological connection with. Through my Edna blog series I worked out…
YESTERDAY DETECTED AT GOODSON’S POINT
I was sitting at home when the phone rang. It was my friend Judy at Windermere on the banks of the Tamar River near Launceston in Tasmania. This is where various members of my Goodson convict family lived from about 1832 until about 1881. James Goodson (the convict father of the Goodson family) served his…
KINdling 