Alfred John Jones was born in the Tasmanian town of Zeehan to an ordinary family, and like many ordinary young men of his era, when war broke out he rallied to the call. Alfred enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 29 Oct 1915. Despite his boyish looks, he was 21 on enlistment – in…
Tag: Jo Callaghan
The mystery of baby John
On 24 November 1846, the death of an eight month old baby was recorded in Hobart. His name was John Goodson. His parents were not named, he was simply a ‘child of a convict’. Who was baby John? From time to time (perhaps too often), female convicts gave birth to babies which were taken from…
The Willocks, a family divided? Edna, part 13
You guessed it, I’m still waiting for the missing link. New DNA matches come and go, but none of any significance in the hunt for my Mystery Great Grandfather, dear old MG. Not yet. In the meantime I haven’t been resting on my Christmas derriere, no no no, I’ve been working quite hard – in…
Tamar Seed
Two hundred years ago, or thereabouts, an illiterate convict ploughman named James Goodson began sowing the seeds of a dynasty; first in poverty-stricken despair in Essex, and then in the rich and fertile north of Van Diemen’s Land, at Windermere on the banks of the River Tamar. Tamar Seed is a collection of family stories…
Tuppence and Thrippence
I’ve got a new mystery to solve. Its about these pictures of my second great aunts. They are my great grandfather Francis Sendall’s sisters. They were working class people; their father was a butcher, their grandfather was a blacksmith. How did they afford to look so grand? And to be photographed? The women in the…
Barbaric Beauty
There’s something about Norfolk Island that keeps drawing me in. It’s a beautiful speck in the ocean with a frighteningly murderous past and its like there’s a big Norfolk Magnet pointing right at me, genetically speaking. It starts with James Neale, my 3x great grandfather. He was a British Redcoat who guarded convicts. He ‘met…
Trait vs Fate – Edna, part 12
I’m waiting for something. Or someone. Someone to open up the Willock world and reveal their family stories to me. Or someone to tie the Willocks to the Collmans with certainty, but the something or someone doesn’t seem to be coming. I’m willing to wait – what else can I do? Today I heard from…
The Collmans – Edna, part 11
My DNA is linking me to the Collmans. Some of the connections are strong enough that I think I’m on the trail of Edna’s father, Mystery Great Grandaddy – dear old MG. All roads are leading to Thomas William Collman and Augusta Weston. Who were they? Thomas Collman was born in 1858 near the town…
A life more ordinary: Francis Sendall, family man.
The story so far… Francis Sendall left his ordinary English home and family far behind to look for a life less ordinary… In 1892 Francis was living with missionaries in the New Hebrides, surrounded by cannibals and beset by hurricanes. From his plantation Sana Roba, on the island of Malo, he traded all things coconut…
The hot spot – Edna, part 10
I’ve worked really hard on this and I’m not going to bore you with the details. I’m cutting right to the chase. Since my last post I’ve worked out a few things. I know exactly who E is, but I definitely don’t know her, she’s a stranger to me. I’ve also worked out how the…
KINdling 