Too many research plans on the go?

 

                                              Not at work - my grandmother is the standing woman in the middle and

                                                              my grandfather the seated gentleman on the left

What is it about declaring research and writing plans that opens the door for other groups to assign different writing tasks? For my genealogy writer's group, we have been tasked with writing a story about the occupation of one of our ancestors. Did my mind go to the Maidment/Rideout group that I had already determined was going to be my next focus? Of course not. I don't know enough about the Rideout occupations although I do know that my 3 x great grandfather, Joseph Rideout, was a woodman. I suppose I could look up what that entails. Then, on the other side of that family, for the Maidments, I need to explore more about the game keeper trade but could I confine my story to one ancestor? It would be difficult as so many of the Maidments followed that trade. Then there was that intriguing newspaper article about one of them. As I recall, there may have been a murder involved. That line definitely needs more research.

For this assignment I decided to write about my publicans - the couple that ran a pub in London's East End. Just to switch it up, I think I'll write about my grandmother because she's the one who started in the trade with her first husband and then, when he died (of cirrhosis, go figure), she married my grandfather. It's a story that will easily take up the one or two pages required. I'll see what I can come up with.  

Finding clues in unexpected places

 

                                                                     Books to help with my Australian research

Although I've started thinking about researching a different family line, as I mentioned in my last blog post about an upcoming presentation I'm developing for a DNA group, I'm still pursuing books about the early Australian experience with a heavy lean towards the convict experience. The tome I'm currently perusing is Bound for Australia: A Guide to the Records of Transported Convicts and Early Settlers. It's a work in progress and, although I haven't yet found anything to add to the sources on my own family convicts, there was one item in the book that raised my eyebrows.

I found a list of convicts sent from Upper Canada to Van Diemen's Land. The explanation given was that most of the men named were actually captured invading Canada from the US. As my ancestry includes some family from that country, I looked through the list for any familiar names. My scattered roots often find me changing gears when I come across something that might relate to another side of my family. And really, now that I think about it, when I found the write up on the Maidment/Rideout part of my family which I wrote about last week, pursuing the descendents for the Rideout part of that family would also bring me back to Australia as some of them immigrated there voluntarily.

So far I've been lucking in that my research has been in the English speaking part of the world. It makes research much easier when it is a language that I can read (we won't talk about the Latin of early English church records or the need to know Paleography to understand old documents.) I wonder if my genealogy quest will ever involve records in a different language. 

Sources:

Hawkings, David T. Bound for Australia: A Guide to the Records of Transported Convicts and Early Settlers. The History Press, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 1987, 2012

 

Using a mystery to teach about writing?

 

                                                               Nothing like a mystery to catch people's attention

A DNA group that I'm a member of has gone to a new format as the person who used to be the coordinator has said she's done and it's time for the membership to take over. So the consensus was that each of us will run one of the monthly meetings presenting on a topic about DNA. I'm not nearly as advanced in researching my genetic genealogy as the other members of the group. Sometimes what they talk about is way over my head but they haven't kicked me out yet. My topic will be about writing - go figure. At least that is something I do know about. I don't have to do my gig until 2027 so have a while to prepare. So it seemed like a good idea to have a look at what I've written about DNA on my blog.

I've written a lot of posts about DNA over the years but I took time out from trawling the posts when I found a family mystery that I posted about on January 22, 2018. It's a mystery about John who was born in 1845, the youngest son of Mary Rideout nee Maidment. He grew up with his older siblings but Mary's husband Thomas Rideout had died in 1842. So who was John's father? Could DNA be used to shed any light on this situation?

Mary Maidment was my 2 x great grandmother, so finding out about her is within the reach of autosomal DNA. In fact, I was able to take Mary's line back further by using DNA and there was a complication that arose as her father, Elias Maidment, married Martha Rideout just to keep the family ties closer.

I think I can use the original story as an illustration of writing and maybe get some pointers on how to proceed at the same time. And maybe, just maybe, I can use DNA to take the story further as it did when I found Mary's parents and went down a rabbit hole researching my game keeping ancestors. 

Plans to take my Australian research further

 

                            I haven't found anything to take my family tree further with my research on Francis Cavanagh

Well, my DNA strategy to find out more about my family's convict roots will take time so it's not the quick fix that I thought it might be. But really it was wishful thinking dependent on there being descendents from my two transported convict ancestors, Francis Cavanagh and Thomas Arment. It may be that my Australian DNA matches who show up on Ancestry were immigrants after the convict era. There is one line, the McKay/Chubb line, that I was able to follow through the military records of William McKay in which the family was bounced from place to place and finally, when he retired, they moved from Bangalore to New South Wales. The McKay/Chubb family were on my maternal side and Ancestry indicates that my Australian journeys are paternal. Still, I found one DNA match from Australia that seems to be related to that maternal line. From other matching surnames I've found among my Southern Hemisphere matches, I think there were some later immigrants who maybe came during the 10£ Pom era. 

To further my knowledge, I'm reading about the history of Australian settlement. I'm currently working my way through A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia and intend to pick up some books on Australian genealogical research at the library. Maybe I'll find a way to take my research on Francis Cavanagh further. 

Sources:

Ancestry – DNA matches

DNA update with an Australian slant

 

I haven't had much time to concentrate on finding a way to take Francis Cavanagh's story past his stint at Cockatoo Island which probably ended in 1858. No doubt there is a way to carry my research forward somehow but I have to find out what that is as I'm not that familiar with Australian research. Looks like it's time to watch some webinars and also find some written advice on how to find out about Australian ancestors.

In the meantime, I've made a list of my Ancestry DNA matches from the Southern Hemisphere. There are 35 of them that have put in a location. But there are probably more that haven't added their location to their Ancestry DNA. I know I haven't because the location where I currently reside is not where I was born or where I grew up and really isn't a location that has much to do with my family history.

I'm hoping that the matches who have declared a location on Ancestry DNA actually have some family connection to where they now live. Perhaps their family trees might give me some clues to follow that match with the convicts I've found records for so far, although in the case of Thomas Arment there were no children recorded as a result of his marriage. I'm also not sure that Francis Cavanagh would have been allowed to marry but you never know. We'll see what I can find out.

Sources:

Ancestry DNA matches by location

The hunt for Francis Cavannah/Cavanagh after 1858

 

                                            Documents for Thomas Arment, the other convict in my family tree who was 

                                                                                   transported to Australia 

So far, my research on Francis Cavannah/Cavanagh has basically filled in 20 years of his life, from his arrival in Australia on the Emma Eugenia to his assignment to Cockatoo Island in 1854 for a period of 4 years. Assuming that he made it to the end of that time period that would take him to 1858. Now I'm hunting around for information to take his story further. It's still a work in progress so there's nothing much to report at this time.

I did think that the information on the other transported criminal in my family might hold some clues as to how to find out more. Now that I've looked more closely at the information about Thomas Arment that was shared with me by another researcher, I find that Thomas Arment arrived in Australia in 1852. So a later date than Francis Cavannah. That meant Thomas's destination was Western Australia rather than New South Wales. It also means that the avenues of research to find out more about Francis will be different, as the information about Thomas Arment came from the Western Australian Genealogical Society Inc., Convict Special Interest Group. I wonder if there is something similar for New South Wales. Looks like I need to have a look to see what is available.

Figuring out what Francis Cavanagh's 1854 convict records mean

 

                                                             Google map of Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour

I'm still on the track of Francis Cavanagh, my 3 x great uncle, who disappeared from records in London due to the fact that he was transported to Australia in 1838. I've been able to track him through convict records and newspaper articles in Australia but was left with a conundrum when I found that he was issued with a Ticket of Leave in 1854 and also sent to Cockatoo Island to perform labour in the same year. Did one cancel out the other?

Cockatoo Island was established as a penal station for reoffending male convicts in 1839. It was in Sydney Harbour. Using convict labour, buildings were begun at that time to house the prisoners, those who were to guard them and also for the officials to run the site. Convict labour was also used to build Fitzroy Dock on the island in a project that began in 1847. As the dockyard wasn't finished until 1857, Francis Cavanagh may have worked on that project. The penal station on Cockatoo Island closed in 1869.

Trawling online, I found the answer to the conundrum about Francis Cavanagh with his Ticket of Leave and his assignment to Cockatoo Island in an article in Epoch Magazine. The article explained that European prisoners who had conditions on their freedom such as being tied to a certain district, were often sent to Cockatoo Island. This fits with the Ticket of Leave awarded to Francis Cavanagh in 1854 as there was a district included, that of Yass. So his freedom was indeed conditional. But the record from Darlinghurst had indicated that his period of labour on Cockatoo Island was to last for 4 years. Was he then unconditionally free and will I be able to find out what happened to him after 1858?

 Sources:

Cockatoo Island information https://www.cockatooisland.gov.au/en/learn/island-history/convict-penal-establishment/ 

Australian Convict Sites Booklet https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b3997467e3c3a94b303bbd0/t/61c0194aed71ef2513556f06/1639979386613/Australian+Convict+Sites+Booklet+WEB+.pdf

Epoch magazine  https://www.epoch-magazine.com/post/diversifying-a-digital-dataset-cockatoo-island-convicts