The Family Detective

3 weeks shy of 3 years ago I knew a lot about my Great Great Grandfather James Hardy. I saved a file about him and then I got side tracked with some other branch of the tree. James was always hard work and so was his son John as they both lived in an area with someone of the same name and some other similar details that made it hard to determine which was my James and which was their James. This is what I saved for James Hardy: Born: Ireland 1828 Immigrated: 1851 on the "Cornwall" Married: Jane Cadman: Unknown details Lived: 89 Marriott Street, Westbury, Tasmania Occupation: Retired Military Soldier from the 66th or 77th Regiment Died Deloraine, Tasmania, 1881 Some other facts I remember but didn't save information for included James was given a retirement fund as a soldier that included some land, a pear tree and a well. James was not the convict James Hardy Vaux and there was another James Hardy in Westbury at the same time. His regiment was a foot regime

HINT: ASSUME YOU'VE FOUND THEM! Of course I need more facts to prove this is James, but I start my search for facts by just assuming this IS James. From here I can start looking for other things using "details" I know about James. These are my new facts (assumed of course!) James & Jane Hardy live at Pensioner Row, Westbury Tasmania James died late 1880 or early 1881 So now, I'm sticking to Trove and I punch in Hardy Pensioner Row Westbury and can I say BINGO again? This is where I always get a flutter of excitement. I find this ad from 1954!!! Seems odd .. but can you see what I see? Yes, it's the same piece of land that had been owned by James Hardy but see the applicants?  ERNEST JOHN CADMAN and LILA MAY CADMAN. CADMAN!!! Can this simply be a coincidence? I myself prefer to imagine that Ernest is a little sentimental and has decided he's buying his Great Aunty Jane's farm!!! (Of course Jane may have previously been married and this i

HINT: DOUBLE CHECK THE FACTS Going back to my original saved document from 3 years ago, I have James Hardy dying in Deloraine? But where did I get this from? I can indeed find a James Hardy dying in Deloraine in May 1900 (would have been deceased at the time of John's wedding). Now I am not sure how I have made a connection to Deloraine? 2011 was very early in my family researching days so perhaps I had just got that wrong? Searching the Death indexes in Ancestry.com I have James Hardy 1881 infact dying in Westbury, not Deloraine. So one of my original facts is wrong. Is my James the James Hardy of 1881, dying in Westbury or perhaps the James Hardy death in May 1900 in Deloraine? If we assume that James is the James who had lived in Westbury (we know John and his siblings were born in Westbury) then the date has to be 1881 as we have the Trove article about the sale of his estate and possible caveats. I want to dismiss Deloraine information at this stage because I don't r

HINT: NARROW YOUR GOOGLE SEARCHES I imagine my posts documenting my search for James Hardy could get very extensive before I'm actually able to write his story. I'm always glad I didn't come a family of John Smith Jnr Jnr .. I can imagine how hard it would be to find anything. James Hardy has been common enough for me to be confused a lot. But now I feel like I have some solid dates and facts I can start putting those into google to get better results. Just typing James Hardy into google brings up 81, 700, 000 results. If I smarten my search by using quotation marks around the name, I'm already down to 385, 000 results. Now this is my search term - "James Hardy" Westbury military and I'm down to 8, 400 possibilities and some of the names and information jumping out at me is starting to look promising with what I already know about a James and his family. The first link takes me to Rootsweb and I have rediscovered the information (but no proof for

After disembarking from the Planter at Sydney Cove, Sarah was transported to Parramatta by boat and then walked a short distance further along the river to the Female Factory. Sarah probably lived at the factory, although some of the females were housed nearby and went to the factory everyday for work. We know from the records that Sarah was a dressmaker and this was most likely done at the Factory. It was expected that she would have made 9 pieces of clothing a week that would be sold to the public. If Sarah made more than her quota she would be able to earn 9 pence for every extra article made. (from the book The Great Shame: A Story of the Irish in the Old World and the New ). Female Factory to the left with St John's Church in the centre of picture Women were divided into 3 classes at the factory. Class One, were females eligible for assignment, may have earned a wage if something was available and could also receive friends on visiting days. They also had the right to

Sarah spent  4 months at sea onboard the HMS Planter . Captain F B Manning's journal showed life on the ship to be almost idyllic. Unlike many other journeys, there were no deaths on board. There was also one birth.Throughout the voyage the prisoners were kept on deck when the weather permitted from 7 o'clock in the morning until sunset. On the voyage schools were strictly attended. According to the surgeon a great many learned to read and write that could not previously do coming on board. Sarah's records mostly indicate she is illiterate, and can only sign her name with a mark. However, her gaol entrance record for 1846 states she can read and write. Most of the convicts had been employed as housemaids, kitchen maids, cooks, dairymaids, children's maids, laundresses, dressmakers and needlewomen and like Sarah, their crimes were nearly all various forms of stealing.On board, needlework and dancing generally occupied most of the day. The women were in good heal

Sarah Age 18, based on Convict Indent descriptions  When I was handed some family history papers on our Lang family, each person's background information took about a page. Sarah Weatherstone's entire life was written in 2 sentences. It seemed little was available on her in 2004, yet 10 years later she is the ancestor in my family tree that I know most about. I don't think I would have liked her, but then again she grew up in tough times and perhaps things would have been different for Sarah if she'd been born in a different place and time.  My research is ongoing and already new information has come to light and had me spending a few nights editing this post and Part 2.  Part 3 is being written, but the research is taking longer, because it's once she reaches Australia that we really do find out a lot about Sarah! Stay tuned .... Sarah Weatherstone was in the Tower Hamlet of Middlesex on July 1st, 1821. Her baptism took place at St Dunstan’s Church of Eng

*** The following article has been copied from http://branchesleavespollen.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/belated-australia-day-post-john.html *** This has to be some relation, so please visit Amy's blog if you too are related to one of Australia's convict Weatherstones. John Weatherstone was probably born in 1806 in Gloucester. Various unsourced research has named his parents as William Weatherstone and Mary Clutterbuck. Indeed, in the Parish records of St Mary-de-Lode in Gloucester a William Wetherstone and Mary Clutterbuck were married by licence on 12 February 1788. Whether or not this couple are the parents of John Weatherstone is yet to be proven. In fact, on John Weatherstone's death certificate (the only document to mention his parents) his father is listed as John, a farmer, and his mother as unknown. This is to be expected considering the amount of time that had elapsed (more than 50 years) since John Weatherstone's arrival in Australia. John Weatherst