Church records at the Mitchell Library

I spent the day in the Mitchell Library Manuscripts Collection yesterday, looking at microfilmed church records. The records have been microfilmed by the Society of Australian Genealogists, from the original parish registers. If you can find the record you are looking for (not always) it's a cheaper option (free!) than ordering a transcript or official record from NSW Births Deaths and Marriages, though it's not nearly a comprehensive collection of the records of every single church in the state. Obviously the information for birth and death records will be not quite the same as for a baptism or burial record, but the marriage information is pretty much the same.

I was looking for information for St Paul's Church of England, Redfern (now a Greek Orthodox church and theological seminary), and St Thomas' Church of England, North Sydney.

For St Paul's Redfern I was looking for information on the Merrick family. My aunt has a prayer book that was awarded to my great grandmother, Ethel Sarah Merrick, by her teacher at St Paul's Sunday School, when she was 19, for "Answers to Scripture Questions".

It's a bit intriguing that she was still attending Sunday School at that age, but it does at least suggest that the family worshipped there. I was looking for a marriage record for James Merrick and Eliza Jane Ball (my great great grandparents), and for baptism records for any of their children. I would have looked for burial records too, but there were none available - presumably because there was no cemetery attached to the church? Unfortunately, I was unable to find the marriage record, and the baptism registers from July 1879 to October 1891 are missing - they were never received at St Andrew's House (head office for the Sydney Diocese) from the parish - and this covers most of the births of the Merrick children. Although the birth of Susanna Jane Merrick should have been in the registers (born about 1876), it wasn't there. It suggests to me that her parents were married in a different parish, and she was baptised elsewhere also. The only baptism record I could find was for Esther (Essie) Louisa Merrick.

• "Esther Louise Meyrick (sic)" was baptised on February 3 1878 at St Paul's Redfern, born on 5 January 1878 to James and Elizabeth (sic). Her abode was Vine St, Redfern, and her father's occupation was listed as Government Employee. That he was a government employee is very surprising to me - James Merrick was a bootmaker - so I'm not sure what the government would have employed him to do!

For St Thomas' North Sydney I was looking for records on the Smith family. There's quite a bit I don't know about the Smiths, partly because they were on the poorer side of society and didn't generally put notices in papers, nor did they get themselves into newspapers for any other reason. And then there's the fact that their surname was Smith... not the most unusual of surnames! So I was hoping that the church records might shed a little more light on them. I already knew that James Smith and Sarah Ann Adamson (my great great great grandparents) were married at the Wesleyan Methodist Princes St Chapel on 28 June 1853. However, I also knew that some of the family were buried in the St Thomas' Cemetery, so there was a good chance the family attended St Thomas'. Although there was a Methodist presence on the North Shore, it was struggling, and this is perhaps why the Smiths went to St Thomas'.

• Ann Jane Smith (my great great grandmother) was baptised in the Sydney North Circuit (of Wesleyan Methodist church) on 11 November 1854, born to James and Sarah Smith on 20 October 1854. The family's abode was "North Shore" and James Smith's profession was recorded as "labourer". This particular information was actually obtained from the family history section of the State Reference Library, from the Registers of Baptisms, Burials and Marriages 1787-1856 microfilm. These are early records from before civil registration began in 1856.
• Eliza Annie Smith was baptised on 1 February 1863 at St Thomas', born to James and Sarah Smith on 11 January 1863. Their abode was "Willoughby" and James Smith's profession was "labourer".
• Susan Smith was baptised on 24 September 1865 at St Thomas', born to James and Sarah Smith on 1 July 1865. Their abode was "St Leonards", James' profession was "laborer", and the witnesses were Wm. Sparkes, Ann Jane Adamson, and Eliza Anne (Barker?).
• William Mark Smith was baptised at St Thomas' on 4 June 1871, born to James and Sarah Smith on 20 April 1871. Their abode was "St Leonards" and James was a "quarryman". This is the first time I have seen William's full name of William Mark Smith.
• Maria Smith was buried on 30 November 1861 at 4pm in St Thomas' Cemetery. She died 29 November 1861, her abode was St Leonards, and she was 8 months, 3 weeks old when she died. There is a note that she had been baptised by Mr Hurst, and was a child of James and Sarah Smith.
• James Smith was buried in St Thomas' Cemetery on 6 July 1879. He died on 4 July 1879, aged 49 years 7 months. His abode was St Leonards, and his profession was quarryman. I wonder where the quarry was?
• Susan Smith was buried in St Thomas' Cemetery on 23 December 1881, having died on 2 December 1881. She was 16 years old, and her abode was St Leonards.

So I still found no reference to the 2 deceased males recorded on the death record of James Smith in 1879. Interestingly they were not noted on their mother Sarah's death record. I can only assume that they were never baptised and their births were not officially recorded. They must have died young. Which makes me wonder what they did with the bodies of the two little boys whose births and deaths were never officially recorded... I'm not suggesting anything sinister here, I'm just wondering!

I also browsed through the other reels of microfilms and found some for the Scots Church Sydney (Presbyterian), relating to Rev Dr John Dunmore Lang. I knew that one couple amongst my relatives had been married by Rev Dr Lang, so I dug deep in my memory (and my smart phone!) and found it was Samuel Harper and Susanna Ball, sister of Eliza Jane, who married James Merrick, and daughter of James and Susanna Ball (my great great great grandparents). So I also found the marriage record for them.

• Marriage of Samuel Harper and Susanna Ball on 23 September 1865 at Botany Rd, Sydney, by John Dunmore Lang. Samuel Harper was a bachelor, born in Sydney, NSW, a Custom House Officer, 24 years old, from Botany Road, Redfern. His parents were John Harper, ironmonger, and Charlotte Styles. Susanna Ball was a spinster, born in London, living with her parents, 22 years old, living in Redfern. Her parents were James Ball, bookbinder, and Susanna Smith (no relation to the Smiths above). The witnesses were Geo. West and Louisa Ball.

Thanks go to my aunt for the above photos of the prayer book.

The missing Smith children

In my last post I wrote about the children of James and Sarah Smith. And there were three for whom birth records just don't exist.

Ellen Smith was definitely born, around 1859, because she was listed as 20 years old when her father died in 1879. But her birth clearly wasn't registered. And she didn't die as Ellen Smith, in NSW at least. I looked at marriage records for Ellen Smiths, focussing on those registered in St Leonards because that's where the family was located. The most likely options (based on the date) were a marriage in 1881 to Jonathan Hinks and and an 1883 marriage to Robert Pymble. Death records for Ellen Hinks and Ellen Pymble revealed an 82 year old Ellen Hinks dying in Penrith in 1941 (no parents recorded, only her age and place of death), and Ellen Pymble dying in 1950 in Chatswood, parents Samuel and Mary Ann. So Ellen Pymble was a no-go, but Ellen Hinks could definitely fit - she was the right age if she had been born in 1859. But there the trail went cold because there didn't seem to be any obvious way of verifying the information.

Later I was filing some of my family history notes and came across some I made with Mum when she passed on the Nell Brell's Cookies recipe. And there was a reference to one of my Great Nanna's cousins - one Hilda Jouning née Hinks, whose parents were Jonathan and Ellen Hinks. Mystery solved!

Not so lucky with the missing sons. According to James' death record he had two sons who were deceased at the time of his death. In the NSW BDM no records, birth or death, can be found that relate to these two boys. And I don't think the family was elsewhere at the time of their births, I think they just weren't registered.

I rang the NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages to ask about the missing registrations. The nice lady I talked to said that although civil registration started in 1856, they didn't really crack down on it until the 1890s, and some children were just never registered. The fact that there is no birth or death record for either of them suggests that perhaps the boys were stillborn or died when only a few days old. She also said that sometimes in very remote locations the births were never registered but this doesn't apply in this case - they were in St Leonards, which although it was on the north side of Sydney Harbour, wasn't that hard to get to and from!

The nice lady suggested I try church records, because although there may have been no official registration, it is possible the boys may still have been baptised. I'll have to see if I can locate parish records for St Thomas' to see if there is anything in them. I believe the pre-1930 Anglican Sydney diocese parish registers have all been microfilmed by the Society of Australian Genealogists. Looks like I might have to take a trip into the city!

More on James Smith

I received the transcript for James Smith's death certificate yesterday.

He died on 4 July 1879 at Hill St, St Leonards (now North Sydney). This doesn't surprise me because I have found records of Sarah living there after James' death.

James was listed as a labourer. I have found records which suggest he worked as a gardener, in a dairy, as a carpenter and as a quarryman. This all fits with my thought that he was a general labourer - perhaps the sort of man who could turn his hand to anything.

He died of "broncho pneumonia", which he had been suffering from for 14 days.

James' father was listed as John Smith, labourer, his mother Susan Tedfort. So obviously my speculation in this post was wrong. John Smith is the sort of name which would cause you to throw your hands up in the air and give up, however Susan Tedfort is a much more distinctive name. The only problem is that I can't find any Susan Tedforts anywhere. I suspect that the surname was not spelled correctly on the death record. Surnames I can find are Thetford, Tedford, Telfort, Titford, etc. I'll have to look into it.

James was born in Ireland, and he had been in the colony/state about 28 years (which suggests he arrived about 1851). This still doesn't help me work out how he got here - there's nothing that I can find that fits with that or is clearly him. On his son William's birth record his place of birth is listed as County Armagh, Ireland.

The children of his marriage to Sarah Ann Adamson (and their ages at the time of his death) were:

• Ann Jane, aged 24. Ann Jane was my great great grandmother and married Robert Wickham. I'm guessing she was named after Sarah's mother.
• James, aged 23. Named after his father. I haven't yet worked out what happened to James - what he did, when he died etc.
• Ellen, aged 20. I cannot locate a birth registration for Ellen in the NSW BDM. Not sure why. Also, I can't find her death record either, but that's because I have no idea who/whether she married. Named after one of Sarah's twin sisters.
• Eliza, aged 16. Full name Eliza Annie. Married Thomas William Stilling. Most likely named after Sarah's other twin sister.
• Susan, aged 14. Susan died a couple of years later, aged 16. Probably named after James' mother.
• William, aged 8. I haven't yet worked out what happened to William either. I also don't know who he was named after, but considering all the other children were named after someone in the family, perhaps his father James had a brother called William?
• 2 boys and 1 girl deceased. Absolutely no idea who the two boys were. There are no obvious birth or death records for them in the NSW BDM. I've seen the birth record for William, and they are not listed on that, so perhaps they were born after that. The girl was Maria, who died when she was 8 months old, in 1861. I also don't know who she was named after - perhaps a sister of her father?

So, how could you get away without registering the births of some of your children? I wonder how common it was? Are the NSW BDM records infallible?!

I must acknowledge the assistance of a distant relative, Joanne, with whom I have been collaborating on this Smith research. Thanks Joanne!

The Adamsons from Ballymacanallen

Sarah Ann Adamson was married to James Smith and was my great great great grandmother. She was born in around 1828 in Ballymacanallen, Co Down, Ireland. Her parents were Thomas and Ann Jane.

Sarah Ann's whole family came out to Australia, in dribs and drabs. The following table shows the details:

Name	Year of emigration	Ship	Religion	Native place and county	Relatives in the colony
Margaret Adamson	1849	John Bright	Church of England	Near Gilford, Co Down	No relatives in the colony
Thomas Adamson	1849	John Bright	Wesleyan	Near Gilford, Co Down	No relatives in the colony
Mary Jane Adamson	1851	St Vincent	Presbyterian	Gilford, Downshire	Sister and brother living in Sydney
Sarah Ann Adamson	1852	David McIver	Church of Scotland	Ballymacanallen, Co Down	Brother and 2 sisters living at North Shore
George Adamson	1852	David McIver	Church of England	Tullylish, Co Down	Thomas living somewhere in Sydney, Mary Jane and Sarah Ann living at North Shore
Thomas (father), Anne (mother), Martha, Ellen, Eliza, Nancy, Alexander and Robert	1855	Nabob	Presbyterian	All from Sego, Armagh, apart from Anne, who was from Tullylish, Armagh (actually Co Down)	A son, Thomas Adamson, living in York St, Sydney

Margaret and Thomas were the first of Sarah Ann's siblings to come out. Although it seems that Mary Jane arrived by herself, she actually arrived with her husband Henry Donaldson, also from Gilford, whom she married on the voyage - they were married by the ship's surgeon apparently. George and Sarah Ann arrived next, though George seemed quite confused about which sister he was travelling with - presumably because the single men and women weren't allowed to mix on the ship. Then the parents Thomas and Ann Jane brought all the rest of the children out - son Thomas paid immigration deposits for Thomas, Anne, Alexander and Robert a year before they emigrated (interesting that deposits were not required for the girls). Curiously, Thomas and Anne seem to have dropped their ages by about 20 years in order (I assume) to qualify to emigrate.

Ballymacanallen is a townland 4km north of Gilford, in the parish of Tullylish, Co Down, Northern Ireland. I tend to think they were probably all from Gilford, but the parents Thomas and Anne and the younger children may have moved on to Sego before they emigrated to Australia - who knows why. Ballymacanallen seems to have been a small farming community at the time.

Thomas was listed as farm labourer when he emigrated, as were his sons Thomas and Alexander, with son George listed as a labourer. It would appear that they all worked in labouring jobs here in Australia as well. Son Thomas bought 12 acres, 3 roods of land in "Willoughby" (possibly Crows Nest now) in 1853, though I can't work out exactly where this was - having more than one Thomas Adamson living in the North Sydney area makes it hard! Thomas the son (who, confusingly, is generally known as Thomas Adamson snr) built a weatherboard cottage at 10 Munro St, North Sydney, which still stands, and perhaps this is on part of the land he bought in 1853.

The thing which surprises me the most is the listed religion for each of the family members - there's a variety - Church of England (presumably this was "translated" from Church of Ireland), Church of Scotland/Presbyterian (are they the same thing?) and Wesleyan. Firstly I was totally surprised that there was a Presbyterian presence in Ireland. I does suggest to me that somewhere along the line the Adamsons had ancestors who moved to Ireland from Scotland. Secondly, I do wonder how attached the members of the family were to their listed denominations - afterall Mary Jane said she was Presbyterian, her husband Henry was listed as Church of Scotland, and although they married on the voyage, their marriage was registered at the Sydney Wesleyan Methodist church. Sarah Ann was Presbyterian, but married her Wesleyan husband James Smith in the same Wesleyan Methodist church. Some members of the family were buried in the Presbyterian section of Gore Hill Cemetery though, so I guess some did keep to the Presbyterians.

James Smith of St Leonards

James Smith was my great great great grandfather. I have found it difficult to find much information on him, but at least his name was not John Smith - though I believe that was his father's name!

James Smith died on 4th July 1879, and was buried in the St Thomas Cemetery, North Sydney. Although many of the headstones were removed when the site was redeveloped into a rest park in the 1970s, I think that the headstone for James Smith may still be there. I'll have to go and check it out one day. According to his headstone he was 49 years and 7 months old when he died, which suggests that he was born around Dec 1829.

James Smith married Sarah Ann Adamson in 1853 at the Wesleyan Chapel in Princes Street, Sydney. They had six children that I know of: Ann Jane (born 1854, my great great grandmother), James (1856), Maria (1861), Eliza Annie (1862), Susan (1865) and William (1871). All the children who have a district recorded on their birth record were registered at St Leonards. On Ann Jane's marriage record (1876) her father's occupation is not listed, but the ceremony is recorded as being held at the bride's residence on the North Shore. In those days it would seem that the "North Shore" was pretty much all the settlement on the northern side of the harbour, rather than the geographical area which is now known by that term (being a lot larger now). Later, in 1885 after her father's death, when Eliza Annie was married, it only lists her as living in Sydney, but her father's occupation was noted as carpenter.

I have looked at James' probate packet, held out at the State Records Centre at Kingswood. In his will he mentions real estate, though I have not been able to work out exactly where he might have owned real estate - anyone have any ideas on how to find it? At a guess it might have been in St Leonards. Interestingly, in the will, he appoints his wife Sarah as the guardian of his infant children. I calculate, of the known children, that only William was an infant at the time the will was written (24 June 1879), so I suspect that it is quite possible there were more children than the six I know of. The probate information records that the personal estate of the deceased was under the value of £40. I don't think this was a huge amount.

The will records that James was a quarryman, living in St Leonards (St Leonards seems to have been the name for what is now known as North Sydney. There was also an area in the south western part of what is now North Sydney, going down to Blues Point, which was called Victoria). There was a quarry where the corner of Blue and Miller Streets is now, so perhaps he worked there. I have also found a record from 1876 for a James Smith living in Walker St, Victoria as a dairyman - which may or may not have been him. It is my thought that James was a bit of an odd-job manual-labour sort of man, and changed his occupation more than once.

Where James Smith was born is completely unknown. I've applied for his death record to see what information that contains. There are, of course, only two options - he was born here (presumably NSW) or somewhere else - likely in Britain, at a guess. If he was born here his parents were either convicts or free settlers. If he was born elsewhere, he was either a convict or a free settler himself.

According to the death record information available online, James' parents were John Smith and Susan. There is no record of a James Smith born to a John and Susan Smith around 1829-30 in NSW. However, working on the theory that not all information on death records is correct, I thought I'd see if there was a James Smith born to any John Smiths in Sydney, about that time. Yes. In 1829 there was a James Smith born to John and Jane Smith. If he was born in December 1829 they would have had to get him registered quick-smart to be included in the 1829 records, but perhaps it is him. Looking at other possible children born to John and Jane Smith around that time there is: Elizabeth J born 1817, Sarah (1821), Maria (1822), William (1824), Thomas (1826) x2, Eliza (1830), Charlotte (1832) and Jane (1838). Looking at his own children's names, James and Sarah had a Maria and a William. Whilst William was a common enough name, Maria was not so common - Mary and Mary Ann were much more common than Maria. So perhaps James had a sister called Maria. This is all pure speculation though, and I have no idea if I'll ever know if it is actually true.