Monday, July 18, 2011

Researching a family online for a day?


This is how I did it today:

The focus of the family is named HUMMERSTON – quite a rare surname.

From the marriage certificate of Edward Thornton and Anne Clarke, my ancestors – one of the witnesses was named George Hummerston so I’d like to know who this George Hummerston was and his connection to my ancestors. 

So my procedure of doing the research in day (with plenty of interruptions from my kids of course) is shown below.

Now the first website I go is at the BDM NSW Registry online (http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/searchHistoricalRecords.htm )  where I used all three search engines (Birth, Death and Marriages) to see if I can find him and his family – I was pretty confident that it will be easy as the surname is unusual.

The first two records came up:

A death record – George Hummerston died in 1892 at Woollahra – father named George and mother unknown. [14196/1892]

A marriage record – George William Hummerston married Emily C Harris at Waverley in 1876.

Then I looked through the rest of the marriage records under the name of HUMMERSTON and those what I found – there was not many.

George W Hummerston married Ellen Styles at Woollahra in 1899 – son of George?

Christopher Hummerston married Susan Windsor at Sydney in 1873 – brother of George?

Arthur Hummerston married Sophia Wilson at Waverley in 1885 – son of George?

Edward Hummerston married Alice C Lusty at Waverley in 1887 – son of George?

So with all those marriages sorted out – I did a broad Hummerston research on the Birth search engine and compiled the whole family groups as much as I can, which are shown below – 6 family groups.

George and Emily Hummerston’s children registered as:

1.     1877 – Amy at Sydney
2.     1879 – Percy at Sydney
3.     1881 – Violet Ada at Sydney
4.     1883 – Millbra M at Sydney
5.     1885 – Clarice M at Sydney
6.     1888 – Ada M at Sydney
7.     1890 – Gertrude L at Sydney
8.     1893 – Emily C at Woollahra
9.     1901 – Stella M at Waverley
10. 1898 – Walter T S at Waverley

Christopher and Susan Hummerston’s children registered as:

1.     1877 – Maud A at Paddington
2.     1873 – Christopher at Paddington
3.     1880 – Annie G at Paddington
4.     1885 – Sydney S at Paddington
5.     1888 – Jessie at Paddington
6.     1891 – Winifred S M at Paddington

George and Georgiana Hummerston’s children registered as:

1.     1865 – Albert S at Paddington
2.     1867 – Percy at Paddington
3.     1869 – Violet A at Paddington
4.     1872 – Maud A at Paddington
5.     1874 – Percival H at Paddington

Arthur and Sophie Hummerston’s children registered as:

1.     1886 – Alice M at Paddington
2.     1888 – Reginald A at Waverley
3.     1890 – Albert S at Waverley
4.     1892 – Stanley R at Woollahra
5.     1894 – Cecil W at Woollahra
6.     1897 – William R at Woollahra

Edward and Alice Hummerston’s children registered as:

1.     1887 – Ernest E at Waverley
2.     1889 – Clarence G at Waverley
3.     1891 – Ethel M  at Woollahra
4.     1905 – Roy E at Waverley

George W and Ellen Hummerston’s children registered as:

1.     1899 – Nellie E at Woollahra
2.     1903 – Frederick W at Glebe
3.     1905 – Rose E at Glebe
4.     1907 – Albert G at Glebe
5.     1910 – Doris M at Glebe

Then I noted there are two records with no name in the Fathers column:

Gertrude L had a daughter named Rita A in 1907

Ada had a son named Alfred T in 1909

Leaving BDM NSW registry online to do broad search with the Google Search Engine, a great tool to use...

I did a Google search to see if there is any notable website focused on the Hummerston family – unfortunately there is not much and I was only able to extract that - Christopher was a blacksmith whereas his son George W was a printer (http://www.lkjh.org/family_history/legacy/575.htm ).  This is confusing because the BDM NSW Registry shows no particular relationship.  So I am just taking this website with a grain of salt although it did stated that details were obtained from the certificates. It is possible that George W’s birth record was not recorded for some reason? I’d leave this for time being and move on.

Then I noted from one of Google records that there is a mention of a Florence Hummerston reserve at Perth in Western Australia – aha! My Clarke family came from Perth in 1850-60s so better hop off straight to the BDM WA Registry online to see if I can find any more Hummerston records.

Onto the BDM Western Australia Registry online for possible further records...

Then from BDM WA (http://www.bdm.dotag.wa.gov.au/_apps/pioneersindex/default.aspx?uid=9125-2873-5779-1388 ) shows that a Christopher was born in 1851 at Fremantle to George Hummerston and Georgiana Dixon.

So it can be assumed that Clarke and Hummerston families knew each other and that Anne and Christopher may have grew up together being close in age. In the marriage certificate of Edward Thornton and Anne Clarke, it was stated that  they got married in the residence of Mr James Clarke, Perth House at Smith Street, Sydney. Now there is no Smith Street in existence now at Sydney, but it can be assumed the name of the house was named after the city they ‘came from’ to Sydney (“Perth House”)?

Next excellent website to look at but remember nothing's absolute online so take care on gathering details from the Family Search - IGI (International Genealogy Index) and its massive record collections...

From Family Search org (http://www.familysearch.org), it shows there is a particular family group I was looking for which stated that:

George Hummerston was born on 23rd January 1823 at Essex, England, married Georgina Dixon on 5th April 1851 at Western Australia and died on 13th April 1892 at Woollahra NSW. Georgina Dixon was born on 20th December 1833 at Fremantle WA and died on 31st May 1889 at Woollahra NSW. Her parents were unknown.

Their children were listed as:

1.     George William Hummerston – born May 1853 at Fremantle WA
2.     James Hummerston – born 1855 and died 1855 at Fremantle WA
3.     John Wesley Hummerston – born 1856 and died 1858 at Fremantle WA
4.     Samuel Hummerston – born May 1858 at Fremantle WA
5.     Edward Hummerston – born 10th April 1860 at Fremantle and died in 1951 at Parramatta NSW
6.     Arthur Hummerston – born July 1862 at Fremantle WA and died on 26th September 1896 at Woollahra NSW
7.     Mary Adelaide Hummerston – born 1st February 1864 at Sydney NSW and died on 29th October 1944 at Sydney NSW
8.     Albert Sydney Hummerston – born 12th May 1865 and died 27th May 1872 at Sydney NSW
9.     Percy Hummerston – born 29th August 1869 at Sydney NSW
10. Violet Ada Hummerston – born 16th November 1868 at Sydney NSW and died in 1950 at Paddington NSW
11. Ernest William Hummerston – born 6th August 1870 and died  in 1870 at Sydney NSW
12. Maude Alice Hummerston – born 29th February 1872 at Sydney and died on 12th July 1950 at Randwick NSW
13. Percival Heidelbert Hummerston – born 20th February 1874 and died in 1874 at Paddington NSW
14. Herbert John Hummertston – born 29th September at Paddington NSW and died on 12th November 1875 at Paddington NSW

Next obvious step was to check out the Ancestry site to see if there would be any possible records, which I could check out later at a public library or a genealogical/historical society for more details...

Then I checked the Ancestry.com (http://records.ancestry.com/Georgina_records.ashx?pid=12020215 ) and did a limited search there as I am not a paid member of the website – it is far cheaper to use it from a public library than doing it at home! There is a record of Georgina Dixon Hummerston which stated that her parents were William Dixon and Jane Frances Stanfield and that she was born in Fremantle, WA on 20th December 1833. Georgina died on 31st May 1889 at Woollahra NSW.

We can deduct that George was an immigrant while Georgina was born in Australia – how did George got himself planted in Western Australia by 1850s? Was he a soldier, a convict or a free settler?

Now I need to know why George Hummerston was invited to be the main witness to Anne Clarke and Edward Thornton’s wedding. This is where internet get limited as there are so few military websites for Australia and I was unable to confirm that Robert Clarke, Anne’s father, was actually a soldier from the 99th Regiment as stated in Anne’s birth certificate (the informant was Robert himself). An interesting note – the birth certificate has a correction to the number of his Regiment from 51st to 99th – wonders why it was corrected in the first place. However I cannot find him in both 51st and 99th regiments but there is a possibility that he may have been in the 96th regiment – need to dig that up at the library though.

Another great tool to use is the NLA's Trove - a wide database search engine that includes the digitalised newspapers of Australia from 1803 onwards and other manuscripts, etc... 

A quick look at the Trove – digitalized newspapers and such from NLA (http://trove.nla.gov.au/ ), which shown only two pages of searched records which is quite not enough and nothing so worthwhile if you only used the ‘Family Notices’ as a part of the criteria. So re-did the search with only the name “Hummerston” and years ranged between 1803 and 1900. The records number shown as 1,268 or in 20 pages, now we are getting somewhere. I’ve clicked the relevance to the earliest date to see when the Hummerston was first mentioned in Australia. The first mention was dated in 1814 and the earliest newspapers were both Sydney Gazette and the Argus (Melbourne).  The earliest mention of a Hummerston was a Michael Hummerston.

Further research on this Michael Hummerston proved to be quite difficult as it was apparent that no one is sure how or when did Michael Hummerston migrated to Australia. It was generally accepted that he arrived at South Australia around 1849 and ended up living at Ballarat, Victoria. There he married a Charlotte Honey, who was at the age of 20 years, on the 27th April 1854 at "St James Church" in Melbourne. Michael was listed as a shoemaker and later a licensed victualler in the Chidlow’s Well Hotel in Western Australia. He was born in 1822 in Epping, Essex, son of George Hummerston and Mary Pindon. After their marriage Michael and Charlotte moved to Steiglitz, North of Geelong, probably in search of gold, and it was here that their first children were born. They’ve had 10 children together before Charlotte died in 1876. Michael re-married in 1882 at South Australia to Mary McCracken. They’ve had two sons. This family have lived across South Australia and Western Australia. (http://members.iinet.net.au/~kjstew/HONEYhistory.htm )

Could it be possible that this Michael was related to George Hummerston?

From some advertisements and notifications in the newspapers, George Hummerston was a bootsmaker of Woollahra. So both Michael and George have similar occupational background.

Other websites could assist in narrowing leads and possibilities such as...

A quick look at the Western Australian Museum’s Welcome Walls (http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/welcomewalls/names/hummerston-michael ) for a record of Hummerston revealed there is a Michael Hummerston. However there is quite an interesting twist to the mystery of Michael – it was stated that Michael “Ran away from 24 siblings. Owned licences to several hotels in South Australia & Victoria. Returned to Perth with his family & owned licences to the P&O & Freemasons (now Sail & Anchor) Hotels. Built hotels in Mt Helena, Kalamunda (still standing) & Midla.”

To make sense of what I've gathered and put together...

So therefore, the Hummerston family is quite large, mainly located in Essex, England; Perth, Western Australia; Sydney, NSW and Victoria.  And I am nowhere closer to the reason for the connection between George Hummerston and the Clarke family. It may be possible there would be a military, locality or even family relation connection but a further research will need to be done in the library or such.

In the end...

There is so much one can do with family research online for a day before coming to a point where books and more comprehensive details can be found from other institutions such as libraries and genealogical societies.

I hope this helps somewhat for others to do more on their own family research. Any feedback, tips and such are always welcomed.

Cheers!

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