I am extremely lucky to be able to do something that I love; both in a professional work sense and also for pleasure. Recently I was asked to do some genealogical research for two separate friends. One was as a gift for another family member, as something a little different and one, which is still in the works, is purely out of interest. Whilst, my love of genealogy is spurned from my interest in my own family history, it doesn’t take much for me to get ingrained into someone else’s story. To explore and flesh out the stories within a family, and ultimately the path that has led them to be here today.
The first family tree was more ornamental,
than a huge research project. Don’t get me wrong, it did involve research, some
of which I would not have been able to do without the help of several resources
and people. The final piece charted seven generations, any further and I would
have had to commission an art work the size of a wall to be able to fit any
further ancestors onto the tree. I was extremely proud of the finished product,
and am happy to say that the recipient and her family were happy and intrigued
with the work I had laboured over.
The second tree will be a slow and
steady work in progress. This particular friend had often questioned my
intrigue with history, and in particular family history. However, once this
project got under way, she quickly became enamoured with her own history. Mind
you, hers is quite interesting. While I am still a long way off completing the
research, the several generations I have garnered information about have thrown
out a few curve balls. One branch of the tree is sending up road blocks left,
right and centre, the other is juicy, juicy, juicy. Thus far I have found a
divorce in 1916, together with several visits to the Royal Park Hospital for
the Insane. And I have only just started.
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| Making headlines. Trove coming up with the goods |
What looked to be straightforward
look into a couple in the late 1800s-early 1900s came to a few fuzzy points.
The husband in question had (thankfully) left a will, and in it named a woman I
was SURE wasn’t his wife. If she had of been, then I had failed dismally in my
line of work. It turns out that the woman named in his will was indeed his
wife, whom had predeceased him. This was odd; the woman I was looking for had
died after her husband. After getting increasingly frustrated that I had made a
wrong turn somewhere, I decided that maybe, just maybe there had been some
scandal in the family. Could there have been a divorce? They were a rarity in
the early twentieth century, however were known to happen. I quickly consulted
the digitised divorce causes books from PROV (VPRS 5335/P5)
Voila! I found a case for the couple I was looking for. There it was, the cause of the question mark hanging
over the confusing will and the separate living quarters listed on numerous
census lists. Over 50 pages detailed that the husband divorced his wife - who
was not present at the trial - under the reasoning of ‘desertion’. The husband’s
case detailing his ‘desertion’ argument, included the particulars about his
wife’s admittance to the Royal Park Hospital for the Insane and her
unwillingness to share the marital bed. I eagerly read through the whole case,
wishing that there would be an argument from the wife in her defence. Alas,
there was not and one can only assume her side of the story.
The research is still underway, and with all other
genealogical research, it will never be completed (currently finding ancestors
in Switzerland and France). I am sure, like most families, there are plenty
more skeletons in the closet.
Thanks to the invaluable records
available through PROV, and in particular their digitised records (divorce
causes book, wills up until 1925) and their newly digitised wills and probate index, I have been able to begin to flesh out what looks to be an intriguing
record of a family.
Phoebe
