Breamlea, Victoria

Breamlea, Victoria

Tuesday 19 January 2016

Cobram and the Man with Two Names Part Two

Me at the gates of Cobram cemetery - January 2016.

Cobram and the man with two names

While searching for the siblings of my gg grandmother Louisa Clarke, I finally lucked onto the burial of her brother JOHN in Cobram, Victoria in 1931. 

I have had some success in finding Louisa's brother Robert and his descendants who moved to Queensland from Victoria. As the eldest of five children, Robert must have been a father-figure for his younger siblings. I have found Robert mentioned as parent a few times, including on Louisa's marriage certificate.

The youngest of the five siblings, JOHN was born in Chewton, Victoria in 1875.  John's birth details list Elizabeth Armstrong as his mother. John was named after his maternal grandfather, who is the John Armstrong I wrote about in my recent blog; the black African man who came to Adelaide in the late 1840's. 

During their lifetimes, all of the siblings of this family changed their surnames to some form of either Armstrong or Salter (both being their mother Elizabeth's maiden names.  Armstrong is her birth name and Salter is her step-father's name. Elizabeth used the surname Salter primarily until the day she died.)
 
John's death details lists his mother as Elizabeth Salter (still correctly) and his father as Robert Armstrong (actually his brother who moved to Queensland.) John's age is listed as 54 but he would have been nearer 56. The Death Place was Cobram in 1931. The name as shown is JOHN ARMSTRONG.

Cobram Cemetery gates
JOHN's burial in 1931 at Cobram Cemetery was under two names, John Armstrong and George Saulter. Both names are listed under the same burial registration. Until we found this burial record we had no idea that John also used the name George Salter. 

Unfortunately there is no record of exactly where JOHN aka George is buried within the Cobram Cemetery. The plot is unknown, the section is unknown and there is no headstone.

This is all the information I have for John.  He was born in Chewton and died and was buried in Cobram.  What happened in between? 

Somewhere around here, John Armstrong aka George Salter is buried.


Cobram Cemetery.




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