Elizabeth gives me a headache

The Trouble with Elizabeth Cumis nee Armstrong

Elizabeth's stays at Castlemaine Hospital for the years 1891 to 1896
highlighted in pink. The circle on 31 May 1896 shows when she died.

My ancestor Elizabeth gives me a headache.

She has so many spellings to her names, I've had to write a list so I remember them all. 

Elizabeth was born in Adelaide in 1842 with the surname ARMSTRONG.  That's all fine. Not many people spell Armstrong wrong.

  

Then her mother remarried in 1851 so she adopted her step-father's surname SALTER. That's fine as well, but I have found the name spelled SAULTER.

Then in 1864 she got married to Sims CUMIS, an african man. They were both illiterate, so we find as many spellings of their surname as there are bureaucrats that filled out their paperwork.

Since joining the Genealogical Society of Victoria (GSV),  I had searched CUMIS and CUMMIS in their Library.  I had found a couple of entries of Elizabeth being hospitalised at Castlemaine Mt. Alexander Hospital in the early 1890's. 

Yesterday I searched the name "Elizabeth" in conjunction with the place "Chewton", and Bingo! Eight new hospital records popped up under another spelling, COMAS.  I took a punt at another spelling, COMMAS.  Bingo! again another five hospital records. It was great.

So now we know our poor Elizabeth was in hospital for a total of 18 times over a period of six years. The names she was registered under were Elizabeth, Lizzie, Lizzy and Eliza.  Her surnames were the ones I've mentioned plus one under the name Salter.  Not to mention the couple of entries where there has been a transcription error and she is CUMINS and CUMMINS.

These are the trials of every family historian.

Searching for the Cumes line outside of Chewton Victoria

Hi everyone,
The Chewton side of the family tree are hard at work trying to find any link to CUMES ancestors.

My great great grandmother Louisa got married under the name SALTER to her husband Patrick CLARKE.

Now Louisa Salter was not her birth name.  Louisa CUMMIS was her birth name.  I have written in another blog about the many many ways their name has been spelt in various documents.

All of Louisa's brothers and sisters changed their birth names from Cummis to either Salter or Armstrong.  Louisa's mother's birth name was Elizabeth ARMSTRONG, but she used her stepfather's surname SALTER until the day she died, even after she married.

Today I searched Cummis again in Ancestry and found something different. I found a death record for one Laura Elizabeth Cumes who died in 1962 in Castlemaine, Casterton.  Chewton is practically a suburb of Castlemaine.  Laura's birth surname was Cahill.

To the marriage records I go.  I found Laura Elizabeth Cahill marrying one Albert Bede CUMES in Marrickville, NSW in 1944.

Off to find Albert's birth records.  Albert B Cumes was born in 1885 to Henry and Mary Ann in Moruya NSW.  Albert B is also listed as the father of Albert R Cumes born 1910 in Moruya NSW.  Mother for Albert R is listed as Helena W.

So back to marriage records for Albert B looking for wedding with Helena W. I find him marrying her in 1909 in Sydney. Her name is listed as Helena Latta, but close enough to keep working I figure.

So to see if I can get this potential ancestor sorted in my head and stop my eyes rolling around counter clockwise.

1. Henry Cumes and Mary Ann gave birth to Albert Bede Cumes in 1885 in Moruya NSW.
2. Albert Bede Cumes married Helena Latta aka Helena W in 1909 in Sydney NSW.
3. Helena gave birth to their son Albert R. Cumes in 1910 in Moruya NSW.
4. Did Helena die?
5. Albert Bede Cumes remarried to Laura Elizabeth Cahill in 1944 in Marrickville NSW.
6. Laura Elizabeth Cumes nee Cahill dies in Castlemaine, Casterton.

Ok so follow my logic.
a. Gotta find Helena's death certificate or a divorce.
b. Where and when did Albert Bede Cumes die?
c. Why did Laura Elizabeth Cumes nee Cahill move from NSW to Castlemaine, VIC?

All this work and we don't even know if the families are related.
Historically yours,
Valerius Copernicus

Chewton, Victoria, Australia. gold-mining town

Recently I went to Chewton in Victoria to visit the town where a branch of my family lived in the mid 1800's.

Chewton is a gorgeous little gold-mining town located close to the outskirts of Castlemaine. It doesn't take too much imagination to see how it was for my great, great, great, great grandmother Janet in raising her children there.  The tiny white-washed law court. A 20 foot square hot box that is optimistically called a "gaol" which sports narrow louvres near the roof line in lieu of windows. It would have been pitch black and oven like especially during the heat of the day.  A grandiose church complete with flying buttresses.  And in those days, many, many pubs.

This whole area was called  Forest Creek.  Gold was discovered there in the mid 1800's and my family settled there very shortly afterwards, in search of work.   I can't imagine how the Scottish born Janet felt coming over from Adelaide to a place completely unknown to her, but it probably seemed like less of a gamble than the one she had already taken in coming to Australia.  Janet  had already buried two husbands and had just married her third when gold was discovered in the Forest Creek area. Her third husband James was a labourer, not a miner, although Janet's son-in-law tried his hand at mining.

Janet's husband bought property in the first big land release in 1860 in Chewton, and the property was valued at 15 pounds, land and bark hut included. The rates were five pounds a year. Imagine if your annual land rates were calculated on the basis of a third of your property value!

Janet is buried in Chewton cemetery with her daughter and her baby grandson.  They have no headstone, so sadly, we can only conclude our miner never struck it rich.