Breaking Brick Walls - Finding Dennis Clarke's real birth certificate

 Hi Guys!

            It has been a couple of years since I posted on my blog, but things have been so exciting that I had to let everyone know.  Our family brick wall has tumbled down. I found DENNIS CLARKE's birth certificate!

            Dennis Clarke had 10 children, and therefore has many descendants, and we of the Clarke family have been bugged by not being able to find his birth certificate for many years now. The Clarke  parents were JOHN CLARKE and MARY McNAMARA.

            My search for answers started in about 2014. I was intrigued when I searched Trove and found a notice in the Geelong Advertiser in the Missing Friends column from a John Clarke to a James Edmonds, saying :

                                        "JAMES EDMONDS, of Bellerine, is earnestly requested to return and take charge of his two children, as the undersigned is not in a position to maintain them any longer. If he does not do so, they will be handed over to the authorities.  JOHN CLARKE  April 28th 1859."

            I wondered if this was my John Clarke, and so I researched as widely as I could at the time, but due to multiple JOHN CLARKEs and JAMES EDMONDS in Geelong, I abandoned the search. 

            Then in 2016, another family historian Lynette emailed me, telling me a family story that I did not know.  Apparently Dennis Clarke had spent time in an orphanage, along with another boy. There were two. This didn't seem to make sense. Again I chased the Edmonds angle. I researched for hours and couldn't pin anything down.

            In 2017 I contacted someone on Ancestry at that time who I thought was likely to be another Edmonds descendant. Again my research was stymied by the commonality of the name James Edmonds. I resolved that I needed clarifying information, something I could pin down as definite. Occasionally over the years, I looked again and found nothing.

            That brings me to a month ago. With the virus shutting me down and leaving me bored, I decided to revisit Trove and search the Edmonds angle another time. Bingo! I found a similar notice to John Clarke's in the Geelong Advertiser in the Missing friends column later that same year. This time it was to James EDMUNDS (different spelling) from his wife:

                                    "JAMES EDMUNDS.- You are earnestly requested to communicate with your wife, who has returned home quite well."

            The new and more accurate spelling gave me something to go on. From that I found a James Edmunds marrying a MARY HILLARY. Mary was from Co. Clare in Ireland, which is also where Mary McNamara hailed from. I found the couple had three children at Indented Head near Geelong:

• Thomas EDMUNDS b. 1856 d. 1857 - 5 months old.
• John EDMUNDS  b. 5th August 1857
• James EDMUNDS Jnr. b. 1858.

              This means that when John and Mary Clarke put the notice in the Geelong Advertiser in 1859, John was 2 1/2 years old and James was about one. Their own daughter was only 14 months old, so they had three under three.

         

                 Sadly, I discovered that James Jnr. died in St. Augustine's Orphanage in Geelong in 1865, aged only 7 years old. So two of the Edmunds children had died, which left JOHN EDMUNDS as the potential Dennis Clarke. I contacted Mac Killop Family Services and they responded the next day by phone. Their brief look at their records confirmed the two Edmunds boys, staying multiple times at St. Augustine's. But I would have to wait my turn to get details and copies of the documents. 

                Weeks dragged by and I filled my time by researching more about the Edmunds family. I found that Mary Edmunds had a warrant out for James for abandoning her and the children.  Mary obviously had a breakdown after the death of her baby only 5 months old and being abandoned by her husband.  She struggled with mental illness which seemed to spiral increasingly. She had been in and out of care. It explained her "returned home quite well" notice.  Eventually I found her records in PROV - she had been taken to Yarra Bend Asylum, spent 30 years there, and died there in 1900, aged 73. I've found no further trace of James Edmunds Snr.

           Yesterday, McKillop Family Services contacted me back, and sent me their records of the two boys. Unfortunately the admittance papers have been lost in time, but their registry records remain. Only two weeks after his brother James' death in 1865, JOHN EDMUNDS was discharged. The terse registry entry only says "Returned to his friends."

            Indeed, John and Mary Clarke were his friends.  John Edmunds became an integral part of the Clarke family. As the Clarkes already had a son called John Clarke, John Edmunds changed his name to Dennis, who was his biological maternal grandfather's name. I think this is a story of love. Dennis embraces John and Mary as his parents absolutely, and they in turn embrace him.  Dennis was a pillar of the Terang community where he settled as DENNIS CLARKE, and he achieved innumerable good deeds for his community.

            So now all the Clarke family historians need to adjust their records. Dennis Clarke, birth name John EDMUNDS, born 5th August 1857 at Indented Head, Victoria. Father: James EDMUNDS. Mother: Mary HILLARY (or HILLERY).  Adoptive Parents: John and Mary Clarke. Lots of work to do now!

1857 - James Edmunds' signature from John Edmunds/Dennis Clarke's birth certificate.

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James Ward Clarke b. 1884 d. 1884

James Ward Clark b. 1884 d. 1884

I was poking through the Geelong Eastern Cemetery records recently looking for burial records of the Tamo clan. I found a grave with four people in it.  One person was Stephen Tamo's first wife Agnes, buried with their baby daughter Agnes Smail Tamo. Elizabeth, Stephen Tamo and Ellen Clarke's infant daughter makes three. And also buried in this grave was a James Ward Clarke.

Never having heard of James Ward Clarke before, I set about researching.  He was buried on 13 June 1884, at the Geelong Eastern Cemetery. I found his birth details in the index.  Year: 1884, the same year he died.  So James Ward Clarke was an infant.  Mother's name: Johanna Clarke.

Johanna Clarke is Ellen Clarke's sister.

Father's name: unknown

So Johanna refused to name the baby's daddy but with such a specific name as James Ward Clarke I figured there was a strong likelihood that the daddy's name was James Ward.  Was there a James Ward in Geelong at that time?

There certainly was.

Now I must preface all this research about James Ward with the disclaimer that the only basis I have for searching him is the baby's name.  There's no real proof.  But here is what I have found out:

James Ward was born in Geelong in 1863 (Johanna was born in 1864.)  His father was Michael Ward and his mother was Ann Holt. This made James 21 years old and Johanna 20 years old when baby James Ward Clarke was born and died in 1884.

My search turned to Trove and the Geelong Advertiser, in 1884, the year the baby died.  I didn't find the baby's death notice.  What I found was that James' father Michael Ward had died in December of that year.  What a tragic year that would have been for James!  His son James Ward Clarke died in June 1884, and his father Michael Ward died six months later in December 1884.

Next I searched the death index for James Ward, and was surprised to find that he died  on 1 October 1887, just three years later.  He was only 25 years old.  I wondered why such a young man died, and in what circumstances. I went back to Trove and found James Ward's death notice in the Geelong Advertiser.

I also wondered what Johanna had been doing at that time.  I found out...Johanna had married Edward William Kellaway on 11 June 1887.  So James Ward had died only three months after her marriage to somebody else.

I go back to the Geelong Eastern Cemetery once more and find the burial of James and his father Michael and his mother Ann all in the same Roman Catholic grave.  Ann had died only two years after her son.

Next step - go to PROV and see if there was an inquest into James Ward's death.  Any other suggestions or comments from readers gratefully received.

Historically yours,
Valerius Copernicus.

Thanks to Tania Shalders for providing the Kellaway marriage date information.
Citation for James Ward death notice: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article150733764
Citation for Michael Ward death notice: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article150164927

Ellen Tamo nee Clarke

Firstly, let me thank all those people who have expressed their love and concern for me whilst I have been so sick with pneumonia for the last two weeks. While I've been stuck in bed, I've tried to do a little more investigating.  So here's what I found out....

My great great aunt Ellen Clarke married Stephen TAMO in 1876 and lived in Malop Street, Geelong.

A court case was reported in the Geelong Advertiser in October 1885.  The article was called "Life in Malop Street East."

Three women who also resided in Malop St. east were the defendants.  One of them was called Mrs. Jessie McDonald who was charged with being the "occupier of a house frequented by idle and disorderly persons, having no lawful visible means of support."  In 1885 terms, running a brothel.

A couple of local constables had been given the duty of observing the house, and gave evidence. Constable Croucher deposed that he had seen quite a few men get admitted to the house, and named many of the men's names.  He had visited the house sometimes in the company of Constable Overend, and even had a glass of beer there. Mr. Toohey the prosecutor mentions that " it is usual for constables when going into these kind of houses to be asked to shout."  Mr. Dwyer responds incredulously "At two shillings a bottle?"  Constable Croucher says "The woman asked me to shout beer."  Constable Croucher also mentions in his evidence that he knows the neighbours around the house (including my TAMO relatives) and a Mrs. Miller, who seems to be the main complainant.

There seems to be a lot of different accusations flying around, including that the constabulary got drunk and did some name calling.  All the men who were named were incredibly surprised to find out that the house was, in fact, a brothel.  Not one of them had gone for an improper purpose.  Some had just gone to find others and happened to be there.

One of the men named was interesting to me.  His name was Henry Martini, and one of the girls goes into the bedroom with him and calls out, referring to him as Jack. A Jack Martini was well known to our family, but I don't know if this man is the same Jack Martini. Anyway, Martini deposed that the police were lying and he didn't know that the defendant's house was a bad place.

Mr. Pardey J.P. states that he "cannot see any reason why such a large number of respectable young men should have been brought here and accused of being idle and disorderly persons.  They have been ruthlessly and unmercifully brought to the court to try and prove a case for the police."

The bench decides that the case has not been proven that the people who frequented the house were not idle and disorderly. The court then turns its attention to Mrs. McDonald.

Constable Croucher swears that he had a conversation with Jessie McDonald, telling him that she was making a good living with the other two girls.

Mrs. Miller, the main complainant, was blind and lived with her daughter near the McDonald house, and had often been woken by drunken men banging on her door asking for Jessie.  Mrs. Miller said: "Mrs. Tamo lives near me; she is a respectable person."

Stephen Tamo deposed: "that he resided close to the defendant's house for eleven years.  He had no reason to complain of the conduct of Mrs. McDonald.  He had a family, among whom were daughters.  To Mr. Toohey - He had seen a man and woman sitting in the house when he went there to complain of some fowls having been poisoned.  He had never heard any rows in the defendant's house.  He did not know if the house was a brothel.  The defendant, he believed, was the wife of Jimmy Whitely.  He knew Whitely for six or seven years.  He had frequently seen him in Geelong.  He had signed a petition stating that he did not consider the defendant's house a nuisance."

James Whitely then deposed that he was a butcher and married to Jessie, supported his wife and had a house for her.  There seems to be more to the story though. "To Mr. Toohey - I have been working at Allen's for five weeks.  I reside at Tamo's.  I was married to the defendant by Mr. Couves this morning.  In the presence of Mr. Tamo and the girl Giles [one of the other defendants]. I slept at the defendant's house last night.  I do not know what is being done in the house, but I have been supporting the defendant."

Confusingly, the court rules that despite it's previous decision that no disorderly conduct was proven and the people were not idle and disorderly, Mrs. Jessie McDonald is guilty of being the occupier of such a house.

The court is immediately notified that the case would be appealed.

This isn't the end of the story however, Less than two weeks later, Ellen Tamo would take proceedings against Jessie McDonald for using insulting words in a public place.  More on that in the next article.

Historically yours,
Valerius Copernicus



Trove Citations
Article identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149010890
Page identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page17553557
APA citation
LIFE IN MALOP-STREET EAST. (1885, October 13). Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1926), p. 4. Retrieved October 24, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149010890
MLA citation
"LIFE IN MALOP-STREET EAST." Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1926) 13 Oct 1885: 4. Web. 24 Oct 2015 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149010890>.
Harvard/Australian citation
1885 'LIFE IN MALOP-STREET EAST.', Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1926), 13 October, p. 4, viewed 24 October, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149010890
Wikipedia citation

{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149010890 |title=LIFE IN MALOP-STREET EAST. |newspaper=[[Geelong Advertiser |Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1926)]] |location=Vic. |date=13 October 1885 |accessdate=24 October 2015 |page=4 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

I'm telling the truth from a certain point of view

Why do people lie on marriage certificates?

Patrick and Louisa were my great great grandparents.  When they got married in the Geelong Registry Office in 1886, the details supplied to the Registrar were almost a complete work of fiction on the Bride's part.

First, Louisa's surname SALTER is not the name she was born with, but a name she used instead of her birth surname.  None of the family ever used their father's surname. Why this happened at all is my reason for doing genealogy...I just don't know.

Next, her age.  She declares she is 21 but by my calculations she is only 18. Louisa's whole family always puts their age up by a couple of years- why? This happens consistently with this family, it is a consistent thing that they all play fast and loose with their birth years. Do they all know they are out by two years?

 Her husband Patrick was only 20 years old (which is true) and needed written consent of "the Guardian of the Bridegroom." Unfortunately it doesn't say who that was. It may have been his elder sister Ellen and her husband who witnessed the union.

(Louisa is three months' pregnant with their daughter, whom they will call Ellen.  Both Patrick and Louisa each have a sister named Ellen and a brother named John.)

Then Louisa states her parents' names.  Her mother is put as Elizabeth Salter which is kind of true. But Louisa's father's name is a complete fabrication.  She submits the name Robert Salter.  Robert was her eldest brother's name, and he didn't use the name Salter.

What are they trying to avoid?
What was so shameful about their father that they reject him wholesale?
I will find out if it kills me.

Historically yours,
Valerius Copernicus
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