Stephen Tamo's brother, Pietro TAMO

Pietro Tamo and Alice Kendall in Daylesford, Victoria in the 1870's.

I've written a little about Stephen Tamo and his wife Ellen Tamo nee Clarke.  Ellen is the sister of my great great grandfather Patrick Clarke (1866-1902).

The reason we are so interested in Ellen Clarke is that we have no death records or burial records. She just disappears sometime between 1892 and 1895 as far as all the researchers in our family are concerned.  (Serendipitously, Patrick's wife, Louisa Salter, also has a sister called Ellen who also disappears. I spend a lot of time searching for Ellens and Nellies and Nells and Helens.)

In an effort to discover Ellen's burial under her married name Tamo, I started investigating Trove, the digitised newspaper section of the National Library of Australia.  What came up was a wealth of newspaper articles under the name Tamo, but for Stephen's brother's family.

Stephen and Pietro Tamo were born in Switzerland in the late 1830's.  After emigrating, Stephen settled in Geelong and Pietro settled in Daylesford, Victoria, and I gather (but I could be wrong) that Pietro was fairly affluent and had something to do with the mines there in 1869.  More of that to be researched.  He also married in 1869, to Alice Kendall, an Englishwoman.

They had 7 children together.  I could list all their children, but it is easier if you just read the death notice I found for Alice that summarises the children and their lives. It appeared in The Argus on 18 July, 1927 in the Family Notices section as below:

Although Alice lived to a ripe old age, unfortunately her husband Pietro did not.  He died in Daylesford in 1880, 47 years before her, at the age of 43. Although I can't find anything (so far) in the newspaper to mark Pietro's passing, I did find a photo of a memorial to him erected recently by his great grandsons. What a lovely tribute to him. We could all wish for as much.

Historically yours,
Valerius Copernicus

Article identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3867338

Page identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page455684

Ancestors in the Newspaper - digitised newspaper search in Trove

Ancestors in the newspaper

It is amazing to me how often our ancestors appear in the newspaper.  A simple search can give you so many little gems of information.

The greatest trouble with the search for me though is sifting through all the false positives for my ancestor's name.

For example, my ancestor's surname is SALTER.  When you search through Trove's digitised newspaper collection using the word Salter, you get all sorts of hits.  These are the examples I have found for Salter:

• Other families with the name Salter
• Salt cellars being listed as wedding gifts
• Gold mining claims being "salted"
• A member of the local constabulary named "Salt"
• Salt mining
• Government officials misspellings eg. "Sault"
• The digitisation process misreading words due to the age and deterioration of the newspaper being scanned. 

For the name ARMSTRONG,  there are other issues:

• The sheer quantity of people whose name is Armstrong
• Different unrelated groups of families called Armstrong living in the same area.
• Local Armstrong families using the same first names for their children of similar ages
• Judges, MP's, JP's, Police and defendants all with the name Armstrong 

Each surname that you search has its own set of challenges.  If you are lucky enough to have a surname that is unusual, you need to be lucky that people have spelled the name correctly in their documentation, and the newspaper is a clear copy so the digitisation process works well, as it mostly does.  If your surname is common, you will need to use filters to narrow your search from the tens of thousands the name search will find for you.  The filters in the digitised newspaper section include:

• the State the newspaper was printed in
• the decade and year it was printed in
• the name of the newspaper
• the Category of newspaper item you are looking for broken into subheadings:
• Advertising
• Articles
• Detailed Lists, Results and Guides
• Family Notices
• whether the item is Illustrated
• Word count

Using the filters will narrow the search surprisingly quickly down to a manageable size.  Once you have those results, you  can use the Sort function drop down box to sort the results by relevance (the articles considered to be most relevant to your search), or date (earliest to latest or vice versa.)

You can also utilise the Lists and Tags functions to find if other people have collated items for that name already.  Look for the tabs at the top of the Digitised Newspapers section.

As always, the more you know, the better your results. But it's always worth taking a punt.

Historically yours,

Valerius Copernicus

Unclaimed letters in Adelaide, South Australia in 1853

Adelaide newspaper article in 1853

Janet Salter's name in a list for Unclaimed Letters
 in Adelaide in 1853.

Just for a change, I searched Trove for an ancestor, this time Janet Salter.

Janet was a Scottish woman who came to Adelaide with her husband, arriving in 1839. South Australia was a fledgling state at that point, and I've read stories of how people had to wade through swampland with their possessions on their backs once they reached Adelaide.  Colonial times sure were a hoot.  Anyway, Janet buried two husbands in Adelaide poor thing, and married a third, called James Salter, in August 1851.  Hope springs eternal.

Around this same time, gold was discovered in the Forest Creek area of Victoria (that is around Castlemaine).  James and Janet Salter must have decided to try their luck in that area, and were settled in Chewton by 1855.  They must have travelled overland as there are no records I can find of them sailing. The journey wouldn't have been much shorter anyway from any Victorian port out to the goldfields.  To sail would have been expensive and I seriously doubt whether they could have afforded to sail. I shudder to think what travelling from Adelaide to Chewton overland would have been like with children in tow. I imagine wooden wagons and bullocks, not many possessions and lots of walking, but I don't know for sure.

So the two definite dates we have for James and Janet are:  August 1851 in Adelaide when they married AND August 1855 in Chewton.  So they travelled some time during that four year period.

Trawling through Trove yesterday, I discovered an unclaimed letter for Mrs. Janet Salter, published in two different South Australian newspapers for a total of 5 times.  Although there are Salters in Adelaide at this time, there are no other Janet Salters, so I know it is her letter. The notices appeared in these newspapers:

• 7 May 1853 - Adelaide Observer
• same day - South Australian Register
• 14 January 1854 - Adelaide Observer
• 16 January 1854 - South Australian Register
• 20  February 1854 - South Australian Register

So, with these dates in mind, if Janet did not collect her letter in May 1853, she had likely already left Adelaide by that date.

We have narrowed the date of their leaving Adelaide down to less than 2 years now, between August 1851 when they married in Adelaide and May 1853. Of course, nothing is set in stone with genealogy.

The next question is, who wrote to her and how did they know she was by then Mrs. Salter?

Historically yours,
Valerius Copernicus

If anyone out there knows of a book or any further information as to how people travelled from Adelaide to Victoria in the early 1850s,  please let me know.

Trove Citation:

23 South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900) 3 1853 7 May 1853 Adelaide, SA http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38463379 22 August 2015

 https://www.facebook.com/Amazingmazy 

Perches, metres and feet - James Salter's land in Chewton in 1860

I love TROVE so much!

Today I got emailed by them telling me a certain article I was interested in was available.

The article appeared in the Mount Alexander Mail on Friday 3 August 1860. The heading is 'Title Deeds' and  tells a list of people for whom Title Deeds await at the Receipt and Pay Office at Castlemaine.

Included in the list is James Salter, my 4x great grandmother's third husband.  Beside his name is listed where he bought the land, Chewton, and numbers and letters.  In James' case it is 35p.  For half a second I thought it was the price, but then 35 pence was too cheap for land even in those days.  Besides I knew he paid 15 pounds for his land.

So what does 35p mean? Looking at other names on the list, I saw others had numbers with the letter 'r' or a combination of 'r' and 'p'.  Finally I realised it stood for rods and perches, old fashioned units of measurement.

So James' block of land in Chewton is 35 perches. Apparently that is the equivalent of 885 square metres or 9500 square feet. I hope that means something to you because it means nothing to me.  I was born without a measurement gene apparently; never have been able to judge distance or size of things. My husband tells me it's about twice the size of our house, but that won't help you.

https://www.facebook.com/AmazingmazyWhen we went to Chewton earlier this year, we visited James and Janet's block briefly driving past it.  It is close to the town centre, not far from the Post Office. I could easily see the back fence quite close to the road, so it is not a huge block.  They built a bark hut on the property and Janet lived in that hut from 1860 when they bought the land until 1887 when she died.

 I imagine that James promised Janet that she and her children would never have to move again, and they would all put down roots in Chewton.  And he did that for her.

South Australia 1839 - Governor George Gawler

His Excellency Governor George Gawler,
Governor of South Australia in 1839.
State Library of South Australia, SLSA, B14428

Hi everyone,

You know of course from yesterday's blog that my 4x Great Grandmother Janet Slone nee Row and her first husband Robert Slone arrived at Port Adelaide, South Australia in March 1839 on the Katherine Stewart Forbes.

Also on board was Charles Cooper, who was to become the first Chief Justice of the Province.

An article by the South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register newspaper printed on 6 April 1839, just days after their arrival, tells of a welcoming speech given by His Excellency the Governor George Gawler to Charles Cooper.

It is clear from the article that both men have used this opportunity to make statements of their agendas.

Firstly, Gawler welcomes Cooper, stating that he has received the orders from her Majesty, Queen Victoria to make Charles Cooper a permanent Judge of South Australia.  Gawler sees this permanent position with 'satisfaction' and as giving rise to stability within the Colony. This stability is 'of the utmost importance to our prosperity.'  I'm getting the feeling that George has some warring parties on his hands somewhere.

George then says that Charles Cooper shouldn't have too much to do on the criminal side of things, and waxes lyrical about how the working classes of the whole British Empire are all things wonderful but especially law abiding. Er, George, where did the convicts come from in the first place?  One gets the feeling he is trying to make it so by saying so here because his next statement  was that the Gaol was full, but it was only a little Gaol.

Prophetically, Gawler speaks to our family in the next paragraph, and I'll let you read it for yourself.  He says that most prisoners in the Gaol were:

     'runaway sailors or escaped convicts from other colonies; with such as these there will, no doubt, be something to do.  An efficient police must be maintained, and the arm of justice firmly extended to repress their irregularities.'

Well, Janet Slone's next husband, and my 4x great grandfather John Armstrong,  is an African born sailor, who we think gets done for theft of four chickens, and ended up doing hard labour in that Gaol a few years after this speech.

Next, Gawler talks about a propensity for 'frivolous and vexatious litigation' within the colony which he hopes is replaced by conciliation and arbitration.  He hopes that Mr. Cooper will not have to deal with too many of these civil cases.

Cooper himself responds now, thanking the Governor for the cordial reception, and said that 'everything had been done to make him forget that he was a stranger in a strange land.'  I wonder if Granny felt the same way.  Cooper then went to some effort to emphasise that, by necessity, his position required him to be apolitical.

Then he commented on a situation of which I have no knowledge, but Mr. Cooper states that he has read something in the newspapers that is 'so unjust to the Governor' and 'so injurious to the happy progress of the colony.' What is Charles Cooper talking about?

Another mystery to solve.

https://www.facebook.com/AmazingmazyHistorically yours,
Valerius Copernicus

Image of Governor Gawler supplied courtesy of State Library of South Australia, SLSA. B14428.
Newspaper articles found in Trove reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Australia.
Citation for Trove article:

Article identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31750510

Page identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page2052662

APA citation

APPOINTMENT AND INSTALLATION OF HIS HONOR THE JUDGE. (1839, April 6). South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register (Adelaide, SA : 1836 - 1839), p. 3. Retrieved April 22, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31750510

MLA citation

"APPOINTMENT AND INSTALLATION OF HIS HONOR THE JUDGE." South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register(Adelaide, SA : 1836 - 1839) 6 Apr 1839: 3. Web. 22 Apr 2015 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31750510>.

Harvard/Australian citation

1839 'APPOINTMENT AND INSTALLATION OF HIS HONOR THE JUDGE.', South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register(Adelaide, SA : 1836 - 1839), 6 April, p. 3, viewed 22 April, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31750510

Wikipedia citation

{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31750510 |title=APPOINTMENT AND INSTALLATION OF HIS HONOR THE JUDGE. |newspaper=[[South_Australian_Register|South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register (Adelaide, SA : 1836 - 1839)]] |location=Adelaide, SA |date=6 April 1839 |accessdate=22 April 2015 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

   

The 'Katherine Stewart Forbes' arrived March 1839 in Port Adelaide, South Australia

Sir Charles Cooper, first Chief Justice of South Australia 

Hi Everyone,

I can't imagine what my Great-Great-Great-Great Grandmother Janet Slone nee Row thought when she left her home in Scotland and boarded the sailing ship Katherine Stewart Forbes in Plymouth in October 1838.

The Katherine Stewart Forbes was a three mast ship built in 1818.  She was only 117 feet long and not quite 30 ft wide.  (35.6m x 9m)  The ship had previously conveyed settlers to New Zealand,  transported convicts in 1830 and 1832, and had also made a previous trip to Port Adelaide in 1837.

We also know that the ship called at Capetown in Africa, for an extended period of time.

On board this particular journey with my 4x great grandmother was one Charles Cooper Esq., soon to be sworn in as Chief Justice for the Province, the bewhiskered man in the photograph.

The South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register reported that Charles Cooper arrived in excellent health 'notwithstanding a long and rather tempestuous passage.'

Also on board the Katherine Stewart Forbes were many goods including but not limited to 3 wheelbarrows, 4 carts, 16 wheels, 2 pigs' heads, 6 oars, anvil, 6 puncheons bottled beer, 6 bedsteads, and one iron bedstead, 21 barrels pork, 19 tierces beef and a piano.  Does anyone know what a tierce is?

All this amazing information was printed in the newspaper at the time, when the ship arrived in March 1839. It was a long trip even for those days,

I've made a list in TROVE called 'Katherine Stewart Forbes 1839' so you can find the digitised newspaper articles, including the list of goods article, plus articles that mention Charles Cooper.  Should you want to know more about Sir Charles' life, please refer to the Australian Dictionary of Biography.  I have provided the link below.
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cooper-sir-charles-1918

Historically yours,
Valerius Copernicus

Newspaper articles found in Trove reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Australia.
Image used courtesy of the State Library of South Australia  - B440

Citation details

'Cooper, Sir Charles (1795–1887)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cooper-sir-charles-1918/text2253, published first in hardcopy 1966, accessed online 21 April 2015.

This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, (MUP), 1966

https://www.facebook.com/Amazingmazy

Treasure TROVE Part 2

Hi Everyone!

This blog is a continuation of the previous Treasure TROVE blog.  We are continuing to explore how to access the digitised newspapers portion of the TROVE website, which is the collection of the National Library of Australia. (http://trove.nla.gov.au)

Today we will look at what Trove can and can't do to find articles about your ancestor.

Now first note, this is very important.  Not everyone is going to find articles about their particular ancestor. There are many reasons for this.

1.  Obviously, not all newspapers have been digitised yet. At this stage in society's development towards digitisation of documents, we just haven't yet been able to scan or transcribe all the paper in the world into files that we can use on our computer.  Much has been achieved but it is a massive undertaking when you think about it. There is lots yet to be done. That is exciting in a way though, because as volunteers go through the backlog of documents, new documents appear regularly.  I will write more about how we can all assist in getting documents into the public arena in a later blog.

2. Trove does not cover all newspapers.  Trove is a massive resource, but there are still some newspapers that it does not cover.  For example I know that Trove has some of the Geelong Advertiser for early decades, but for more recent years you need to go to the Geelong Heritage Centre.

3.  Trove does not cover all eras.  Sometimes, even if the newspaper is listed in Trove, there are gaps in the years they actually have digitised. With the centenary of  Gallipoli upon us, a lot of organisations have pushed to have those war years readily available to the public. Suffice to say there can be gaps in various eras, and you can check that out.

4. Maybe your ancestor did nothing noteworthy.  No crime, no massive charitable works, no massive society parties, no going to war, no letters to the Editor.   Think about what would make your ancestor newsworthy from the point of view of a newspaper in THEIR era.  Most people would be"un-newsworthy", people living law-abiding lives and raising children quietly in their community.

5. Nothing in the Family Notices section?  Maybe the family was too poor to put notices in the the family notices section when a birth, death or marriage happened.

These are all reasons why your ancestor may NOT be in the newspaper.  I know my great grandmother Nellie Clarke personally really hated the idea of being in the newspaper, as newspaper was used for toilet paper in those days. People would cut the newspaper into squares, thread a large bodkin with string, and pierce the corner of the squares so the paper hung off the string like a huge paper keyring.  Then the whole lot would be hung off a nail in the toilet.  I remember that for myself and I'm only in my early 50's, so it's not that long ago.

Seems really funny now though.

Your search in Trove may come up a blank.  Keep patient, and search again later to see if any documents have been newly digitised.

But if  your search in Trove does find some reference to your ancestor - wow! - it is just like striking gold.  And I guess that is why they call it TROVE.

Historically yours,
Valerius Copernicus

Treasure TROVE

Hi Everyone,

One of my favourite online resources to use in my research is TROVE, a collection of information by the National Library of Australia. (trove.nla.gov.au)

If you search Trove, you will find an amazing resource, the envy of other countries. Of course you can search for books as you would expect from a library website. But you can also find maps, photographs, journals, archived websites, diaries, letters, music, people and organisations and lists. Access is free.  So if I do a search for my ancestor and type Dixon in the Trove search bar, I get over a million different resources where Dixon is mentioned, broken into 10 broad categories.

One category of Trove that I use mostly for family tree research is the Digitised Newspaper section.

This is where newspapers from all over Australia are scanned into an electronic format  We get to keep a photograph type image thus preserving the document image forever and allowing you and me to access it electronically at any stage. Digitisation of our newspapers is a wonderful thing. I've been told many times by overseas researchers how lucky I am to have Trove as a primary resource.

 For example, if I wish to search for my family of  Dixon in a newspaper, I find a box with a pale grey heading with the category of  "Digitised Newspapers and more".  In this category I got 849,126 results for Dixon. Click on "view all 849,126 results" which is a hyperlink and will take you a new page showing only the Digitised Newspaper results. (Not the music or books or the other results, just the newspapers. - trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper)

Now your results will show various newspaper article headings each with a fragment of the article below, showing the word Dixon within it.

The newspaper article headings are also hyperlinks, and if you click on them, they will take you to a new page showing that actual article you are interested in.

But I am not going to search 849,126 Dixons mentioned in the newspapers of Australia. This is where your detective skills come in, by refining your search and all our other tricks.

If you do find an article you are looking for, you can save a photograph like copy of it (called a pdf file) onto your computer or USB.   This is all for free, you  understand. You also have the option of printing a copy from your own printer directly from the website.

Tomorrow I will explain the other part of the newspaper digitisation process, and how it can help our research. I will write in detail about refining results soon too.

Trove is well worth a look.  Have fun and play. You will be astounded by what you find.

Historically yours,
Valerius Copernicus