Family Trees

My African Heritage seems laughable especially as DD is Fluro white (as white as you can be before Albino). DD is so white that after her annual Flu shot they say she needs to stay seated beyond the 10mins as “she looks so pale”. No looking like a ghost is her natural colour.

On DHs side things became interesting (on piggyback research) as we hit Landed Gentry by 1780 and then started hitting names I recognised from the middle ages history, including Kings and Queens..... and Newton.

This is a fascinating thread.

I would like to know more about my family history. Gdad was adopted out as a baby, his mother took the identity of his father with her into death. Drs had asked him and my mother about their indigenous heritage - but, is that something to look into or racist profiling because of skin colour and health?

Our surname is pretty uncommon, but unfortunately my Gdad on paternal side died the same year as Gma that side (and my mum who seemed to know more than my father about his family), and Gdad's 2nd wife hid his death and apparently took or disposed of everything including the family history he'd been working on.

I'd love to know where to start, and find out where we come from.

It's also worth bearing in mind that spelling of names can also be varied - not just because of anglicising "foreign" names but when few people were literate, Smith / Smythe / Smyth might depend on the clerk writing, strong regional accents introduced variations and Elizabeth may be know as Eliza or Betty or something else, and crop up in different ways in different documents.

Another thought for others is for NSW I defeinley saw basic details on line through BDM website years ago of some relatives, there is a start and finish dates of info available, also I found a document online of one of my relatives war record for WWII from National Archives/Canberra War Memorial site, and somewhere amongst that shipping records from other relatives

all free but to get full details and certificates people would need to pay for

It's also worth bearing in mind that spelling of names can also be varied - not just because of anglicising "foreign" names but when few people were literate, Smith / Smythe / Smyth might depend on the clerk writing, strong regional accents introduced variations and Elizabeth may be know as Eliza or Betty or something else, and crop up in different ways in different documents.

Yeah thanks to misspelling of one name DH and I thought we were blood related for about 20 minutes, thankfully if we were it would have been distantly but I was still grossed out, turned out we weren't anyway

It's also worth bearing in mind that spelling of names can also be varied - not just because of anglicising "foreign" names but when few people were literate, Smith / Smythe / Smyth might depend on the clerk writing, strong regional accents introduced variations and Elizabeth may be know as Eliza or Betty or something else, and crop up in different ways in different documents.

Yes! It appears our surname is made up. There is no translation in the country of origin, it's probably been anglicised, but there's no meaning and it seems to end in a mishmash of letters. And it pops up out of nowhere apparently.

[mention]spr_mdn[/mention] I would not discount unknown heritage for medical issues. I know my grandfather had a medical condition not common in European heritage but very common for the West African area we are descendant from. Unfortunately at the time we did not know the African link.

My Grandfather had the local Aboriginal Legal Aid offering to represent him when he was caught fishing where he shouldn’t have been..... no matter how hard he tried to say he was of European descent (as we knew at the time) they would not believe it and were positive he was part aboriginal. Turns out the Legal Aid may have actually been right.

Oh wow, ok.

I don't know if it's possible to ever find out.

For a few benign and personal reasons, I guess it'd be nice to connect with some history.

There was someone on the original EB who mentioned they were. direct descendants of Anthony Rope and Elizabeth Pulley but I can not remember who this was but would love to find out. My dad has managed to conclude that these are great x 5 grandparents of mine.

This couple had the first baby on Australian soil conceiving on the night the convict men and the women finally were permitted to mix.

I suspect there will be many many descendants of these two, they had 8 children.

efs

I thought James Thomas was the first white child to be born in the colony (?)

Have been doing DP's family tree too - which is quite fascinating on the USA side. His great great grandfather changed the spelling of their name to avoid cattle rustling charges in the southern USA wild states.

We have DP's grandfather's sheriff badge - he was sheriff in the same area and time as Billy the Kid.

I can't wait to do a DNA test to find out much more.

(I have ancestry.com if anyone wants a search done for info. Only the Australian one though, which also can give some UK info)

There was someone on the original EB who mentioned they were. direct descendants of Anthony Rope and Elizabeth Pulley but I can not remember who this was but would love to find out. My dad has managed to conclude that these are great x 5 grandparents of mine.

This couple had the first baby on Australian soil conceiving on the night the convict men and the women finally were permitted to mix.

I suspect there will be many many descendants of these two, they had 8 children.

efs

 

I thought James Thomas was the first white child to be born in the colony (?)

He was the first baptism with thoughts he may have been the first born however the Rope/Pulley historians say differently.

It is unlikely Rope and Pulley's child was baptised as these two continued to commit petty crimes after they arrived.

There was someone on the original EB who mentioned they were. direct descendants of Anthony Rope and Elizabeth Pulley but I can not remember who this was but would love to find out. My dad has managed to conclude that these are great x 5 grandparents of mine.

This couple had the first baby on Australian soil conceiving on the night the convict men and the women finally were permitted to mix.

I suspect there will be many many descendants of these two, they had 8 children.

efs

 

I thought James Thomas was the first white child to be born in the colony (?)

He was the first baptism with thoughts he may have been the first born however the Rope/Pulley historians say differently.

It is unlikely Rope and Pulley's child was baptised as these two continued to commit petty crimes after they arrived.

I have been doing some reading and it seems the matter is debateable. The convict records state: '...their son Robert Rope was possibly one of the first children conceived and born in the settlement.' As far as James Thomas goes 'James Thomas, son of convicts Samuel and Ann Thomas, was baptised on 3rd February, 1788, his being the first baptism in the colony on land. It is likely that he was the first white child to be born in the colony'

Robert Rope was claimed to be the first by a nephew in the 1800s in a book called Toby's Gun but it has never been definitively proven unless you can provide a source.

I thought James Thomas was the first white child to be born in the colony (?)

He was the first baptism with thoughts he may have been the first born however the Rope/Pulley historians say differently.

It is unlikely Rope and Pulley's child was baptised as these two continued to commit petty crimes after they arrived.

 

I have been doing some reading and it seems the matter is debateable. The convict records state: '...their son Robert Rope was possibly one of the first children conceived and born in the settlement.' As far as James Thomas goes 'James Thomas, son of convicts Samuel and Ann Thomas, was baptised on 3rd February, 1788, his being the first baptism in the colony on land. It is likely that he was the first white child to be born in the colony'

Robert Rope was claimed to be the first by a nephew in the 1800s in a book called Toby's Gun but it has never been definitively proven unless you can provide a source.

Gosh, I am not that invested in being right to be honest. I have only read the Rope/Pulley story so if you have other sources then you may well be right.

My interest is only that we are related and I know there are others on EB who were too.

He was the first baptism with thoughts he may have been the first born however the Rope/Pulley historians say differently.

It is unlikely Rope and Pulley's child was baptised as these two continued to commit petty crimes after they arrived.

 

I have been doing some reading and it seems the matter is debateable. The convict records state: '...their son Robert Rope was possibly one of the first children conceived and born in the settlement.' As far as James Thomas goes 'James Thomas, son of convicts Samuel and Ann Thomas, was baptised on 3rd February, 1788, his being the first baptism in the colony on land. It is likely that he was the first white child to be born in the colony'

Robert Rope was claimed to be the first by a nephew in the 1800s in a book called Toby's Gun but it has never been definitively proven unless you can provide a source.

Gosh, I am not that invested in being right to be honest. I have only read the Rope/Pulley story so if you have other sources then you may well be right.

My interest is only that we are related and I know there are others on EB who were too.

Fair enough. I'm a history buff, history major at Uni, I belong to a few historical societies etc, so when I see a claim that Robert Rope was the first white child to be born in the colony, it piques my interest and my memory and I think 'hang on'. Family Lore is notorious for being economical with the truth.

I’m certainly interested in ours. We have a great aunt who passed away very young at 19. My grandfather always spoke of going to get her from a big building... where there is recorded an orphanage at the time. She has no birth certificate either. No adoption certificate either. And you have to wonder if they adopted her, is my grandfather adopted too? Or was she related to them? Or did they just really want a girl?

Dh has a grandfather that apparently just arrived in town and no one can find a trace of him before that. I think it’s possible he was indigenous who could pass as white, and so did... but no proof!!

I have been doing some reading and it seems the matter is debateable. The convict records state: '...their son Robert Rope was possibly one of the first children conceived and born in the settlement.' As far as James Thomas goes 'James Thomas, son of convicts Samuel and Ann Thomas, was baptised on 3rd February, 1788, his being the first baptism in the colony on land. It is likely that he was the first white child to be born in the colony'

Robert Rope was claimed to be the first by a nephew in the 1800s in a book called Toby's Gun but it has never been definitively proven unless you can provide a source.

Gosh, I am not that invested in being right to be honest. I have only read the Rope/Pulley story so if you have other sources then you may well be right.

My interest is only that we are related and I know there are others on EB who were too.

 

Fair enough. I'm a history buff, history major at Uni, I belong to a few historical societies etc, so when I see a claim that Robert Rope was the first white child to be born in the colony, it piques my interest and my memory and I think 'hang on'. Family Lore is notorious for being economical with the truth.

I am not an historian, I read the Rope/Pulley story because it is fascinating as we are descendants. My 'claim' was not intended to make create uproar with any historical societies. Are you okay with me saying their son Robert was 'one of the first' ?

Oh stop being so dramatic. You haven't created any uproar. You said:

'This couple had the first baby on Australian soil conceiving on the night the convict men and the women finally were permitted to mix.'

and then doubled-down with:

'He was the first baptism with thoughts he may have been the first born however the Rope/Pulley historians say differently.'

I'm just setting the record straight. But you can say whatever you want even if it isn't the truth.

Well that escalated quickly. From the outside it doesn't look as rough as it seems to feel from that side?

Its amazing what skeletons can come out of the most innocent looking family tales - and often the people who "don't know" because it may hurt them are hurt far more by the secret-keeping - at least in my family vine.

I often wonder about the "other side" of such tales?

One relative could not have children, and ended up adopting twins.

Turns out, the mother of said twins was a sister or cousin (the storytelling is deliberately vague) who was "wayward" and it wasn't her first transgression.

So much is not delivered in those words - wayward, transgression - that in this day and age would prompt a query as to what had happened to send her in such a direction - and what happened to previous issues?

Yes, family lore is always one to cautious of. I've unravelled a few stories over the last few years that had kept being repeated by different branches of the family and they just weren't true once I'd hunted down the official records.

In the spirit of Jerry's kind offer posted above, I have subscriptions to Ancestry (world-wide), Find My Past, The Genealogist and My Heritage as well as the British Newspaper Archive. Happy to search the records for anybody looking for anything specific.

Jerry and Quisby, that is very decent of you. I have a loose leaf on my tree that I've been meaning to follow up for ages. I might just take up your offer!

Have been doing DP's family tree too - which is quite fascinating on the USA side. His great great grandfather changed the spelling of their name to avoid cattle rustling charges in the southern USA wild states.

We have DP's grandfather's sheriff badge - he was sheriff in the same area and time as Billy the Kid.

I can't wait to do a DNA test to find out much more.

(I have ancestry.com if anyone wants a search done for info. Only the Australian one though, which also can give some UK info)

Jerry, how much UK info can you get? My Ancestry subscription lapsed a few years ago so I can't recall how far you can go if you are only a member for the Australian data. I can see a marriage listing for a couple I'm tracing over in England, but can't get any further and see more until I register.

Pnut, can you PM me an email address that I can send through what I've found because I don't think the PMs that I sent you are getting through. I've got one stuck in the outbox.

So I know my side of the family tree well from both sets of parents, but I got no info on my grandmother who was apparently previously married already before she met my grandfather and on the other side of family I also know an aunty was also previously married as well before meeting my uncle.

On DH’s side well that’s what is tricky because my FIL and his only brother have the same surname but spelled completely different and neither knows anything except for being told along the way one of them got their name misspelled on their birth cert but it was never changed so one large side of the family have the wrong spelling . It’s as different as for eg: Williamson and Whiliammsonne.

I have my mother's father's side down to the late 1500s due to research having been done for my great-uncle, a prominent cleric in the area he was from. My 9th great-grandfather's house still stands near Boston (USA), and another ancestor on that side was known as "the white chief" (white Anglo children kidnapped by indigenous tribes, raised as their own and one of them becoming the tribe's chief) and received a commission from George Washington.

We have far less info on my father's side made a bit more challenging because of the destruction of records in WWII, but we did find my great-grandfather's death certificate from WWI, and general burial location in Italy (casualty of war), while cleaning out my dad's things after he passed away, so my sibling wants us to pursue that when covid restrictions lift and we can travel.

The LDS Church has a vast collection of BDM records (not limited to a specific religion), it's quite comprehensive but you need a (free) account to access: familysearch.org

It can be such a rabbit hole, but very interesting.

I’ve discovered that quite a few libraries have ancestry.com you can search for free online if you are a library cardholder. It only gives search results but you can download results and docs. My local library has this online,