More than a Certificate – Arthur Baxter and Harriet May Bell

Many family historians collect the birth, death, and marriage certificates of their ancestors thinking that they tell the story of their lives. However  I  believe, that one document does not tell the story of an event.

We are also advised when writing up our family histories to allow the facts to speak for themselves and let the reader draw their own conclusions. Fifty years of experience has taught me not to always believe this is so.

Let us take the marriage certificate of my maternal grandparents Arthur and Harriet May Baxter (nee Bell). According to their marriage certificate,(a full copy of which I purchased from the Registrar of Births, Death and Marriages (Sydney), they married at St David’s, Thirroul on 27 January 1913.

Church of England images of Sydney Diocese, retrieved from ancestry.com website 1 April 2020

That is all fine until you know that their eldest child was born at the end of July. The first conclusion one might jump to was that he married her because she was pregnant to save her reputation. A reasonable assumption perhaps in Edwardian Society before World War I.

However, the true story of this couple’s marriage is much more interesting.

Arthur Baxter, the fourth son and sixth child of James and Margaret Baxter (nee Kennedy) was born in 1888 at Picton, New South Wales. His parents and grandparents were pioneers of the district.

Harriet May Bell, the fifth daughter, and sixth child of John and Alice Bell (nee Sherwood) was born in 1891 also at Picton. Her parents and grandparents were also pioneers of the district.

Both Arthur and Harriet May were baptized at St Mark’s Church of England, Picton.

Arthur Baxter grew up on the family dairy farm at Clifton near Picton and worked at farm chores from an early age with his father and brothers. He attended Clifton Provisional School which was situated on the Baxter property.

The farm at Clifton was run by his father with the help of his seven sons. It was likely that the elder sons might inherit the farm or at least have some pecuniary interest while the younger sons were expected to work for their ‘keep’ until they reached their majority of 21 years when they might expect to have some kind of monetary allowance for their work.

Arthur Baxter met May Bell at St Mark’s Annual Sunday School picnic about 1906 and fell in love with her. At the time he was about eighteen years of age, but with no prospects, and she nearly sixteen but not allowed to go out unchaperoned and certainly not with a farmer’s son.

Arthur suffered from asthma and it was believed to have been aggravated by working near cattle. The cold Picton winters did not allow his health to improve as the years went by.

Arthur knew if he was to have any chance of winning Miss May Bell he had to leave the farm and find employment to earn the money to make his own way in life.

Early in the 20th Century, Crown land was offered to selectors on the upper reaches of the Tweed River, in northern New South Wales, particularly at Chillingham on the North Arm and Kunghur on the South Arm. These land opportunities were advertised in various newspapers including ‘The Farmer and Settler’. It is believed this is how the young men in the Camden and Picton area knew of the land being offered for selection at Chillingham. A number of young men left the family farms and struck out on their own. If they had the money they took up their own block. The Doust brothers of Camden were ones that took up a selection there. Another family from the area was the Todd family.  They were from Elderslie, Mt Hunter, and had grown up with the Baxter family. Those young men who didn’t have the money to select or buy went to find employment by assisting the selectors to clear these blocks for dairying, thereby gaining the money to buy their own farms. Arthur Baxter and his mate Lock Nicholson fell into this category.

Early in 1908 Arthur Baxter, Lock Nicholson, and several other young men from the Picton district went to the Tweed River. They caught the train to Sydney, where they boarded the coastal steamer, Orara. (Probably as steerage passengers to save money).The Orara left Sydney about 9 am on Saturday and arrived at Byron Bay early on the following Monday morning. They then caught the train to Murwillumbah.

Murwillumbah had been settled many years before and by 1907 was a bustling town with hotels, post office, courthouse, and numerous other shops, businesses, and houses. However on the 15 September tragedy struck the town, when it was virtually burned to the ground by a raging fire. By the time Arthur and his mates arrived early in 1908 the town was being rebuilt, and there was an air of optimism.

At Murwillumbah, the men hitched a ride with the mail-man who delivered to the district three days a week.  Chillingham or Bean Tree as it was known, was a creek crossing on the road to the Queensland Border, which was a few miles away.  Here the young men gained employment as planned by helping the selectors clear the heavy scrub so they could plant grasses for the grazing of dairy cattle. The surrounding farming district was known as Zara.

One of these selectors was William Growcock, an Irish immigrant who had arrived in Queensland in 1891. He was in the Chillingham area from about 1900, officially selecting in 1904 and adding to his block in 1907. He employed Arthur Baxter and his mate Lock Nicholson to clear fell the scrub on his second block.

[Spoiler alert- Forty years later Arthur Baxter’s daughter Margaret married William Growcock’s son, William. This couple were my parents].

Although hundreds of miles apart, Arthur Baxter and May Bell’s romance blossomed throughout 1908 as they corresponded regularly. In one of those letters, Arthur wrote to May and told her ‘the boys’ (Arthur and his friends) would be home for Christmas and asked her to meet the late train from Sydney at the Picton Railway Station, on a certain day, as it was very important. May asked her father to accompany her to the station, as it was late evening and she was only seventeen and wouldn’t be turning eighteen until the following month. Young ladies did not go out at night unchaperoned. When they met at the station, without a word Arthur grabbed May’s left hand and slipped a sapphire and diamond engagement ring on her finger. (She always maintained that Arthur may have asked her father for her hand in marriage, but he didn’t ask her). Arthur had just turned twenty-one years a couple of days before.

Picton Railway Station from State Rail Authority Archives Photographic Reference Print Collection, retrieved 1 April 2010

May Bell’s mother, Alice Bell, was not keen on the union because several of the Baxter boys had a ‘weakness in the chest’ (asthma) and she didn’t want another daughter saddled with an invalid husband as her second daughter, Alice had been with Amos Kiss.

However, her main objection was because of Arthur’s mother’s family- the Kennedy’s- ‘had madness in the family’. Arthur’s maternal grandfather, Gilbert Kennedy had been in Parramatta Asylum for the Insane for nearly thirty-six years when he died in 1903. His widow remained in the Picton area until her death in 1912, and everyone knew the family and their ‘troubles’.

May Bell’s mother refused to give her consent to the marriage, hoping she would find a ‘better match’. May’s father, John Bell, also had certain reservations as Arthur had not yet earned enough money to take up a selection of his own and build a home. The beautiful ring he had purchased in Sydney, had taken much of his hard-earned cash of the first year of scrub-clearing.

As May was still underage and needed her parent’s permission there way only one thing they could do. To wait until she was twenty-one. It was going to be a long engagement.

Family History Class Notes – Death Certificates, Australia – 101

In previous classes, we looked at birth and marriage certificates in Australia. We also used our own birth certificate to gather clues to assist us to step back to another generation in our family history.

However, birth certificates seldom help with finding our ancestors’ death certificates. Occasionally if one of the parents is deceased at the registration of that birth the fact may be noted on a certificate but not always.

Death certificates are probably the most difficult of the three events of birth, death or marriage to track down. The information on them may be the most unreliable too. The person whose death is being registered may not be known by the informant or little more than their name. The fact that they were married or had children or the names of their parents may not be known.

There is no central place for the registration of deaths in Australia. Each state has a Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in their capital city. Until recently the deceased’s family and friends were responsible to register a death.

Now the undertaker needs to supply information on a death to obtain a license to bury or cremate. Once people were able to bury where they wished, but after the beginning of registration of deaths, all burials were to take place in a designated burial ground. The friends and family had a specific time to register a death with the Registrar’s Office-usually at the local Court House, but for various reasons, this didn’t always happen.

In recent years each of the Registrar of Births, Deaths, and marriages in each state has built a website where you can search for free their indexes. These can be found at:-

 

https://www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au/

https://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/

https://www.justice.tas.gov.au/bdm/home

https://www.sa.gov.au

https://bdm.justice.wa.gov.au

https://nt.gov.au/law/bdm/search

However, just as there are a hundred years for births and a fifty-year rule for marriage certificates, there is a thirty-year rule for deaths. That means you cannot get a death certificate for a death that took place less than thirty years ago.

Be aware that each of these indexes in each state is a little different. For example in the death index for Queensland, the actual date of death is given but in New South Wales only the year of registration is given.

On each of these indexes, the name of the deceased, date or year of registration of the death is given as well as the parent’s names if known.

Of all the certificates, the information on a death certificate is possible the most unreliable. The informant of the death may have known very little about the deceased particularly the names of parents, spouse or children. For this reason alone it is important to get further documents that may confirm the information given on a death certificate.

Just as you may not be able to find a reference in the indexes for a birth or marriage you may not be able to find a death registration.  Sometimes this is because you are not using the spelling of the names used at the registration. However, the death may not have been registered in the first place.

Remember you are looking for information for the death event. There are many records that give you information on a person’s death. Some of these you may be able to get even if the death took place less than thirty years ago. You may find a death certificate; death certificate transcription; Church burial register; Church/Civil burial memorabilia; church/civic funeral order of service; photographs and/or video of funeral/burial service; photographs and/or video of interment of ashes; undertakers records/municipal burial records; newspaper death/funeral notice; obituary; newspaper memorial notice; memorial cards; memorial plaque or headstone; inquest report; original and /or copy of will and testament; probate/letters of administration notice/ family register in bible or prayer book; letters and diaries/ oral and personal recollections by family and friends.

This is not a definitive list and you could possibly think of others. You will not be able to get all these records for each death. They are just a guide.

I have used the above list to make myself a datasheet to put in my files on each individual.

 

A pdf download of the data-sheet can be found on this website under the Resources and Examples Tab.

Many of these records you may find in family papers. I have found a number of these for my mother’s death and have entered them into my data sheet below.

If someone shares these documents with you, please record them as the source of the document with their name, date, and address, on your document copy. Back or front depending on your skills and preference. Just because you now have a copy, please remember this is not your document to scan and put up on the Internet.

It is good family history manners even if you create your own document, such as a transcription, which is quite legal, you should get permission from the original owner to share the information and give them credit for originally sharing with you. Later down the track, they are then likely to share more with you, and you will feel comfortable sharing with them, as you will expect the same courtesy.

Now just a word of warning about using indexes. They do not have the full information a certificate has. If you only use an index make sure it is the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages website. Transcription errors often creep into copies, which can put your research away off track.

Continue to be very careful and diligent in your research.

 

 

 

Family History Class Notes – Marriage Certificates, Australia -101

In our last class, we looked at Birth Certificates in Australia. We looked at our own full birth certificate and made note of the information it gave to step back another generation.

Remember when researching your family history, you start with yourself and move back generation by generation with documentation.

We learned that on modern full birth certificates the parent’s names, age, and place of birth are recorded. Also on the certificate, you will usually find the date and place of marriage of the parents. Due to the cost of the certificates and with the actual date and place stated on your birth certificate you might be tempted to assume the information is correct and you can skip getting your parent’s marriage certificate.

My answer to that is ‘maybe’, but only if you can find other records which all lead you to the same conclusion.

The parent or the informant on a birth certificate is not required to offer proof of marriage when they register a birth. The information is taken in good faith, but it may not be correct.

In the last class, I said that the parents were responsible to register a birth. However, they are not, nor ever have been responsible for the registration of a marriage.

In Australia, you can only be married by a licensed celebrant. These are ordained ministers or priests, court magistrates, and state celebrants. They obtain their ‘license to marry’ from the Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in the state where they reside, not the church authority. It is the licensed celebrant’s duty to register the marriage with the Registrar of Births, Death and Marriages offices.

However, just as there is a ‘hundred years rule’ for births, there is a fifty-year rule for marriage. That means you cannot get a marriage certificate unless the marriage is more than fifty years ago.

In Australia, there is no central place for births, marriages, and deaths. Each state has its own Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriage in its capital city.

In recent years each Registrar’s office has built a website where you can search for free the indexes to their historical documents.  These indexes are free to consult. The large subscription sites use ways to link and use these free sites. They do not have access to any more information than is on the free government websites.

Be aware each of these indexes is a little different. For example- In the Queensland Index for marriages, which took place over fifty years ago, it actually gives the date of marriage, while on the NSW Index it only gives the year of registration.

Here are the websites for these indexes.

https://www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au/

https://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/

https://www.justice.tas.gov.au/bdm/home

https://www.sa.gov.au

https://bdm.justice.wa.gov.au

https://nt.gov.au/law/bdm/search

Just as you might not be able to find a reference in the index for birth, you may not be able to find a marriage in these indexes, even if the date and place are stated on a birth certificate.

Sometimes this is because you are not using the spelling of the names as given on the registration, but more often or not it is because for various reasons the marriage did not actually take place.

Remember you are looking for information concerning an ‘event’ in the person’s life. There are many records that give information on a person’s marriage or leading up to the event. Some of these you may be able to get even if the marriage is not fifty years ago.

Remember one document is not ‘definite proof’ of an event. You can only get a reasonable proof by a range of documents all pointing to the same conclusion.

Here is a list of records you may use to build a reasonable case for the marriage information for an ancestor:- Certified Civil Marriage Certificate; Marriage Transcription; Church Register Entry for Marriage; Church certificate of Marriage; Banns Register Entry for Intended Marriage; Banns Notice in a Church Newspaper; Statement of Intention to Marry Register; Newspaper Engagement Notice/Kitchen Tea; Newspaper Notice/ Report of Marriage; Photographs of Marriage Ceremony/Reception; Family Register in Bible/Prayer Book; Memorabilia-bucks and/or Hen’s Party/Wedding; Newspaper Report of Tin-kettling/House Party; Official Divorce Papers/Report in Newspaper; Letters and diaries and Oral Stories-Personal Recollections of marriage by family and/or friends.

This list is not definitive and you could possibly think of more. You will not be able to get all these records for each marriage. They are just a guide.

I have used this list to make myself a Data Sheet to put in my files on an individual person.

[A pdf download of this Data Sheet can be found on this website under the Resources and Examples tab.]

Many of these records you may find in family papers and memorabilia. If someone shares these with you please record them as the source of the document with their name, date, and address on your copy of the document. Back or front depending on your skills and preference. Just because you now have a copy, please remember this is not your document to scan and put up on the Internet.

It is good family history manners even if you create your own document, such as a transcription, which is quite legal, you should get permission from the original owner to share the information and give them credit for originally sharing with you. Later down the track, they are then likely to share more with you, and you will feel comfortable sharing with them, as you will expect the same courtesy.

If you have been one of my students in the fifty years I have been teaching family history you know I actually practice what I preach when it comes to records. Here is the Evidence of Marriage Data Form for my mother.

Now just a word of warning about using indexes. They do not have the full information a certificate has. If you only use an index make sure it is the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages website. Transcription errors often creep into copies, which can put your research away off track.

For example- My Maternal Grandmother Harriet May Bell only had one brother, Henry William Bell. According to the index on the Ancestry.com website, he married Hilda Annie Peck at Broken Hill in 1915. If you check the index on the website of the Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages for New South Wales, the marriage was registered at Bulli in 1915. These two places are approximately 1100 kilometres apart. Which is correct? By making a search in Trove Historical Newspapers on the National Library of Australia website you will find an account in the local newspapers for 1915, which states the marriage took place in the Methodist Church at Thirroul on 21st April. Thirroul and Bulli are less than three kilometres apart. Be very careful and diligent in your research.

World War II on the Home Front with More Bushfires

There may not have been any serious bushfires in northern New South Wales in 1941, but by the end of the following year the local authorities were gearing up for another big fire season.

Bush Fire Prevention

Police, Shire Council to Form Bush Brigades

Members of Murwillumbah police force and Tweed Shire Council were appointed at a public meeting at Murwillumbah yesterday as a central bush fire brigade control committee to organize the formation of bush fire brigades at all country centres throughout the Murwillumbah police patrol. It was emphasized that it was intended that the organization should be permanent and not merely for the duration of the war.

 

Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 – 1949) Sat 21 Nov 1942 Page 2

Bush Fire Prevention

The Winter of 1943 was very cold and dry on the northern rivers of New South Wales and the farmers knew it would be an early start to the fire season. By the middle of September, their fears had been realized.

Fires in the South Arm Area

Several bushfires were burning last night in the Kunghur, Terragon and Midginbjl districts.

So far they have not caused any serious damage, the burnt country being mostly bladey grass and rubbish. but it was stated last right that if a strong wind sprang up today the fires would be likely to menace valuable property. After recent rain, a number of farmers lit fires to burn off rubbish on their properties and some of these got out of control when fanned by a strong wind.

The strongest gale for nine years blew at Kunghur last Saturday, causing the fires to leap from tree to tree. One big fire burning from Byrrill Creek towards Blue Knob was reported last night to be only two miles from Kunghur village in the direction of Kyogle. A number of men were fighting this blaze last night in an effort to prevent it from getting out of hand if a strong wind rises today.

Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 – 1949) Wed 22 Sep 1943 Page 2 FIRES IN SOUTH ARM AREA

 

South Arm Fires Out of Control

Driven by the worst gale experienced for years, bushfires raging throughout the Upper South Arm area were out of control last night, stated a late report from Kunghur.

Two farm homesteads on the Kunghur-Mount Burrell Road, those of Mr. Arthur Baxter and Mr. C. McMahon, were being menaced and firefighters were standing by to put out sparks and bits of burning timber whirled on to the buildings by the strong wind.

No injury to persons or stock losses were reported.

At Mr. McMahon’s property cattle were herded for safety into a small paddock near the home.

A fire also was burning fiercely on Mr. C. T. Grant’s Mt. Burrell farm. Practically the whole of Mt, Burrell was alight and fires were raging along the Kyogle Road. Another fire was racing towards the Nimbin Road, while a fire at Byrrill Creek was sweeping towards Kunghur and was expected to link with the fire in McMahon’s farm. A new fire broke out yesterday at Kunghur Creek, and at the top of Perch Creek last night a big fire was sweeping through the back of a number of properties, including

those of Messrs R. A. Clark, E. W. Roberts, and W H Smith. A fire also appeared to be burning at Terragon, the report added.

60 Miles an Hour Gusts

Efforts made on Tuesday night to minimize the danger of the fires breaking out again were reduced to naught when a terrific gale sprang up about. 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Old residents said it was the worst they could remember, some of the gusts being estimated at 60 miles an hour.

The wind fanned the smouldering fires and they quickly began to sweep onward, burning valuable grassland.

Last night, it was stated, the glow of fires lit the countryside at Kunghur as brightly as moonlight.

If the weather does not change: it is expected that thousands of acres of grassland will be burnt.

A later report at midnight stated that fresh fires were springing up in many directions, apparently as the wind whipped smouldering logs into flame. The wind was still as fierce as ever. Some telephone lines were out of commission, apparently due to the wires having been crossed by the wind or being broken down by falling limbs.

The countryside in the district is extremely dry. The rainfall so far this year has amounted to only 21.55 inches, the lowest for 20 years.

Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 – 1949) Thu 23 Sep 1943 Page 2

SOUTH ARM FIRES OUT OF CONTROL

South Arm fires Under Control

All the Bushfires in the Upper South Arm area were under control early last night, according to a report from the Kunghur correspondent of the Tweed Daily.

The strong gale which blew on Wednesday night dropped about 2 a.m. yesterday the gangs of firefighters were able to burn breaks. Women and children assisted the men in the early morning to get the job done quickly in case the gale sprang up again. The day was comparatively calm and the opinion was expressed that unless a further heavy gale occurred the position was safe.

Mr. C. McMahon. a farmer on the Kunghur-Mount Burrell road, was the heaviest sufferer, losing about 400 acres of’ grassland including 300 acres of a 316-acre block and 100 acres of a 640-acre block and 100 acres of a 640-acre in the same vicinity, also had a fairly large area of grassland burnt

So far as is known, the fires at Perch Creek did not cause a great deal of damage.

Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 – 1949) Fri 24 Sep 1943 Page 2

SOUTH ARM FIRES UNDER CONTROL

Google Images-Australian Rural Firefighters-2020

The following November 1944 saw everyone on edge over bushfires and it looked as if it was going to be serious.

Destruction By Bushfire at Kunghur

A bushfire at Kunghur, started when a tree was struck by lightning nearly a fortnight ago, has caused some trouble for a week, and during the weekend many men were busy controlling it. About 100 acres of grass and valuable fences and gates have been destroyed.

The tree which started the fire was struck on Mr. C. M. McMahon’s property and spread through bladey grass and shrubbery along the Nimbin road.

Losses have not been heavy, and the work of the fire-fighters of the area has been directed towards confining the fire to Mc Mahon’s property. Some standing timber was burnt, and the dead trees caused blazes that lit up the countryside for miles each night.

The flames had died down largely by last night, though the smoke nuisance was unpleasant.

Yesterday the thermometer at Kunghur post office reached 103 degrees but it is doubtful whether the fires contributed towards this degree of heat. On Sunday, when the fire was a little worse, the temperature reached only 100 degrees.

Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 – 1949) Tue 21 Nov 1944 Page 2

Destruction By Bushfire at Kunghur

By the end of 1945, the war had ended and all the young men returned home to take up farming again. However, they had hardly set foot on home soil when the fires broke out early.

Grass Fire Spreads at Byrrill Ck.

A grass and brush fire’ started at Byrrill Creek yesterday afternoon and

last night was reported to be spreading rapidly.

The area, particularly involved was that leased by Mr. Arthur Baxter from

Mr. Harry Solomon.

If the fire was not brought under control by this morning approximately

 3000 acres of grassland in the Byrrill Creek-Kunghur area would be threatened, stated the Kunghur correspondent of The Tweed Daily.

Many cattle agisted in the area would be in danger if the fire was not controlled today and the owners of the cattle were advised to check up, in their own interests, early this morning, to ensure removal of their cattle from any area immediately threatened.

A small party of volunteers went to the outbreak,, but due to the dryness of the country and the wind then blowing it would be practically impossible to control the fire last night, added the correspondent.

Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 – 1949) Fri 2 Aug 1946 Page 2

Grass Fire Spreads at Byrrill Ck.

 

The Upper South Arm farmers believed it was now time they banded together to have their own brigade and equipment close by when needed. Accordingly, a meeting was held in the Kunghur Hall on the 17th of August.

There was good support and Arthur Baxter was elected as President of the Fire Brigade Committee. A neighbour, Richard Jarrett was elected as Secretary with another neighbour, George Walters elected as Fire Captain. The McMahon’s who had been burned out on previous occasions during the war had sold up and retired to Murwillumbah. George Walters had purchased their farm on the Upper South Arm at Kunghur.

The farmers on the Upper South Arm felt more secure now that they had their own brigade and equipment close by. James Arthur (Jim) Baxter, Arthur’s only son also joined the brigade, when he returned from war service. He was a member for over fifty years, many of which he served as Fire Captain.

Family History Class Notes – Birth Certificates, Australia- 101

In our last class, I invited you to look at your own birth certificate for information concerning your parents. You might think your next step would be to get your parent’s birth certificates using the information stated on your own certificate. This would be a reasonable step towards your own ancestral research plan. However, you might be shocked to know you cannot get another person’s birth certificate unless they were born over a hundred years ago. This is to do with people’s right to privacy and also to stop others using these documents for fraudulent activities such as identity theft.

If your parents are still living, ask them if they have a full copy of their birth certificate and would they be willing for you to make a transcription of the information on it. If they do not have a copy, encourage them to apply for one, even if you actually pay for it. They are the only ones legally able to apply for their own birth certificate. If they are deceased there may be a copy in their private papers. Find out who in the family might have these papers. They may allow you to sight and make a transcription of the document. Even if the person is now deceased you still cannot get a birth certificate unless they were born over 100 years ago.

If your parents, grandparents or another ancestor was born over one hundred years ago in Australia you may find their birth reference number, full name, names of parents and place of birth in the online government indexes.

In Australia, there is no central place for births, marriages, and deaths for the whole of the country. Each state has its own Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriage in its capital city.

In recent years each Registrar’s office has built a website where you can search the indexes to their historical documents for births over a hundred years ago.  These indexes are free to consult. The large subscription sites use ways to link and use these free sites. They do not have access to any more information than is on the free government websites.

Be aware each of these indexes is a little different. For example- In the Queensland Index for births, which took place over a hundred years ago, it actually gives the date of birth, while on the New South Wales Index it only gives the year of registration. This is usually the year of birth but not always.

Here are the websites for the offices responsible for the registration of births in each state.

https://www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au/

https://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/

https://www.justice.tas.gov.au/bdm/home

https://www.sa.gov.au

https://bdm.justice.wa.gov.au

https://nt.gov.au/law/bdm/search

Please be aware until recent times the parents were responsible for making sure a birth was registered. Sometimes they just didn’t get around to it. In that case, you may not find the birth reference you were looking for. Another reason you may not find it is that you are not using the spelling which was used at the registration, or the child was registered without a Christian name, so it may be registered as an unnamed male or female.

Now, what if, no-one in the family has the certificate or is not willing to share, or you cannot find in in the index, even if it over a hundred years, and should be registered. No, your research does not need to stop. There are ways around this hurdle.

Remember you are looking for information concerning an ‘event’ in the person’s life. There are many records that give information on a person’s birth or leading up to the event. Some of these you may be able to get even if the birth is not one hundred years ago. For example, the birth date may be on a headstone or plaque in a public cemetery or on a funeral service sheet.

Remember one document is not ‘definite proof’ of an event. You can only get a reasonable proof by a range of documents all pointing to the same conclusion.

Be aware your family tree not only includes your ancestors but your descendants too. This means you should be collecting births for them also. However, it is illegal to disseminate private information on living persons without their consent. Just hold this information in your private records file.

Here is a list of records you may use to build a reasonable case for the birth information on an ancestor or descendant.

Full (Certified) Birth Certificate; Birth Certificate Transcription; Church Baptism Certificate; Church Baptism Register Entry; Christening Memorabilia (mugs, spoons, etc); Family Register in Bible; Newspaper Notice of Birth; Adoption Papers; Newspaper Notice of Adoption; Family Letters & Diaries; Passport; Citizenship Documents; Baby Shower Memorabilia; Ultra-Sound Film; Photographs and/or video of Birth/Hospital Visit; Hospital Crib Tag and/or Leg/Arm Bands; Oral Stories/Personal Recollections of Birth from Family & Friends; Headstone or Cemetery Plaque and Funeral Order of Service.

This list is not definitive and you could possibly think of more. You will not be able to get all these records for any one person. They are just a guide.

I have used this list to make myself a Data Sheet to put in my files on an individual person.

[A pdf download of this Data Sheet can be found on this website under the Resources and Examples Tab.]

Many of these records you may find in family papers and memorabilia. If someone shares these with you please record them as the source of the document with their name, date, and address on your copy. Back or front depending on your skills and preference. Just because you now have a copy, please remember this is not your document to scan and put up on the Internet.

This is the Data Sheet filled in for my mother, Margaret Nola Baxter. This is one way I organize and track my progress with my family history research.

It is good family history manners even if you create your own document, such as a transcription, which is quite legal, you should get permission from the original owner to share the information and give them credit for originally sharing with you. Later down the track, they are then likely to share more with you, and you will feel comfortable sharing with them, as you will expect the same courtesy in return.

World War II Experiences on the Home Front- Bushfires

Halfway through 2019, the topic of conversation among friends, family, and neighbours was ‘the drought’ and how it’s protracted nature was bringing so many close to ruin. Everyone was looking for those Spring showers and early storms. However, they didn’t arrive and within days there was only one thing on everyone’s mind – ‘the fires’.

For us, the fires began in August. A farmer several kilometres away was burning off when gale-force winds sprung up and drove the fire directly towards us. Within the hour the fire had raced through several kilometres of bushland and was threatening several homes near us. Fortunately, we had the Rural Fire Brigades, water-bombing planes and many friends and neighbours with fire- fighting equipment all throwing everything at the raging fire. They were finally successful in defending our homes and properties and brought it under control. We were the lucky ones. Over the next weeks and months, others to the north and south of us lost everything- homes, businesses and even lives.

We had bushfires through the area in 1993 when several neighbours  lost sheds and outbuildings as well as pastures, but none of us could compare that fire to what we faced in August.

That week in August was a defining moment in our lives which changed everything.

 

Our bushfire scare brought to mind my maternal grandparents, Arthur and Harriet May Baxter, who were farmers on the South Arm of the Tweed River in northern New South Wales. I had heard family stories and I knew they had come close to losing their home to bushfires in the 1940s.

I talked to the only living member of the family, my mother’s youngest sister, who was only a child at the time, but she could still recall the frightening experience. She could not recall how many times but knew it was more than once and it was during World War II when all the young men of the district, including her brother, were away at war. That left the older men, women, and children to fight the fires.

A search of the local newspapers on Trove on the National Library of Australia website gave me more details of these fires. The first was in 1940.

 

Fires Rage In South Arm Area – Pastures Burnt Over Wide Area

The period of extremely dry weather experienced by the Tweed and Richmond districts for the past six months culminated yesterday in a serious outbreak of fire which destroyed valuable pastures over a wide area between Uki and Nimbin.

Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 – 1949) ,Tue 5 Nov 1940 Page 2 , Fires Rage In South Arm Area

Extensive Damage from Fires

Grassland and Timber Destroyed at South Arm

Considerable damage was caused to grassland, fencing, timber, and roads from the grass and bushfires which raged through sections of the South Arm district on Monday and yesterday. Last night, while sections were still burning, it was stated that they were being watched carefully, and were under control. The southerly wind yesterday assisted the firefighters, who had been kept hard at work for many hours. Women helped the men at the arduous work.

The Tweed district has been enveloped in smoke since Monday, and the nearby hills have been practically obscured from view. The fires ravaged an area from Lilian Rock on the Kyogle Road to Uki, a distance of about 15 miles, and spread for varying distances from the road, through valuable pastures and timber. Some homesteads were endangered, but all were saved.

On Monday, after a report from the burning area, First-Class Constable McDonald and Constable  Fullwood, of Murwillumbah, and the Shire Engineer (Mr. A. L. Hornman) motored to Nimbin and Lillian Rock, where they met Constable Griffen, of Nimbin.

The trip to Lillian Rock and back to Murwillumbah by the police party was most uncomfortable, and at times hazardous, as the fire raged on both sides of the road and big trees were falling.

Clearing Roads

The party was expected back in Murwillumbah shortly after 1 o’clock yesterday morning, but it was not until after 5 o’clock that it was able to get through. The members were compelled ‘to clear the ‘road of fallen timber at frequent intervals, and at one point a large bloodwood, three feet in diameter, blocked their progress for some hours.

While some members walked through the blackened country for about three miles for a saw, one of the police officers set to work to cut through the big log.

Shire employees with a caterpillar tractor were sought to haul the timber off the road, and the gang was kept busy for many hours clearing a path for many other cars that were held up on various parts of the road.

With timber burning on both sides of the road throughout yesterday, many other trees fell and gangs will be employed to-day clearing the road. In places, the heat of the fires, which encroached to the sides of the road and the burning timber caused extensive damage to the bitumen surfacing.

Valuable Grassland Destroyed

It was estimated last night the fires had swept through at least 500 acres of grassland, and unless early rain falls the position in the South Arm district will be serious. Already there has been considerable movement of stock to the reaches of the river where more feed is available, while some owners have sought agistment in other parts of the Tweed district.

There were further outbreaks of fire yesterday and a close watch had to be maintained by owners, but it was stated last night that the position was well in hand. The fires raged throughout the day on Monday and many homesteads in the South Arm area were menaced.

The fire even encroached to within a short distance of the Church of England building at Kunghur, but was kept in check before any damage was done.

Traffic on the road between Uki and  Nimbin was dislocated on Monday through burning trees falling across, but little difficulty was experienced yesterday in getting through. No reports of serious damage to property have yet been received, although, fencing on many farms has been burnt. It was earlier reported that a house and outbuildings owned by Mr. C. Way at Byrrill Creek had been destroyed, but this was contradicted last night. It was stated that the fire got to within a short distance of the buildings but the firefighters managed to get it under control in time.

Fires in Forest

A thick, smoke haze could be seen over the Mebbin forestry area, but it has not been ascertained whether there has been any serious damage. Firefighters battled for six hours in the Whian forestry area on Monday night to get a big blaze under control.

It was stated last night that there were many blackened areas in the Midginbil, Kunghur and Mt. Burrell areas. where practically every available man helped to fight the fires on Monday.

A number of farm buildings was endangered when the fires, aided by a strong wind, ran swiftly through the pastures. In the Kunghur area, the blaze had to be fought to save the properties of Messrs. A. Baxter, C. McMahon and W. H. Taylor.

Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 – 1949) Tue 12 Nov 1940 Page 2 Destruction Of 3,000 Acres

A young man was charged with arson under the Careless Use of Fire Act (1912). When all the evidence was laid out, none of the farmers chose to prosecute him.

The full story can be found here.

Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW : 1914 – 1949) Thu 14 Nov 1940 Page 8 Youth Fined £52 On Careless Use of Fire Act Charges

That was the first but not the last of the fires on the Home Front during World War II.

 

 

 

Family History Class Notes- Where Do I Start?

You start your family history journey with yourself. Then work backward from yourself slowly, from the known to the unknown, verifying and documenting your information, and if possible from more than one source. If you do not do this you may end up following someone else’s family line, and wasting money and time.

The key family documents for doing a family history are the Birth, Marriage and Death records of our ancestors. Not everyone married but everyone was born and died. There are many records that help us find this information.

Talk to family members and take notes of the information you are told, but remember you will need to verify it all.

This includes getting documents to support your ‘facts’ of birth, marriage and death dates and places. Particularly of interest are the legal documents for these events.

Be prepared to spend money on purchasing full copies of the key birth, death or marriage certificates of your family line. It is a false economy to try to research your family history without referring to your correct key primary documents.

Locating the documents.

Some of you will already have in your possession either by having acquired it previously for legal purposes or being passed down from your parents, a copy of your own birth certificate. However, be aware in Australia there is a difference between an ‘extract of a birth certificate’ and a ‘full birth certificate’.  For example, many years ago most people got an ‘extract of their birth certificate’ so they could get a vehicle license or a passport. This has the full name, place, and date of birth of the individual. Today you need a certified copy of a full birth certificate for many circumstances including applying for a passport, so many people will already have this important document. This full birth certificate will give you clues to other documents you will need as you progress on your quest to find your ancestors.

In Australia, most modern birth certificates will have what we term ‘full information’ however this was not always so for all states. Since civil registration began in  Victoria,(1852)  NSW (1856) and Queensland (1859),  a full birth certificate has not only the full name; place and date of the birth; but also, parents full names, including mother’s maiden name or in case of a widow her former married name; date and place of parent’s marriage; place of birth and age of parents; and all other children previously born into the family, often including both their name and age.

By studying your own birth certificate you can see that it is a stepping stone back to another generation, that is it gives information on your parents, so now you can search for their certificates.

It is at this stage most people use the Birth, Death and Marriage Indexes for their state of interest. Many Internet-based indexes are being released, but due to the privacy laws of each state, their range and availability vary.

Be aware you cannot photocopy and share the Birth, Marriage, and Death Certificates you purchase from the Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages. All certified certificates from the Register of Births, Deaths, and Marriages are legal documents and when you apply for such you undertake not scan or photocopy.

However, you can make a transcription without legal problems and I encourage you to do so to share and include in your family history research notes. I have included a transcription I made of the certified copy of the birth certificate of my Maternal Great-Grandfather, John Bell.[See Above]. A pdf copy under Resources and Examples Tab on this website.

Family History Class Notes – What is Family History?

Genealogy is the study of the relationships between groups of people, generation by generation, and is part of the wider study of family history.  Ancestral and Descendant Charts are often used to represent this. These compiled and charted genealogies are often called family trees and are a representation of the skeleton of a family’s history.

 

Image from Google Images -retrieved 8 March 2010

Family History is much more and includes matters such as your ancestors’ appearance, occupations, and day-to-day life; how they were affected by, and reacted to, the social conditions and historical events of the time. A study of these things may give you the answers to some leading questions concerning your family – such as why they emigrated to Australia rather than America.

Both Surnames and Christian names are very important to your family history, as they are a key to a person’s identity, and therefore their life.

Remember there is no such thing as a ‘correct’ way to spell a particular Family or Surname, or indeed even Christian or Given names, and over a lifetime a person’s name may be spelled and recorded in many ways by the person themselves, or by others. Always check various possible spellings when looking for your ancestors.

Also note there can be persons of the same Surname, Christian Name, and of the approximate age living in the same place and at the same time. They may, or may not be related in some way. This can be particularly so if the Surname is rather ‘common’, for example, Smith or Jones, etc..

The main reason people are interested in family history is that they want to know more about and understand themselves. Who they are, where they came from and why they like the things they do or where their talents come from? Studying your family history can answer many of these questions.

When researching your family history the place to start is yourself.

You are the main person and anchor for your family history.

Did you know your family history is unique? The only other people in the whole world, who have the same ‘family tree’ as you, are your full blood siblings -brothers and sisters. If you are an only child, you are the only person who has that ‘ family tree’. You may share ‘twigs’ and ‘branches’ with many other people, but not the whole ‘tree’.

Therefore, you cannot do your family history on the Internet in an afternoon, no matter what the ‘ads’ may tell you. Nor is ‘family history’ a competition to see how many names you can collect on your ‘ tree.’

When we begin our family history we need to ask ourselves these questions:

What information have I already got?

How am I going to record and organize this information?

How am I going to track my progress or the lack of it?

My Family History Life

Over a lifetime I have learned our most valuable resource is TIME. We all have the same amount – 24 hours, 7 days, 365 days, etc. However, we do not know how many years we will live. The most important thing is how we spend that time.

The second most valuable resource is our relationships. Over my lifetime of more than ‘three score years and ten’, I have built a very large network of people, both relatives, and friends, who share my many passions. Here, I refer, particularly to family history.

In the last few years, life has changed dramatically for us with health issues, drought, fires, storms, and floods forcing us to make daily changes to accommodate what is presented.

As one might expect at this stage of life, I have also lost many of my friends and family through death, which has taken a great emotional toll. I now feel it is most important that I devote as much time as I can to our family history and share it with my siblings, children, and grandchildren as well as cousins of many degrees from 1st to sixth and beyond.

I may not have written many blogs over the last year, but I have done a lot with my family history. I have organized my documents, photographs, and research; designed and began a process of passing it on to present and future generations and I have also written lots of stories, biographies, and research and shared with those relatives and friends, who are interested in my work. 

I have recently returned to teaching family history through our local U3A (University of the Third Age). Many of my students of fifty years plus of teaching, have asked me to share my experience and guidance so they can finish many of their personal family history projects. We have several new U3A members, who are just beginning their family history journey too. They have requested I share some of the notes on-line so they can refer and refresh their memories between classes.

I certainly do not have all the answers, but I hope these blogs and resources might assist others in their own family history journey.

Baxter Cousin’s Day

Another year has rolled around. Last Sunday, the first weekend in March was our annual cousins get together for one of my maternal families – BAXTER.

I have organized these Cousin’s Days for this branch of the family for many years now. You can see reports of some of them in former blogs.

 

Although they are always wonderful days for us all, each year has been a little different, and this year was no exception. This year the numbers attending were about the same, but there were no children. These were all off representing their school or community in a team sport of some kind or another.

Another interesting fact was that all lines of my grandparent’s children were represented by at least the eldest grandchild on that line. This has never happened before. In fact, most of the attendees were first cousins to me.

In the past, I have selected an ancestral couple on that family line and prepared material telling the story of the chosen couple. In the past years I have written the story of ‘The Life and Times of Arthur and Harriet May Baxter (nee Bell)’ – my grandparents; The Life and Times of James and Margaret Jane Baxter (nee Kennedy)‘ – Great-Grandparents; ‘The Life and Times of Thomas George and Mary Baxter (nee Mather)’ – Great- Great- Grandparents; ‘The Life and Times of James and Elizabeth Baxter (nee Dixon) – Great-Great-Great Grandparents and the Life and Times of George and Sarah Bell (nee Sargent)‘-Great-Great Grandparents. This year it was The Life and Times of Thomas and Mary Bell (nee Battlemore)– Great-Great-Great grandparents.

 

However, for several reasons, I didn’t have the story of Thomas and Mary Bell ready in time. Firstly, I became ill while only up to the indexing of the material. Secondly, I found photographs and documents, that I had filed away safely during our bushfire crises this last year, and had forgotten about them. They needed to be included- and thirdly, I received a  DNA match (of a very small amount), with people in England, who are connected to the female line of ‘Battlemore’ or more correctly ‘Bartholomew’.

 

The DNA research trail is something I have recently embraced although I know it is only a ‘tool’ rather than the answer to research problems. Although everyone was a little disappointed I didn’t bring all the material with me this year, they all know I will eventually get it done. They are very excited about what might come out of the DNA connection. Particularly, to my delight, several of my first cousins received DNA Kits for gifts at Christmas! They have at last sent their samples away and are awaiting results. Everyone is most interested to see how it might help with our ancestral quest.

 

Another plus with all my work and sharing with these cousins each year, it has now begun to bear fruit. Some of my cousin’s, now adult children, have begun their own family history journey. One visited Picton and the surrounding area and was able to identify and photograph family homes still standing after over 150 years; the old farm, with the sign still at the front gate; family headstones in cemeteries, once crumbling and overgrown, now cleared and restored beautifully;  and the historic Picton Anglican Church, St Mark’s, restored after severe flooding a few years ago. All this material they put together as a slide show with video clips. All to music in glorious colour to be enjoyed by members of our family.

 

I know I do not have to worry about the future of our family histories. They are in the good hands of the next generation.