Help finding William Chandler

Miss W. Bryant, Chandler , ,

On WikiTree this week, the challenge is from the London Westminster and Middlesex Family History Society. I replied that I would try to help with their research but I also commented that I had a brickwall from Enfield area which is a place covered by the society. A reply from Elizabeth asked could they help me. So this post is about what I know about my great great grandfather.

William Chandler arrived in Hobart Town, Tasmania on 15 February 1855 on board the ship Fortitude. It had sailed  from Plymouth on 1 November 1854.  According to the arrival record he was aged 22. He was one of 147 immigrants under the bounty system and his passage was certified by John Leake, a large property owner in the midlands of Tasmania. William’s single ticket was number 227. James Axton, ticket number 230, also went to John Leake as a gardener the same as William. He was also from Middlesex, was 23, could read and write and was Church of England like William.  Book 5, pages 191-192

George Jobson, his wife and two sons from Yorkshire also went to John Leake’s property as a coachman and general servant. The family were also Church of England.

Caroline Bryant was a worker at Rosedale with Leake family at same time as William Chandler. She took over as housemaid from Susan Green in April 1857. page 216

Had William known Caroline back in London and asked John Leake if he could organize for her to come out as an immigrant? Or did they first meet at Rosedale?

In 1859, William married Caroline Bryant who had arrived with her mother Charlotte on 19 January 1856. They came from London to Sydney on the ship La Hogue then by steamer to Tasmania. The person who applied for them to come out was R.W. Nutt, an important solicitor in Hobart Town at the time. Book 34, pages 203-204

On the marriage certificate for William and Caroline, he was 24 and she was 22. One of the witnesses was R. G Winter who was Caroline’s brother in law and married to Esther Julia Bryant back in London. Esther’s mother Charlotte had applied for her daughter, son in law and his parents to come out to Tasmania. They left London on 7 October 1856, arrived Hobart Town on 29 December 1856 on the ship Woodcote. Pages 18-21

The other witness at the marriage was Emma Minns who arrived also on the Woodcote with her parents and sister.

By the time of his marriage, William was a gardener at Government House and was sometimes mentioned in the diaries of Lady Gore Browne, wife of the governor.

Children of William and Caroline. Might be helpful to find parents and siblings of William if naming pattern followed.

  • Julia Charlotte 1860 – 1905
  • William Charles 1863 – 1944
  • Robert Henry 1865 – 1929
  • Mary Ann Eliza 1867 – 1940
  • Caroline Louisa 1870 – 1958
  • Sarah 1872 – 1873
  • George Edward 1874 – 1918
  • Ada Ellen 1877 – 1955
  • Fanny Ethel 1882 – 1951

What have I found prior to his arrival in Hobart Town?

1. I have found a William Chandler from Enfield, Middlesex aged 16, unmarried and a gardener lodging with the family of John and Jane Frayne living at Railway Gate House in the district of Edmonton in 1851 English census. The family is still there in the 1861 census but William is not there anymore.

Class: HO107; Piece: 1703; Folio: 221; Page: 18; GSU roll: 193611

2. There is a possible baptism on 10 Jan. 1835 at St Leonard’s, Shoreditch, Hackney, England

Father John Chandler and mother Mary Chandler nee Youngman??

3.  There is a possible baptism on 4 Aug. 1833 at St Andrew, Enfield, Enfield, England

Father Daniel Chandler and mother Mary Chandler nee Chivers??

4.  From 1841 census with parents Daniel (a carpenter) and Mary  Class: HO107; Piece: 653; Book: 2; Civil Parish: Enfield; County: Middlesex; Enumeration District: 3; Folio: 25; Page: 7; Line: 22; GSU roll: 438772

Hope this information and the links included can help Elizabeth find some more information about William Chandler my great great grandfather.

UPDATE: I was listening to a talk about gardeners in Tasmania and William was mentioned. The speaker Ann Cripps has written a book including a chapter on the Chandler family. I found a library with a copy of the book and this information now takes me to Williams employment back in England.

For two years 1852-1854 William had been working for, and living with William Everett Esquire at Chase Side which was an estate in Enfield.

My recent research

Miss W. Wikitree

Untitled

A few weeks ago, I was on Wikitree when I saw in their chat feed called G2G (Genealogist to genealogist) a post about researching disasters in Australia as part of the Disaster Project worldwide.  A couple of mining disasters were mentioned relating to Tasmania – the Breisis tin mine at Derby on the north east coast and the North Mount Lyell mining disaster at Gormanston on the west coast.

I replied back that I would start researching the Mount Lyell disaster as a few of my dad’s relatives were survivors back on 12 October 1912 – the Dawson brothers Albert, Henry and Alexander (dad’s actual grandfather on his maternal line).

The person organizing the Australian disasters set up the template for the page including a brief summary of the disaster and a table already  including those who perished and known info about their family – this meant 42 new profiles to create and research. A couple of profiles had already been created by other people and they had started writing their biographies so I left them alone.

After creating the profiles, it was time to research each person and add sources onto their profile. I created the Research Notes section to add all the sources in. That meant other people could also use them to write their biographies if they wanted or were related. I already had some information about where the men might have been born, married or had children so I checked the BDMs in mainly Tasmania and Victoria where the majority of men were from. I added this information in the Research Notes area under a bold heading of Family information to be added then I started checking Trove for newspaper reports about the disaster and adding those sources to each man who was mentioned. Some newspaper articles mentioned lots of people so I added them just on the North Mount Lyell main page.

It was about this time that Wikitree was running a Connect-a-thon where we try to connect lots of new people to the worldwide tree and adding sources for the new information. Now was the time to add in the family members I had found and use the BDMs or newspaper reports as the official sources. I only got to add info for 10 of the men and their families.

The future

I can see this project will keep me going for a long time, as I also want to add in the survivors and their families (second table created by me after following the coding from the first table). The Humane Society also gave awards to those who went back in to save trapped miners and bring up the bodies of those who perished. I have created a table for that and will add to these two tables as I find more information from newspaper reports.

Doing this project gives me the chance to head back to the west coast and re-visit the museum at Queenstown which is full of information about the disaster. Maybe when the weather gets warmer!

Readers: Did you have a relative who died in a mining disaster anywhere in the world?

PS: If you are a Wikitree member and had a relative die at Mount Lyell please feel free to take over as manager for their profile page.

Have I found Caroline Bryant?

Miss W. Biography, Bryant , , , , , , , ,

When I write the biographies of my ancestors, I try to make sure I have records for their birth and names of parents as well as siblings. This sometimes involves a lot of research. If they were born in Tasmania, then the records are nearly all digitized.

But I am now researching my great great grandmother Caroline Chandler nee Bryant. I have researched her life in Tasmania:

  • her arrival with her mother in 1856 at age 17
  • her marriage in 1859  at age 22 then birth of her children
  • her death in 1919 in her 80th year

But I have yet to find out when and where she was born exactly back in England.

Clues to finding her birth

  1. Her mother was Charlotte Bryant – from arrival records into Tasmania – January 1856
  2. Her father was Dr Bryant – from death notice as Chandler
  3. Her sister was Esther Julia Winter nee Bryant – Robert Winter was informant at Caroline’s marriage
  4. On Esther’s marriage in 1852, a Caroline Bryant was witness. Father: Henry Bryant – surgeon Couple living Barclay Street
  5. The Winter family and his parents were sponsored by Charlotte Bryant – arrival records into Tasmania – December 1856
  6. She possibly had a younger brother called Charles who was supposed to come with them to Tasmania

Clues from census records

1841 census at Tottenham, parish Saint Pancras

  • Henry Weight 35 surgeon yes – born in parish
  • Charlotte Bryant 35 – no
  • Henry Bryant 9 – yes
  • Caroline Bryant 3 – yes
  • Emily Bryant 1 – yes

1851 census at 40 Barclay Street, Saint Pancras

  • Charlotte Bryant – Head – unmarried – 46 – dressmaker – born Arundel, Sussex
  • Julia Bryant – daughter – unmarried – 23 – house servant – born St Pancras, Middlesex
  • Henry Bryant – son – unmarried – 18 – jeweller – born St Pancras, Middlesex
  • Caroline Bryant – daughter – unmarried – 12 – scholar – born St Pancras, Middlesex
  • Charles Bryant – son – unmarried – 7 – scholar – born St Pancras, Middlesex

So from these clues Caroline could be born in 1837-1839 in St Pancras parish.

I checked the Free BMD website putting Caroline Bryant from Sep 1837 to Dec 1839 and the county of Middlesex.

Only one result so I ordered the birth certificate: St Pancras volume 1 page 273

  • Superintendent Registrar’s District – Saint Pancras
  • Registrar’s District – Tottenham
  • 1838 Birth in district of Tottenham in county of Middlesex
  • 9 June 1838 quarter before 8 Clock? at No 21 Warren Street
  • Caroline – girl
  • Father Henry Bryant a servant
  • Mother Charlotte Bryant formerly White
  • Registered 17 August 1838 by John Wells?? registrar Joseph Journey Supt Regd??

Looking at all the addresses mentioned in records: Warren Street, Cleveland Street, Barclay Street are all in Saint Pancras district and what is now Fitzrovia and Somers Town area and are only about 800 metres between them.

Readers: Do you think I could safely say this is my Caroline? Or do I need to find the births of the siblings to prove it is same parents? Would it be possible for Henry Bryant to become a surgeon between Caroline’s birth in 1838 and Esther’s marriage in 1852? Henry was a shoemaker at Esther’s birth in 1827 and living at Cleveland Street. Henry the brother also says his father was a surgeon when he married in 1851.