Bryant

The census suggests

Miss W. #52ancestors, Bryant , , , , ,

In Australia we rarely have any census records so Electoral Rolls are the best way to find out where a person lived at a certain time in their lives. Before finding out my grandfather was English, I didn’t get back to any census until about the 1850’s in England. And one of these records made me wonder…..

 

Here was my great great grandmother Caroline Bryant in the 1851 census age 12, living with her mother and three other siblings. A couple of unusual things I noticed about this record:

  • Her mother Charlotte is unmarried but has four children
  • Each child is born about five years apart
  • Her mother is a dressmaker

I know this is the correct family as I have DNA matches from descendants of Henry and Charles. Julia married but had no children so no descendants there.

So a few questions relating to this census:

  • Who is the father of the children?
  • Where is he in the census?
  • Why a child born every five years? Was the father a sailor or a crew member that returned every five years?
  • Why is Charlotte a dressmaker on the census but a cook when she arrives in Tasmania in 1856?

On the 1841 census, there is a Henry Weight -surgeon- at the bottom of the page before Charlotte and her children are on top of the next page. Could he be the father? The children on their marriage certificates say their father is Henry Bryant a surgeon.

Questions and more questions – will I ever know the answers?

 

V for Van Diemen’s Land

Miss W. Boyd, Bryant, Chandler, Colgrave, convict, Davey, Dawson, Dixon, England, Hearn, Jackson, Pickering, Sutton, Virco, Watkins , , , ,

The state I live in is now called Tasmania but was once called Van Diemen’s Land.

The Palawa or Aboriginal Tasmanians were first on this island. When the rising sea level cut off the island from the mainland of Australia, the Palawa were isolated from contact with the aborigines on the mainland.

Their first knowledge of Europeans was when Abel Janzsoon Tasman landed in 1642 and planted a Dutch flag near what is now the town of Dunalley on what was then called Blackman Bay. There was no contact with the aborigines though.

It was at this time the island was named Anthoonij van Diemenslandt (Anthony Van Diemen’s land). This was in honour of the Governor General of the Dutch East Indies.

During the early colonisation of Australia the name Van Diemen’s Land (VDL) was used and it was part of the colony of New South Wales. But in 1825, VDL became a colony in its own right. Then on 1 January 1856, it was renamed Tasmania.

The new name was to celebrate Tasman as the early explorer but also to get rid of the notorious convict past of VDL.

Tasmania 1644

How does VDL relate to my family?

Nearly all my ancestors first arrived when the colony was known as VDL.

Convicts:

  • Francis Colgrave – 1832 – ship Circassian
  • Isabella Watkins(on) – 1841 – Garland Grove
  • John Holliday Boyd – 1836 – Henry Porcher
  • Martha Virco nee Hearn – 1839 – Hindostan
  • John England – 1846 – Pestonjee Bomanjee
  • Rebecca Jackson – 1847 – Waverley
  • William Dawson – 1850 – Maria Somes (2)
  • Catherine McKay – 1848 – Cadet (3)
  • Mathew Sutton – 1840 – Mandarin
  • Mary McCrewney – 1848 – Kinnear (2)

Free settlers:

  • John Davey – 1854 – Wanderer
  • David and Mary Dixon nee Pickering – 1841 – Andromeda
  • William Chandler – 1855 – Fortitude
  • Caroline Bryant – 19 Jan 1856 – La Hogue – would have arrived during celebrations of new name Tasmania

Time Travelling

Miss W. Bryant, Chandler, WikiTree , ,

 

My answer

I would head to Enfield in London in the early 1850’s to chat with my great great grandfather William Chandler. I would ask him about his parents and where they lived, any siblings he had and why he decided to become a gardener.

I would also ask him whether he already knew his future wife Caroline Bryant before he came to Van Diemen’s Land in 1855.

Readers: Where and when would you go?