John West Clark

Irene SOMERS

Miss W. Biography, Smith, Somers , , , , , , , , ,

According to her birth certificate, Nellie SOMERS was born on 20 May 1889 to Thomas Somers and Alice Somers nee O’Keefe. Alice was living at Georges Bay area in the north east of Tasmania. No marriage has been found for Thomas and Alice though.

Nellie had many siblings but it is not proven yet if they are full siblings or half siblings as the father is not mentioned on many of the birth certificates.

  • Kate Clarke born 4 Feb 1893 parents as West Clarke and Alice O’Keefe Clarke then baptised as Kate Clarke on 28 March 1893 with parents John Clarke and Alice Clarke
  • William Henry Somers born 6 Dec 1894 mother Alice Somers at Lottah, but baptised as William Henry Clark on 28 Jan 1895 parents as Wes Clark and Alice Somers
  • Jessie May Somers born 15 May 1897 mother Alice Somers but baptised as Jessie May Clark on 14 Dec 1898 parents as John West Clark and Alice O’Keefe
  • Joseph Edward Somers born 30 Oct 1898 mother Alice Somers but baptised as Joseph Edward Clark on 14 Dec 1898 parents as John West Clark and Alice O’Keefe
  • Herbert Francis Somers born 4 Feb 1901 with mother as Alice Somers O’Keefe and her having been married in 1885 in Melbourne but no father for Herbert.

West Clarke was a contractor in Gould Country in north east Tasmania. The following was reported in The Mercury in May 1897.

At some stage in the next twenty years, Nellie moved to Queenstown. It was here that she met Alexander Dawson and had a daughter with him. It is unknown if he knew he was a father at that time. This has been proven through DNA.

This daughter, Irene Ellen Gertrude born in July 1909 on Bruny Island, was brought up by Nellie and her husband Robert Edward SMITH. No marriage has been found for Nellie and Robert but in the Hobart birth records for Robert Edward Ivan Smith in 1910, a marriage for his parents is mentioned as 16 April 1908 at Gormanston on the west coast of Tasmania.

Married life and children

  • Irene Ellen Gertrude 1909-1988
  • Robert Edward Ivan 1910-1910
  • William Henry Basil 1911-1988
  • Madelene Constance Victoria 1912-1999
  • Myra Isobella (Pat) 1913-2003
  • Olga Phyllis 1915-1969
  • Jack 1918-2000
  • Sarah Ellen (Sally) 1919-1968
  • Thomas Allan 1921-2003
  • David 1923-2010
  • Mervyn Leslie 1925-2002
  • Ruby Margaret 1927-2010
  • James Henry (Tony) 1929 –
  • Maxwell Brian 1931-1993
Nellie with two of her children Ruby and Max.

We can follow the family’s moves by looking at the electoral rolls.

  • 1914 – living at Ramsgate in the Esperance municipality and Robert was a  sawmiller.
  • 1919 – living at Garden Island Creek near Port Cygnet and Robert working as a mill hand.
  • 1922 – living in Scottsdale with Robert working as a sawmiller.
  • 1928 – living at 4 Antill Street, Hobart. Robert was a wharf labourer and Nellie home duties.
  • 1937 – living at Oyster Cove and Robert earning a wage as a labourer.
  • 1949 – living at 307A Liverpool Street. Living at home with Nellie and Robert were David (a trainee), Jack (plasterer) and Mervyn Leslie (labourer).

Nellie died on 4 June 1952 and it was reported in the papers.

A bereavement notice was put in the local paper in July by her husband and family who were still living at the same address.

An inquest was held into the death of Nellie. She left home about 2pm with the intention to visit her daughter Irene Ellen Wyatt at the Albion Hotel where she worked. But Nellie did not visit her. She was found the next day, floating near the Domain Slipyards. The coroner found her death to be asphyxia by drowning but no idea how she came to be in the water.

Irene Nellie and her husband Robert Edward Smith (died 1964) are buried together at Cornelian Bay in the Church of England section B53

Memories of Irene Nellie from my father, her grandson. 

When his mother, Irene Ellen Gertrude Smith was walking him home to Goulburn Street, they would sometimes drop in to the house at Liverpool Street to visit his grandparents.

Lottah – town of prosperity

Miss W. General info, Somers , , , , , ,

Looking at the occupation of many of my  direct male relatives, I find that farmer and miner were the most common. Those who were miners were either in the north east of Tasmania or on the west coast of Tasmania. This week I will look at one person in the north east where you can find a trail of the tin dragon between Launceston and St Helens.

Tin was the main mineral found in this area of Tasmania but there was some gold and coal as well. By the mid 1870’s, there were over a dozen towns built up around tin mining. The most important of these was Derby and the Briseis Tin Mine which closed in 1956. But in 1929, there was a terrible mining disaster in Derby.

In the 1870’s, tin was fetching £40 – £50 per ton. In 1927 it was up to £297/18/11 but a year later had dropped to £227/11 per ton. Prosperous tin mining was now in decline.

Personal memories

Whenever our family stayed at St Helens for holidays, we would always head to Derby for the day to look over the school house museum and check out the history of mining in the area at the tin mine centre. Or we would  check out Gould Country and the Blue Tier, bashing our way through ferns and scrub to where dad thought some mining equipment, especially stampers, could be found.

 

Relatives in the North East at Lottah

But for my family history it was the area of the Blue Tier and Lottah township that was important as that is where my supposed great great grandfather Thomas Somers/Summers worked as a miner according to the birth certificate of my great grandmother Nellie Somers and her siblings. Georges Bay is now known as St Helens in the district of Portland.

The only time Thomas is mentioned in person is on the above certificate; the siblings certificates do not have a fathers name mentioned except Kate’s. So there is some confusion as to who might be the true father of Nellie’s siblings –  is it Thomas Somers or John West Clark? What happened in the four years between Nellie’s birth in 1889 and Kate’s in 1893? Why the name change for father?

  • Kate Clarke born 4 Feb 1893 parents as West Clarke and Alice O’Keefe Clarke then baptised as Kate Clarke on 28 March 1893 with parents John Clarke and Alice Clarke
  • William Henry Somers born 6 Dec 1894 but baptised as William Henry Clark on 28 Jan 1895 parents as Wes Clark and Alice Somers
  • Jessie May Somers born 15 May 1897 but baptised as Jessie May Clark on 14 Dec 1898 parents as John West Clark and Alice O’Keefe
  • Joseph Edward Somers born 30 Oct 1898 but baptised as Joseph Edward Clark on 14 Dec 1898 parents as John West Clark and Alice O’Keefe
  • Herbert Francis Somers born 4 Feb 1901 with mother as Alice Somers O’Keefe and her having been married in 1885 in Melbourne but no father for Herbert.

DNA has proved my father is related to William Henry Somers/Clark and at least four of his descendants as full 2nd cousins or 2C1R or the amount of cMs also mean they could be half cousins. So with Alice O’Keefe/Somers/Clark as the common parent we still can’t be sure of the fathers.

I can’t find any marriage for Alice O’Keefe to either Thomas Somers/Summers or John West Clark(e) in Melbourne or anywhere else in Australia.

According to Kate Crellin nee Clark’s death notice she had 4 sisters and 3 brothers. So who are Alice Clark, Mary Clark and Emily Clark? Who are their parents and where were they born?

Present day Lottah

Lottah nowadays is a ghost town, seen here in this ABC radio article. But at one point in time the wheel at the Anchor mine near Lottah was the largest in the world and the actual township had about 40 houses, hotels, churches, school and a thriving community.

 

All photos are copyrighted to my father.

Readers: Have any of your relatives been miners? Where and when?