Mind readers needed.

[HarrysMum]

Can anyone tell me what the dickens Myles Ariel Clark was doing in Toowoomba,Qld in 1863????

Myles was the son of "no longer missing" Agatha, and Edward Clark. He was born in 1843 in Bristol.

I've found a record of a letter at the dead letter office in Brisbane, Qld for Myles Ariel Clark. It was from UK and addressed to Toowoomba. Myles would have been aged 20. He was certainly back in Bristol in 1868 to marry Mary Ann Elizabeth Rockett.

The only thing I can think of is that he may have come to look for his missing uncle, Myles Ariel, but he'd been missing since 1855, and if the Clarks hated the Ariels enough to divorce them, would a 20 year old nephew come here??

I would love to think he was looking for his mother, Agatha, but I'm not convinced.

[Merry]

No idea, but who is the Myles Ariel who is respectfully soliciting pupils for the piano forte in the Brisbane Courier around that date?

[marquette]

No idea, but who is the Myles Ariel who is respectfully soliciting pupils for the piano forte in the Brisbane Courier around that date?

No, its Mrs Myles Ariel soliciting for pupils at Claremont House, Spring Hill, having arrived with children on the steamer Telegraph the previous year (1862).

Do you know who she was ?

Di

[HarrysMum]

That's Emily Ariel who taught piano. She was the wife of Myles who went missing on his way to the goldfields.

She was Myles Ariel Clark's aunt by marriage. Emily came to Australia with her husband, Myles and children, Myles, Emilie and Richard in 1853. They lived in Sydney and her husband went missing. She came to Brisbane and later married Sydney Beaven Davis and went on to have more children.

They are all accounted for.............just no idea why Agatha's son is here???

[Mary from Italy]

I'd assumed the family knew Agatha had died by then - the trust fund relating to her annuity refers to her as Agatha Giacobbe otherwise Clark, deceased, and the last payment was made in the 1850s. I suppose she could have claimed on the fund from Paris without the family's knowledge, but assuming the family knew about the fund, they could presumably have made enquiries in the Court of Chancery and found out about her remarriage and death.

I would think it's more likely he'd been sent to look for Myles Ariel. Only speculating, though.

[Mary from Italy]

Queensland, Australia, Passenger Lists, 1848-1912

Myles A Clark / abt 1843 / Brisbane / 18 May 1863 / Light Brigade

No other Clarks or Ariels on the same list.

[HarrysMum]

I suppose they would have known Agatha was dead by then, but I can't work out why they wanted any contact with the Ariels.

I'd love to know what the children were told...........it was probably nothing at the time of the divorce, but you'd think later....

Myles Ariel Clark would have been studying law (or finished) by 1863 so could have easily found out about the divorce, yet all of his children were give Ariel as a name.

Got me stumped!!! lol

[HarrysMum]

Mary...............where did you find that?????? I've been looking hours.

[Mary from Italy]

Queensland Land Orders Index 1861-1874

SURNAME/Company Name / GIVEN NAMES / Page / Land Order No. / Year / Item ID / Prev Sys / M/film No.

CLARK / Myles A / - / 1486 / 1863 / 18764 / IMM/247 / Z1570

The cost for each page required is $6.00.

http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/research/index/LandsSold_1861_1874.asp

[Mary from Italy]

Mary...............where did you find that?????? I've been looking hours.

The passenger list is on Ancestry:

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1856

and on the Qld Indexes site:

http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/research/index/immigration.asp

Ancestry doesn't have the image, but you can order it from the Qld Archives (if you're lucky it might state the purpose of the visit or names of relatives in the colony).

[HarrysMum]

Ooooh thank you.

I haven't had Ancestry for a while, but didn't find it in Qld Archives either....lol

I will order that.

[Mary from Italy]

Emily's on the list of teachers in Qld, although I don't suppose there's anything particularly interesting in the index:

http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/downloads/Indexes/Teachers_A-Cooney.pdf

[Mary from Italy]

Did you see the land transaction entry I posted upthread? Looks like he was in Qld on business of some kind.

[Uncle John]

Queensland, Australia, Passenger Lists, 1848-1912

Myles A Clark / abt 1843 / Brisbane / 18 May 1863 / Light Brigade

Can't tell you anything about the people but I've got a potted history of the "Light Brigade" which was one of the later Black Ball clippers. She became famous in 1864 as a troop-carrier to the Maori Wars.

[HarrysMum]

Thanks UJ........I'm sure I have someone on a tree who came here on the Light Brigade (apart from the above fellow).

Thanks Mary...........I'm ordering all those records this morning. Odd that he was soooo close to where Emily was at the time.

[Kit]

It's a shame you can't get a copy of that letter at the dead letter office. It could answer many of your questions.

[kiterunner]

Maybe he collected it.

[HarrysMum]

Kit....I have sent off an email to the archives to see if anything like that is kept. I doubt it though.

Kite......maybe they'll have something about whether the letter was collected or trashed..