Family lore and a sad success story

[Ammanda Schutz]

Family lore and the truth sometimes reconcile. My Grandfather said of his upbringing that his Mother had died in a house fire in Newcastle, NSW when he was quite young and that he and his older brother were raised by an Aunt. There was never a mention of his father nor other members of the family.
For years I had searched in vain for records of my GGrandmother Josephine James nee Page and her parents and siblings. For a long time I had thought that she had come to NSW on her own from England but it seems that her parents and brothers emigrated as well, although I am still unable to find their immigration/shipping records.
After the marriage of Josephine to Henry James and the birth of her two sons there were no records of her or her parents and siblings.
Thanks to the NSW Coroners' Inquest data I have found the death of both Josephine and her father Joseph Page.
Josephine died in 1896 from burns accidentally received while living at Newcastle. Her mother Elizabeth died three years later and her father died as a result of self inflicted gunshot wound while at home at Leichhardt, Sydney in 1904. He was 76 years old and living alone. A neighbour discovered his body.
Josephine had re-married and although I had the record of a marriage to Thomas Williams I could not verify that it was my Josephine. I still have not found the death of Henry James nor a divorce record. However, the personal details from the Inquest prove that it was her and that my Grandfather's account of his young life was true. She was 34 years old. Even more sorrowful was the fact that she had three daughters with her new husband and all of them died before they were two years old.
Such a sad end that I almost wish I hadn't tried so hard to find it.

[tenterfieldjulie]

Oh Ammanda how sad, but you cared enough to persist and that is very important. Hugs. Life was so hard in those days and the infant mortality rate was so high. It makes you realise how precious life is and what sacrifices they had to make to survive. Often there was no help when tragedy's ocurred and many diseases were not understood. We now have a much better understanding of PND, Depression, Alchoholism, Eating Disorders, Childhood conditions - things never heard of then and not understood at all. You now know the tragic ending of their lives, but there were obvious many joyous occasions too, so their ending is not the summary of their lives, but only a very sad ending and they had descendants to continue their story.

[Ammanda Schutz]

Thanks, Julie. This has brought me low. Strange that we should care about people we did not know. Perhaps I am feeling the effects of worry about my family in Brisbane and then finding out about the sad end of two members of the same family.
My family in Brisbane suffered no damage except to the work places of two of them who work down town. I feel fortunate when I compare it to how much Libby's family has suffered.
Never mind, Brisbane will recover and there will be more discoveries to make us happy.

[Nell]

Hi Ammanda

Often what we uncover is sad and of course tragic things tend to leave more records than joyful ones and get more coverage in newspapers.

But you have found out what happened and can honour the memories.

I think most of us will have found infant deaths - sometimes several - in families and that's always sad especially as so often its from easily-preventable causes. I've no idea why people talk about "the good old days".