NSW Government Gazette

[Oakum Picker]

Can anyone tell what the lists in the above are for?

My 4xggf Joshua HAILEY was transported in 1832. He was sent first to Campbelltown & on his ToL of 1841 he was allowed to remain in Yass District. His CP of 1849 doesn't mention anywhere.

I now find in the above for 1863 amongst several lists:
2 HAILEY Joshua, Forbes

I feel it can only refer to him as I'm pretty sure there are no other Joshua HAILEYs in Australia but I don't know what it means.

It's here:
http://search.findmypast.co.uk/recor...hlights=%22%22

Thanks.

[Oakum Picker]

I'm even more confused now as they appear to be unclaimed letters!!

[kiterunner]

There were certainly lots of lists of unclaimed letters printed in the NSW Government Gazette. The 2 is probably number of letters. I can't view the image to check.

[marquette]

I imagine a lot of people coming to the colony had no way of knowing what address they might have, especially during the "goldrush" so you told someone to write care of the post office. If you did not claim your letters within a certain time, they were returned to the central GPO and they published a list in the Gazette, in the hope that you would see it and go and get it. The lists of unclaimed letters were also sometimes published in the newspapers, who republished a lot of the Gazette for the general population. However, one never knows, now, if the letters were ever collected.

Joshua Hailey's letters must have been held at Forbes PO, but he did not go to the post office there in the alloted time, maybe he had moved on to another district

Forbes was a big gold mining district - in 1862, Frank Gardener and Ben Hall (bushrangers) held up the police-escorted Mail coach at "Escort Rock" between Forbes and Orange and absconded with over 2700 ounces of gold and 3700 pounds in cash - a large fortune in those times.

[Oakum Picker]

Thanks both.

I was just surprised as I wouldn't have expected him to be in contact with home assuming that's what 'Ship Letters' mean.

I have never been able to find his death. The closest I've come is for a John with possibly a different surname spelling (it's been 10 years) but the cert. had no other details although it was in Yass District. It occurred some time in 1863 which I was thinking might explain the non-collection of a letter that year.

Straw grasping!!

[marquette]

Although the death indexes don't show any details other than age, (ie no parents) there may well be some other details on the actual certificate - it might say how long he had been in the colony, and may even give the arrival ship, if the informant knew.

I found some old posts through google, which may be your earlier attempts to find him, which said he left wife and family behind when transported, which may be why there were few personal details for him - although that did not always stop anyone. But if he did not have a close relationship like a wife, who was there to tell about the family left behind ?

There was also a post which said death certificate showed Cause of death Drowning and no other details. Was this you ? Does it say exactly where he drowned ? "Yass" covered a very big area at that time. I am also surprised I cannot find a coroners inquest easily (like in Trove), but will keep looking. Ancestry have some inquests indexes online, but I don't know much about them Dates etc).

[Oakum Picker]

Thanks for your continued interest. Yes, the posts are mine, I'm the only one doing original research on this family as far as I'm aware.

I don't have the death cert. to hand, I was hoping it was on the laptop 2 back in my bedroom but it's likely to be on the desktop 3 back sitting in the summer house. If it's before that I no longer have it. I have a cousin who probably does, I'll ask for a copy.

I keep coming back to him when some possible info. crops up but as you saw from the earlier enquiry nothing pans out.

[marquette]

Convict records vary greatly in the spelling - especially those for convicts with no close family in the colony, away from Sydney, just a name and no details, spelling not at all what it was in other records. It makes them difficult to trace, and to me John Haley seems a reasonable prospect for Joshua's death, given lack of anything else.

If you can find the death cert, or get a copy, or details, we might be able to track down where it happened and look for other records.

I want to look at another inquest indexed in the ancestry records, so I can look for John Haley at the same time. Will also look for Joshua Hailey, as not all inquests had a separate death registration, an anomaly of the times.

The index and I think the records are on microfilm in the NSW ARK (Archives Resources Kit) which is a large batch of microfilms distributed to local studies libraries in the days before the internet. It is still useful for stuff not yet digitised. But it will take me a couple of weeks to have a free day to go to the library.

Di

[marquette]

Originally Posted by Oakum Picker

Thanks for your continued interest.

I just solved a mystery that has bugged me for several years, finding the death of Thomas Milham alias Sheather, who no-one else had discovered was not called Thomas Williams.

So I am feeling in a detective mood at the moment and ready to hunt down those elusive ancestors !

[Oakum Picker]

Hi Marquette,

I've found the death cert.