Histories and Mysteries
My husband's sixteen great-great-grandparents
‘Mightier Acorns’ suggests that family historians should give more attention to “tracing and documenting all 16 great-grandparents”.
I agree. I recently wrote about mine.
Here are the sixteen great great grandparents of my husband Greg with links to their Wikitree profiles.
George Edward Young (abt. 1826 - 1890)
Caroline (Clarke) Young (abt. 1835 - 1879)
Margaret (Smyth) Plowright (1834 - 1897)
William Sullivan (abt. 1839 - ?) or maybe William Durham (1840 - ?)
Matilda Frances (Darby) Sullivan (abt. 1845 - ?)
Francis Gilbart Edwards (1848 - 1913)
Caroline (Ralph) Edwards (1850 - 1896)
Almost all of these people were immigrants and mostly born in the United Kingdom; all except Isaac and Eliza Dawson came to the Colony of Victoria in Australia.
They were born between 1823 and 1850 and died between 1872 and 1913.
Their age at marriage was between 17 and 28. The average age of the men at marriage was 24; the youngest was 19 and the oldest 28. For women it was just over 19; the youngest woman was 17 and the oldest 25.
Their age at death was from 41 to 85; the average was nearly 62.
These are the bare facts, and it would be pleasant to suppose that they provide a firm base for well-documented family histories. Not so easy. From this point it's all too often mysteries, not histories. As Spooner is supposed to have said, 'You have hissed all my mystery lessons'.
Who were the parents of George Young, born in Liverpool? I have found some cousins by DNA matching but this hasn't helped.
Who were the parents of Caroline Clarke? She stated she was born in Tumut, New South Wales, but she also said Sydney, many miles away. The facts dry up.
Is William Sullivan perhaps the same man as William Durham? DNA evidence suggests this is the case. What happened to William after he abandoned his wife and family in about 1863.
What happened to Matilda Darby after she failed to appear in court in 1866?
I look forward to researching and writing more about Greg’s great great grandparents.I hope I can get past some of the muddle and mystery to what actually happened.