One of the intriguing things I've discovered researching family history is that information often comes obliquely, from an unexpected source.
This happened recently when I found a geanealogy webpage (Black & Williams Families Dural) about Mary Black (nee Williams) at whose wedding my great great grandfather, George Mawbey, was a witness while living at Dural.
George's wife and my great great grandmother was Ann Williams and I was wondering if there was a family connection between her and Mary.
*
So I contacted the author of the website - a great great grandaughter of Mary Black (nee Williams) - and was told there was not.
I did learn, however, the names of Mary's parents - Thomas and Charlotte (nee Kentwell) - and that they had married at St John's Church of England at Parramatta in 1820.
*
Then I came across a digitalised newspaper advertisement from The Empire, Monday 2 April 1855 with a list of subscribers to the Patriotic Fund, set up to assist British widows and orphans of men fighting against Russia in the Crimean War.
*
The list contained many of the names I already knew:
George Mawbey's contribution was also £0
G T Hunt's was £2 2 0 (2 guineas).
*
Two of the contributors to the Patriotic Fund in the nearby district of Castle Hill were:
And if this might be why the Mawbey's first child to be christened at Dural was named John Thomas.
Coincidentally, Mary and Henry Black's first child was also named John Thomas, after Henry's father, John, and Mary's father, Thomas.
I'll see if I can track down David Williams and his parents on Ancestry.com.
This happened recently when I found a geanealogy webpage (Black & Williams Families Dural) about Mary Black (nee Williams) at whose wedding my great great grandfather, George Mawbey, was a witness while living at Dural.
George's wife and my great great grandmother was Ann Williams and I was wondering if there was a family connection between her and Mary.
*
So I contacted the author of the website - a great great grandaughter of Mary Black (nee Williams) - and was told there was not.
I did learn, however, the names of Mary's parents - Thomas and Charlotte (nee Kentwell) - and that they had married at St John's Church of England at Parramatta in 1820.
*
Then I came across a digitalised newspaper advertisement from The Empire, Monday 2 April 1855 with a list of subscribers to the Patriotic Fund, set up to assist British widows and orphans of men fighting against Russia in the Crimean War.
*
The list contained many of the names I already knew:
- Thomas Williams II, his wife and three daughters, including Mary.
- Henry and John Black (Mary married the former and the latter was a witness at her wedding)
- G (George) T and Charles Hunt (the former was a witness at the wedding and also Mary's brother-in-law having married to her older sister, Elizabeth, in 1842)
- George Mawbey (a witness at the wedding)
- Joseph and James Roughley, pioneers of the district
George Mawbey's contribution was also £0
G T Hunt's was £2 2 0 (2 guineas).
*
Two of the contributors to the Patriotic Fund in the nearby district of Castle Hill were:
- John Williams (eldest son of Thomas Williams II; b.1822)
- John Kentwell (younger brother of Thomas Williams II's wife, Charlotte)
And if this might be why the Mawbey's first child to be christened at Dural was named John Thomas.
Coincidentally, Mary and Henry Black's first child was also named John Thomas, after Henry's father, John, and Mary's father, Thomas.
I'll see if I can track down David Williams and his parents on Ancestry.com.
