Problems I have had in finding out about my ancestor
It started with the family bible
which had Thomas Wood’s date of birth, date of marriage and date of death. Finding out about his family was a bit more difficult. I did find people in Australia who had the same surname and it was a little hard to get good details (remember this was the pre internet era and letters were the way to communicate).
Gazetter excitement
I remember how excited I was when I found the small village of Wombwell listed in a Gazeteer. I thought it might all fall in to place. Alas, it was not so.I did find a person who had the name Dr Harry Reginald Wombwell Hawson. This was the same name as the town that TWH was born in it seemed to be appropriate to contact him. I did not get a lot of information but did hear that there was a relative of his, Harold Hawson who travel led to Mildura and later went back to England.As this correlated with another source in Australia who had the same information, it seemed that we had started hitting pay dirt.
Solicitor’s letter from Yorkshire
My father received a letter from Rotheras solicitors in Yorkshire talking about the will of a George Hawson deceased and this filled in some more details. Unfortunately, the amount of money left in the will after being distributed was very little.
Contact with cousins etc and the internet
I was able to get a birth certificate and establish some details and make contact with a cousin Judy Binns (nee Hawson). Nothing gave me any details as to how and when TWH arrived in Australia. The computer age has delivered some rare findings and coming across the website of Les Thornton allowed for a connection that goes back to a Richard Hawson died 1621 at Torworth near Blyth, North Nottinghamshire. In his genealogy, he states that Thomas Hawson (son of George Hawson ) married a Hannah Wood and this I knew from the birth certificate on TWH that these were his parents.
That doesn’t help find out how he got here!
Wonderful, but how and why did he get here? Searching the immigration logs of ships was not helpful, and I did not know the dates. TWH’s death certificate stated that he was 17 years in the colony which gave an approximate year, but still nothing definite. He seemed to be the only child (grandchild) of George Hawson who appeared to not get an inheritance of money in George’s will. About 2 years ago, I attended a talk by Carmel Joyce in our local Library and she said that many people of that time had received land orders. I searched for this and found a Thomas Wood Hawson who had arrived on the Clipper ship Storm King.
The puzzle was almost finished. How but not why!
Was he not listed on the Immigrant ships to Qld?
Well of course he was. Only his name was transcribed as TW Hanson He left England just before his 21st birthday. I have no idea what caused him to make that decision and I am hopeful that one day I might find some newspaper evidence as to why or indeed a relative form the UK may have a clipping in a shoe box that explains it all. There is no oral tradition in the family as to why and other descendants of George and Thomas do not know. Perhaps something caused him to fall out of favor with George, and to escape the embarrassment of not receiving his 200 pounds inheritance on his 21st birthday, he decided to escape to Australia and start a new life.
What is the moral of this story?
Start early in life if you can. Use the internet. Join a Family History Society (FHS)and attend some courses.Talk to your older family members while they are still alive and can still remember details. Then record the details and ensure that the information is not lost as not everyone is interested in your Family Tree. If so, maybe arrange for your research to be forwarded to your FHS.