Sentimental Sunday - Treasures from Aunty Glad's Suitcase

Treasures from Anty Glad's Suitcase

Earlier this year I was delighted to meet some of my cousins at the "Back to Braidwood 175 Year" Celebration, and to swap and share family photos and stories.  I am sure all family researchers will be familiar with that "thrill" you get when you come across a previously unknown collection of pictures, artifacts, letters or a diary that are related to your family history.  This meeting in Braidwood was certainly "up there" in my family tree discoveries experiences.

My cousin, Stephen, bought with him a collection of family pictures, photos, post cards and artifacts from "Aunty Glad's suitcase" which had been sitting under the spare bed for quite some time.  It put it lightly, I was "gobsmacked" at the bundle of documents that my cousin had to show me. They included a collection of postcards from his grandfather and my grandfather, Angus and Malcolm Shepherd while they in Europe fighting in WW1, family photos from the Braidwood and Nelligen district, maps and artifacts from WWI.

My cousin kindly sent me some photos of Aunty Glad's suitcase, and small black handbag, overflowing with family memorabilia. Another Wow!!!  It is obvious that my great Aunty Gladys treasured family memories, and her collection includes photos, postcards, letters, telegrams, tram tickets, photos and magazines that are cover a time span of more than 100 years.  

Great Aunty Glad, was married to Angus Shepherd, my grandfather Malcolm Michael Shephered's older brother. After consulting with my cousin I thought if it was ok with his family, I would share some of the wonderful documents from Aunty Glad's suitcase with a little of their related history. So watch this space for "Treasures from Aunty Glad's Suitcase".

Sentimental Sunday - More Pictures of Acacia Farm - Clyde River Nelligen

As I promised in my recent post "Those Places Thursday - Acacia Farm - Clyde River Nelligen" I would like to share some more of my recently discovered pictures of Acacia Farm, Nelligen.  These photos were taken about when my father visited his Uncle Jordie at Acacia Farm circa 1950.

Visiting Acacia Farm

Calves at Acacia Farm

Cattle at Acacia Farm

Those Places Thursday - Acacia Farm, Clyde River, Nelligen

Acacia Far - Clyde River - near Nelligen, NSW

Last night I was going through some old files on our computer and found a folder of old photos that my husband had kindly scanned for me a couple of years. Note to self!!  I need to go through these and label and file into appropriate family files.    

I started looking through the pictures and was very excited to find quite a few of Acacia Farm.  I believe they would have been taken around very close to the time when my parents were married, probably just before they were married and my father bought my mother from Broken Hill to meet all his family who lived on the South Coast of NSW. 

 So over the next couple of days I would like to share with you some of the lovely old black and white pictures of Acacia Farm.  This farm was where five generations of the Lee family lived from the late 1800'.  My Nanna Christina Lee (daughter of George Lee and Catherine McGregor) grew up on this farm and travelled by boat down to the school in the small village of Nelligen.  Then when her husband Malcolm Michael Shepherd passed away my father lived there with his grandparents.  My Nanna’s youngest brother Jordie inherited the farm and it was then passed down to his daughter.

Friday's Family History Through the Alphabet Challenge - G is for Gravestone

Picture this!!  Warm summer day, husband armed with camera, wife wending her way through the overgrown graves of the country cemetery of Braidwood in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales.  “Oh we should get a picture of this one” she calls, as her husbands, wipes the sweat from his brow, brushes away the flies and snaps another picture of an old crumbling headstone.  Yes my husband laments as he tells this story to sympathetic friends.  The trials of being married to someone who is constantly on the look out places to research the family tree even if it means tramping through long grass and avoiding the insects, spiders and snakes who have made the local cemetery their home.

This story leads me to my next post for the  on Friday's Family History through the Alphabet Challenge , for the Family History Through the Alphabet Challenge.  G is for Gravestone!!  I guess there are many families who have someone who likes to wander amongst gravestones searching for information on passed relatives.  In pre-internet days I found searching cemeteries a most valuable resource and much to my children’s dismay would plan a family excursion or holiday around the possibility of being able to check out the local cemetery for further clues.  

The gravestone, or headstone, or tombstone is a grave maker.  It can be made of stone, marble or in the cases of those without sufficient funds it could just be a small wooden cross. The gravestone not only marks where our ancestors were buried, it is a memorial to past family members and it's inscriptions can provide information on the deceased name, date of birth and death, names of family members who mourn them and possibly a small quote that will give some indication of their personality, or standing in the community.  Often a number of family members a buried in the same grave or in close proximity to each other, thus providing information of family links and relationships.

While researching information on gravestones I came a cross a quote that describes the importance of graveyards as a place for research, "Graveyards are outdoor museums and the most accessible source for studying the local community and its history.".

If you are just starting to research your family, a visit to the local cemetery is a great way to begin your search.  The local cemetery, or cemetery of the town that your family came from is one of the most accessible sources of information on local history and our heritage. The inscriptions on the gravestones contain information of generations of families, with details of their relationships, friends, neighbours, tragedies, religion, occupations and memberships of different societies. The size, and more elaborate gravestones may also indicate the status or wealth of a family member.

To finish this blog on "G is for Gravestone" I would like to share with you two of my favorite gravestone pictures.  The first was taken on the day (mentioned above) that my husband and I traipsed through the Braidwood Cemetery and found the grave of my Great-Great Grandfather Lynn Shepherd II and the second one is taken thirty years ago, when I visited the cemetery in Nelligen with my parents and took a photo my father standing behind the gravestone of his father and my grandfather Malcolm Michael Shepherd. 

Gravestone of Lynn Shepherd (1829-1903) Braidwood Cemetery

Malcolm Michael Shepherd (1892-1932)

Follow Friday - An accumulation of my weekly research - 7

It is quite a while since I have published a Follow Friday- An accumulation of My weekly Research post, I shall put this down to annual holidays, Christmas and the shock of having to go back to work in the new year.

Over the past few weeks I have been researching sisters  Emma Jane and Mary Anne Weston who came to Australia at Christmas time in 1856.  Emma Jane was my great great Grandmother.  It is an interesting story of two young girls travelling to the other side of the world to find employment in Australia.

Both sisters have an interesting story, Emma married Thomas Lee in 1858* and settled into the Braidwood and then Nelligen Districts of New South Wales and Mary Anne married the same year to William Pronger  and moved to Gympie in Queensland. I believe William and Mary Pronger moved from the mining gold town of Majors Creek/Araluen district (near Braidwood) to Gympie in the early 1860’s when Gold was discovered there. I have found some very interesting resources on both of these areas which have assisted me in gathering a little of their story.  If you are researching the early gold mining days in NSW and Queensland you might find some of these links useful.

Braidwood/Araluen and Nelligen, South Eastern, New South Wales

1. The Glenville Post Office Directory for 1871, http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hcastle/grevilles/grevilles.html.

This is  a great resource and list names of people, and their occupations, living in the NSW settlements in 1871.
2.  A brief history of Nelligen, Batemans Bay and the Clyde River,  http://www.clyderiverhouseboats.com.au/south-coast-history.html
3. The Forgotten Mines of Nelligen, http://www.southcoast.com.au/batemansbay/nelligengold/index.html
4. Araluen, a brief History, http://www.argylecounty.com.au/towns/araluen.html.
5. Braidwood settlers, http://www.visitbraidwood.com.au/bwd.
This has a short history on the settlers in Braidwood and some great photos of times past. 
6. Majors Creek, http://www.visitbraidwood.com.au/majorscreek. 

7. Araluen, http://www.visitbraidwood.com.au/araluen.
8. NSW Cemeteries List, http://www.australiancemeteries.com/nsw/index.htm. 
On this page it is possible to link through to cemeteries in Araluen, Majors Creek, Braidwood and Araluen.
9.  Images of Braidwood in the National Archives: http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an11030053-17  
10. Braidwood Historical Society, http://www.braidwoodmuseum.org.au/links.html

Gympie, Queensland

1.   State Library of Queensland: http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/about-us/corporate/information-collections

(You can join this library online, and then have access to quite a large collection of e-resources).

2. John Oxley Library Blog: http://blogs.slq.qld.gov.au/jol/. 
This can be found on the State Library site and has some great articles on the history and people of Queensland.

3.  Gympie Now and Then, http://www.gympie.qld.gov.au/library/thenandnow/. 
This site provides you with pictures from the past compared with photos of the same place as they are now). Very interesting.

4. Gympie Cemetry Trust: http://www.gympiecemeterytrust.com.au/

5.  Gympie Regional Council site: http://www.gympie.qld.gov.au/loadframe.asp?PageID=15&ID=154.
On this page there is a link to a PDF copy of “Cooloola Shire… a golden past”, which tells the story of the pioneers of Gympie.
 6.  Historical Index's for BDM in Queensland.  https://www.bdm.qld.gov.au/IndexSearch/BirIndexQry.m..
 The BDM Indexes are of course invaluable for checking vital dates.

Sunday's Obituary- George William Lee Obituary (1859-1936)

To stay in keeping with the title of my blog, Family Stories: Photographs and Memories, I thougt it is time to start telling some of these family stories.  What better way than to start with the obituary of my great grandfather George Lee.  George was born in the small community of Nelligen, NSW the first surviving son of two of the early settlers of this district, Thomas George Lee and Emma Jane Weston.  George married Catherine McGregor in 1888 and are the parents of my Grandmother, Chistina Sterand Lee.  They and their family lived on the Nelligen River at "Acacia Farm".  The old farm house that features in one of my earlier blogs, "Acacia Farm".

Death of Mr George Lee

"This passing was not sudden or unexpected.  Slowly but surely age and illness, untied the knot of life and in the solemn hush of last Sabbath, breaking dawn, his spirit broke the earthy bars and drifted out into the calm of the eternal land..

The late Mr Lee came to Nelligen when a child with his fathers large family of virile workers, and became well and truly anchored as “Farmer George” on the Clyde river ever since.  In early life he married “Miss Kate McGregor” of Braidwood district, who proved a right worthy help made and splendid mother of four sons and five daughters. Three of the stalwart sons, Clyde, James and Norman are well and favourably know in the Police Department of this state, where the outstanding physique and reliable efficiency soon attracted attention.  James made many friends in Moruya, where he was stationed for two years.

The five daughters, all married and settled in the district, Mrs Saunders, Mrs Rixon, Mrs M. Shepherd, Mrs E. Rixon and Mrs Sheppard.  Mr Lee’s long and uneventful life, centered on home and family and he had but little time for aught else.  Of static temperament, calm and deliberte in judgment, slow in speech and action through storm or shine, he kept the even finer of his way and throughout his honorable life ever proved a good husband, a fond father, a true friend and a humble Christian who practiced more in common life than man preached in high places.

Headstone: George Lee - Nelligen

Our sympathy goes to the widow and bereaved family. A large funeral followed the remains to Nelligen Cemetery on Monday evening.  The funeral was conducted by P. Brogan of Moruya.  His impressive rendition of the simple, yet sublime service was compellingly arresting, and the quivering breaks in singing “abide with me” were tremulous with tingling pathos. 

 At conclusion of ritual Mr Trelfell gave a stirring straight from the shoulder, heart to heart sympathetic address that went straight to the mark and seemed to gather fresher force when told beneath the dark blue dome of gods great Cathedral and the closing benediction brought a sense of ineffable calm to the many mourners, Mr Trefell has only recently been appointed to Milton Circuit, but soon came to the front ‘with” the harness of enterprise specially qualify him for sacred mission, and he is doing splendid work in the district."

Those Places Thursday - Acacia Farm, Nelligen

Acacia Farm, Clyde River, Nelligen

George and Catherine Lee

"Acacia Farm" has been part of our family history for over 100 years.  The old farmhouse was on the banks of the Clyde River, up stream from the small town of Nelligen, NSW, Australia. My great grandparents George Thomas Lee and his wife Catherine (nee McGregor) moved to the farm in the early 1900's, with their family of nine children.  

My Grandmother Christine Sterland Lee was their seventh child, and she and her siblings would travel by boat down the Clyde River to the small school in Nelligen.

 When I was very young I can remember crossing the Clyde River on the punt at Nelligen (in the days before the bridge was built).  In the Christmas holidays cars would line up for miles waiting for their turn to go across on the Punt.  We would get out of the car and look over the side and watch all the jellyfish in the river. There used to be thousands of them blobbing along in the water as we passed.

Waiting to catch Punt to cross the Clyde River, Nelligen

Dad used to tell stories of when he lived there with his grandmother (Catherine Lee) after his father, Malcolm Shepherd died following a logging accident. He described how they would row the boat down the river  to Nelligen for supplies and catch the tide on the way back to the farm. I can remember visiting there as a little girl with my dad and Pop. My Nan's brother Uncle Jordie lived there at the time. We walked down to the paddock towards The Point where there was a nice little sandy beach. Uncle Jordie was growing turnips and I remember he pulled out a couple and gave to me to give to Nan to make soup. The lushness of the farm made a big impression on me as at that time our family lived on a sheep station in the far west near Broken Hill.

The "farm" as everyone called it, was often the meeting place for family get togethers. Everyone would roll up with huge baskets of food and drink.  The big black kettle would be put over the small open fire in the old kitchen that my great grandmother used to cook in.  It was constantly kept on the boil to keep up with the copious quantities of tea that were made. The adults would sit around in the front garden, surrounded by huge old blue hydrangeas plants,  swapping stories  of days gone by, while all the kids would run wild, playing hide-and-seek etc. There were always strict rules not to go on parts of the old veranda, as the floorboards were rotten. At the back of the farm house there where huge old fruit trees and an outside loo and shed that was covered in a choco vine that had certainly got out of hand. Lots of great hiding places!!

After lunch, and more cups of tea, if we were lucky everyone would go up to the beach at The Point for a swim while the men folk tried their hand at fishing.  I  clearly remember spending time with my Nan using a stick with a short line and hook and bread  to catch little fish for bait. It was great fun. The farm has now been sold, but I do believe the old ruins of the original farm house are still there.

Angus Shepherd - A Story from TROVE

Horse teams carting goods from  Nellingen to Braidwood, crossing Currajong Creek

 In my last blog I wrote about how I have found TROVE to be one of the most valuable research tools for Australian Family Tree Researchers. Today, I would like to share with you one of my most recent finds.  Angus John Shepherd  (1889-1971) was my Grandfather, Malcolm Michael Shepherd's (1892-1932)  brother.  Their family came from the Araluen, Braidwood district and had been carriers between this district and Nelligen for a couple of generations.

 This area has a long and colourful history, of life on the gold mines, bushrangers and rural settlement.  I was searching TROVE, using the names of towns to try and find more about the times and social conditions that my ancestors lived in when I came across this article.  You can only imagine my excitemen. I was actually reading an article written about my great uncle which so vividly describes he and his partner being caught in a very serious flood and being lucky to escape with their lives. The loss of his team and merchandise most probably had considerable effect on the lively hood of his family.

 The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 30 March, p. 10
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/28120545

FLOODS. HAVOC IN THE BRAIDWOOD DISTRICT.

SENSATIONAL ESCAPES BRAIDWOOD, Thursday.

Reports from the district lying  between the top of Clyde Mountain and Nelligen show that much damaged was done by the rain. Roads have been washed out feet deep in a number pf places, while the bridges over Ryan's Creek, two culverts and a footbridge have been practically washed away. Fencing hasgone in all directions. In addition to which a number ot stock perished in tho flood. The rainfall was easily the heaviest in the memory of the oldest inhabitant. lt was estimated up to Friday that over 2C inches had fallen. There has been further rain since. 

Two carriers, John Rogers and Angus Shepherd, plying between Nelligen and Braidwood,had an exciting experience. They camped on their usual camping ground close to Ryan's Creek, with their teams. They occupied an old hut, and were awakened in the middle of the night by feeling water entering the bunks. The creek had completely overflowed its banks. The water was several feet deep in the house, and the men escaped through the window. The teams were also surrounded by water. To remove the horses was out of the question, and the men had to run for their lives. Three of Roger's horses were carried away by the flood waters and drowned; also one of Shepherd's. All the loading on the waggons was washed off, although it included some heavy articles of merchandise. It is estimated that over £300 worth of goods was on the waggons, including a lot of rum and other spirits for local publicans. The full extent of the loss is not yet known. The place is entirely cut off from communication.

J. E. Anderson and family had a narrow escape. Anderson has a sawmill at Currowan. The flood water rose with such rapidity that in a short space of time there was over two feet of water in their house, running strongly. Meanwhile the rain was pouring down in torrents. Anderson took his wife on his back and waded waist high to the side of the hill. A man named Backhouse, who happened to be in the house, carried Anderson's little daughter to some high ground. Where they had to remain until daylight.

In the Braidwood district comparatively little damage was done, beyond the destruction of fencing and roads. The latter were cut up in a frightful manner; also many culverts damaged. The shire council has decided to approach tho Government for a Special grant to assist in repairing the damage, the work being altogether beyond its financial capacity.

The flood at Araluen was the highest on record. 130 more points fell on Friday night, and close on an inch on Saturday morning. 

1914 'FLOODS.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 30 March, p. 10, viewed 17 June, 2012, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28120545 

Angus not only survived this incident, two years later he enlisted into the 33 Battalion (Service No. 2898) which fought in Belgium in WWI.  On his return he married and lived and worked in the Nelligen - Bateman Bay district for the rest of his life.