Gangplanks

Charles Baker stepped down off the gangplank warily and looked for his brother Edward in the crowd.  He was back in the mother land but did not intend on staying long.  After jumping ship in Jamaica he managed to make his way back to England on a trading vessel.  He needed to keep his head down as he was still wanted for desertion.  He knew it was wrong to desert but being forced into the Navy at 15 and spending the past five years there he had had enough.

Charles found Edward and made his way through the crowd.  They hugged and headed toward the Hogshead Tavern nearby.

“Charlie, are you mad!  You’ll get more than 5 years in the Navy if they find you!”

“I know but I couldn’t hack it any more Ed, I’ve found us passage to Australia!  The ship I came here on, the Durham, is heading there and I got us work as crew.  Come with me Ed, please!”

Edward shook his head and laughed.  Charlie had always been a risk taker and loved an adventure.  He pondered his proposal for a minute too.

“Why the heck not!  What have I got keeping me here?”

Two days later the men were aboard the Durham for Australia.  They arrived in March, a new beginning for both men.[1]  Charles disembarked, he was not known as a deserter in this place so it was a rebirth almost. They wandered around the port taking in the sounds and sights and the heat.  Charles was optimistic that this was the best decision he had ever made.

Reflection

I think writing about new events would be the easiest topics for me.   I tried to be descriptive in this text but not let it take over, same with dialogue but I wanted to convey that there was ending and beginning but the adventure of a new world was the main topic.

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[1] Historic Shipping, ‘Durham’, http://www.historic-shipping.co.uk/monwigram/durham%2074.html, Accessed 10 August 2018.

The Baby - flash fiction

Christian Schultz shipped out for the front lines of World War One at 15 years of age in October 1915.[1]  Chris, as he was known, was a prolific letter writer and I hold over 100 letters from him written between 1915 and 1919.  Letters written during 1918 in Wales mention a girlfriend and a mystery baby. [2] [3]He also writes that he is going to get married![4]

This opened a huge can of worms as the Uncle Chris my father remembers had an Australian wife and no children.  Was there an illegitimate child in Wales that we did not know about?  This prompted a search of births in the Glamorgan area to an Elsie White in early 1918 or late 1917 and also looking on genealogy groups to see if anyone in that area recognised the address he was writing from.  I narrowed it down to one Elsie White who had a child in early 1918, perhaps this was the one.[5]

Once I had this date I started to search war diaries and the letters to create a time line for Chris.  Alas, his visits to Wales began in April 1918 and he was in France for a year prior to that. The baby was not his.

A letter to his family in September 1918 apologises for any stress he has caused and that the marriage is off and he will wait for a nice “Aussie” girl, like mum has said. [6] The tone of the letter suggests mum was none too happy.

Reflection:

So much to write in such a short space.  I feel an attachment to Chris, purely because he signed up at 15, lying about his age.  He did take me down a rabbit hole with Elsie and the baby and challenged my research skills and power of deduction.

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[1] Service record of Christian Henry Schultz, p.17, B3503, National Archives of Australia.

[2] Christian Schultz to Henry and Susan Schultz, letter, 15 August 1918, original held in author’s possession.

[3] Christian Schultz to Henry and Susan Schultz, letter, 25 April 1918, original held in author’s possession.

[4] Christian Schultz to Henry Schultz, letter, 28 March 1918, original held in author’s possession.

[5] Findmypast, Birth Registration Record for Wilfred White, ‘Birth Registration, Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales, Accessed 15 July 2018

[6] Christian Schultz to Henry and Susan Schultz, letter, 1September 1918, original held in author’s possession.

Cousins eleventy billion times removed

Do you have a bazillion cousins?

I have nine first cousins and can't say I have much to do with any of them.  Three are closer to my parents in age and the others are spread across the continent and we haven't seen each other for decades.  I find this a bit sad at times.  I often see those posts on facebook and such about cousins being your first friends etc and so many people agree or share them, yet it isn't the case for me.  Worse still my kids don't really have any sort of relationship with their cousins either.  Most are way older or live away from us or just the victims of disfunctional families.

But I have a stack of 'eleventy billion times removed' cousins and I really value them.  The joy of facebook, ancestry, DNA and such have connected us and I have met many of them.  We all have a common interest of research our families and connecting with the past.  We are all centimetres across from each other and generations apart on a print out of our trees but closer than ever through our interests.

It is this connection that saw me take a plane and drive almost four hours to visit some of these cousins and spend a day with them and meet other new ones. 

And it was totally worth it.

To hear stories, share photos and experience that connection that began four generations ago was a privilege and I feel truly blessed to be connected to these people. 

To all the people I have met through genealogy and will continue to meet.

Thank you all for sharing my obsession interest.

Family records

I have been truly blessed.  Being in Tasmania and having half my heritage settle here over the centuries has meant I've been very lucky in finding records.  Particularly as many of my ancestors came out against their will!  Anyone tracing family history will know that convict records were meticulous and make tracking a family member quite easy.

Tasmanian newspapers as with most of the time seemed to print anything and everything.  If you sneezed it was reported!  This has meant that piecing stories together on ancestors has been somewhat easier too.

My paternal heritage has been a little harder at times.  My dad's heritage is Prussian/German, Scottish and English.  The info I have is patchy but for the most part I have dates and places just very few stories due to the dynamics of his family.

This year I continue my studies at UTAS and one of the units required me to research and write about a World War One soldier, preferably from my family.  The first person who came to mind was my dad's uncle Chris, who we often joked didn't see much of the war as he spent it in hospital or AWOL despite the family calling him a hero.

After weeks of research we couldn't have been further from the truth.  He was a hero and he did see too much of the war for a 15 year old.

During this time of research my dad received a random call from a cousin after decades of not hearing from him.  They got to talking and it turned out that Allen had boxes of family records in the attic.  They had been kept by his mum (Chris's sister) and her mum before that.

To cut a long story short, I now have those records and what a treasure trove!   There are well over 100 letters, mostly from Chris to his family during the war, birthday cards, postcards from Chris and from other family members travelling and his war medals.

 Sample of letters written to family during WW1

Collection of postcards sent during WW1

The dilemma of what to do with all this was discussed.  Currently I am scanning all the correspondence, postcards and other bits and pieces.  The medals have been sent to Hobart to the Foxhole Medals to be refreshed with new ribbons.   Once all records have been scanned they will be sorted.  Letters and postcards from the war  will hopefully go to the Australian War Memorial should they want them.  Local family records will be offered to the Victorian Archives as the nature of them may have historical significance.

Private Christian Henry Schultz medals WW1

Their significance to me; they confirm many things I knew, reveals other stories I didn't.  I now have an actual photo of my great grandparents which is so huge for me.  They have provided a window into my dad's family that had previously been boarded up.

Henry Christian Schultz and Susan Jane Baker (date unknown)

Now, to find that elusive photo of my dad's mum so we can know what she looked like.

The Orphanage

Bill Smith tried to ignore his gut as he knocked on the front door at the orphanage.   He told himself he was doing the right thing, the brat wasn’t his and if that whore Mary was going to keep running off why should he be left with the kid. 

The door was opened by a large and imposing woman.  She wore a brown calico dress with a coarse and grubby apron over the top.  The apron looked as though your hand would stick to it if you touched it.  Bill took a step back from the woman, a bit surprised by her appearance.  She jangled as she moved and his eyes wandered down to the large black ring holding a variety of keys, nestled at her enormous waist. 

“Ahhh, s’cuse me Missus, but I come with me convict’s kid; Charles, his mum is Mary Neale.”  The matron’s eyes took in the little blonde boy at his side, no more than three years old and dirtier and scruffier than her current wards, if that was even possible.  She moved aside and let Bill and Charles in the door, without uttering a word.

As Bill’s eyes adjusted to the dark of the room he realised that his gut was trying to speak to him.  He knew this was not a good decision but he fought the feeling as he listened to the matron make her spiel and he signed the paperwork with his mark.  The last thing he noticed was the silence, not a sound to be heard, and this struck him as strange for a home apparently busting at the gills with children.

The Bounty Immigrant

Charles picked up his pen to write to his wife.  It had been a year since he had come to Van Diemen’s Land as a bounty immigrant.  His skill as a carpenter was not put to good use.  Mr Ritchie had him pulling weeds most days and by the end of two months he had had enough.

 Looking back Charles realised he probably shouldn’t have gotten in with the two ex cons he met in Perth, but a night on the drink wasn’t going to kill anyone.  It did however see him being charged for larceny and sent down to New Town Bay; building roads made weed pulling feel like child’s play.

Now to tell Elizabeth why he had no money to send her or to pay for her and the girls to come out and join him.  The thought had crossed his mind that he could just stop writing altogether and let her and the girls think him dead.  She had family and friends, she wouldn’t be any worse off than she is now.  She could even find a new husband after a time.  In fact he could find himself a new wife and start again once he was away from this blasted chain gang. 

He just needed to put his head down, keep out of trouble and bide his time until he was  free again.  Charles put down his pen and walked away from the table.  Elizabeth would be better off at home than out here anyway.

update well overdue

oh gosh, this is very out of date.  I have been plodding along with my family history and completely neglecting this blog.

I have stumbled over two new convicts, found out that many of my father's ancestors were actually Tasmanians who moved to Victoria.

Visited a few Schultz cousins during a road trip that took me to Bendigo, Horsham and Melbourne last year.

Knocked out a few bricks in a wall on my mother's side that was doing my head in for years!

This year I have signed up to do the Diploma of Family History through UTAS.   The first unit I am doing is called Place, Image, Object and I am a bit excited about using my brain for something different.  I am also enrolled for a unit on Convict history too.

This year I decided to become more involved in the Launceston Historical Society by accepting a place on the committee.  I look forward to learning more and being involved in some projects locally.  I am also involved (with my 12yr old daughter) in the Launceston Mechanics Institute project.  We will be researching artifacts from the old institute and documenting them in a photography project and researching their history.  I also plan on doing an oral history project later in the year for the same group.  It is all happening!   Along with volunteering in the archives at Launceston LINC.

This week I have had to give thought to an image or object for study.  Sadly most of my family were not hoarders so this has left me with very few objects from the past and even less photographs.

My mum did hand over these treasures today though so I am trying to decide what I will concentrate on.  The small book is a prayer book given to my grandmother by my mother in 1957, the ruler was my grandfathers, who was a carpenter/builder and the large book is a book that belonged to by great grandfather on 'how to be catholic'.

This next picture is of a charm or pendant that belonged to by grandmother's grandmother.  It is very old, but I don't believe it to be very valuable, it doesn't look to be made from actual silver but I have never had it looked at professionally.  The book is a 1891 copy of Great Expecttions and The Uncommercial Traveller by Charles Dickens. This book belonged to my great grandfather and was the only book he ever read.  Seriously, he would finish it, turn it over and start again!  That is dedication for you.

Anyway, I hope to update a little more often from now on.  I have a few stories to share of various ancestors and a couple to update.

So we start with me

I am Kelli-anne Schultz.  Born in 1967 at Sandringham Hospital, Victoria.

The family lines I have started with are:

Paternal:
Schultz - my grandfather
Lambeth - my grandmother

Maternal:
Ellen - my grandfather
Thynne - my grandmother

This is exciting and somewhat addictive.  I know there are a few convicts on my maternal side and an elopement!  On my dad's side, lots of sadness and mystery.

One thing that has struck me since starting this is just how tough things were for the women folk.  So many babies to be had and then so many to be lost, it is just heartbreaking.

Well, this blog will hopefully grow and develop as I find out new things.  I hope to put some pages up of photos, links and other useful things I find along the way.

Anyway, if you are following I hope you enjoy my journey

Kelli