22 March 2008

Proud to be Irish

St Patrick’s Day came and went. Because of the early Easter, St Pat’s Day was actually moved to March 15 in many places. I don’t think many Aussies heard the official edict, because we still drank Guinness and green beer on March 17.

Anyhow, it begs the question: how Irish am I? Sue from Beggars Shot Glass wrote a blog which prompted me to consider this question.

Gorey is an Irish name and I’ve always considered myself Irish Australian. My daughters are named Kathleen and Margaret.

The truth is I have more Dutch in me than Irish. Read more »

Tags: family, genealogy, personality
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1 January 2008

Dutch heritage

I’ve been browsing tonight for information about my grandmother’s family. She was a Zelen from Helden, Limburg, in the Netherlands.

I haven’t been able to find much so far, I’m afraid. Please contact me if you can help.

I did learn however, that this is the flag of the municipality of Helden. The municipality includes Panningen, where my mother’s Wassenberg family came from.

The larger stripes stand for the six main villages and the smaller stripes for the six communes.

Because of the alternating colours in the flag a vertical line is created. This line represents the language (or dialect) border that crosses the municipality. North of the line Weert-Venlo a Brabants-Gelders dialect is spoken, and south of this line the real Limburgs dialect is spoken (my family’s language).

The patron saint is Lambert (left). His feast day is September 17.

Lambert received instruction from St Theodardus (668 or 669), whom he succeeded in 670 as Bishop of Maastricht.

I’ve been to Panningen and Maastricht. It’s a beautiful part of the Netherlands and boasts some of the few hills in that country.

Tags: family, genealogy, heritage
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15 December 2007

Electoral rolls online

Australian Electoral Rolls from the early 20th century are no available online at www.ancestry.com. So far they have helped me learn more about my mysterious great uncle Charles Gorey.

Charles was my grandfather Michael’s eldest brother, born in 1878. He served as a sapper (tunneller) in the First World War and suffered multiple injuries.

He never married and lived for many years in Queensland. He died in “camp” in 1949 near Deniliquin, NSW.

The electoral rolls show that Charles was living at Townsville, Queensland, in 1913. In 1931 he was recorded as living at Alexandra in Victoria.

I was so thrilled when I discovered his photograph while researching the family history in 1999. It was in a special memorial book kept at Grahamvale Primary School (Shepparton East).

Here’s the 1913 electoral roll entries for my great-grandparents:

Tags: Australia, genealogy
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17 November 2007

Mary Gorey 1846-1914

This is the story of Mary Gorey, a daughter of my great-great grandparents James and Elizabeth Gorey and sister of my great grandfather Edward Gorey. The story is taken from a book published by Dr John Gorey in 1991.

Mary Gorey was born on March 5th, 1846, and according to family tradition, her life began in a tent at Templestowe. She was baptised in St Francis’ Church on October 19th with the family abode then recorded as “Idle Burgh (sic), parish of Buller (Bulleen)”.
Mary married John Olive who was born “Oliff” to John and Hannah nee Gilbert in Hobart on March 18th, 1819.

John senior and Hannah arrived in Tasmania aboard the Minerva on June 7, 1818 with a detachment of the 48th Regiment from which John senior was discharged in 1820.

Both John senior and Hannah are buried in Kyneton as are their daughters Mary (Rodgers) and Frances; their sons John and Daniel are buried at Malmsbury, and Charles at Woodend. Read more »

Tags: genealogy, History
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17 November 2007

James and Elizabeth Gorey

This is the story of my great-great grandparents James and Elizabeth Gorey, taken from a book published by Dr John Gorey in 1991:

Both James and Elizabeth were born in Co. Kilkenny Ireland, but there are no records to hand certifying the exact dates or places of their births.

At the time of James’ death, his parents were not known to his surviving family. However, Elizabeth’s parents were Edward Hanly and Elizabeth, nee Houlihan. Elizabeth’s maiden name was variously recorded as Hanley, Henley, Handley and Hanlon, but Hanly seems to have been the accepted usage.

Birth dates for James and Elizabeth derived from later records vary considerably. Those obtained from the ship’s passenger list of c1811 for James and c1814 for Elizabeth are probably the most reliable, but allowance needs to be given for the age requirements of the Bounty Immigration system which may have encouraged James to offer a younger age for himself. Read more »

Tags: genealogy, History
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25 August 2007

Family history wiki

I had the idea that a wiki might be the best option for my family history web site. Using a wiki, any authorised person can make additions and changes to the content.

I experimented with some self-hosted solutions, but they ranged in size and features from tiny to bloated with not much in between.

There are quite a few free hosted options but most of them have ads. Enter www.wikidot.com. I tried a few things and it’s great.

I now have my family history content hosted there for free at http://gorey.wikidot.com/. Go here for an alphabetical index of articles. If anyone would like to edit the articles or add new ones they can contact me.

Tags: family, genealogy
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12 June 2007

Edward Gorey 1849-1937

Edward Gorey was born in 1849 at Heidelberg where his father James leased a 97 acre farm with frontage to the Yarra River. His parents took Edward into St Francis’ Catholic Church, Lonsdale Street, for his baptism on November 12, 1849.

James bought land at Malmsbury in April 1855, and it seems the family moved there in 1857 or shortly after. Edward’s youngest brother William was born at Heidelberg on October 7, 1855 and died there on March 22, 1857.

Edward stayed with his parents and family for most of his early life and was described in the Victorian Post Office directory of 1868 as a farmer of Malmsbury, with D, J and M Gorey (probably his brothers Daniel, James and Michael).

He must have left home soon after however, because when he married Sophia Evans on February 11, 1874 in St Paul’s Church of England, Kyneton, he was referred to in the marriage registration as being a laborer of Redesdale.

Sophia’s father, James Evans, was a road building contractor, farmer and publican. He operated a hotel at Emberton near Barfold. It’s possible Edward worked for him.

James Evans left Emberton and selected a property at Rochester shortly after Edward and Sophia were married. Read more »

Tags: family, genealogy, History, Victoria, whroo
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1 June 2007

Whroo

This picture shows the Balaclava Mine at Whroo about 1858-59. The open-cut mine was prosperous for many years and a significant town was established around it.

My great-grandparents Edward and Sophia Gorey settled on a nearby farm at Angustown in the 1880s when the mine was in decline. Edward was later involved with a syndicate which tried, successfully for a time, to revive the mine. Read more »

Tags: family, genealogy, History, Victoria, whroo
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31 May 2007

Family tree online

I’ve uploaded family tree information to this section of my site. The default tree is Gorey. To get the Wassenberg tree, hover your mouse over Welcome or follow this link .

I’m using PhpGedView . It was very easy to install and upload the gedcom files. I’ll experiment with design tweaks and other features over the next few weeks.

I apologise to those people who were registered on the old site. They will need to re-register, I’m afraid. Registration is required to see the complete trees and make edits.

Tags: genealogy, History
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24 May 2007

Margaret Gorey

The life of great-aunt Margaret Elizabeth Gorey was sadly cut short in tragic circumstances.

Born at Corop on March 1, 1876, Margaret was the eldest child of Edward and Sophia Gorey. Soon after her birth she was taken to be baptised at the Catholic Church in Heathcote on April 16, 1876.

She was living with her parents and new brother Charles at Torrumbarry when she fell into a pot of boiling tea and subsequently died of burns.

A Coroner’s inquest was held, and the surviving statements provide a graphic account of the accident. Reports were published in the Rochester Express and the Riverine Herald. The Herald’s report was published on January 11, 1879 under a headline of “Scalded to death”.

“A terrible accident, which resulted fatally, occurred at Torrumbarry on Tuesday to a child named Margaret Elizabeth, aged two years and 10 months, daughter of Edward William and Sophia Gorey, of that place,” the paper reported.

“It appears from the evidence adduced at the inquest, that at about one o’clock on the day mentioned the men and others employed on the farm had been called to dinner; one of the men was in the act of bringing in a piece of timber about 10-feet long for the purpose of constructing a temporary seat, and in turning round one end of the timber was in danger of striking the little girl, who to avoid the blow walked backwards and fell into a boiler of scalding tea which had just been removed from the fire.

“The mother, drawn to the spot by the child’s screams, removed it on the instant. As may be imagined the injuries were of a frightful nature, extending from the back of the neck down to the thighs. Flour, the only remedy at hand, was applied and up to six o’clock the little sufferer appeared to be getting on very well, but at this period a change for the worse set in, and the parents determined to take her to a doctor at Echuca, a distance of 18 miles.

“They, however, had only reached Wharparilla, seven miles on the road, when the little girl was found to be dead. The inquest was held at Gregory’s Kyneton Hotel on Wednesday night by Mr R. Strickland, the district coroner, and a verdict of accidental death, in accordance with the evidence, was returned. Much sympathy is felt for the parents who untimely have been deprived of a pretty and interesting child.”

Margaret is buried at the Rochester Cemetery, Catholic section, site 43A. Her burial was number 187 out of more than 4000 at the cemetery.

I visited the grave in 1999 and left some flowers. I named my second daughter Margaret after her.

Tags: family, genealogy, History
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