Random thoughts and observations
I have written previously about Robert Winthrop, bigamist and bounder. Yesterday I came across some new information which confirms the stereotype. According to the Western Argus, Winthrop was living in Dugan Street, Kalgoorlie, at the age of 72 in 1922 when he was shot in the thigh by a 35-year-old married woman. I think she might have been aiming for his groin. The prosecutor described the accused, Lillian Haight, as Winthrop’s “housekeeper”.
Throughout his life Michael John Gorey was a colorful character and hard worker who toiled for his family in often adverse conditions. Susceptible in later life to mood swings and sometimes contradictory, he raised a large family in difficult circumstances marked by natural disaster and human tragedy. Three of his sons (Edward, Archibald and Michael) and a daughter (Sheila) had their lives cut severely short. Mick was born at Corop on March 25, 1884. According to his birth certificate, his father Edward was employed as a boundary rider.
I’ve discovered a few skeletons while researching the family history. Some are better left unspoken, but the tale of Robert Winthrop is too interesting to suppress. Let me state at the outset that I am not directly related to this adventurer, cad and bigamist. The connection is that one of his victims was the widowed sister-in-law of my great-grandfather Edward Gorey.
My wife Juliet is Afrikaans and her surname is Claassen. One of Juliet’s cousins, Johann, is a genealogist and he contacted me recently after discovering my family history website. Johann sent me a gedcom file, which I’ve now uploaded to show the Claassen family tree. Claassen is a Mennonite name that originated in the Netherlands. [...]
I obtained an electronic copy of my grandparents’ marriage certificate today for $18. Michael John Gorey, farmer of Waubra, married Eleanora Augusta Hermitage Sutherland at 101 Gore Street, Fitzroy, on April 19, 1913. The celebrant was Congregationalist minister John Hosking (pictured). I thought my grandmother was Presbyterian, but she may have been Congregationalist at that [...]
