Genealogy & General Subjects Blog



Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Criminals

In the news today: "LONDON — More than two million Britons and about four million Australians are related to convicts deported from Britain to Australia in the 18th and 19th centuries, geneologists said yesterday."

I particularly like that they misspelled "genealogists" in the article.

Aside from that, though, I have to say that I have recently uncovered an Aussie ancestor of my own, and would love to know if she has a convict ancestry, although it looks dubious. Violet Chisholm was born in September 1853 in Ashby, Victoria, Australia. Her parents were Walter and Violet (Sanderson) Chisholm. (Much thanks is due to Margaret Chisholm of Australia for some of this information.)

Walter Chisholm and Jane Sanderson married 14 Oct 1850 at Borthwick or Galashiels. A cousin has a record of marriage at Borthwick but Walter stated Galashiels at the time of the birth of his children. The marriage may have taken place in one town and the banns may have been read in another church.

They came to Australia on the LANCASTRIAN on 29 April 1851 with Walter’s mother Helen Lees Chisholm, his sister Helen Purdie and her husband Robert and children John Chisholm Purdie, William Purdie and Helen Lees Purdie, his brother John and his sister Jessie. Walter’s brother William and his wife Isabella Weatherstone and children William and Thomas had arrived in Australia the previous October on the NAVARINO.

Walter and Eliza had four children in the Geelong area, William about 1851, Violet at Ashby in 1854, Helen or Ellen 24 May 1856 in Ashby and James 25 Jul 1858 at Manifold’s Vineyard, Fyans Ford.

The family returned to Scotland on the RESULT in April 1859. Two more children were born in Scotland, Walter on 23 Jan 1867 at Galashiels and Jane Sanderson 1 Jul 1869 at Galashiels.

Walter was mentioned in the 1871 Census in Scotland but was not mentioned in 1881 so he may have died by then.

Walter was born in 1822, the second child of William Chisholm and Helen Lee. The others were Helen 1816, William 1824, Jane or Jean 1825 – married John Johnston and remained in Scotland, Charles 1827 – presumed died before 1850, John 1829, Jessie c1832 and Agnes 1836 – presumed died before 1850. The father apparently died about 1837 in Scotland according to his son’s statement at the time of the mother’s death in Geelong in 1871.

With her parents, Violet moved back to Scotland. She was married to Andrew Wilson of Galashiels, Selkirkshire, Scotland around 1880. Andrew may have been a cousin (possibly a first cousin) since his mother's maiden name also seems to be Sanderson. Andrew and Violet appear together in the 1881 U.K. census in Melrose, Selkirkshire, Scotland. Andrew is age 26 and a "slatter" and Violet is age 27.

Andrew and Violet had 4 children that I know about: Alexander, born in Scotland in Nov 1881; Elizabeth, born Jul 1885 in Massachusetts; Walter, born Jul 1888 in Massachusetts; and Violet Chesholm Wilson, born 6/7 June 1891 in Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts.

From the children's birthdates and places, I know that the Wilsons emigrated to the U.S. between late 1881 and 1885. Violet was naturalized in 1894. The family eventually settled near Amesbury, Essex, MA, where Andrew owned a roofing company that was eventually operated by his sons. In 1896, the Andrew Wilson Company advertised the following services: Gravel, Slate, Tin, and Copper Roofing; Two and Three Ply Ready Roofing; Concreting and Asphalting Sidewalks and Floors, Asphalt Roofing, Etc.

I don't currently know much about Violet Chisholm's early history, including what took her family to Australia in the first place. It is interesting to me that Violet moved (intercontinentally!) so many times.

1853 was a relatively early date for Violet to have been born in Australia, which at that point was still populated in large part by convicts and young men, with women fairly scarce, and settled families even more rare. A gold rush had brought many settlers to the vicinity in the early part of that decade and this may have played a part in her family's immigration.

Geelong, Victoria, AU is an industrial city with a strong history of wool manufacturing. I expect, based on the family's subsequent history, that there may be some connection to textile manufactures in Australia. Certainly, the area in Scotland that the Chisholm's lived was also a strong textile economy. The 1847 Gazetteer of Scotland says Galashiels, Scotland, a small village just south of Edinburgh was a primary site of woolen manufacturing with several factories operated by water power. It was a major component of the local economy, manufacturing both coarse and fine woolens. In 1831, the population of the whole town was only 2,100. Part of the town is in Selkirkshire and part in Roxburghshire. Lawrence, MA also has a strong textile industrial history.

I've found that Australia has done a particularly good job of putting many of its records online. You can link to some of these records at my Links page.

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