Joshua HIGGINS, b abt 1823, Brighton

[judb]

Any help with birth or his parents would be wonderful.

The information re his birth comes from his eldest child's birth certificate, 1870 where his age is given by his wife as 46; he died in 1870 and age on death certificate is 48; so a birth date of abt 1822-1824.

He was in Australia by 1860 when he married Susan MAYS/MAIZE in the Hunter Valley, NSW - unfortunately no parent or birthplace details shown on the marriage certificate. 

I am at a loss with this chap.  I cannot find an entry into Australia either free or as a convict, in fact I see nothing about him till the marriage in 1860.  His marriage seems very late as he was about 38 so was he married previously? He states that he was a bachelor at the time of marriage (1860), but    Can't see anything on 1841 or 1851 UK censuses.

Thanks, Judith

[Jane Masri]

Hi Judith,
Where does the information that he was born in Brighton come from?

Jane

[judb]

Hi Jane - as I said above, the info comes from the birth certificate of his first child.  Joshua was the informant for this birth registration so one would think that he gave the correct information.  However, as I can find nothing before the NSW 1860 marriage for someone of that name plus the fact that he was 38 when the marriage took place, I wonder if he changed his name at some time earlier.

I have tried FamilySearch, FreeReg, English Criminal registers, Australian Convict and immigration records but nothing before 1860 in UK or Australia.  His occupation is listed as 'labourer' on his death, marriage and this child's birth certificates and he signed his marriage certificate with an X so I am assuming that he was not literate.

Judith

[Jane Masri]

You could be right about the name change Judith.  I have one in my tree who went to Oz & changed his name, taking his mother's maiden name.  He jumped ship though, probably lured by the prospect of gold!
Have you tried any of the Oz newspapers?  There might be a clue there.  It's going to be difficult to pin him down if he did change his name 
Was the Hunter Valley known for its gold deposits?  Have you managed to track down any living descendants of his children or through his wife?  They might have some snippet of information passed down through the years!

Jane

[artifis]

Nothing coming up for him in any of the transcribed Brighton parishes on SFHG and nothing England wise on An****ry.

Quite an enigma.

[judb]

Thanks for looking anyway.

Jane, I'm helping a friend who is a descendant of his but there are no other known pieces of information.  Joshua was married in 1860 but the first (known) children (twins) were not born till ten years later which seems odd too.  Joshua died of natural causes when the twins were only a couple of months old and his wife remarried two years later so I guess there was little passed on in the way of family stories.

He was working as a labourer on a large property in the Hunter valley, which was mainly a farming area.  It was not subject to the gold rushes as in other parts of NSW.  Many farm labourers in that area were originally convicts who had been granted their ticket of leave or a pardon.  I suspect there is a 'past' to this man which is not mentioned in the records we have of him.

Judith

[artifis]

Can't find him anywhere in the 1841 and 1851 censuses either anywhere in the UK not just England.

It seems increasingly likely that he did change his name.

[Roy G]

Perhaps he modified his name for there was a Samuel Jones HIGGINSON, son of Brighton shoemaker John Higginson baptised in Brighton in 1823.  (SFHG).   Jones seems an unusual middle name, could that have been Joshua? 

SFHG baptisms also indicate that John Higginson's family was extensive and many of the children had names with a biblical tendency.  Joseph, the last child, was baptised in BRIGHTHELMSTONE in 1838 and my index to the 1841 Brighton (Brighthelmstone) census shows him with some of his siblings.  As not all the children were present, it might be worthwhile finding and identifying the others.  Joshua may be amongst them under another name.
Roy G

[Jane Masri]

Well done Roy... worth looking into!
I did have a look at the SMI to see if I could find a marriage for possible parents but nothing was obvious.  Next would be to check if this Samuel Jones Higginson survived,

Jane