Hawkins family of Bathurst NSW 1848-1861

[majm]

Re Hawkins family, Bathurst 1848 - 1861

Have you checked out the resources held for Pioneers of that surname as per the Bathurst family history group?  There's 61 for Hawkins mentioned at their link  (alas only 3 mentions for "Beattie, Beatty")  http://bathurstfhg.asn.au/pregSurnames.php

http://bathurstfhg.asn.au/

http://bathurstfhg.asn.au/fhlinks.php 

And this may be helpful for both of you 
http://aiatsis.gov.au/research/finding-your-family/beginning-your-search
 
Cheers,  JM

[richardha]

Thanks for the Electoral Rolls JM.  I have seen the Cooma death, its for a younger man who came from the Manning River.  I'll look at the Bathurst Pioneers book again when I go to the library, I didn't realize Beatty was in there.  From memory the Hawkins references are mostly to the large family of Thomas Fitzherbert who settled at Blackdown.  And I have contacted aiatsis, they have no record of Thomas Murphy, or of Aboriginality in the details I showed them
 
Thanks for all your help

Richard   

[Jaznjjj]

The "Bathurst" reference caught my eye.  I'm not connected with the Hawkins family - but have a contemporary family in Bathurst, Joseph FAWCETT.   Is there any suggestion your Hawkins may have been convicts? 

[Jaznjjj]

The "Bathurst" reference caught my eye.  I'm not connected with the Hawkins family - but have a contemporary family in Bathurst, Joseph FAWCETT.   Is there any suggestion your Hawkins may have been convicts? 

[richardha]

I think, from later Gaol records, that Peter Hawkins came to Australia in 1845 aboard the Princess Royal.  And he was a crew member, which makes it very hard to find records.  If he had been a convict or an assisted immigrant life would be a lot easier let me tell you
Richard

[majm]

.......that Peter Hawkins came to Australia in 1845 aboard the Princess Royal.  And he was a crew member, .......

Ummm....  I wonder if that lad was connected with the Thomas Fitzherbert HAWKINS, of Bathurst     I am fairly sure that one or more of the convicts transported on the Princess Royal in 1823 was assigned to Thomas FitzHerbert HAWKINS of Bathurst....    Likely a different generation but ................... what a co-incidence .....

I will check that out further, but here's the INDEX online to NSW Col Sec papers.... I'm not sure if Fitzherbert capitalised the H or not, but it is neither here nor there to finding an index entry for my thoughts....

http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/indexes-online/colonial-secretary/index-to-the-colonial-secretarys-papers-1788-1825 
or
http://colsec.records.nsw.gov.au/indexes/colsec/default.htm

Cheers,  JM

[richardha]

Thanks JM, I found this entry for Thomas Fitzherbert, you have a good memory!:

'1823 Mar 17 Convict landed from "Princess Royal" assigned to at Bathurst (Reel 6010; 4/3507 p.460)'

It is a coincidence.  I'll have a look though all the entries when I go to State Records next.  The problem is that Peter claimed to have been born in Ayr, Scotland in 1823 - he may have been the child of a convict - anything is possible.  His age and birthplace are given on his children's birth certificates.   

[majm]

Born 1823, ummm..... info on children's birth certs ..... ummm.... civil registration commences in NSW March 1856 .... was Peter the informant on those birth certs, and if so, was his signature suggesting he was literate?  The registration process was basically an oral process until WWI.   In most rural districts the Deputy BDM registrar was a part time function of the CPS or the Sheriff so the admin general enquiries counter at Bathurst Court House    .    The clerk had the big ledger book facing him , and the clerk asked the questions and wrote the answers down.  The clerk did not need to be familiar with any standard spelling, or accents.    When the clerk had the answers to his questions then the ledger was swung around to the informant and the informant asked to "sign here".        

Now, think back to the words the clerk may have used/or been heard:   "Who is the father"   v "Who is thy father"  and "Where was the father born" v "Where was thy father born" ..... and then wonder how any birth registration in NSW in the 19th century actually has the details for the baby's father recorded correctly ......  I have two instances (and at Bathurst, and in the 1850s)  where the informant was noted as the Grandfather of the baby, and yep,  he supplied info about HIS OWN father when answering the questions.....       .... 

It was a new system to both the clerks and to the parents....

ADD
And of course, the counter in the CPS area was "this high" and "this wide" .....  ie big 


Cheers,  JM

[richardha]

Peter was the informant on the birth certificate transcriptions and the later gaol records say he could read and write.  He was a carpenter so he may have had a rudimentary education.  The details are consistent from birth year to birth year, and he married in 1849, so he would have been of marriageable age, for then .. he signed the marriage certificate with his name .. and the gaol records give consistent ages .. however, I've been trying to follow the possibility that the details might be wrong.  I like your picture of the registration process JM!  Its hard to find these nitty gritty descriptions of what life was like that bring the past alive and make it easier to understand the background of the documents.  I just don't know how to take it further.  He's very elusive, I've been considering a database of every occurrence of the name in Bathurst..