BLOSSOM Benjamin / California

[nickgc]

Nice find Toni.  So he appears to have immigrated and then joined the crew of the ship he came on?
---
In case you don't have... perhaps someone can find grave for you:

In Sydney Morning Herald, 16 Oct 1884

"THE FRIENDS of the late BENJAMIN BLOSSOM,
are respectfully invited to attend his Funeral ; to move from his late residence, Colllns-street, Balmain, TO-MORROW (Sunday) AFTERNOON, at 8 o'clock, for Balmain Cemetery. R. B. CROPLEY and CO., Undertakers, Harris-street, one door from George-street, and 284, Oxford-street. Paddington"

Nick

[robgen1]

Hi Toni,

Thank you for proof of unassisted passage, one more piece of the puzzle
Looks like Benjamin just does not want to be found for some reason.

Once again thanks

Cheers
greg

[robgen1]

Hi Nick

giggles, obviously Benjamin, just does not want to be found for some reason.

I knew i would have loads of  trouble trying to find out his origins due to date of birth and being from California.

The Balmain Cemetery sadly was destroyed in the 1940,s and turned into a park, so there is no gravestone as they were re-masoned into a wall for the park

Once again thanks for all info thus far

Cheers
Greg

[colinmac]

He's the same guy as mentioned here: http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=167756.0

He shacked up with my great-great-grandmother, a Liscillier Delaforce, looked after my great-grandfather, and had some more kids before dying in Balmain.  Liscillier's father was William Delaforce, last convict in Port MacQuarie.  More than that, I do not know.

Colin.

[robgen1]

Hi Colin

yes he is one in the same person

he is one hard person to find, from what i have been able to establish
he was born in California sometime between 1849 and 1850, which makes
it really hard to get any details.his is due to California Compromise
of 1850 transfer from Mexico to United States.

I found out that he was born in california and most likely his father
was John Wallace Blossom originally from one of the Confederate States
 
a few things i have been able to establish so far are he was never married
to Liscillier the only marriages i have been able to establish are

Marriage # 1
Martin McCormack / McComick and various other spellings of this with permission
of William her father
Martin was believed drowned and no death certificate was issued as such
had 2 Children with Martin

No marriage found to Benjamin Wallace Blossom in NSW
Lived with Benjamin Wallace Blossom in Balmian and had further children
4 Children

Marriage # 2
Carl Jacob Wilsen or Karl Jakob Wilsen
listed on marriage certificate as Liscillier Blossom of name of bride

Died in Lakemba NSW and buried in Rookwood Cemetery

I am one of the decendants of Liscillier / Benjamin children

Regards
Greg

[colinmac]

BB's funeral notice is here http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28367366, gives a street where he lived.  For some reason I also thought he might have lived in Annandale, unsure why.

We don't know much about BB, your post has added substantially to our knowledge (although OzKat had traced him to California, I think.)  I've often wondered whether BB's descendants were doing genealogy, nice to see you are.

I'm descended from William Delaforce/McCormack/McCormick, younger child of Liscillier's first marriage (and grandson of William Delaforce the convict.)  Haven't been able to confirm Martin's death either ... I suspect he just took off.  Can confirm his existence on Rawdon Is, from his being witness to a wedding.

We visited Rawdon Is to have a look around.  Nothing notable about the visit.  You know about William Delaforce, Snr, yes?  http://www.art-science.com/Ken/Genealogy/PD/Index.html Chapter 6.  He wrote (dictated) a book about his experiences, it was cited in Robert Hughes' Fatal Shore, there are extant photos of him.

Colin.

[robgen1]

Hi Colin

yes i have been doing the family tree on an off for a couple of years now, and heard story that martin mccormick drowed in river near rawdon island. They sent out some local men to search for him and he was never found and neither was a body. From memory there were some of Martin's decendants living in Sydney i think they were in Auburn, Bankstown or around that area.

yes i already had seen the funeral notice from Benjamin so i had at least a starting point. I knew he was a sailor and did a bit of research on the NSW shipping registers whihc showed him as originating from California and approxiamtely his age.

Benjamin was burried in the Old Balmain Cemetery near Leichhardt / Annandale which was destroyed somtime around 1940-41  to make a park.

I am glad that you were able to get some further knowledge about how family, fits together and its always really cool that other family members are able to get that little bit futher info.

I knew about a fair bit about Liscillier etc from the family talking about her when i was a child.
I had seen a reproduction copy of the book by William that was obtained from a Delaforce gathering in Qld around 1981.

a photo of William i had seen previously when i visited some of the Delaforce family in telegraph Point some 30 years ago or so (same one as shown on Patrick Delaforce's website

Cheers
Greg

[debron]

Hi Greg
 I am having trouble replying to your message. Can you send me another message with an email address so we can chat as its sounds like we are definitely related
thanks and regards
Deb

[colinmac]

For robjen:
I know you were trying to find out more information about the origins of Benjamin Wallace Blossom (b. 1851-52).

The first official records we can find of his existence are the 1860 US Census and the 1865 Massachusetts census. In both cases he's living with a family called Hammond in Mattapoisett, MA and I know it's been a bit of a mystery as to how he relates to them and where he came from.

I thought I'd share with you that we've found a link: Joseph J Hammond (the head of the household) is the son of Rebecca Blossom (b. 1792).  She is the sister of Ansel Blossom (b. 1779) and therefore is likely to be Benjamin Wallace Blossom's great-aunt.  Joseph J Hammond and Benjamin's presumed father, John Wallace Blossom (b. 1820-ish) are first cousins.

I know it's only assumed that John is his father because Benjamin was born in California and it's known that John spent time there and it's hard to see where else Benjamin could fit.  I think the family connection with the Hammonds adds much more weight to this assumption.

We still have no idea who Benjamin's mother might have been.

The last clear indicator we can find of John Wallace Blossom's existence is a certificate of citizenship he filed in 1859 in Pennsylvania for work as a seaman.