Hi Roxy,
Sorry for the long post, but I hope it is helpful.
Who was the informant on Joseph's birth cert? I am expecting it was John Hutchinson himself. Does it actually say "not married" .... I have a NSW BDM cert from 1858 where the child's father was the informant, and both parents are named, and it also says "not married".
As both John and Ellen were in their mid 30s, I would expect Ellen's surname to possibly be a married surname, rather than her maiden surname, but it all depends on what the informant's understanding was of the questions asked by the local registrar. In the 1860s, the rural registrars were part time appointments, and quite often were undertaken by the Sheriff or his deputy or the clerks who worked for the Sheriff at the local court houses. Afterall, there was not the population to support a full time position. So, the info was obtained verbally, the registrar asking the questions, and writing down the answers in their ledger book, facing themselves. The ledger was on the very wide counter used in the admin section of the court houses, and the counter was quite a high one. Most informants had not achieved a uni education, so they could not read 'upside down' to check all the details exactly. Then when the clerk had finished recording, the large ledger book was swung around and the informant was asked to "Sign here" .... And many of those clerks were excellent at making indecipherable scribbles
As Joseph's birth cert notes his parents as 'not married' I will guess that the clerk did not even ask about any other children, (NSW BDM certs include details of the older siblings, when they are the issue of the marriage, so you can get their names and ages, or at least their gender and ages, and the gender of any who had already surcumbed).
But it is very likely that a 36 year old woman had previously given birth, so that Joseph may well have had older siblings, or half siblings. As Ellen was alive when Joseph married, do you know if she was at the wedding? I have some offline NSW resources, particularly for the Western Land Division of NSW so I will try to find some clues using the variations on her surname.
Of course, you are actually seeking info back into John HUTCHINSON's origins, and Ellen's too. But I am very NSW centric, so you will need other RChatters helping you with that earlier info.
Would you be able to please type up all the info on the NSW BDM for Joseph please.
Here are the usual headings from that era:
A number in a column on the far left of the official cert, but not noted on official transcriptions: (it is the line number in the local registrar, and these are now archived at NSW State Records, access is actually not permitted to these local registrars anymore).
Date and place of birth of child: (can include a street address or a property name, but often in rural districts, just a locality name …. It was the usual residence, sufficient details on the birth cert for the then postal system to deliver ordinary mail !)
Given name of the child, and whether present or not (SURNAME is NOT found in this column, and “present” refers to was the child taken to the local registry office or not)
Sex (Boy or Girl; Male or Female)
Father’s name (Given names, and Surname)
Father’s then occupation
Father’s then age
Father’s birthplace (sometimes the village, and colony, other times, the county, and then country)
Date and place of marriage
Previous issue (of THAT marriage)
Mother’s given name, and maiden surname, age, and birthplace
Informant (full name they were then using, their relationship to the child, and their usual address)
{Then the name of the attending Doctor (or the word ‘’none”)
{The name of the midwife or witness to the birth
{The name of a third witness
(only needed ONE name between these three ”{“ )
The Name of the registrar making the local record, and the date and place.
Here’s a link to a sample that the NSW BDM has on its website. It is for Henry LAWSON, a famous Australian Poet. He was born at Grenfell, NSW, and his birth was registered at Forbes NSW.
http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/resources/b1867-11928.pdf Cheers, JM
