Clutton/Thornton

[Anneatki]

I thought I'd give my Scottish lot a break, & see what I could find about my husband's ancestors here in Australia, & have come up against a strange brick wall!
Bridget Thornton(1805-52) married William Burke in 1826, had 2 children, then appeared to be living with William Clutton, who had come out as a convict in 1817. Four children were apparently born to him between 1836 & 1845, including my husband's great grandfather Henry Walter Clutton (1839). The births are on the Australia Birth Index 1788-1922, so I assume they are Parish Records ( I used Ancestry to find them).
In 1846 Bridget marries John Paul, has another child, then dies in 1852.
Sounded straightforward, until I found an extensive Family Tree, researched by a lovely lady, who I have been in contact with.
A death was found of a William Clutton in 1838 - he fell off his wagon (drunk), & it ran over him, crushing his head. There are no next of kin named, though there was an Inquest.
So... the Family Tree assumes that Bridget had 3 of her children to "Unknown", yet named them "Clutton".   I have not been able to find any other death for William.
It all seems very strange to me, & I'd like your opinions, & any way I might resolve this - I'm not all used to Australian Records, so don't know where to go next! 

[judb]

Is this the marriage for Henry Walter CLUTTON?

NSW 1862 #1632
Registered at Braidwood, NSW
Henry Walter CLUTTON
Mary Ann TARLINTON

This marriage certificate should give the name of the person that Henry believed to be his father.

I note that Henry's death index entry (assuming this is your man) shows his father thus:
NSW 1880 #5785, registered at Braidwood NSW
Henry W CLUTTON
Father's name:   William W
Mother's name:   Bridget

So it seems likely that William W CLUTTON had been acknowledged as the father of Henry.

Not much help, really 

Judith

[majm]

Hi there,

The Australia Birth Index 1788-1922 on Ancestry is actually a combination of quite a number of indexes, including civil birth registrations drawn from each of the six separate colonies that joined together in 1901 to become one colony comprises those six former colonies which were then relabelled as the six states in the Federation,  The Commonwealth of Australia.  These six states, together with two territories continue to maintain their individual BDM registers, even now in the 21st century. 

The online indexes for each of those registers are in most instances free to search, and their live links are included in the resources boards for each separate state at the following RChat link
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/australia-resources-offers/

So, where to start with our Australian Records .... 
1. Not everything is on Ancestry or any other commercial website 
2. There's plenty of free to search links for online searchings  on those resources boards
3.  Images of the bdms can in some states, be downloaded from that state's own bdm website .... have your plastic card handy.
4. Info on most certs is very detailed, akin to Scotland's as opposed to England's 
5. Archive records can be handy and most states have many of their Records Office indexes available online.
6. The National Library of Australia has an ongoing project, digitising newspapers, many to current times, earliest dates from 1803.  And it is free to search.     http://trove.nla.gov.au/  TROVE is a real treasure for armchair family history buffs.

There's probably stacks more I should say, but best of all, there's many many RChatters who frequent this Australia board and who will know how to help you further.

Here's the "How To" for this board,   
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=368728.0

See,  Judith has already posted  and now I can see there's a NSW connection 

Cheers,  JM

[majm]

December 1818
Letter
William CLUTTON, convict, per the Lord Eldon of 1817, sent onto Newcastle on the Lady Nelson, …. Was originally listed as Hugh GLUTTON

December 1819
Letter
William CLUTTON, per Lord Eldon of 1817, On monthly return of Prisoners punished at Newcastle, listed as GLATTON

21  May 1823 and May 1825 and Oct 1825
Letter, William CLUTTON, per Lord Eldon 1817
On list of convicts employed by William LAWSON from Oct 1817 to Oct 1818, listed as GLUTTON

Sept 1817
William CLUTTON, 24, born Cheshire, labourer, 5 ft 6’ Dark ruddy complexion, black hair, brown eyes, convicted Great Session 17 August 1815, at Flint.  7 years transported per Lord Eldon.  Arrived 30 Sept 1817.   Note, Certificate of Freedom 394

Sept 1822 General Muster
William CLUTTON 7 years per Lord Eldeon, FBS (Free by Servitude), residing at Liverpool, Employed by F Walsh

Sept 1825 General Muster
William CLUTTON 7 yrs per Lord Eldon, FS (Free by Servitude)  residing at Cawdor, employed by James CARROLL

Nov 1828 NSW Census
William CLUTTON, protestant, per Lord Eldon, 1817, 7 years FS, Fencer to Richard CARTWRIGHT a householder, residing Mien, on the Goulburn Plains

Cheers,  JM

[majm]

Deceased Estate info at NSW State Records  for that death that Judith mentions.  There could be BDM documents in that file 

http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/indexes-online/indexes-to-deceased-estates-and-related-records/indexes-to-deceased-estate-files


http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=703011.0   

Cheers,  JM

[rosball]

I can photograph the deceased estate file for you the next time I am at State records if you wish.

Thanks for the heads up JM 

regards,
   Ros

[Anneatki]

Roots chatters are great! Thank you , Judith, JM, & Ros, - I just went off to cook dinner, & look what you've done!
Judith, I think I will have to obtain that Marriage Cert to see what Henry W Clutton put as his father.
JM, I think I've got most of that info about William - sorry I didn't put it in the Post, but didn't want to be too long winded! I'm amazed at the information available about Convicts! I didn't find the Certificate of Freedom number, & thank you for explaining "FS"!
I initially found the 1838 death on Trove, as there was a newspaper report. Thank you so much for the info on how to search - I'll start looking at that tonight!
Ros, your offer to photograph the file is gratefully accepted! I live on Kangaroo Island, so it's a bit hard to do anything, except online.
I'm off now to follow up those links, cheers, Anne

[Anneatki]

Just an update - I ordered the marriage certificate ( & discovered how expensive Australian certs. are, compared to the Scottish info, even makes the English nine pound charge seem reasonable!). 
Of course, after I'd done that I read some more of the resource info that JM pointed me to, & learned about Transcription Agents!
Anyway....$31 later & two days waiting, the email arrived - there are blanks for Parents names/occupations, so haven't learnt anything there    But I did read JM's post about Certificates with Blank Spaces, so now will try & contact the Church (St Bede's Catholic, Braidwood, NSW), if it's still there, or the local Family History Group, if there is one.  Cheers, Anne

[majm]

http://stbedesb.nsw.edu.au/stbedesparish/

ST. BEDE'S FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH SERVICE
Operated by a volunteer for the parish
Baptisms $10.00
Marriages $20.00 (more details available on church records than state certificates)
Burials (these registers only record a burial, not a death and are incomplete) free
Search for a complete family e.g. parents and their children $40.00
Fee for copy of certificates: $10.00
Our volunteer will provide a complete sevice, not just look-ups, and will check records of the Bungendore parish, Anglican records, and our archives for letters researching the same family.
All enquires by mail only to PO Box 141 Braidwood 2622 with a cheque to St. Bede's Parish or money order.

Fingers crossed,  may I suggest you forward a photocopy/scan  of the document from NSW BDM (for their archive collection perhaps).

Note to JM ..... next time, and every time, when my head says "quote the NSW blanks thread" go ahead and quote it in the post.   I am sorry that I did not alert you to that at the time.  I have caused you to have additional expenses.     

Cheers,  JM