Gordon Blair - Mystery? or Not!

[wivenhoe]

The obituary for Jane MARKS, formerly KIPPEN nee BLAIR, gives her age as 78 years (b. ~ 1819)

Jane is more likely a sister to your Gordon BLAIR.

An online tree for William KIPPEN, died 1940, Queensland, names his mother as Jane / Jean BLAIR, and her parents ie maternal grandparents of William KIPPEN, as William BLAIR and Jean DUNN.

You have Isabella Dunn BLAIR in the family of your Gordon BLAIR.

This marriage record would be useful to you, as it would ask information that Jane would give about her origins -

1865 / C346 KIPPEN Jane   m.  MARKS John

[Rosinish]

I still think he has something to hide. Someone who has education, skills and knowledge
of the law doesn't forget to register so many of his family. I'm sure it would have been illegal
not to even back then.

So do I!

I have searched all over with different terms for a Divorce & nothing comes up i.e. it looks as though he may also have been a Bigamist     

So far I can't trace a death for his 1st wife either (in Scotland).

Annie

[majm]

Re information on 1860s passenger lists ....

Imagine you are in a queue of people, with your 'carry on' luggage beside you, and your 'check in' luggage being loaded onboard.   

What info did you need to give to obtain your ticket and what proof did you provide to substantiate that info ?  ....

Well, back to that queue of passengers ....  You arrive at the table where there's the clerk/s from the shipping line.   They have been writing info into their records in long-hand, they are tired, they are hoping to also find passage to Queensland on that voyage, and they are rushing .... the ship's master wants to leave shortly, as soon as .... the tides/currents are favourable.  The passenger has his ticket, bought earlier that day at the ticket office.  The clerk there was interested in collecting the fare, rather than in finding any reason NOT to sell a ticket to the prospective passenger.   

Those shipping clerks at the table are not from the same district as Gordon, they have different accents from him, and they rush their questions and they don't listen carefully for his answer.    These informant driven lists are completed by those shipping clerks.  The lists (Manifests ? ) are facing those shipping clerks. 

Can Gordon read shipping clerks' scribble 'upside down' (afterall, those clerks have their paperwork facing them, not facing the passengers).... 

So, while it is possible that Gordon MAY have needed some 'POI', (Proof of Identity)it is also likely that any requirement was not regularly checked, or inspected etc.   Such POI may well have been a baptismal certificate rather than a civil birth certificate, and his marital status may well have not ever been asked by those shipping clerks.  I can assure you that he would not have needed a passport.   I can also assure you that 'labourer' may well have been the general description for any male who did not have professional qualifications .... and therefore it may well be that a 'clerk' without formal qualifications would be referred to as a 'labourer'....

JM

[majm]

Registering births in Queensland in the era prior to WWI may well have been similar to registering births in NSW in that same era.

This is how the system was MEANT to operate in NSW (from March 1856)

Once a birth had been registered (by a parent or even by a child eg older sibling or midwife,) then at the end of that quarter (so beginning of April, July,October, January) the deputy registrar was meant to forward the quarterly return to the Registrar General, by Official mail which in the pre motor car times was carried by Commercial enterprises eg Cobb & Co coaches.   

If that mail did actually arrive at the Registrar General's Office, in tact, it needed to be legible to be recorded on the registers held there.   

If that mail was intercepted or lost for example by  Bushrangers, or floodwaters,  then in NSW until around WWI there was NO system to send out reminders to any deputy to say "Where's this quarter's paperwork". 

If the deputy's local register became lost, then a new one was obtained from 'head office' .... but it is possible if there were few births in that locality in a year, that it could be umm.... several quarters before anyone noticed the ledger was missing.

Qld BDM regulations initially would have been exactly as NSW BDM regulations as Qld was not hived off from NSW until 1859, and NSW BDM commenced civil registrations in 1856. 

Tyranny of Distance and Lack of Responsible Supervision are often attributed to the many NSW BDM civil registrations that may not have reached the Registrar Generals Office in Sydney in the mid to late 19th Century. 

With the two girls births that are registered Qld BDM, who was the informant? 

JM

[majm]

In the Ipswich Customs Office in September 1868 there were several promotions.   Here’s three. One involved Gordon BLAIR.  Mr Thomas BARRILL, locker, was promoted to landing waiter in the place of Mr Wilkins who had resigned.  And Mr Gordon BLAIR, clerk and keeper of powder magazine, was promoted to be first clerk, in place of BURRILL  who was promoted ( I guess this is the  Thomas BARRILL mentioned earlier) .  Mr G M YATES, storeman became locker and keeper of the powder magazine in place of Mr BLAIR who was promoted.     

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/20320729  The Queenslander, 3October 1868

I suspect any person responsible as keeper of powder magazine would have hands-on (labouring/storeman) experience. 

JM

[OZScot]

Good points majam and I know that was likely the case as they weren't looking for terrorists back then, they [Qld] were happy to get the immigrants to work and getting a small colony up and running. There are factual stories that from the pubs around the docks in Glasgow & Greenock of drunks being taken on board late at night and shipped to Brisbane.

There are Qld Parliamentary notes that I read about the people doing this were indeed the people the Gov hired to bring immigrants. They had noticed a sudden lack of 'quality' people now coming.

Squatters on the Darling Downs were crying out for workers to supply an ever increasing population in Ipswich originally called 'Limestone' because of the deposits that were found there and Brisbane which was only an early rival to Ipswich as it looked for a time going to be the Capital but poor access along the Bremer river changed all that.

*** The informant on Elizabeth's BC was her father Gordon. I don't have Isabella's original BC just the indexed version on Ancestry.

I think this will only be solved from information BEFORE he left? What triggered his actions to up and leave by himself and his wife taking back her maiden name and they both move on. Maybe it's as simple as ... 'Jane I have a great idea! the new Qld Gov in Australia are giving free land away [Land Orders] to new settlers who work and stay there for at least 2yrs. It's a great opportunity to get ahead and start anew. [He and Jane have lost the last 3 children in a row]. She says 'I won't leave my family and friends here'. Gordon replies 'well I'm going'. Boom! It's over.

Fanciful I know but I can't get my head around all the lies or misuse of the facts. There are too many over quite a period of time. Tell one lie and you either have to have a good memory or keep telling them.

[not personal experience I assure you].

[majm]

I think it is important to remember that in Scotland, females do not and did not give up their maiden names, and were known by both their own names and their husband's surname.   

JM

[majm]

Instead of looking on Ancestry's compiled indexes, have you considered checking the free to search Qld BDM indexes .... Perhaps Ancestry drew on Qld BDM's own indexes, and perhaps it drew on other sources, but I think it is sensible to strive to aim to reach as near as possible to the original indexes in the hope they are pointing to the original records.

https://www.qld.gov.au/law/births-deaths-marriages-and-divorces/family-history-research/

JM

[majm]

Are you sure that these lies or misuse of facts over an extended period of time were all perpetrated by Gordon?

From Elizabeth's 1863 Qld birth certificate, what information does he give about his own origins, and those of Elizabeth's mum,  including info about his marriage to Elizabeth's mum. 

JM