RootsChat.Com
Research in Other Countries => Australia => Topic started by: Les de B on Sunday 15 February 09 05:33 GMT (UK)
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Does any one have access to Tasmanian Burials Information? I'm looking for the burial records of Matthew REID d.26/3/1838 aged 53 years in Hobart.
I found this information from a headstone on a recent visit to Hobart, and I am 99.9% sure he is "mine". The name and age are correct. I know he was alive in Hobart at his daughter's wedding in 1837, and I know he was dead before 1843, as his wife was described as a widow at her death that year.
I am aware of a convict named Matthew Reid in Hobart around mid 1830's, but he is not my ancestor. Mine was a builder/architect from Ireland who arrived in Hobart 1833 with his family. I doubt the headstone would relate to the convict?
I'm hoping some information on the burial record might give me that extra 0.1% I'm after.
Les
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You probably already have this Les ... but heres a photo of the grave stone !
http://thegardensfamily.com/cemeteries/Hobart/StAndrews/index.htm
Annie :)
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Hi les
Sorry I know nothing of your man & this death is not listed on the avri - but just to mention - if the convict was a freeman by this time he could have had a grave - especially if he came to Tasmania early, or via Norfolk Is. Many of the NI folks became the solid citizens of Hobart in later years - there were not alot of free settlers in early times. Would your Irish man have been presbyterian - or buried in a presb. cemetery?
Trish
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Thanks for those replies.
Annie, I was aware of that site. I only "discovered" it a few days before I left for Tasmania, and that was my first location I visited in Hobart. Luckily my photo's are a bit clearer than that shown on the website, and the inscription can be read.
Trish, the headstone is now located in a park which was once St.Andrews Cemetery, a Prebyterian Church. The headstones have been removed from the gravesites, and now line the perimeter of the park.
Matthew REID the convict arrived in Tasmania Aug 1836 from London.
Matthew REID the ancestor's wife died in NSW in 1843, and on her headstone she is described as "the relict of the late Matthew REID". There is no NSW record of Matthew REID's death. The wife died at Appin, where her daughter was living.
Les
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Hi Les
If you don't have anybody responding to your info prior to next Saturday I will check at the FHS for burial info.
Tom
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If you don't have anybody responding to your info prior to next Saturday I will check at the FHS for burial info.
Tom
Thanks Tom, I might take you up on your kind offer if you have time?
As I previously indicated, I'm sure this death is "my" Matthew Reid the builder, but I would really like to be 100% sure, if possible. I tried to find some more on the "other" Matthew Reid the convict, who arrived in Hobart in 1836 but with no success. Though that was last night, and I think I tried some time ago with him, and found him still to be alive after 1838 (I think?).
Its not often in Australian family research that you don't want a convict! :o
Les
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Hi Les
I hadn't checked when the convict arrived. Being 1836, like you I would be extremely doubtful that he would have died and had a gravestone so soon after arrival. My original comment was based on him arriving much earlier.
Do hope Tom finds a burial record :)
Trish
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Being 1836, like you I would be extremely doubtful that he would have died and had a gravestone so soon after arrival. My original comment was based on him arriving much earlier.
Not a problem - exactly how I was thinking. I suppose that's why I'm 99.9% certain. :)
Les
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Hi Les,
It looks to me as if you have the correct grave ;)
Did the convict get a second conviction? As a South Australian I am not familiar with convict records but I do note the ledger 1846 and 1849 states
convicted 19 Sep 1835
REID Matthew vessel Lord Lyndoch convicted Dumfries 1835 7 years Norfolk Island
V D Land 1843 Life
Have you seen this re your Matthew?
http://www.rootschat.com/links/05la/
Cheers Kris :)
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Thanks Kris, that's what I wanted to see, a year relating to the convict Matthew Reid of the transport Lord Lyndoch after 1838, and I think you have supplied it. Now, if Tom can find the 1838 burial of Matthew Reid with an occupation or witness (relative), that might make it 101%.
And thanks for the website link, but I do know about it - I submitted that information :D It is a good site for research, but there is no provision for the author's details, so if you find something good(!) you can't make contact.
Les
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Hi Les,
I couldn't help myself, no patience and visited the FHS this lunchtime.
Although Mathew Reid did not appear in the Pioneer Index his name appeared in early burials at St Andrews Presbyterian Church Hobart.
Page 4, Plot 306 and 307, Jan 1829-Oct 1872.
There is some confusion as to his age probably due to the poor copy of the burial record it states Mathew Reid died 26 Mar 1838 age 25 or 53 born 1813 a guess from the wrong age.
The good news is that there is a Headstone, it reads:-
Sacred to
the memory of
M
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Hi again
Sorry about that it posted itself before I finished.
Sacred to
the memory of
MATHEW REID
who departed this life
March 26th 1838
aged 25
Unfortunately this does not fully answer your query as we have no family or witnesses to refer to.
One thing I did check was a birth for the third child you mentioned, if the child was born on the voyage the birth should have been registered at the next port of call which I presume was Hobart.
The only Reid in the bith records was a Mathew John Reid, Father Alfred Robert Mother Mary Ann Smith in Longford Tasmania 1894.
If necessary I am willing to go to the State Archives in the hope the original Burial notice has more information but it appears unlikely, as well as the confusion regarding his age, no doubt a poor copy.
If you confirm ownership to this Mathew Reid and you would like a picture of the headstone please let me know.
Tom
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Thanks Tom for your help. Please don't go to the Archives only for my benefit. I do go there a couple of times a year, though haven't been there for some 12 months this time. I was unaware they had Tasmanian Burial Records.
I do know about the head stone in Hobart as I have personally seen it (see my original post on this thread). The inscription is clearly visible except for his age, but I thought it was 53 years. Although this topic is in relation to Burial Records of Matthew Reid, I actually posted a thread (18 months ago?) with a photo of the headstone for RootChatters to confirm that the age was 53 years. They agreed.
When I was originally inquiring about the death age, I was also told 25, which "threw me right off the scent". I then made some more inquiries, and found that age had been transcribed incorrectly, and the death age should be 53 years.
Les