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Research in Other Countries => United States of America => US Lookup Requests => Topic started by: robgen1 on Monday 24 January 11 06:32 GMT (UK)
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Hi All,
I am trying to locate any information for the following Person
BLOSSOM, Benjamin W. born abt 1851
listed as born in California
I have no further information
all i know is that he served on several voyages around Australia and South Pacific
his Death is recorded in NSW in 1884 aged 33 years old
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Greg
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Let's see if someone beats me to this.
In 1865 he shows up with a large family - none others with Blossom surname - in Plymouth, Massachusetts as a 13 year old born "State of California". If I find more I will add to this post.
Mod 1: in 1860 with same family in Mattapoisett, Plymouth, Mass.
Hammond (note wrongly transcribed as "Harrison" on 1865 State census on Family Search)
Joseph J age 46
Nancy age 45 (possibly Ben's mother?)
Several other Hammond children, and a Rebecca Hammond age 67
and Benjamin W. Blossom age 8, born Calif.
Mod 2:
Not in 1870 census with Hammonds. Nancy Ingraham Hammond nee Allen died in Sept 1870 (see beta familysearch).
Nick
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Hi Nick
thank you for reply
it may well be the right person, as the date matches up
unfortunately i dont have any further information aside from 2 Ships Voyage manifests stating that he was born in California and a Death Certificate sadly no parents were listed on the death certifcate here in Australia
I suppose there are a few possible variations
1) Maybe Benjamin was son of Nancy born in wedlock unlikely given maiden name of Nancy (nee Allen)
1) Maybe Benjamin was son of Nancy born out of wedlock once again maiden name (Allen)
2) Maybe Benjamin was Nephew of Nancy or Joseph
From memory California was granted Statehood under the Comprimise of 1850
so maybe finiing birth records for the period would be hard to find given that Sacramento has not always been State Capital
Any further information that you may find would be greatfully accepted and once again thank you for details already provided
Regards
greg
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Given the unusual surname (how many Blossoms are there?) he is almost certainly your man. Birth details for California are quite difficult to come by for this early date, as are marriages - if there was one.
QUESTION: what is on the manifests? Ships names? Where traveling from/to? Anything else helpful?
I'd suggest you try to track Nancy with her parents (names given on death record cited above - which you can view) as a next step since you don't have a lot of options. There are a huge number of possible scenarios for who Ben's parents were and you have to start somewhere. In this case it might be more reasonable to try and eliminate possibilities from the mix. E.g. if Nancy married Joseph Hammond before Ben born, she is unlikely to be his mother.
mod 1: Joseph Hammond married Nancy Allen in 1835 in New Bedford, Mass. so that is one theory disproved.
mod 2: Okay check this out: "Of his four children, two daughters died in infancy; John Wallace [Blossom] died in California. This is in a book about families in southeastern Mass. and is talking about the Blossoms (specifically Ansel, page 1476). http://www.rootschat.com/links/0bi9/
mod 3: In 1850 John W. is at home in Mass with widowed mother (Hannah) and brother Chas. F. and his family. He is a 30 yr old unmarried mariner. Can't find him in Mass marriages.
Nick
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Hi Nick
agreed looks very unlikely that Nancy Allen was his mother given her marriage date
Details of what i was able to obtain, as you can see not much to go on at all
Source: State Records Authority of New South Wales: Shipping Master's Office; Passengers Arriving 1855 - 1922; NGS 13278, [X132-133], reel 432.
Vessel
FAIRY ROCK
OF HOBART TOWN, JAMES L. WILKINSON, MASTER, BURTHEN 192 TONS,
FROM THE PORT OF HOBART TOWN TO SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES, 18TH AUGUST 1875
BLOSSOM BENJAMIN A. B. 23 CALIFORNIA CREW
Vessel
FAIRY ROCK
OF HOBART TOWN, JAMES S. WILKINSON, MASTER, BURTHEN 192 TONS
FROM THE PORT OF HOBART TOWN TO SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES, 29TH SEPTEMBER 1875
BLOSSOM BENJAMIN A. B. 23 CALIFORNIA CREW
New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages
Registration Number 2795/1884
Last Name BLOSSOM
Given Name(s) BENJAMIN W
Father's Given Name(s) AGE 33 YEARS
Mother's Given Name(s) DIED BALMAIN
District BALMAIN
Regards
Greg
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Hi Greg - PC has been rather slow since the security software has been updating. I have modified my last post after your response, in case you haven't checked.
Nick
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Hi Nick
i think i have missed something here, correct me if i am wrong do you believe that
John Wallace [Blossom] who died in California, is father of "Benjamin W. Blossom" out of wedlock.
mod 3: In 1850 John W. is at home in Mass with widowed mother (Hannah) and brother Chas. F. and his family. He is a 30 yr old unmarried mariner. Can't find him in Mass marriages.
Obviously we have no way of knowing 100%
Is there some sort of central Emigration Register for USA, or some sort of vessel Crew Registry.
Cheers
Greg
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do you believe that
John Wallace [Blossom] who died in California, is father of "Benjamin W. Blossom" out of wedlock?
No. I just think that it is a pretty good possibility that John is Benjamin's father. I wasn't making any inferences about whether Ben was out-of-wedlock, but it is always a possibility.
A possibility for further research is to see if anyone else is researching Ansel Blossom's descendants and knows anything about the son John W. who died in California. You might simply be at one of those classic brick walls that we all know and love.
Nick
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i see Benjamin aboard the Fairy Rock
New South Wales, Australia, Unassisted Immigrant Passenger Lists,
therefore he paid his own way
Benjamin Blossom aged 23 Dept: Hobart, Tasmania
Arrival: Sydney, New South Wales
18 Aug 1875
Origin Location: California
Benjamin Blossom
: 23
f Dept: Hobart Toren
Sydney, New South Wales
29 Sep 1875
Origin Location: California
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Nice find Toni. So he appears to have immigrated and then joined the crew of the ship he came on?
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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We have one piece of evidence for the Hammond - Blossom connection (Death notice for Joseph J Hammond with Rebecca Blossom noted as his mother).