RootsChat.Com
Research in Other Countries => Australia => Topic started by: ChristineBonnitcha on Tuesday 26 September 17 23:14 BST (UK)
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Hi All
Can someone advise if there is some way of finding a name change please other than going into Sydney? year range would be 1862 to 1885
cheers
CHrissy
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Hi,
It was not, and still is not, compulsory for a person to complete a deed poll to change their name in NSW.
Any person can choose to be known by another name without any formal process required by NSW statute law, provided of course that they are not doing so with intent to deceive or defraud.
Sometimes it seems a person has changed their name, particularly when researching in NSW in the 1860s - 1900s and then with deeper searchings it is variations in spelling or mis-transcribed index entries or similar.
Sometimes a complete surname change occurs when the person is a child and his/her mother's known by surname changes through a marriage (even a commonlaw marriage). From 1856 until around 1969, the registration of babies born in NSW did NOT include a surname for the baby. So the baby became known by his/her mum's THEN surname. If mum were married, she would usually be using her husband's surname, so all her children at that time were usually known by that surname. If that relationship was ended (death of partner or otherwise), and mum formed a new relationship (formal marriage or otherwise), then she may have become known by that chap's surname, and so too her children. :) **
If you care to share the name from the 1860s, and some background, I am happy to see if any of my offline resources can find him/her in NSW in that decade.
**
No paperwork system needed :) :) By the 1970s, changing name by deed poll was becoming the accepted process but it is still not compulsory.
JM
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Hi JM
thank you for all that info... very helpful....
I am looking for my ggrandfather Francis Augustus BULLOCK/BRUCE. I was told by my father that our surname was BULLOCK but that my ggfather changed it to BRUCE somewhere along the way...
I have his birth, marriage and death certificates. He was born as BULLOCK but married and died as BRUCE
Francis Augustus BULLOCK b 1862 Young NSW d 1934 Randwick NSW
f) James BULLOCK b c1832 Southends Essex d possible drowning 1885 Jindabyne NSW
m) Margaret Osbourne BEATTIE b) 1831 Kilmarnock d) 1892 Goulburn NSW
Francis married Mary Ann Louisa DEMPSEY Sept 1885 in Young NSW.
By the time he married he was using the surname BRUCE so sometime between 1862 and 1885 his name changed.
Hope this isn't too confusing lol.
Any help will be so very much appreciated.
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This doesn't help with why he changed his name, however have you seen this item on Trove - Francis was in trouble with the law in 1893, though the case was dismissed:
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112358610
"... I have gone under the name of "Bullock", Bruce is my proper name ..."
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Also notice that his sister Louisa married with the name BULLOCK (to Francis W NOAH in 1887), so was Francis the only one in the family to change his name? :-\
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Great find Maddy
Hi there,
From the NSW BDM online index, it seems James and Margaret BULLOCK were parents to quite a number of children, births registered Goulburn District from 1859 to 1881 with surname BULLOCK. Do you know if any of your Francis’ siblings changed their surname to BRUCE?
NSW Electoral Roll 1870 GOULBURN
James BULLOCK, householder, Goldsmith Street, Goulburn
Grevilles PO Directory 1875
GOULBURN
James BULLOCK, labourer, Goldsmith Street
NSW Electoral Roll 1878 GOULBURN
James BULLOCK, householder, Goldsmith Street, Goulburn
Question :D :D :D
What information did he give about himself and his parents when he married Mary DEMPSEY in 1885? It is possible the NSW BDM registration for that marriage is like many rural marriages in that era .... likely there may be elusive blanks. Do not panic, there's always the Church registers :) http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,546609.0.html
ADD, Maddy has already asked similar question :)
JM
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Hi there,
Just in case his father was a James BRUCE from Bowral district :)
NSW ER 1878 CAMDEN
James BRUCE, freehold, Kangaloon (Berrima Police District)
Grevilles 1875 PO Directory
KANGALOON
Alexander BRUCE, selector
James BRUCE, farmer
NSW ER 1870 CAMDEN
James BRUCE, residence, Kangaloon
JM
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I may be reading between the lines too much ;), but there seems to have been some trouble between Francis' parents in 1875 (assuming they were James and Margaret of Goulburn). Perhaps Francis didn't want to be associated with the BULLOCK name?
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article100843919
Modified to add:
And again in 1876
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article101458028
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Thanks for all the help......
Regarding Francis' siblings name... from all my research he is the only one who changed his name to Bruce. Yes as per my original question his parents are Jms and Margaret. His parents' details are not on his marriage or death certificates
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This is interesting, James died intestate and his estate was granted to Margaret Beattie BULLOCK "commonly called Russell" of Goulburn.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221651218
I wonder where the "Russell" fits in?
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Oh I see, Margaret "married" George RUSSELL (both of Goulburn) on 2 August 1882 at Sydney. Notice here:
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article98418371
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Margaret married George RUSSELL 2nd August 1882
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Hi
Some information on this site http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=Search&includedb=&lang=en&ti=&surname=bullock&stype=Exact&given=francis&bplace=&byear=&brange=0&dplace=&dyear=&drange=0&mplace=&myear=&mrange=0&father=&mother=&spouse=dempsey&skipdb=&period=All&submit.x=Search
Muss