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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Cornwall => Topic started by: Chris Nilsen on Friday 06 April 18 07:06 BST (UK)
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I am seeking some opinions about a brick wall I've hit.
Sedonia Buzzo was born on 23 Feb 1859 at Tregurtha Downs to a single woman Annie Buzzo, and baptised 25 Apr at St. Hilary.
The next record I can find for her is in August 1876 when she arrives in South Australia as an assisted immigrant.
Seventeen years of her life is missing from all records.
I have searched extensively in the 1861 & 1871 to no avail.
So I am looking for some 'thinking outside the box' ideas.
What options should I consider as to where she spent those 17 years, or what possibilities are there for her to appear in records not as I know her?
Thanks.
Chris.
Adelaide, Australia.
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I keep coming back to this Sedonia in 1871 born in Cornwall in 1859 and living with her mother in Southampton. The mother's name is a scrawl :-\
Cocer Congdon 30 Married b Cornwall
Sedonia Congdon 12 b Cornwall
Kay
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That name looks more like Levinia/Lavinia to me. The child, I mean.
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That name looks more like Levinia/Lavinia to me. The child, I mean.
I agree.
Lavinia Congdon birth reg Jun qtr 1859 Bodmin, mmn Lean.
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Yes - sadly F M P transcribes the child as Lavinia :-\
Kay
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Is anything known/discernible about Annie?
I wonder whether she is Anna Buzza, 15, pauper scholar b St Hilary, in the workhouse at Madron in 1851.
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Looking at surname variants, I see there is also a Samuel James Buzza birth reg Dec qtr 1861 Penzance, baptised in early 1862 at Madron to mother Ann(e) Buzza.
Baptism details as follows, from Cornwall OPC:
15 Jan 1862 private baptism - mother Ann, abode Union House
21 Apr 1862 received into the church at Madron - mother Anne, abode Union House
Possible death for him as Samuel James Squire Buzza aged 1, Mar qtr 1863 Penzance.
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An Annie Buzza was tried on 16 March 1870 in Bodmin Cornwall for Larceny and sentenced to 1 month hard labour
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Just in passing, I note this wonderful detail from another Buzzo baptism at St Hilary:
21 Apr 1851
Deidamia* Buzzo, born 2 Feb 1851. Parents: Richard (miner) and Esther, of Higher Downs.
*Name taken from a work called “The French Convert”, a leaf of which was produced at the font by the grandmother of the child.
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An Annie Buzza was tried on 16 March 1870 in Bodmin Cornwall for Larceny and sentenced to 1 month hard labour
She was only 20 in 1870 though - too young to be Sidonia’s mother.
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What happened to Sedonia BUZZO after her arrival in SA.
Marriage....childrens names can all be clues to her origins. FreeBDM has her as Sidonia. The name lends itself to transcription variations.
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Is anything known/discernible about Annie?
I wonder whether she is Anna Buzza, 15, pauper scholar b St Hilary, in the workhouse at Madron in 1851.
There is this entry for 1861
1861 1591/6/5
Marazion
Sharlot Callaway unmarried 39 yrs School Mistress b Mylor
Anna Bridget lodger unmarried 23 yrs Labourer b St Hilary
Charlis Uren lodger 2 yrs at school b St Hilary
Anna’s name has been written over a crossed out name Amelia ...
The surname has been transcribed as Bridget but looks like a ‘zz’ and there has been an amendment offered as Buzzo. :-\
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I see that in Australia she married at Kooringa in 1878 as Sedania Buzza (father: “John Buzza” - so did she acquire a stepfather named John, or was he a figment of her imagination?).
Husband was Henry Wheare; children Thomas Alfred Wheare, Henry Emmanuel Wheare and Albert Gladstone Wheare.
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Is anything known/discernible about Annie?
I wonder whether she is Anna Buzza, 15, pauper scholar b St Hilary, in the workhouse at Madron in 1851.
1841 143/4/5
Ann Bozza 5yrs is in Madron Workhouse.
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There is a thread relating to Sedonia on the Penwith Genealogy website which might be worth reading
http://azazella.proboards.com/thread/2822/buzzo-aka-buzza-workhouse-inmates
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There has been a lot of research into Annie the mother, and I think her parentage has been traced, but I face the same issue with her, nothing after the death of her son Samuel James in 1863. There were suggestions Samuel’s father may have been a Squires.
I wonder if Annie got married and Sedonia is enumerated under her step fathers surname in 1871, but you’d think that with a name like Sedonia she’d still be easy to find. I considered there may be nicknames (Seddy, Cindy, Donnie, Nia) but this found nothing as well. And I’m guessing she’s too poor to be overseas in those years.
I would have thought Sedonia should be in the Madron Union workhouse in 1861 as her brother was born there just a few months after the census date. Assuming Annie is taking care of her and she hadn’t been palmed off to someone else. I tried to look at the union workhouse records via the ‘cornwall online census project’ but they’re offline at the moment.
There is little in South Australian records to go on. She dies in 1882 anyway.
Thanks for all your suggestions. Anything else I should consider?
Chris.
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In 1861, the Union workhouse is in enumeration district 13 of Madron. Inmates are enumerated by initials rather than names.
Her brother being born there doesn't mean that the family were resident in the workhouse. Annie could have given birth in the infirmary without being an inmate.
:-\