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Research in Other Countries => Australia => Topic started by: KGarrad on Wednesday 20 May 20 08:35 BST (UK)
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The brother of my 2nd great grandfather was Henry Garrad, b 1831 in Colchester, Essex, England.
An English newspaper entry has his death at Hangaratta, SA on 29 Sept 1853.
I presume the placename has been mangled by the English newspaper, but does anyone have any clues as to what the place actually is?
The Essex Standard report says: September 29th 1853 at Hangaratta, South Australia, accidentally drowned crossing a creek, in the 23rd year of his age, Henry, the fourth son of Abraham Garrad, of Colchester
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I can't find a death in SA or Victoria.. there is a town in Victoria called Wangaratta but nothing similar in SA. There is nothing I can find in the newspapers using variations of his name but I note that he is remembered on a family grave in Essex as "died in Australia"
shume australia
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In case you haven't checked Trove (Australian newspapers)
The Argus (Melbourne) 21 July 1853
Mr Sexton, from Colchester, would greatly oblige Henry Garrad if he would forward the packet of letters that he brought out for him to Mr Wallworth, grocer, Hanover Street, Collingwood.
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I can't find a death in SA or Victoria.. there is a town in Victoria called Wangaratta but nothing similar in SA. There is nothing I can find in the newspapers using variations of his name but I note that he is remembered on a family grave in Essex as "died in Australia"
shume australia
thinking how often a W looks like an H or v.v. perhaps it IS Wangaratta. in which case this story might fit
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/61328708?searchTerm=drowned%20wangaratta&searchLimits=l-decade=185|||l-year=1853
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I dont have access to the rest of the articles.
Published: Tuesday 04 July 1854
Newspaper: Essex Herald
County: Essex, England
have been thrown into considerable doom the receipt of several returned letters, marked Dead,’’ which they bad sent to Mr. Henry Garrad, ouo of the sons who emigrated some time since to Australia. The letters, it was believed, vara returned a Mr. Faitbfhl
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Published: Friday 07 July 1854
Newspaper: Essex Standard
County: Essex, England
We regret to learn that letters addressed to Mr. Henry Garrad (son of Mr. Abraham Garrad.of this town), at Melbourne, have been returned to his family indorsed yean , but, in the absence
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Australia isn't my usual area of research, and Google wasn't very helpful!
Hence my request for help.
Henry was in Bures St Mary, Suffolk (where the Garrad family resided for many years) in 1851.
There is a bridge there, over the River Stour.
The other side of the bridge is Bures Hamlet, Essex. ;D
I did a quick search for a death notice in SA and Victoria; no results!
All I have is that Essex, England newspaper report.
His brother, John, was in India about the same time.
Took me ages to track down the name of the town where he was stationed!
It's the darned English, always mangling placenames ;D
Mckha489 - that report certainly looks promising! Many thanks ;D ;D
Giblet - thanks for those snippets. Very interesting ;D
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So if the letters were returned marked DEAD then someone knew him and his death should have been reported officially somewhere. There is nothing in the Public Records of Victoria Inquests about him either.
shume
ADD Have found a death entry for 1853 for Harry unknown surname, parents unknown age 24. Ref 1038 Victoria. Perhaps that's all they knew about him?
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Thanks, shume.
Sounds likely ;D
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Already mentioned by Mckha489-- :P
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/61328708
......On approaching Wangaratta, the township at the point where the road crosses the Ovens, we found that the flats adjacent to the run, several miles in extent, were flooded……
The danger and difficulty in all this were very great, for the horses as well as ourselves stumbled frequently over logs and roots, and occasionally the wheels of the drays went into great holes, entirely immersing the vehicle. As the flood was subsiding there was a strong current running. The day after we passed through, a digger on his way to the Ovens was drowned in attempting to push his way through. He went into a deep hole, and not being able to swim was drowned. Wangaratta is a miserable looking place,………
Sue
ADDING
The death entry for the 24 year old Harry, given by shume, also gave the man's place of birth as Gotland?? ???
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I have just noted that in my previous post, have duplicated information already located.
Apologies. I will edit the post.
Sue
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I would agree with others that it's likely the place referred to is Wangaratta and the vague newspaper reference found by Mckha489 and transcribed also by Sparret is possibly about this man's death. I think "South Australia" may just mean southern Australia.
In Victoria it was only in July 1853 that BMDs were to be recorded by the local government registrar. Church records were still kept and were supposed to be passed on but I suspect this may not have always happened especially at the start of the new requirements.
Unfortunately for this search the current Wangaratta cemetery was established in the 1860s so there would be no record of a burial there in 1853. A burial of a George Gray in Wangaratta in 1853 has this comment: Records state that he was buried "Old Hospital Cemetery, Wangaratta, Victoria" There is also a comment on a brochure of historic sites in Wangaratta that The township’s first cemetery is situated near the original junction of the Ovens and King Rivers.
Wangaratta Family History Society may be worth trying.
Judith
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There was some sort of cemetery at Wangaratta at that time.
Wed 16th Feb 1853. 'The Empire' Sydney. Section The Ovens
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/60132323
(This is not about your man)
.....opposition to the funeral was with-drawn, and the cart with the coffin started for the cemetery at Wangaratta , followed by the relatives ....and many others ......
Sue
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I agree Sue - possibly the Pioneer cemetery mentioned above and on p2 of this brochure. (Page 2 is up the right way!)
https://www.visitwangaratta.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2017/02/Wangaratta-Heritage-Walk-brochure.pdf
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My apologies all round: I found a handwritten inquest with witnesses at PROV for Harry unknown and he drowned in the Yarra River in Melbourne in Oct 1853. So its not the man we were seeking, who drowned at Wangaratta in Sept 1853.
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My apologies all round: I found a handwritten inquest with witnesses at PROV for Harry unknown and he drowned in the Yarra River in Melbourne in Oct 1853. So its not the man we were seeking, who drowned at Wangaratta in Sept 1853.
Ahh
Tending to think Judith is on the track there with the notion that the record never reached the registrar.
Obviously there were reasonably full details given somewhere or how else did the news reach the family in England.
Sue
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My thanks to you all ;D
I am pleased that the actual town has been identified ;)
A burial record would be a bonus,but that looks increasingly unlikely.
I was aware that this would be from the early days of Australian records, so my expectations on that score were low.
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The Essex Standard report says: September 29th 1853 at Hangaratta, South Australia, accidentally drowned crossing a creek, in the 23rd year of his age, Henry, the fourth son of Abraham Garrad, of Colchester
Maybe if his body was not recovered they might not have been able to register his death hence why no death reg. can be found??
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re Giblet suggestion:
That's a real possibility for the times: I was tracing a man who drowned in a lake in NZ in 1862 and all I found was a news item and his wife remarried my ancestor a few months later in the same small mining town.
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The death notice is in the Essex Standard...2 Feb 1855 and 7 Feb 1855...a long time after the death, so the date and place of death might not be so accurate.
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The death notice is in the Essex Standard...2 Feb 1855 and 7 Feb 1855...a long time after the death, so the date and place of death might not be so accurate.
I had noticed that ;D
News coming from the antipodes wasn't quick in those days.
Add to that the problems of identification . . . . .
"A digger" drowns on his way to (presumably) the Victorian Gold Fields; what ID would he have on him?
I have emailed the Wangaratta FHS; maybe they have some info?
(Their website appears to have issues.)
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In the matter of Henry GARRAD's death, and the story that went back to his family in England......
**Wangaratta would seem to feature in his life / death.
**Death was by accidental drowning.
**Mr SEXTON, in 1854, has no reason to believe that Henry is dead.
**If there is an exact date known for his death....someone saw him .....enter water and not surface?
**Was his body ever recovered?
**Only when someone has cause to look for Henry eg. Mr SEXTON, that a possible death was identified?
**Henry, unidentified body, death was recorded as a John Doe.....unidentified death?
**VIC database....Victorian.......might have death 29 Sep 1853 with no name. Someone might have access to this database. I have at local library, but not accessible during COVID lockdown.
**Some helpers on this forum might have the relevant database discs.