RootsChat.Com

Caroline
I thought I had sent a reply to your post the other day - did you get it? - it is years since I used this site and find it difficult.
Whyatt

Hi majm

Thank majm for you input and your careful checking of earlier posts - I appreciate the time and effort you have given in responding.

As is evident, I am a first-timer on RootsChat (or any other family history chat site for that matter) and I am feeling my way. 

Over the years I have noted how easy it is for confusion to arise from misinterpretation of material - for example, for a long time I had thought the Phoenix was subsequently wrecked in Torres Strait in 1856 or thereabouts - it was in fact a steamer of the same name!

Again thank you

Whyatt

Well I am amazed stsearcher.

The baby Philips (sometimes one l, later two), is almost certainly the son of my gt-grandfather, Thomas.  How the mother came to be recorded as Margaret I cannot say.

And what a happy reflection on the voyage is giving baby Aggie Evans Phoenix as a second name!

Again thank you so much - and how did you access this information?  I am sure I have looked in births at sea over the years (but perhaps I was looking for a David Phillips when his name was yet to be recorded).

Once more, my thanks

Whyatt

Thank you AussieJulie and stsearcher and now miri– I do appreciate your efforts.

From your work and other sources I can now identify the following 14 names/family groups as passengers on board the Phoenix on her voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne, arriving 29 October 1854:
Per Ancestry lists identified by AussieJulie
Collier x 5 people
Kelly x 4 people
Lowden x 2 people
S McDonald - 1 person
Per press report in The Argus Monday 30 October 1854
Cabin Passengers
Mr. and Mrs. Morgan,
Mr. and Mrs. Tyler,
Mr McClere,
Mr Wilmot,
Mr Hillier
Per testimonial The Argus Wednesday 8 November 1854
Thomas Main
Mr Percy
Mr Dawson
Per Missing persons enquiries
Harriet Speed The Argus Saturday 4 November 1854
William Weightman The Argus Friday 10 November 1854
Per later birth registration of David Phillips –
Thomas Phillips
Anne(e) Phillips
David Phillips (born 12 October 1854, registered 4 February 1856)

As you might guess, my interest in the Phoenix first arises from who accompanied my Welsh forebears, Thomas and Ann(e) Phillips (nee Rowlands), and their son David, born en route, to Melbourne.  (They had married in the parish church of St John the Baptist in Aberdare Glamorganshire, Wales on 29th October, 1853, exactly twelve months before the Phoenix berthed in Melbourne.)

The Welsh families from which they came were large and whilst I have a good handle on the Rowlands family through censuses from 1841, including members of that family who came to Victoria, the later details for the Phillips fade after 1841, (although Thomas Phillips’ mother, Mary, nee Howells, appears to have survived until 1861).  But perhaps Thomas’ brother, John Phillips, came to Victoria. 

When Thomas Phillips of Amherst was entered on the Victorian electoral role in 1856, the following entry at the same place was John Philips (sic) – Thomas had a brother named John (who didn’t) but whether he emigrated or not is unclear.

Responding to miri, I will try again via Ancestry and the cd-roms and the like of the shipping lists maintained at the State Library but I am not particularly hopeful – perhaps thirty years ago when the records were available in hard copy on open shelves in the library, I had no success then in finding the Phoenix passenger lists for 1854.
However, clearly some people are interested specifically in the Phoenix – entries have been tagged in Trove and so on – and I am impressed with the responses on RootsChat!

Wyatt