RootsChat.Com

Hello,

I have been taking a look through some old family albums and decided to try and reunite some photos with their "families". These are people I am not related to / descended from.

This photo is of the Moore family from Longhorsley:
William, Edwin,
Robert, James, George and Leslie
I am not sure if the names match with the positioning of the people on the photo.

I think their birth dates were James 1902, George(William) 1906, Leslie 1908, (Wilfred)Edwin 1913, Robert (1916). I am assuming William at the back is the father.

My relatives, the Johnson's were born 1907-1921 and were at school with the Moores / neighbours of theirs in Longhorsley.

Hopefully this photo is of interest to somebody.

Best Wishes

Caroline

Hi Carol,

thanks for the newspaper links, they worked fine.

I'll try not to overload the details here but give a summary of what I know and where I have "gaps" to try and confirm if "my" Thomas is the one who ended up in NZ (Thomas Walker was a common name in the area).

I am descended from Eliza Graham Walker, daughter of Thomas and Charlotte, baptised 1828 in Thirsk (from her baptism record). Thomas is my 4x great grandfather.

In 1827 a Thomas Walker was involved in a slightly convoluted illegal game selling incident that led to a much earlier allegation of hay stealing (in 1820) being brought into play. It was for this hay stealing (and a more recent theft of geese) that he was transported to NSW in 1828 only a month after Eliza Graham Walkers baptism in Thirsk.

In the newspaper report of the trial there is mention of Thomas Walker living in Thirsk in 1828 (matches his daughters baptism at this time). He was described as keeping a public house 1 mile from Northallerton in 1820 when the hay stealing took place (using a single horse cart).

Thomas was convicted and transported for 14 years on the Lord Melville arriving NSW in 1829 and granted his Certificate of Freedom in 1843.

In 1835 back home in Yorkshire a petition was raised on behalf of Thomas and this includes some good information / clues:

"For 5 years prior to his marriage in 1819 he was a domestic servant at Thornton-Le-Moor" - Thomas married Charlotte Gregson Graham 22nd May 1819 in North Otterington, very close to Thornton-Le-Moor. Charlotte and Eliza were both in Thornton-Le-Moor on the 1841, 1851 and 1861 census'. Charlotte died there in 1866.

"his three children the oldest of which is not more than 13 years of age, and his wife who is an industrious respectable woman" - Not more than 13yrs old in 1835 would mean his eldest (surviving) child was born around 1822, and Eliza would have probably been the youngest being born just before his transportation. Charlotte was a school mistress.

Charlotte's death certificate 1866 describes her as "wife of Thomas Walker, Coachman". (Wife, not widow as had been used on previous census'. As I've learned on this forum she could be described as a "widow" due to the length of his sentence).

On the Geni page you directed me to Thomas is listed with a lot more children and I believe this may be the due to confusion over two or more Thomas Walker families back in the UK. I also believe there is an alternative birth date and place and set of parents for Thomas (George Walker and Jane Sherwood, Brompton by Northallerton 1789) but until I'm sure this is "my" Thomas Walker in NZ there is no point climbing back up the (potentially incorrect) tree.

I will try and firm up George and John as children of "my" Thomas and Charlotte but their names are very generic. I am given hope however by the fact that Georges daughters, according to this Geni site, are named Jane "Graham" Walker and "Charlotte" Maria Walker (linking back to Charlotte Gregson Graham).

I hope this makes some sense to you. I will contact the Profile Managers on Geni and see if they can shed some light on the movement of Thomas from NSW to NZ with his son John.

If it turns out that your "son in law" Cam and myself are from the same Thomas I would of course send you everything I have on Thomas but won't "spam" you with unnecessary information til things become more clear.

Thanks again and take care

Caroline

No need for any apologies,  Caroline,   we are all chasing your Thomas, but he is a WALKER,  and he has many years head start on us all, he could have walked many a mile.

JM.

Thanks JM. My other ancestors have averaged around 10 miles per 100 years which is maybe the reason I live in a town named Amble - "to walk slowly"! So it's a new experience for me to find an ancestor who has, admittedly unintentionally, travelled so far .

Hoping things quieten down at work in a few days time and I get the chance to resume my research.

Thanks jonw65 for suppling the marriage information.

Caroline

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, and thank you Judith for checking the Index.

I just had a spare hour and so was going back through the threads here to refresh my memory and plan my next step. One of the early posts from JM caught my attention again when he mentioned that Thomas would have been free to marry upon receiving his CoF and that he could have moved to NZ or 'Australia Felix".

I came across a marriage reference:

Thomas WALKER & Martha GAMBALL
17 Jan 1843
Geelong
Presbyterian
V18431505 76

It is the date of marriage that jumped out at me - Thomas received his CoF 16 Jan 1843. Could be a complete coincidence of course but I hope to get time again tomorrow to follow up further, just thought I'd share this possible link.

I identified via https://portphillippioneersgroup.org.au/pppg5g.htm that I could obtain a copy of the marriage certificate from the NSW Registry (if I decide it's worth pursuing, no "pdf" option).

I've only managed a cursory search on Martha Gamball. I found a Martha Gamble applying to marry in 1825 and a Martha Gamble arriving in Port Phillip in 1842 (she was Roman Catholic and 23yrs old, a lot younger than my Thomas) but no Martha GAMBALL (I know spelling was fairly flexible though).

Thanks again for all your help and suggestions, it's keeping me motivated to chip away at my search whenever I can!

Caroline