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Hello everyone,

Greetings from the other side of the vast pond.

I'm hoping someone might be able to help; I've been tracing a rather sad story of a young man named David Simkin b.1825 in Birmingham, Warwickshire. He was convicted for stealing a pair of bellows aged 18 when he had already been sentenced for stealing pigeons. At 5"2 and 6st11lbs he was quite a wisp of a thing.

He was transported on the Sir George Seymour out to Van Dieman's Land on the first ship from Pentonville prison in the 1840s and eventually ended up on the dreaded Norfolk Island as part of his 7 year sentence. He gained his freedom in 1851 and I'm not sure what he did in the interim but in 1895 he is arrested aged 70 for vagrancy in Marulan, taken to Goulburn Prison where he is remanded for a week before being assessed by Dr McKillop at the lunatic asylum (I'm assuming Kenmore, but no name given) who determines that he is suffering from 'senile decay'.

I don't think David ever married but I would like to know where he is buried or at least when he died and I'm not coming up trumps.

Any advice or ideas gratefully received.

Does anyone have any good recommended reading on the life of Methodist Missionaries in these areas during the 1890s? My great-great grandfather was a Missionary in these areas and while there is a fair bit of ephemera about his work and the running of institutions I'd like to get a better sense of what day-to-day life would have been like for these people at the time (1890s). I have a funny and moving letter where he reassures my great-great grandmother that he will make sure he finds a cow for her and updates her about the sourcing of chickens (they were Devon farm stock) but not much sense of how they might have lived. My great-grandmother apparently had wonderful stories of her time there (she was born in Wellawatee) but these sadly haven't been passed down to me.

This is my first time working with Cardiff / Glamorganshire records and I'm not coming up with much in terms of parish records for the above couple.

William LEWIS b. abt 1844 and always enumerated as a coal trimmer from St Mellons - can't find him definitively prior to marriage, was hoping for clues in parish record

Ann Davies - going to be a bit of a needle in a haystack without clues from parish marriage.

I was hoping to at least find parents' names or professions, perhaps witnesses that would give a clue - the usual.

They were married 4th QTR 1868, Cardiff, Glamorganshire
Volume 11A Marriage quarter 4 Volume as transcribed 11A Marriage year 1868 Page number 337

Haven't found any parish records for the children, either - all born Cardiff / Roath:

Ann E Lewis b. 1869
Mary C Lewis b. 1872
William Lewis b.1874
David Lewis b. 1876
Gertrude Lewis b. 1878
Edward Lewis b.1880
Naomi Lewis b.1882

Any tips appreciated! I imagine there's some context about these records of which I'm unaware.

Really struggling with the place name (somewhere near Kildonan, Sutherland, Scotland) and the name of the McKay woman in this - Jean? Also the "Elleg", could this be "illeg."? What is it trying to say? Argh!

Any help much appreciated!

Hello fellow researchers,

I'm wondering if anyone can help me think of resources where I might find the marriage of William McCulloch (farm labourer / lumberer) to Ann Wales (washerwoman / whitening) - I know that their eldest children were born in Ireland (but not where). Given their names not being typically Irish it's hard to say whether they were born there or whether they just lived there for a time.

I believe the name McCulloch is associated with the Plantation of Ulster and I'm guessing Antrim is the most likely county they would have been in but this is guess work at the moment.
 
William McCulloch and Ann Wales are listed on the 1864 Scottish marriage bann of their son John - father deceased - and again mentioned in a Poor Law Relief request of his from Nov 1913.

Their son John, b. circa 1845, Ireland was a miner his entire life and seems to have lived most of his life in Slamannan / Limerigg area of Linlithgowshire (modern West Lothian).

Any help or advice on resources would be very much appreciated. John's birth and their marriage unhelpfully occurs just before BMD records in Ireland are available so I'm not sure where to look and parish records haven't thrown anything up for me yet.