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« on: Saturday 18 June 11 14:44 BST (UK) »
Hello keyboard86
A lot has been discovered today. Early this morning (AEST) there were no Collins on our tree. You have seen our progress.
The St Kilda East cemetery "sighting" of the shared grave is from Sandra Lacey Daly, nee Collins.
Rosa was two years old when she disembarked at "Port Philip" in 1854 . Her sister Mary tragically died within a year.
The "sighting" of Thomas in Victoria came from a Mrs Saunders. She is a relative of Emma (b 1839 at Amersham) who married Charles Collins in Victoria. Charles went on to be a merchant at Walhalla, a gold-rush town in the mountains of eastern Victoria. They are both buried there. I lived in Walhalla briefly whilst a construction engineer on a large dam project in the 1970s - the last dam built in Victoria.
The country is so steep and the soil so shallow that hundreds are reputed to have been buried near vertically in their mountain-side graves. One Sunday we had a charity cricket match between the Melbourne Cricket Club and "Walhalla United" at the tiny cricket ground on the top of the ridge. (It's on Google Maps). They arrived, already merry, on a red London double-decker bus. We fought hard for two hours to be all out 98. MCC overtook us with just three overs of sixes! The party, which had commenced when they left Melbourne, resumed.
Mrs Saunders has a 1927 tale in a family bible detailing the arrival, on separate ships, of Thomas, then Sarah and their 9 (of 10) children in Victoria. This I hope to transcribe and add to our web-tree. Sandra will next week obtain birth and death certificates. She talks of commissioning a headstone.
There is a fascinating story still to come, concerning the child-bride Sarah, and a wild visit to London with young Thomas. Mrs Saunders' bible records that when first child Thomas turned one, the sum of his and his parents' ages was 30! Sadly he died aged 13.
Intertwined friends with the Collins and Saunders in England were a Jagger, a Darvell and an Edward Jackson. Her bible will reveal the details.
You may be able to help further with this: you thought Thomas Sr was a Straw Plaiter. The bible records his business as dealing in threads and "plaitlet" for hats and bonnets: a Plait Merchant, perhaps? Does this suggest to you a different Occupation transcription of the Census collector?
Your assistance has been invaluable. Thank you!
inept
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