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« on: Friday 22 August 14 00:28 BST (UK) »
Good morning,
It is very sweet of you wanting "closure" regarding William John Boyce.
Briefly, this "hopefully" is my husband's Ancestor.
After 10 years of searching for WJB on the England Genforum....had found an article in
the South Australian papers: for his death, "DEVON PAPERS PLEASE". So this had been my first hint
that he perhaps had come from Devon.
Even now after all those years have never found him coming out on any ship..have searched
WA, Victoria etc.
Briefly I will fill you in and the William John Boyce who was my husband's Ancestor.
As I do not know what year he arrived from England his life which I have traced in SA
starts when he married MARY TABRAHAM HAWKES...1st October 1862 in Adelaide.
He had 9 children by 1881.
On the 7th October 1884 he married for a second time Ann Hall (nee Scott). She was also
a widow with a number of children..they never had a child together.
Eventually dear WJB ended up in Broken Hill, NSW..I presume working in the Mines.
Have searched so much but found nothing.
Even searched for school records as William youngest daughter Lottie May was only 3 years
when her mother died...and from memory Ann's youngest was also around this time.
William and Ann were only married for 3 years...he died in Broken Hill 20/9/1888 and
was burried in a paupers grave, he was only 53 years old.
Such a sad story..never found out if some of the children moved with him and wife Ann to
Broken Hill or they stayed behind in Adelaide.
You see, if I could have found his ship arrival would have made searching that much easier.
I have even searched court records because of the following.
A relation who married WJB grandson told cousins years later that when her father-in-law
and husband died she found some paper work which according to her: "you would not want
to know about".,..so she promptly destroyed them all. Which made us wonder if perhaps he
had some prison record in his past..we will never know.
We as researchers in our family "nearly cried" when we found out that she had destroyed
all the paper work.
So now we come to the connection with the Andrews family...all of the researchers who had
replied to me came to the conclusion that the WJB born to Sarah Andrews was my husband's
Ancestor.
Now wonder what conclusions you will come to.
Have a lovely day...it it 9.25 am here.
Thank you so very much for perservering with my family.
Sieglinde.