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Messages - stannarp

Pages: [1] 2 3 4 ... 53
1
This also gives me something to go on to find the birth of my gg grandmother, and shipping records... I've used all HER pseudonyms looking, but now I have one for him too!

2
Yup, so 99.9% it is them! She would be 3 months pregnant, so likely a shotgun wedding, and he already had a wife in Australia, so the pseudonym makes sense!

3
Thank you so much!

It had not occurred to me that he would use a pseudonym, she frequently did (at least twice I've found!), so I guess it should have!

His family were carpenters by trade, as was he, and apparently he did a LOT of carpentry work in Queenstown, so it is quite likely it actually was him!

4
Bit of a vague one, sorry...I am still on the track of my controversial g-g grandparents - Eliza BENNETT and Thomas T SELLER, but have found a lot more about them than previously (https://stannardroseza.blogspot.com/p/eliza-bennett-thomas-theophilus-seller.html), their story so far here.

However, I am trying to track down 2 specific things:
1) did they ever marry?
2) where was my g-grandmother (Ethel Maude) born (supposedly Australia, but I have found no record of her birth there, or in South Africa).

She came from Queenstown, and I believe that there was no Catholic Church in Queenstown in the 1880's, is this correct?

If not, and given that they popped up in Australia by 1885, and I surmise that they left Queenstown in a bit of a hurry (she was 17, he was 22 and already had a wife in Australia); which are the likely Catholic Churches between Queenstown and the closest place they could have embarked for Australia that they could have married in?  I am not sure that any Catholic PR's for South Africa are searchable online, but if I am going to try contacting Catholic Churches and inquiring about records, it would help if I had some likely possibilities.

They were definitely in Australia, as some of their children are born there (and I have found them on birth records), she also sued him for desertion in 1889:  https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/108099425?searchTerm=thomas%20theophilus%20seller&searchLimits=l-state=New+South+Walesl-australian=y

I have searched high and low through Ancestry, and FindMyPast, as well as FamilySearch and cannot find any record of their trip between South Africa and Australia, so I do not have any date references for this.  Nor do I have any references for them coming back to South Africa from Australia in about 1890.

5
Australia / Re: Death of Elizabeth SELLER (nee BENNETT) in about 1923
« on: Saturday 08 July 23 18:51 BST (UK)  »
Hi all,

Long time no post.

I did (finally) find out what happened to Eliza BENNETT.

After Thomas Theophilus SELLER returned to Australia for the last time after 1910 she moved to Johannesburg, and adopted her mother's first husband's surname (BLEACH), and claiming to be a widow remarried.

When her husband died a year later she remarried again and eventually died of complications from diabetes in 1923.

This is a link to her record on my website. https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~stannardrose/genealogy/tree/tree-list/1453.htm

For anyone else researching Thomas Theophilus Seller, Eliza BENNETT and their interesting lives, I also did a tribute page of their story on my family history website, as it was a story that was deliberately lost to our family for so many years due to the controversial nature of their lives.

https://stannardroseza.blogspot.com/p/eliza-bennett-thomas-theophilus-seller.html?m=1

If you are researching them ... please pm me, as I would love copies of any SELLER family pictures fromtthe 1880's that you may have which might include Eliza. There are none to be found in my family because they were deliberately forgotten, and I would absolutely love to have a picture of Eliza if she appears in any.

Regards,

Patricia

6
South Africa / Re: Eliza Seller marriage - 1901-1921
« on: Monday 27 April 20 17:50 BST (UK)  »
OK, so I will reply to my own post, a concerted amount of luck and resourcefulness on FamilySearch and I have found her ... and she REALLY did not want to be found:

After Thomas T left for Australia sometime after 1902, Eliza (Bennett) Seller eventually ended up marrying Alexander Williamson Armstrong in Jhb in 1914.

On her marriage certificate she lists herself as Eliza Bleach (mother's first husband's surname, died before she married Eliza's father, Jonathan Bennett) Burns, with an affidavit stating that she was a widow.

She seems to have stuck with the fiction that her maiden name was Bleach until her death in 1923, where she is listed as Eliza Bleach Armstrong.

Eliza Bennett and Thomas T Seller were quite a couple of interesting, resourceful people, I think they will each get a page of their own on my family history website, now if I could only find a photo of Eliza!

7
South Africa / Eliza Seller marriage - 1901-1921
« on: Monday 27 April 20 15:02 BST (UK)  »
Hi all,

I've got a bit of a mystery - trying to get a proper story down about quite an interesting part of my family (current other post here ... https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=828925.msg6935156#msg6935156)

Anyway, I've been trying to track down a bit more of what happened with the other children of this couple (other than my g-grandmother, Ethel Maud) and found the attached on a death cert for their youngest son, Cecil John Rhodes Seller in 1921, his mother Eliza is listed as Armstrong.

Verbal family history has it that her husband Thomas T left for Australia sometime after 1910 - not 100% sure when, and it seems she might have divorced and remarried (or just remarried) sometime between 1901 when I have her as Eliza Seller on her mother's death notice and 1921 when I have her on her son's.

I've had a look around Legacy for most of today and cannot find a 2nd marriage for her, or any record of her death as Eliza Bennett (maiden name), Seller (first marriage) or Armstrong - possible second marriage anytime, never mind 1923 when she is meant to have died ???

Any more ideas where to look?

Regards,

Patricia

8
Thanks Jamjar, useful resource ... apparently he was also charged with desertion of my g-grandmother, Eliza Bennett in 1889, but it seems they stayed together and returned to South Africa after.

Wed 18 Sep 1889

Thomas Theophilus. — Thomas Theopliilus Seller (33), described as a carpenter, was charged with unlawfully deserting his wife, Eliza Seller. He denied desertion, but his Worship thought otherwise, and ordered him to pay 15s. a week towards her support.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/227584907?searchTerm=thomas%20theophilus%20seller&searchLimits=exactPhraseanyWordsnotWordsrequestHandlerdateFrom=1860-01-01dateTo=1943-12-31l-advstate=New+South+Walessortbyl-category=Article

9
Hi there,

Thanks so much for this!

@Jamjar, can you let me know where you found the info about him deserting Rosanna Carlin, I'm interested in finding out more about that - being a descendant of the woman he deserted her for :o

Regards,

Patricia

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