Susannah DIXON - Irish Famine Orphan

[paulcrewe]

Good morning everyone,

I am trying to break down one of my last three brick walls here in Australia and was hoping I may be able to get some advice.

She is Susannah DIXON or Susan DICKSON or any number of variations on the theme.  She married William ATKINS on 14 August 1855 at St Phillips Church of England in Sydney, witnesses were Joseph Shakespeare and Elizabeth Dovey of Sydney.  I have not been able to find her or William's death certificates as the names are too common, but I know she was alive on 13 Nov 1865 when her last child was born and William was still alive on 20 March 1882 when one of his children was married.

On their daughter Mildred Julia's birth certificate on 13 Nov 1865, Susannah was listed as aged 32 (ie b abt 1833) and from Belfast Ireland, William aged 43 (ie b abt 1822) from Northampton.

I have not been able to identify Susannah or William's arrival in Sydney either.  There is a Susannah Dixon aged 12 arriving in Melbourne in 1850 with her family on the Lady Kennaway, but a web search has someone else claiming her as marrying and dying in Victoria, so I don't think this is the right one.

And that's as far as I have been able to get.

Then I saw the great program on the ABC the other night about the Irish Famine Orphans and wondered, given her age and place of origin, whether she may have been one of the orphans who came out here in the late 40's early 50's.  Does anyone know of a list of these orphans which may possibly list her?

Any help anyone can offer me with either William or Susannah would be very much appreciated.

Regards, Paul

[Robert Coble]

hi Paul,
This could be a possible death for Susannah:

Reg No: 8071.
Year:1897.     
Name: ATKINS      SUSANNAH     
Informant or Father: JAMES     
Informant or Mother: BRIDGET 
Place:    FORBES 

[paulcrewe]

Thanks for that Bob.  There are 3 other deaths for a Susan(nah) Atkins as well but none of them jump out at me to say they are a good chance, although Bridget does sound Irish doesn't it?

Regards,
Paul

[tropicalj]

hello there Paul

you  would  have  these four  from  the NSW  BDM

8071/1897  ATKINS  SUSANNAH  JAMES  BRIDGET  FORBES     
1614/1898  ATKINS  SUSAN  MATTHEW  ELIZABETH  GRANVILLE     
8330/1885  ATKINS  SUSANNAH H  JOHN B  MARY A  MACLEAN     
2084/1917  ATKINS  SUSAN  CHARLES  MARY J  WARIALDA   

of  these  James and  Bridget  sound  the most  Irish.  I would agree

regards jenn

[tropicalj]

hello  ther Paul

we can  rule  out  the  one  in Warialda  as  she was  75 years  old  and  buried  with  Henry

regards jenn

[ChristineR]

I have found that a good way to find missing parents is to look in the burial places of infant children and grandchildren.

 

[ChristineR]

and you might be interestd in looking at this book... copies in your local library most likely. 

http://www.irishfaminememorial.org/publication.html

Christine

[trish251]

You will find that the NSW transcription agents are willing to check deaths for a lesser fee to find the correct one. It's rather pot luck as to which sequence you ask them to check but somewhat cheaper than buying multiple certificates.

http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/howToSearch.htm#TranscriptionAgent

I have an Irish lass, married in 1859 and I have never managed to find her immigration records. Fortunately her marriage included parents, so I found the death index - but her age changed on every record I found, so I doubt I will ever find the immigration.

Trish

[paulcrewe]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

I will try a transcription agent to get the details of the Forbes death and cross my fingers.

Christine, thank you for that book reference, I will try and get a copy of it as it sounds like an interesting read anyway.  Do you know whether Vol 2 incorporates everything in Vol 1, or do you have to get both volumes?

Regards, Paul