Cornish emigrant to Australia

[krisesjoint]

Hi,

Just to let anyone with connections to The Martyn Family we have started a new thread. A new reply to this thread has been split off and I will now try to split the rest off also and give the Martyn's their own thread.

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=310842.msg1557318#msg1557318

Ding's original thread was not about the Martyn Family - we just got a little sidetracked so I will move that discussion to the new thread also. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Cheers Kris 

[ChrisMerry]

I'm reading these messages with interest, as Thomas Peters and Mary Harris are my 3xgreat-grandparents!

One of their children (Elizabeth) married Robert Malachi Serjeant. They then moved to Ballarat, Victoria.
Do you know anything more about them?

Regards

Chris Merry

[chet]

Hi,
I am interested in the discussion re Elizabeth Harris, John Harris & family arrived Hooghly 1846.
I have marriage cert for John Harris & Alice Smithem 16/5/1845 at Wesleyan Chapel at Liskeard.  He full age, bachelor, miner, residence St Cleer, father John Harris, miner.  She full age, spinster, residence St Cleer, father Nicholas Smitham, miner. Witnesses William Gorden, Caleb Jennings.
Has anyone made any progress with the Harris family?  I am descendent of John, son Benjamin.
Chris

[Ding]

Hi Chris,
I too am interested in any information on this family.
I believe that Elizabeth was my G G Grandmother. I believe she married Thomas Peters in 1848 and their first two sons were born at Montacute.
The only clues I have is that on Elizabeths death cert. her son in law put her father's name as John Harris (miner) and her mother as somebody White and that she was born in Camborn.

One unverified entry in the LDS IGI has a John Harris = Ann White in Conwall in 1822.
It would be interesting to see what the death cert of John Harris says (providing he died after 1907 in SA)

Ding

[chet]

Hi Ding,
Transcription John Harris death certificate Died 6/12/1883 aged 64 years, Miner, usual residence Kapunda. Cause – Enteritis/Dropsy, died at Kapunda.  Informant – Benjamin Harris, son, Kapunda.
Also for Alice Harris -died 15/5/1878 aged 61 years.  District of Clare. Wife of John Harris, miner.     Residence – Kapunda.  Cause – senile decay and bronchitis.  Death occurred at Penwortham. Informant – Dunston Vidal,  Derby Arms, Penwortham, Son in Law.    (NB  Philippa Harris married Dunston Vidal 30/9/1873, from a google search - I don't have the certificate.)
Not sure what happened to son Joseph Harris born 1848.
Not sure that the Liskeard marriage is my John & Alice, and not sure they could have had 2 children between the marriage  16/5/1845 & 3/7/1846 (when the Hooghly left Plymouth), unless first was born not long after the wedding or she had one earlier.   I am sure that John Harris arrived on the Hooghly 1846, from Kapunda Hospital admissions which I recall reading ages ago, but can't find my notes!  Will do another search sometime.
So, who were the 2 children arrived with John and wife? What became of them?
What we need are some obituaries from local papers!
Also - do you have marriage for your Elizabeth - & who were the witnesses?
Chris

[earlybird]

Hi,
Greetings from South Australia. Hopefully I can shed some light on the Elizabeth Harris, John Harris (who travelled to South Aust. via the Hoolghy) mystery. I can't take all the credit as my cousin has done the lion's share of the research but we believe Elizabeth is probably a sister to John.
The wife listed with John on the shipping list is Alice Smitham (Smitheram, - there are various spellings). The two young children are Elizabeth Jane Harris (biological father Henry Rule) and an another un-named child which we're guessing is male and possibly called John.
Years later when Elizabeth Jane Harris married, one of her witnesses was a John Harris (possibly her half brother) . Her father is listed on her marriage cert as John Harris but in fact we now know it's Henry Rule.
This clears up the mystery of why there were two small children on board when John & Alice had only been married for a short time. As for Elizabeth senior, I think she may be the one who married a PETERS. I'll have to get out my notes and check. Elizabeth Jane Harris (daughter of Alice) is my great great grandmother. Cheers, Earlybird

[chet]

Hi Earlybird,
Thankyou so much for your reply, and I am thrilled to be finally findng some info re my Harris family.  Do you know if the Liskeard marriage that I have is the correct one for our John & Alice Harris?  I would love any further details that you are able to provide.  Benjamin Harris (brother to your Elizabeth Jane) was my gg gfather, and his son Benjamin John Elfred Harris (married as John Harris to Annie Sexton, Kapunda 26/12/1901) is another brickwall.  Do you have any information on him after that date?  His wife and son (John Leslie Harris born 1901 & name change to Leslie Harry Hoddy c1916) came to WA about 1903/5 but I don't if he also came or what happened to him.  She had another son in 1908 in Leonora WA, but I an unsure if BJE Harris was his father.
My direct email is  if you would like to swap family information and records.  I would love to hear from you, and hope to get over to SA sometime.  I was last there in about 1994.
Thanks again, Christine

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[earlybird]

Hi Christine, I tried to send a lengthy reply + photo earlier but the server could not cope. Not happy I lost everything.  Anyway.........We don't know much about the Harris family, in fact we didn't even know we had a connection with this name until 2008. Naturally we've been following our line (through Elizabeth Jane) but have managed to find out some incidental bits and pieces about her half siblings and their families. Can't help you with BJE Harris at this stage but we do know Benjamin (your gg gfather) had a daughter called Smitham Rose Harris (obviously named after his mother's family name). She married, wait for it........Benno Oscar Victor Julius Zowe at Kapunda on the 8th June 1892. He was a butcher and they moved to Coolgardie/Kalgoolie in the 1890s. Do you have this info?
The mariage cert for John & Alice Harris shows the date as the seventeenth not the sixteenth of May 1845. Cheers for now, Earlybird.

[trish1120]

Hi Earlybird ,
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Just saying hello will give you that.
Then use the Green scroll under users name to send a PM and exchange personal email addys.

Good luck with your research