Anonymous Mr Hardy in Maitland NSW

[pommiecat74]

Hi There,

My ancestor William Payne migrated to Aus in 1849. He later married in West Maitland a widow by the name of Sarah Hardy in 1875. I have the marriage cert.

Sarah maiden name Miles, was on the same 1849 voyage that William Payne took but married in Australia a man named either George or William Hardy. I have been unable to obtain marriage certificates or any record of George (or William) Hardy's death.

It seems that they all stayed within Armidale, Maitland, Singleton region. Sarah and William (or George) Hardy had 9 children. She had a further child with William Payne and then I lose track of Sarah. William Payne later returned to England and remarried so I figure that Sarah probably died - after all those kids she must have been pretty worn out.

Sarah and William Payne's daughter also returned to the uk. I have her birth certificate. She was named Sophia Greenland Payne and it is said in my family that she was named after the place/station that the family lived at.

Sooo - after all that my research has found I am looking for more information on the mysterious Mr Hardy and if possible, information on Greenland that Sophia was named after.

Many thanks for your time.

Cat

[PrueM]

Hi Cat 

I can't find Sarah and Mr Hardy's marriage on the NSW BDM site either    It could be that they never married, or that it was never registered, or that the registration has been lost...there is a death for a George HARDY at Maitland:

Reg No. 4363/1860      HARDY, George    - aged 30 - reg dist. West Maitland

Anyway, I had a look for "Greenland" and there is such a place in the Hunter Region of NSW.  Greenland, or Greenlands (I've seen both!) is about 25 km north of Singleton.  I don't know anything about it, but hopefully we have a knowledgeable Rootschatter or two who are familiar with that area.

Hope this helps 

Prue

[PrueM]

P.S.  To make things confusing    there is also a death for a William Hardy, also in Maitland:

Reg no. 5848/1874      HARDY, William - aged 61 - Reg Dist. West Maitland

[PrueM]

PPS.  There is this 1910 death for a Sarah PAYNE in the Singleton area, would this date tie in with her husband's return to England? There are a few other Sarah PAYNE deaths in the 1875-1930 period, but none in the Hunter region.

Reg No.  11231/1910      PAYNE, Sarah - father's name James - Reg. Dist. Singleton 

[cando]

I note that the Hardy births at Maitland are to a William and Sarah HARDY - there don't seem to be any births on the indexes to a George and Sarah HARDY.

Cheers
cando

[PrueM]

Well spotted, cando    And the last of those births seems to be 1872, which would fit with the death of William HARDY in 1874, and the further marriage of Sarah to William PAYNE in 1875.

[pommiecat74]

Thanks for all the help,

It looks like Sarah married a William rather than George Hardy then. I guess it wasn't unusual for people to be known as another name informally.

I know that William Payne returned to the UK and married another Sarah in London in 1894. So, Sarah Payne must have died after 1876 (when Sophia was born) and between 1894.

I have so many Sarah's and William's it gets v. difficult to keep track of them all - keeps me busy though! 

Many Thanks

Cat