**COMPLETED**Charles Beames POTTER and Eunice Bertha BRAY

[karenlee]

Hi Cando

I have Charles and Eunice death dates and burial info from ACT... my friend ( for whom I am doing this ) remembers them both from her childhood and was in the ACT when they both died.  Charles actually had the licence for the Canberra Bowls Club for a few years.

Karenlee

[cando]

OK - just trawling through some of  my records.  Never had to use the Electoral roll of ACT 1967 before.  Thought it may come in handy one day

Cando

[cando]

Does your friend have Charles' death certificate?  May give more clues to his place of birth.

Cando

[karenlee]

Jayne's sister has most of the family stuff, and she has only just come back last Friday from an overseas holiday... so we are giving her another day or two to get herself sorted out before we start getting pushy...   Not sure what she has buried in old suitcases etc, but with luck there will be a certificate or three.....

Karenlee

[karenlee]

Right then.

Just got Charlotte Elizabeth BEAMES POTTER ALEXANDER's death certificate and it says in the column for children...... NO ISSUE.

Well then, that's just great isn't it.

Where do we look from here then if Charles Beames POTTER was never born.......... since both his supposed parents claim to never have had any children ??

[mare]

Haven't got the answer to that KL 
.... have one of those myself for an "only child"... details were those known by the informant who was the undertaker of the wife and the warder of the hospital for the husband and I haven't been able to move on from that as no record of the birth either c1861...

[karenlee]

Thanks for the moral support mare....

Evidence to date shows that Charles and Eunice were cousins.... now I wonder about this....

First .. they were married in a Catholic Church.... would this have been allowed??  I thought that the relationship would have been too close to be approved by the Church??

Second....surely the families would have been a bit disapproving of such a marriage as well...??

Sooooo... maybe he was adopted........which would go some way to explaining why we can't find his birth........ OR .......... he was disowned for the marriage which might explain why his parents stated they had no children, but does nothing to help with the search for his birth.

Not sure that I am any further advanced........ oh well, onwards and hopefully upwards......

Karenlee

[mare]

I don't think marrying a cousin is actually prohibited by law, in fact relatively common... 'scuse pun...but may have still met with some disapproval

Registrations of birth of course are compulsory ... hmmm say no more ...

[cando]

Who was the informant on Charlotte's death cert?  I note that her husband, David ALEXANDER didn't die until 1959.  Surely he would have known the situation about Charles Beames birth.

Did something happen around the Charles marriage and George's death 1924?    Charles and new wife are in Canberra in 1925 not living at the house in Armadale as you mentioned in an earlier post.

Have you seen the ALEXANDER /POTTER marriage cert in 1930?  Surely if Charles was Charlotte's natural child, he would be listed, not by name, but as living issue.

Perhaps Charles Beams was fostered or adopted although legal adoption did not occur until 1928 in Victoria.

http://www.access.prov.vic.gov.au/public/PROVguides/PROVguide060/PROVguide060.jsp

The Adoption of Children Act 1928 became law in July 1929 and the first legal adoption in Victoria was registered in October of that year. Before that time unofficial, de facto adoptions, which were not recognised in law, were sometimes arranged by both Government and non-government organisations, as well as by individuals. The 1928 Act for the first time provided for the transfer of parental rights, duties, obligations and liabilities to adoptive parents and offered secrecy, safety and stability to the child and the adoptive parents.

People seeking information about adoptions should therefore bear the year 1929 in mind. Because of the unofficial nature of adoption before that time, there are generally no records that can be called "adoption records". Researchers may, however, locate information or clues in other records, such as records of state wardship, fostering, boarding-out, court records, and maintenance records and in printed material such as the Police Gazettes. Information may also be available from non-government organisations which are or have been involved in child welfare and adoption.

I note on the Australian Electoral Rolls that in 1903 George and Charlotte were living in South Melbourne and his occupation was waiter, but cannot find them on a 1900 or 1901 roll.

Cheers
Cando