Old Bible Challenge - CLARKE family

[deeiluka]

Yesterday a friend and I discovered a very old bible in a little shop in the nearby local town of Victor Harbor. The price was beyond our means but out of curiosity, we went in to see if it had names inside it. Sure enough it did, and the young woman in the shop didn’t realise the names were there. She’d looked in the front of the bible, but not the middle in between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Very kindly she’s agreed to put it aside until Friday week, on the off chance that we can find a relation who would like it back. (She found it in a garage sale.)  We’ve collected quite a bit of information, but I know some of you folks on the Aussie Board have access to records that I don’t.

I also realise that we’ll have to be careful about any possible living people, but we managed to do that on our wonderful Anzac thread, and I’m sure we can do it here too.

In the Bible the following family was documented…….

Ashley Clarke b May 2 1860
Caroline Jean Clarke b Jan 3 1871
d. Mar 15 1900   
Married 7th Nov 1895 by Rev JH Goss

children
Edna Laura Clarke b 25 Aug 1896
Name rubbed out b Mar 8th 1900

More to come in the next message.........

[deeiluka]

In the records, we’ve found……

Ashley CLARKE aged 35 and single married Caroline Jean BLACK aged 24 and single on 7th November 1895 at the residence of Mrs J Box, Wirreanda.
Fathers = James CLARKE & James BLACK
Ref = Fro 185/561

Ashley CLARKE and Caroline (Carrie) Jean BLACK had the following children……

Edna Laura CLARKE born 25th August 1896 at Laura
Ref =  Cla 588/469

Caroline Myrtle CLARKE   born 8th March 1900 at Hawker
Ref =  Fro 656/142 (the rubbed out name)

We noted Caroline Myrtle’s mother Carrie died just a week later.

Caroline Jean CLARKE aged 29 of Uroonda, husband Ashley, died on 15th March, 1900  at Hawker.
Ref = Fro 268/445

So that backs up all the information from the old Bible.


We’ve also found the following……

Edna Laura CLARKE aged 24 and single married   Leslie Mortimer BARNS aged 26 and single on 23rd July 1921 at St Pauls Church, Adelaide.
Fathers = Ashley CLARKE &  William Alfred BARNS
Ref = Ade 288/182

We’ve found two births for this couple, but there’s the possibility the daughter is still living.

Keith Ashley BARNS born 17th February 1923 at Elliston.
Ref =  Fli 112A/449

Daughter born 1828 North Adelaide

Then these deaths…..
 
Ashley CLARKE aged 73 and married of Colton died 1st August 1932 at Elliston.

Ref = Fli H 540/434
No relative listed.

Leslie Mortimer BARNS aged 78 of Seacliff Park and husband of Edna Laura BARNS died on 3rd March 1972 at Daw Park
Ref = Ade H 154A/879

From the SAGHS Newspaper notices database....

Edna Laura BARNS A 1978
Keith Ashley BARNS A 2001

We've found some other bits and pieces as well, and started on tracking Caroline Jean BLACK'S side of the family.

What we can't find and really need help with is finding any more information about the daughter Caroline Myrtle CLARKE born in 1900.  We've failed to locate any further reference to her ....and we're also wondering about the erasing of her name from the Bible.   

[krisesjoint]

Hi Dee,

Interesting the name being rubbed out.

Leslie Mortimer BARNES was cremated at Centennial Park
Keith Ashley BARNS was buried at Centennial Park

http://www.centennialpark.org.au/burial_memorial_search/

Cheers Kris 

[deeiluka]

Kris, the Bible is a very very large Presbyterian Bible......quite beautiful though in need of some repair. I wonder if Caroline Myrtle did something to upset her father.   


Dee   

[Raylen]

Hi Dee,

http://newspapers.nla.gov.au

15/3/1901   The Advertiser
There is an In Memorium for Caroline Jean CLARK
inserted by her
'Loving husband, brothers and sisters'
Is it unusual that the children aren't mentioned?

Raylen

[deeiluka]

Hi Raylen. I saw that....and wondered if perhaps her Black family inserted it.

Or perhaps Ashley considered the children too young to be part of it. 


Dee   

[krisesjoint]

Lovely Dee,

Sorry to say I am not finding anything helpful. (found the obit Raylen mentioned)

Perhaps as her birth seems to have taken her mothers life she was not brought up by her father. He certainly would have needed help with a newborn baby and a 4 year old. 

Hopefully something will turn up.

Kris 

[deeiluka]

Lovely Dee,

Sorry to say I am not finding anything helpful. (found the obit Raylen mentioned)

Perhaps as her birth seems to have taken her mothers life she was not brought up by her father. He certainly would have needed help with a newborn baby and a 4 year old. 

Hopefully something will turn up.

Kris 

Especially in the part of the country where he was living.. . .  . .

Thanks for trying Kris. I might just try a phone call to SAGHS to see if they'll check out the Advertiser death notices from 1984 and 2001....that could give a few clues.

It's a shame that SA Electoral Rolls aren't available like the other states......

The other thing we are doing is working on the BLACK family.....even a descendant of one of Caroline Jean's siblings might be interested in having the Bible.



Dee 

[krisesjoint]

Hi Dee,

Would like to say I have something good to report but alas I do not. I spent some 4 1/2 hours in the library today but really didn't find anything helpful - my lunch date with daughter and friends ended up mid arvo (giving me more library time) but you would not believe it - I left the bag with my notes in it on the pram so my notes and me are now many miles apart. 

I will have to muff my way through this for now. Firstly, I was not able to get Edna's obit as it was not indexed at the library (they index funeral notices not death notices and it was not there) Then again neither was Keith's. I had not logged Keith's date to my notes but was able to get it by going out to the computer room and accessing the Centennial park site. I did not have Edna's date so could not get hers. 

Kris