MICHAEL family Swansea - Jewish BDM records 1740-1880

[george12]

Dear Stephanie,
It's nice to hear from you.
 The Michael family has extended far and wide over the years. My branch is from David's son Levi M then Francis David M to Susanna Penelope M. She emigrated from Swansea to Maldon in Victoria with her husband and five children in 1858 (Brothers from each family emigrated also) Her husband William Attwood Tregaskis came from a miner/engineering family from Cornwall, but had spent most of his life in Swansea and worked with his father as a Baker at the quay ..... 
My father had a glazing business in Melbourne, then we had a craft shop on the Mornington peninsula. I've now retired to a small property near Bendigo, using my agricultural college training a little.
Do you have access to the family trees on Ancestry.com ? - there are a few trees with comprehensive information about the family back to David M .
You may know your descendancy from David Michael to your grandfather, but just in case :
David M and Rachael ? -  their son Jacob(abt 1757-1835) and Leah Hart(abt 1772-1840) -  their son Jacob(1800-1882) a London Solicitor and Rosetta Hart(1797-1863) -  their son Walter Amos(1832-1903) and Louisa Harriet Seppings(1828-1907) - your grandfather.
Michael John Michael(1792-1861) was the elder brother of the later Jacob, and Mayor of Swansea, Vice-Consul for Sweden and Norway, ...
Some people have David coming from Frankfurt, but perhaps Hamburg seems more likely.
Intend to contact West Glamorgan Archives soon to see what records they hold from the 1700's.
Regards  ... Jim

 

[hamburgmichael]

Dear Jim,

I was delighted to get your reply as I always felt that there must be more family out there somewhere.   I never really had the opportunity to discuss any of it as I hardly knew my father and my mother's knowledge was sketchy, understandably, as she was not a Michael!   My grandfather, Reginald, otherwise known as Rex, came up from the south of England to farm near Kelso, Scotland.   No one knows why, as he had no farming background.   There he met and married the local bank manager's daughter, Margaret Kerr.   She apparently was rather mystified by her father in-law as having rather foreign ways;  i.e. kissing her hand on meeting.   Rex was the younger half-brother of Walter Amos, I imagine.  Again I don't know his background but I do have three very good oil paintings by him.   He was much travelled.   I am vague as to what he did, but I do know that several of the Michaels went up to Cambridge and read Law.    My uncle Ian, again whom I hardly knew, had a number of early portraits of Michael ancestors hanging on his walls.   Don't know what has happened to these as he is now dead.  My grandfather's elder half-brother was called Harry M.   He seemed well off and was married to a cousin called Letty.   Her maiden name might have been Batchelor, as the family solicitors in the City were Batchelor Fry and Burder;  now no longer or taken over.  Great uncle Harry M. was a very sweet man.  He had been in the Indian Civil.   He loved horses having been a polo player and kept up his betting interests well into old age.   No children from his marriage.   My father's brothers were intellectuals and academics and their children are likewise.    I have a daughter who is an illustrator of children's books and is married to a furniture restorer and designer.   They have two daughters.  My son works in Thailand where I have visited several times and hope to go again.   
My mother once told me that the original ancestor (David?) was mentioned in a book called Ships that Pass in the Night, but I cannot find it or any mention of it on the internet, so all rather vague.
I have thought from time to time of going to Swansea to look things up but this is always on hold.   Presumably you have never visited the UK hence your researches via the internet.   Thank you very much for the Ancestors.com suggestion which I shall certainly follow up.
Any more news from you would be much appreciated as I am so pleased to have found a Michael relation.
With best wishes, Stephanie

[hamburgmichael]

Dear Jim,
Just to follow up.  You made no mention of William Henry Michael - a pillar of non-conformity, founder of the Ragged School, chairman of the gas company, First Medical Officer and ultimately an eminent Q.C.   (Quoted from Swansea records I logged onto sometime ago.)   I know he is closely related but could he be the father of my great uncle Harry (or Henry), my grandfather's half elder brother?

My mother once mentioned one of the Michael's as having been responsible for the drains in Swansea;  perhaps this was William!

Would welcome your thoughts and news of other Australian Michaels' if you have time.

Yours,
Stephanie

[george12]

Dear Stephanie,
Sorry for the delay with the reply - wanted to check some details for a few people, which can be a slow process for me sometimes.

Rather than type out all the relevant information, perhaps I could get Ancestry.com to send you a free invitation to view the tree I have there. It takes a little while to learn how to navigate around the branches, but if you read and open the various boxes on each page it soon becomes familiar. You cannot search Ancestry records yourself unfortunately. The free invitation allows you to view and copy all the information on each page/person on the tree that may be of interest.
The information about people thought to be living is not available to the public. If you wanted to do this, you need to send me a PM (Personal Message offline - click onto the scroll beside the little face near the top left of this Post) with your email address for me to send to Ancestry and they will forward the 'invitation and ability to open' the tree immediately.

A few points of interest :
Your grandfather Reginald W M in 1891 Census was an Agriculture Student at The Colonial College, Hollesley Bay, Suffolk ( rec read online - 'Benefits bestowed: education and British imperialism' by J A Mangan from p199) In 1901 Census he and Margaret were at Corsbie Farm, Legerwood/Earlston, near Kelso. He seems to have gone to New York in 1903.
 Walter Amos M (Rex's father!), Railway Company Director, lived in retirement at the Hotel Continental, Ajaccio, Corsica with his third wife Louisa Harriet Seppings ( her g.grandfather Sir Robert Seppings was a Naval Architect ...   )
g.uncle Harry was Walter Henry M (1866-1957) only child of Walter Amos M and second wife Pauline Anne Charnock ( Barrister's daughter) - he married Letty Maud Batchelor, his third cousin. Letty was born in Deniliquin, Australia on a brief trip by her parents, Henry Cooper Batchelor and Mary Michael.
 The 'pillar of non-conformity' William Henry M was Walter Amos' 2nd cousin.
I mentioned on the last Post that the younger Jacob M was the son of Jacob M , but just found an adult christening for him in 1833 that indicates he was born in 1795, the son of Levi M and Rosetta Hart. They are my forebears, so we are closer cousins than I thought.
Levi and Jacob (brothers) were business partners, Silversmith/Jewellers and Tea Traders and also owned significant original shares and were on the steering committee of the Swansea Canal Company formed to bring the coal down to the port.
I had the customary six month trip to UK and Europe in 1975 and visited Swansea without realising the family significance. Unfortunately not likely to have a return visit.
Thanks for the personal anecdotes - they bring the past back more clearly than anything.
Regards  ..  Jim     

[AMH53]

Stephanie,

Interested to see the posts from you and from Jim.  There is lots more as you can imagine.  The Harts from Cornwall and the Michaels from Swansea became very closely linked in the late 1700's and 1800's as I guess you already know.  If Reginald Warburton Michael was your grandfather, then you and I should be 4th cousins as my g-g-grandfather was David Hart, brother of Rose Hart who married Jacob Michael.

To be honest, I haven't put the tree on ancestry.com and I think its much more complete and accurate  than some of those already there - but these things always get amended over time.  Its too easy to jump to wrong conclusions (especially over dates of birth taken from census information)

Sometime soon - probably over Christmas - I'll send some further info which might be if interest.

Mike

[hamburgmichael]

 :Dear Mike,

Thank you so much;  I am intrigued!   Yes, confirm that Reginald Warburton Michael is my grandfather.   I look forward to hearing more from you.   4th cousins, how amazing.   I never knew there were so many of us out there.

With best wishes,
Stephanie

[Morganllan]

Hello Mike 

Welcome to Rootschat!

How exciting to find your 4th cousin on here    Once you have made another 2 postings you will be able to exchange private information such as email addresses with other rootschatters.

New members must make at least three postings before being allowed to use the PM facility.
See Help-Page:  http://www.rootschat.com/help/pms.php

Kind regards
Morgan

[george12]

Mike,

I was very pleased to see your recent message regarding the Hart and Michael families.
It occurred to me that the descendants of David Hart would be the most likely to have an accurate early record of the families.
It would be great to get this period of their history correct.

Regards ...  Jim

[hamburgmichael]

:Dear Mike,

Thank you so much;  I am intrigued!   Yes, confirm that Reginald Warburton Michael is my grandfather.   I look forward to hearing more from you.   4th cousins, how amazing.   I never knew there were so many of us out there.

With best wishes,
Stephanie