[SOLVED - THANKS] A HARPER Conundrum

[cando]

Gary at what age did the death cert state that Rachel May had married....and where?

Cando

[teckyhead]

Gary at what age did the death cert state that Rachel May had married....and where?

Cando

Aha - Wilfred's says Hobart but Rachael's says she was 17 years old and it was in Coburg, Victoria. So that would be in 1907 as she was born in 1890.

Gary

[~MERLIN~]

Birth:

JOHNSTON Rachel May b. 1890 WARRACKNABEAL #37282
Father: John
Mother: Mary EAGLE

Death:

HARPER Rachael May age 74yrs d. 1964 BALL #18404
Father: Johnston John
Mother: Mary  EAGLE

[teckyhead]

Thanks Merlin!

Gary

[cando]

Death
HARPER Samuel Gleghorn
Father Andrew  Mother Maria GLEGHORN
At Riddells Creek  67 years  1902  Reg#15566

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ausvsac/Riddells_Creek.htm
HARPER Samuel, Sarah, Christopher, Honora

Carol will send you a photo of the headstone on request.  Wonderful service

Mr William E HARPER of Riddell’s Creek 1907….charged with deserting his wife and theft
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0k36/

Marriage
HARPER William born Victoria
SMITH Annie Maria Born Scarsdale
1900  Reg#1747

There is only one listing for a William Ernest HARPER on the rolls.

Australian Electoral Rolls
1903
HARPER Honora  Riddells Creek  HD
HARPER Robert Laurence  Riddells Creek  Labourer
HARPER William Ernest   Riddells Creek  Labourer
HARPER Annie Maria  Riddells Creek  HD

What do you think now?

[cando]

Marriage 19 Jan 1900   422 Queens Street   Melbourne

William HARPER   Bachelor  Born Riddells Creek Victoria  24 years  Occupation Gentleman
Father  Samuel HARPER, Gentleman   Mother  Hannah RYAN
 
Present address for both parties 17 Hopkins Street Footscray

Annie Marie SMITH  Widow 1898  3 chn 1 decd  Born Tarradale Vic  36 years  Occupation None
Parents Charles FRASER  Mother  Maria LUSH

Married to the rites of the Free Christian Church.

So the year of birth is a match along with the parents.  I do think that this is your Wilfred Eric/Ernest HARPER although the signatures have some differing characteristics.  However if he had left his wife and had been charged with desertion and theft he may have attempted to alter his handwriting.

Births
HARPER George Eric
Father William  Mother Anne Maria FRASER
At Riddells Creek  1902  Reg#5719

HARPER Ira Chas Norman
Father William   Mother Anna Maria FRASER
At Riddells Creek  1905  Reg#13363

Death of a stepson
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0k3a/

SMITH Leslie James
Father Smith Jno Phil   Mother Anna Maria FRASER
At Riddells Creek 1902  10 years  Reg#15567

Deaths
 HARPER Anna Maria
Father Fraser Charles  Mother Maria  UNKNOWN
At Yarra Junction  76 years  1938  Reg#17358

ROBERTSON Gertrude Amelia
Father Smith Jno  Mother Ann Maria  FRASER
At Fitzroy South  35 years  1926  Reg#5286

HARPER Ira Charles
Father William  Mother Annie Maria  FRASER
At Fitzroy  69 years  1975  Reg#9983

SMITH Frederick James
Father Frederick James  Mother Annie Maria  FRASER
At Parkville  65 years  1967  Reg#17975

George Eric attempted to enlist in 1917 stating he was 18 years of age.  Birth reg 1902.
http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/NAAMedia/ShowImage.asp?B=4420031&S=1&T=R

There is also a digitised WW2 service record.  He was a POW.

George Eric and wife Violet Myrtle Jane on electoral rolls in 1977 in Mermaid Beach, Qld.  According to his WW2 service file he died 1980.

Cando

[teckyhead]

Death
HARPER Samuel Gleghorn
Father Andrew  Mother Maria GLEGHORN
At Riddells Creek  67 years  1902  Reg#15566

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ausvsac/Riddells_Creek.htm
HARPER Samuel, Sarah, Christopher, Honora

Carol will send you a photo of the headstone on request.  Wonderful service

Mr William E HARPER of Riddell’s Creek 1907….charged with deserting his wife and theft
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0k36/

Marriage
HARPER William born Victoria
SMITH Annie Maria Born Scarsdale
1900  Reg#1747

There is only one listing for a William Ernest HARPER on the rolls.

Australian Electoral Rolls
1903
HARPER Honora  Riddells Creek  HD
HARPER Robert Laurence  Riddells Creek  Labourer
HARPER William Ernest   Riddells Creek  Labourer
HARPER Annie Maria  Riddells Creek  HD

What do you think now?

What a mystery . I'll have to check with my uncle. When I was speaking to him prior to doing some research he made a kind of tongue in cheek remark about the distant Harpers being 'crooks'. I wonder if William left Annie and became Wilfred to marry the very young (17yo) Rachel. Very curious indeed.

Gary

[cando]

I think Wilfred left Annie and didn't marry Rachel May/Mabel Jean.

Lots of name changing makes it difficult however if you look at all the facts [perhaps leaving out the family stories for the moment] it appears to me....

William James [later Ernest then Wilfred Ernest/Eric] HARPER was born 1875 to Samuel and Hanora RYAN.  I have a record from the Kyneton Hospital where Samuel and family are listed.  I will type it up later.  Wm then marries Annie FRASER, a widow who is 12 years older then he,  in 1900.  After the death of a step-child and his father, he leaves Riddells Creek and heads up north to the area around Beulah, where the last JOHNSTON child was born 1900.  It is also possible that the JOHNSTON family were already living in Ouyen at this time. 

The JOHNSTON children were born in Warracknabeal, Jeparit, Bealah and next William James/Ernest appears on the electoral roll in 1914 as Wilfred with May [Rachel] and her parents living in Ouyen.  His occupation is agent same as on his attestation papers.  Their first two children are born in Ouyen in 1912 and 1913 so I very much doubt there was a marriage in 1907...that is the year Wm left Riddell's Creek.  Now why did Wilfred head for SA....was he afraid of being found in Ouyen and if he did marry, being charged with bigamy.  There is no marriage on the indexes.

 His son George Eric attempted to enlist in 1917 and he and his mother Annie, stated that Wm was deceased.  There is no death registered for the death of a Wm with parents Samuel HARPER and Hanora RYAN in the period 1907 to 1917.

Then we have what I think is the doubtful paternity of Alan Verdun who became Alan Vincent HARTSHORN.  This is noted on the birth register.  Most odd.

Next odd thing.   Why did Rachel May call herself Mabel Jean?  The electoral listing of Mabel Jean HARPER, cook living at 200 Victoria Street, Ballarat matches your story of Rachel May gaining employment as a cook at the Ballarat Orphanage.  200 Victoria Street, Ballarat is the former Orphange's address.

It would seems that Rachel May may have lived with Robert and Catherine HARPER prior to her death at 28 Joseph Street.

Gary when I get time I will have a look at the local records and newspapers and see if I can find what sort of an agent Wilfred was...I know it is stated commission agent....but I may find an advertisement or some such. 

....and as I have mentioned many times.....all research is purely speculative until verified.

Cheers
Cando

 

[teckyhead]

Thanks for all your research cando

Here are some interesting facts which had actually led me to believe that Samuel/Honorah were Wilfred's parents early in my research. I later dismissed them as another family but after your info I'm leaning toward it again.

One confusing issue is that the death record from Mildura states his age at 52 when he died. That seemed to fit with the Wilfred Harper that fought in the Boer war as he stated his age at 46 when he enlisted in 1915 - which would put his birth around 1869 - which also works with age 52 at time of death in 1921.

First piece of info - on the death record from Mildura it says his parents are Samuel Harper (grazier) and Norah Harper (maiden name Ryan). (Bingo?)

I also found an online database for the Ryan family at http://www.eryan.spiderweb.com.au/. It lists several thousand people. If you go to page 2 - Ryan Database E-H and search for Wilfred Eric you will find him listed. It has columns that cross reference the parents. Father is #6004 - Samuel Harper, born c. 1839 in Antrim Ireland and died c. 1902. The mother is #5982 - she is on the R-S page and is Honorah Ryan born c. 1843 in Clare, Ireland and died c. 1929.

Thoughts?

Gary