I am not sure why you are seeking 1870s information about a Joseph ATKINSON in the Molong district when from the NSW BDM online indexes it seems the family moved around through a number of districts, and Molong was not where they seemed to have stopped for long at all, children were born in other districts as well.
No offence majm - but I would like to comment that places mentioned on the BDM Indexes are where the birth or death was REGISTERED, not necessarily where it happened, especially if they were on a property.
Therefore, it is possible that the family was living in the Molong district for some time, and some children were registered at Orange, some at Molong and some at Wellington, without the family actually moving.
Registrations at Molong covered an area between Eugowra up to the other side of Molong towards Wellington. Also, Wellington covered the area back towards Parkes. Orange may have been the biggest town at the time and therefore where the "big shop" was done and the registration done at the same time.
Who knows?
For instance, my family lived about halfway between Forbes and Condobolin - some registrations were done at Forbes, one death was registered at Condobolin, another at West Wyalong and a marriage was registered at Grenfell (presumably where the officiating minister came from or went through). The family never moved.
Jean
Hi there Jean,
No offence taken at all, and it has prompted me to look further for Katharine75, despite her question being quite specifically about Molong Pioneer Register in the early 1870s.
I hope this will help her along, as I too am quite familar with that region of NSW, its settlements, and I have quite a few offline resources covering from as early as 1820s. Molong was, at one time quite a large settlement, with its own court house and with little need for persons to do their 'big shop' anywhere other than Molong. On the other hand if the road from Tambaroora to Molong was not passable (Molong can flood) then perhaps they did their 'big shop' in Wellington rather than wait for the travelling agents to come to them. As I understand it, Court Houses in the 1870s were a usual place to find a deputy registrar for BDMs, Lands, etc, usually as a part time position as part of the sherrif's duties. Jean, I have understood that in the 1870s births were registered by family members attending the most convenient court house to them, marriages registered by the officiating minister via submitting a SUMMARY to the nearest court house convenient to them, and deaths by the funeral director burying the deceased and registering the death at the nearest court house convenient to them. Perhaps that explains why some of your forebears registrations occurred at those different locations.
Grevilles PO Directory 1872
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hcastle/grevilles/lists/abc.html MOLONG does NOT list anyone with the surname ATKINSON
IRONBARKS does NOT list anyone with the surname ATKINSON
TAMBAROORA lists one “ATKINSON Joseph gardener Dirt Hole Rd” no others with that surname.
From my own resources (ie not online)
Grevilles PO Directory 1875
MOLONG does NOT list anyone with the surname ATKINSON
IRONBARKS does NOT list anyone with the surname ATKINSON
TAMBAROORA lists ONE “Atkinson, J., gardener, Dirthole rd” no others with that surname.
I have not checked my hardcopy of various 1870s NSW electoral rolls, as I am pressed for time at the moment. In the 1870s Tambaroora to Eugowra would have been a long journey over bullock dray tracks, perhaps 120 or more miles. My Eugowra forebears from that era were usually registered at the Forbes Court House, and the Forbes Police District stretched almost to Dubbo. On the other hand, from memory I feel that Tambaroora would most likely be part of the then Wellington Electorate, which covered much of the Molong Police District as well as much of the Wellington PD. Tambaroora in the early 1870s perhaps had quite a number of miners, and they would have been eligible to enrol by virtue of their miner's rights. Perhaps there's a Joseph Atkinson who had held a miner's right at one time. Fingers crossed that will help with searches.
Cheers,
JM PS, yes, I did check HILL END too in my 1875 Grevilles PO dir and NONE surnamed Atkinson there.
