Looking for the marriage of Hector Ferdinand VISTARINI and Mary. It is Mary who is the mystery.
They are thought to have married in Maitland NSW in 1884. Between 1885 and 1890 they had 3 children.
According to the birth records the details of the mother are:
Mary WILTON born at Bando, married on 17 March 1884 at Narrabri, NSW
Mary WILLIAMS born at Mudgee, married on 1 July 1884 at St George, Qld
Mary PEARCE born at Mudgee, married on 18 March 1874 at Maitland NSW
thereby marrying the 3rd child mother before marrying the 1st and 2nd child's mothers.
I don't believe this; I think the clerk has miswritten 1884 as 1874.
Hector was the informant on the 1st and 3rd births. Mary was the informant on the 2nd. Hector signed his name. Mary made her mark.
There are enough consistencies between the birth records that I am confident we are looking at the same family.
Mary died on 7th June 1890. Hector was the informant on her death. Mary’s parents are shown as unknown. All three children are listed as her children. The death record gives her place of birth as Mudgee, and that she married Hector Vistarini in 1884 at Maitland.
Hector died on 24 Jan 1891. All three children are listed as his children. The box for marriage details is blank.
Hector’s details are consistent across the records except that at his death he was called Hector ROBINSON. The newspaper reports and death record are both in the name of Hector Robinson. It seems that he had been working and living under the Robinson name. Why? We don’t know. Mary’s surname changes at every reference – so if someone was hiding I suspect it was Mary. (The children’s birth records are all in the VISTARINI name.)
After Hector died a brother of his from Victoria went to Queensland and collected the two eldest children. I don’t know what happened to the youngest who was less than a year old at the time.
There is a family tree on Ancestry that gives her name as “Elizabeth Robinson”. The owner of that tree has not responded to my requests for further information.
Looking for the Marriage and a surname for Mary. (She has 3 already but I am not confident of any of them.)
I suspect that they did marry in NSW (they didn’t go to St George Qld until about 1886). I have tried various misspellings for Vistarini in the online index – with no luck. I have tried various permutations of the wife’s name – searching for both her birth and marriage.
thanks, Steve Nethercote
