Which census transcription is correct?

[jennywren001]

Hi Jill,
With Annie naming her son David Fearn Bowman in 1863 I wondered if it was a tribute name and he died soon after arriving? Given David's occupation, I thought perhaps he too went to work at Kanyaka where Annie was living, according to the time frame it would be after they made the transition from cattle to sheep raising.

Have you read this?
http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/kanyaka.htm
"There were many other children born at the station during these early years. Among them were, James, son of Alfred Charles Simmons, teamster, and Betsy, nee Fern, on 16 August 1857. James Talbot was born twelve days later. His father was employed as a shepherd. On 3 May 1859 James Miller, another shepherd, and Jeanette, nee Nevin, had a daughter Ellen. A few months later on 18 September William James, overseer, and Annie, a sister of Betsy Fern, had a son William.

I have no idea of the provenance of the web site - but if what is written is true than Annie Fearn had a son to the overseer rather than her new husband Bowman and Betsy Fern was also in Kanyaka

Bit of a girl Agnes - she took some sorting out....

Jen

[Jayempea]

Hi Jen,
Looking at the Kanyaka article, there is a bit of confusion.  Annie Fearn, wife of William Bowman (not William James) did have children born there, including their first child, William James Bowman b. Sep. 1859.  Betsy Fern who married Alfred Charles Simmons, also had children born there - John 1856 (mother Elizabeth Fern) and James 1857 (mother Betsey Fern).  Annie and William remained at Kanyaka until about 1870,  Betsy and Alfred were at Saltia by 1859 where son Henry was born. They had at least one other child before Kanyaka, Charles 1851 (mother Betty Fearer), perhaps others.

Alfred Charles Simmons and Betsy “Fearon” married 6 June 1850 at Gawler, SA.  Betsy appears to have arrived in SA March 1849 with the Bowman family from Kirriemuir, passengers of “Calphurnia”.  She is listed as Fern, B. – no other details provided and is listed under “single men and children”.  Her marriage took place at Gawler where the Bowman family first settled.  Betsy died at her son’s residence at Mount Bryan East on 2 November 1891 aged 61 years.  Alfred died 2 March 1884 Ulooloo (near Mount Bryan) SA, aged 54.

David Fearn who died in Victoria on 8 June 1872 was aged 34 and died at the Sandhurst (Bendigo) hospital, cause of death was dysentery (3 yrs) and burial took place at White Hills Cemetery (Bendigo).  No other details were recorded, the undertaker being the informant.

Jill

[jennywren001]

Hi Jill,
Something wrong, I think, with all those Bowman/Fearn tree(s) at Ancestry they seem like very elaborate constructs. I've got visitors for the next couple of days but I'll try and note down all the discrepancies I can see....

Do you have any idea why John Bowman had to pay the full fare for the voyage? Have you seen the actual manifest of that 1849 arrival?
Jen

[Jayempea]

Hi Jen,
I had no idea John Bowman paid full fare or why.  Was that for the whole family? Perhaps they did not fulfill the requirements of subsidisation which varied from time to time, depending on the requirements of the colonial authorities.  I did not know that the ship’s manifest was available for perusal, I get my information from the Shiplist site or newspaper reports.

Misinformation posted on family trees is rife, and those American connections to the Fearn family really put me off track for some considerable time.  Had me believing my information was all wrong when it wasn’t, so it was a relief to see some of the actual OPR records included in some of those trees, hopefully some of the wrong assumptions will be corrected, but I doubt it.  Also your own research that you generously put out there has helped enormously, so thank you so much for sharing.   

Enjoy your visitors.
Jill

[jennywren001]

Hi Jill,
I'm really struggling to find any convincing evidence that the Annie Fearn linked to the Bowmans is the child of James Fearn and Ann Gall. There are plenty of transcripts but they should just be a starting point really. The only original document I've seen would appear to indicate John Bowman traveled alone in 1849. 

William Bowman Mills/Milton/Milne not sure where the confusion of middle names comes from or indeed why he has a middle name?

In 1849 Betty Fearn would have been about 21 so I'm not sure why she'd be in with the men and children. Also, no way of knowing if B. Fern was not a Benjamin - plenty of them on the 1841 census. I've written to someone in Australia asking if they have any hard evidence to support the theory that the Annie who married William Bowman was the daughter of James Fearn and Ann Gall.

There were 35 Ann Fearns born in Ireland in 1840, 3 in England and none in Scotland...not saying it's not her but the odds don't look great....
Jen

[Jayempea]

Hi Jen,
Shipslist has passengers on Calphurnia 1849 with Bowman family
http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/australia/calphurnia1849.shtml
Also mentioned on son's obit. but as "California" - mispelling of Calphurnia.
Jill
 

[jennywren001]

Hi Jill,
I have looked at what I believe to be the original list of the passengers (at least most of the pages). Throughout the document nowhere could I find anyone referred to as 'child' everyone is named and their age is listed except those under one year old. I have attached the Hill family as an example. According to the ship's list there are two more children with this Hill family.

The page with the Hills is here:
http://calphurnia1849.angelfire.com/C3A.JPG
Other pages here:
http://calphurnia1849.angelfire.com/
The only way to confirm that the Bowmans arrived on this ship is to see the original document in full but I'm not sure how to go about that. OR I may add up the fares and see if they tally with the grand total and then I'll know if everyone is accounted for or not 

I'm now thinking none of my Fearns ever went out to Australia...

Jen

PS The small print at the bottom of the shipslist website is worth a read.

EDIT:Totals tally which mean everyone is accounted for NO Bowman family and NO B.Fern on that ship only a single John Bowman who could have been from anywhere!

[Jayempea]

Hi Jen,
Your list of Calphurnia passengers was interesting but it is only a partial list, a reckoning of financial contributions rather than a passenger list.  There are no single men or women listed which seems to indicate the list is on those who did not qualify for “free” passage, were acceptable but had to contribute at least part of their fare.  The list at the end seems to be for those who had to pay full fare and were not subsidised at all, such as John Bowman, (age would have come into it I would imagine).  The list does not mention the rest of his family because they would have qualified for free passage and were not required to make a financial contribution.  This is how I understand it.

According to a newspaper report (South Australian Register, Tues. 3 Apr. 1849 p.2) there were 289 immigrants in steerage on the Calphurnia.  The passengers list was printed in the following Saturday’s edition, (7 April 1849, p.4).
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/71623424?searchTerm=calphurnia&searchLimits=l-state=South+Australia|||l-decade=184

Jill

[jennywren001]

Hi Jill,
So where is the full list with the other 145 (ish) people? I count 144 people paid something towards their fare - the folks 'in cabin' obviously had a different tariff and are not included with the 289 steerage folk?

If we take the Hills as an example you have the husband and wife plus five children all of whom pay a fare they can be seen on the original together. On the transcription  two more children have been added with no names given - are these supposed to be the William Hill and Maria Hill who appear in the singles section? Why would an 18 year old clerk (William Hill) get a free fare but an 18 year old carpenter (James Quick) have to pay -  this makes no sense to me.


Jen