William Campbell - Australia (or NZ?) b 1873 - disappeared some time after 1904

[dmonaghan]

Hi All, I am struggling to find William Campbell, b 10 Nov 1873, Myall River, NSW -  married Susan Gray 20 Feb 1899 Bulahdelah, NSW.  Children were:  Eric James (or James Eric) Campbell b 1899 Bulahdelah (my grandfather) ; Thomas Leslie Campbell b 1901 Bulahdelah; Norbert Eroll Campbell b 1904.  His parents were Thomas John Campbell and Mary Ann Callaghan.  My father (deceased) tells me that he 'left his wife and family and went to NZ' but I can not find any record of him in Australia or NZ or anywhere else that is reliable.  My parents filled out his death registration and said he was a postal carrier.  At their wedding, they said he was a tram conductor - but who knows how accurate this is.  I have hit so many brick walls and none of my family are alive to ask any more questions.  Is anyone interested in a good mystery?

[wivenhoe]

You are researching the life of William Campbell, b 1873, whose third child was born 1904.

I am unclear about the generations here -

Thomas John Campbell and Mary Ann Callaghan....are parents of  William -.

William Campbell, b 1873  married Susan Gray, 20 Feb 1899 Bulahdelah, NSW.
(this couple are your great grandparents?)

Children of William and Susan are -
Eric James (or James Eric) Campbell b 1899 Bulahdelah (my grandfather) ;
Thomas Leslie Campbell b 1901 Bulahdelah;
Norbert Eroll Campbell b 1904. 

"My father (deceased) tells me that he  'left his wife and family and went to NZ' but I can not find any record of him in Australia or NZ or anywhere else that is reliable."

The "he" is the missing William? 

"My parents filled out his death registration and said he was a postal carrier. "

Who's death registration is this........who is giving the information?

"At their wedding, they said he was a tram conductor - but who knows how accurate this is". 

Who's wedding is this?

Do you have a death certificate for Susan CAMPBELL......is she described as a widow?

[wivenhoe]

Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners Advocate 20 Jul 1929 p10
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/134493067?

This looks like the funeral notice for Thomas CAMPBELL, father of the missing man.

Do you have the death certificates for the parents of your missing William to see if, among their listed children, your William is noted as deceased?

NSM BDM death
3581 / 1927 CAMPBELL  Mary A 3581/1927 parents James   83yrs   Hamilton

17904 / 1929 CAMPBELL  Thomas   76 yrs        Hamilton

[dmonaghan]

Thank you Wivenhoe - you have the generations correct - my father (Alan James Campbell) is the son  of Eric James (or James Eric) Campbell who is the son of William Campbell who is the son of Thomas Campbell
Susan Gray's death certificate (1926)  has a dash for conjugal status.  Eric James (my father's father)  is the one who registered the death of his mother Susan. 
In 1929 when Eric Campbell was married, his father was noted on the certificate as William, a tram conductor.
Alan Campbell (my father) is the one who registered Eric Campbell's death in 1967 and there he said that Eric's father William was a postal carrier (however I have no idea how either knew these facts and it was clearly many many years later than 1904 which seems to be our last reliable piece of info on William)
Alan is the one who gave the info at his own wedding that his father, William, was a 
William's father died in 1929 and William is noted as the oldest child and alive at that time.
William's mother (Mary Ann Callaghan) died in 1927.

BTW, I did find the death in Cooma of a William Campbell, but none of the details matched mine. 
Also I found newspaper reports of a William Campbell, a tram conductor, who was killed in NZ, but the newspaper reports were very clear on the names of his parents, which were very different and that he came from the UK, so I gave up my theory of bigamy.
I really do appreciate any help - your ideas were great and gave me slightly different angles (even though we came up with no further info)  I am an absolute stickler about having the certificates, or documents before accepting any facts, so I do have all their BDM certs to refer to.

[majm]

NSW Electoral roll 1902 COWPER, polling at Bulahdelah
ALL with surname CAMPBELL
John Thomas, (of) Myall River, teamster
Mary Ann, Rosenthal, domestic duties
Thomas, Myall River, teamster
William Joseph, Myall River, mail contractor

NSW ER 1904 GLOUCESTER, polling at Bulahdelah
ALL with surname CAMPBELL
Mary Ann, Rosenthal, domestic duties
NO OTHERS with that surname listed for Bulahdelah.


It is quite possible that William Joseph, the mail contractor became a tram conductor.  I have not found Susan, his wife, in the 1900s, sorry.


JM

[sparrett]

He was a mail carrier.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/125104838

Sue

[dmonaghan]

Thank you so much - I had not seen this before, which I do not understand as I did sit with all the Electoral Rolls and go through them one by one. 
This takes us to 1904 and the big question is what happened to him after this???  Norbert, his youngest son, was born that year......
In the 1908 Commonwealth Census, I found:
1908 Commonwealth Electoral Roll - Adelaide (home duties), Augustus (labourer), Mary Ann (home duties) at Rosenthal; Susan, Mary (home duties) at Bulahdelah & Thomas, Myall River (teamster)   I don't know who Mary is in this household.
In the 1909 Commonwealth Census, I found:
1909 Comm. Electoral Roll - Thomas (teamster) Myall River; Adelaide & Mary Ann (home duties); Augustus (Labourer), Percival (Clerk) at Rosenthal, Susan - Bulahdelah (home duties), George Edward, Lower Myall (farmer); There is a William at Tea Gardens (fish curer) - this seems a bit unlikely to be my William and there are other Williams in the family (sons in different lines)

I will keep on the Mail Contract line and see if something comes up but would really appreciate it if you could stay on the case......
Deborah

[dmonaghan]

BTW, I found this one for a William Joseph Campbell in 1930 in Bellevue Hill but it is very non-specific as a Civil Servant and I could not find this person before or after.

https://www.ancestry.com.au/interactive/1207/RDAUS1901_100381__0001-00012/3417332?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com.au/family-tree/person/tree/89527011/person/230006687148/facts/citation/760034292715/edit/record

[majm]

Thank you so much - I had not seen this before, which I do not understand as I did sit with all the Electoral Rolls and go through them one by one. 
This takes us to 1904 and the big question is what happened to him after this???  Norbert, his youngest son, was born that year......
In the 1908 Commonwealth Census, I found:
1908 Commonwealth Electoral Roll - Adelaide (home duties), Augustus (labourer), Mary Ann (home duties) at Rosenthal; Susan, Mary (home duties) at Bulahdelah & Thomas, Myall River (teamster)   I don't know who Mary is in this household.
In the 1909 Commonwealth Census, I found:
1909 Comm. Electoral Roll - Thomas (teamster) Myall River; Adelaide & Mary Ann (home duties); Augustus (Labourer), Percival (Clerk) at Rosenthal, Susan - Bulahdelah (home duties), George Edward, Lower Myall (farmer); There is a William at Tea Gardens (fish curer) - this seems a bit unlikely to be my William and there are other Williams in the family (sons in different lines)

I will keep on the Mail Contract line and see if something comes up but would really appreciate it if you could stay on the case......
Deborah

Hi there,

I am somewhat confuddled by your comment that you had gone through all the Electoral Rolls, one by one ....  Are you referring to the electoral rolls available ONLINE at Ancestry and FindMyPast, or have you been through all the hardcopy rolls held by various public libraries etc including the NSW State Library in Sydney.   These historic rolls do include the online ones, but they also include rolls that have not been made available to the commercial family history websites.   

Of course, these historic Electoral Rolls are not Census records, they are not arranged in family groupings, and do not include people who are not yet eligible to enrol to vote, nor do they show marital status or names of those residing at same address.    It is entirely possible that the person listed on one roll had already moved on to another address and had not informed the local electoral office of their change of address.   

The NSW State Library has an extensive collection of electoral rolls, including of particular interest to your quest,  the 1920s.

http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/blogs/new-south-wales-electoral-rolls

JM