Emma JOSEPH 1825-?

[maddys52]

Hello,
I have been researching the family of Raphael Joshua JOSEPH who married Emma CHAPMAN on 26 May 1846 in Liverpool. They travelled to Cape Town landing around September 1846. Raphael established a shoe and boot business (his family were shoemakers in London) and Emma was apparently a singer who performed and taught music. They had one son Joshua Raphael JOSEPH c1847.

Raphael left Cape Town sometime between 1863 and 1866 when he appears in Melbourne, Australia, apparently alone.

Is it possible to find a death record for Emma? Presumably between 7 April 1849 (when she advertises a concert she will performing) and when Raphael leaves Cape Town in the early 1860s? There is a death in Liverpool in Dec qtr 1848 of an Emma JOSEPH of about the right age which I had previously thought might be her, but have only recently found the newspaper advertisement which shows that she was still in Cape Town in 1849.

I have looked on familysearch and Ancestry, and have tried the National Archives site, but no luck, though I am a bit of a novice when it comes to South African research.

Many thanks in advance.

[sparrett]

Maddy,
What can you tell us about the whereabouts and life events of their son, Joshua?
Sue

[maddys52]

Hi Sue, I know a lot about him!

Son Joshua was born Cape Town c1847, probably in the 1860s travelled to the UK where he studied to become a doctor (I haven't found a passenger list). He is mentioned in 1870 in the Lancet as having passed his examinations at Guy's Hospital. He is with his grandmother Hester JOSEPH (actually step grandmother - his grandfather remarried after Raphael's mother died) in 1871 in Hamstead, London. After practicing in London for a few years he became a ship's doctor and ended up in Queensland in 1880. He married Jane Eliza FRENCH in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire in 1879. They had 4 children, only 2 of whom survived. He died in 1900 in Brisbane. Lots of info about him in Queensland, including some with his father, but nothing mentioning his mother.

Modified to add when Joshua arrived in Queensland.

[pampoen]

Document 4 of 19
DEPOT     KAB                                                                   
SOURCE    CSC                                                                   
TYPE      LEER                                                                 
VOLUME_NO 2/6/1/42                                                             
SYSTEM    01                                                                   
REFERENCE 108                                                                   
PART      1                                                                     
DESCRIPTION          MOTION. WYNBERG RAILWAY CO. VERSUS RAPHAEL JOSHUA JOSEPH, FATHER AND 
           NATURAL GUARDIAN OF HIS MINOR SON JOSHUA RAPHAEL JOSEPH. AWARD.     
STARTING  18630000                                                             
ENDING    18630000                                                             

[pampoen]

Document 18 of 19
DEPOT     KAB                                                                   
SOURCE    MOIB                                                                 
TYPE      LEER                                                                 
VOLUME_NO 2/850                                                                 
SYSTEM    01                                                                   
REFERENCE 48                                                                   
PART      1                                                                     
DESCRIPTION          JOSEPH, RAPHAEL JOSHUA. INSOLVENT LIQUIDATION AND DISTRIBUTION       
           ACCOUNT.                                                             
STARTING  18490000                                                             
ENDING    18570000 

[pampoen]

Appears the reason he left South Africa is that he was insolvent. There are a number of files where is sued by creditors until he became insolvent. DEPOT     KAB                                                                   
SOURCE    CSC                                                                   
TYPE      LEER                                                                 
VOLUME_NO 2/6/1/29                                                             
SYSTEM    01                                                                   
REFERENCE 136                                                                   
PART      1                                                                     
DESCRIPTION          MOTION. PETITION OF THE CREDITORS OF THE INSOLVENT ESTATE OF RAPHAEL 
           JOSHUA JOSEPH.                                                       
STARTING  18500000                                                             
ENDING    18500000 

[pampoen]

Have you seen this http://library.sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/fullRecord.jsp?recnoListAttr=recnoList&recno=52240

[pampoen]

Not much is known of Emma's life in Cape Town. She had a son in 1847 and there is a still a listing for her husband Raphael in 1863. By 1867 he was resident in Melbourne, Australia. Emma's music albums came to Australia with her husband and her son Joshua. It is presumed Emma died in South Africa!!

[pampoen]

There is no death record or grave in South Africa, someone as good a singer as her surely would have returned home?