Hello all, my Nan has a cluster of DNA matches on Ancestry connected with part of her tree that comes from the Kiama region on the NSW south coast. The only connection I can see between any of the trees in this cluster and Kiama is through a husband and wife who married there in 1860 and had a child there in 1861. I have been able to trace the wife’s origin but not the husband’s.
The wife was Louisa Green born on 29 March 1826 at Longborough, Gloucestershire, England. Her parents were Edward Green and Ann Marnes. The husband was James William Burt. He seems to have been born in London but I can’t place him in a family there or work out how he got to NSW.
James William Burt and Louisa married on 4 September 1860 at the Kiama district registrar’s office according to Act of Council 19 Vic Nos 30 & 34. Both residences were recorded as Fountaindale, Kiama. They were recorded as bachelor and spinster. Both signed. The witnesses were John Smith & Lackett. The registrar was W D Meares. No other details are found on the certificate.
They had four children (see attached birth records for the first three):
• Louisa Burt born 23 June 1861 at Terry’s Meadows, Kiama;
• James William Burt born 3 August 1862 at Chambers Street, Glebe;
• Edward Burt born 19 January 1864 at Cooloongolook River, Cape Hawke; and
• Sarah Jane Burt registered 1865 in the Port Stephens district.
The wife Louisa Burt née Green died in 1865 in the Port Stephens district aged about 39. In 1868 at least three of the children were placed in the Randwick children’s asylum (see attached register). At this time a warrant was issued for the husband James’ arrest. The NSW police gazette of 23 December 1868 states that, “A warrant has been issued by the Sydney Bench for the arrest of James Burt, charged with deserting his infant child, Louisa, leaving it without the means of support. Burt is about 45 years of age, dark complexion, dark hair; dressed in blue serge jumper; a shingle-splitter. Supposed to have gone to Raymond Terrace. [Warrant has since been cancelled.]”
The husband James William Burt died on 18 May 1901 at the Liverpool asylum with his age recorded as 82 (death certificate transcript attached).
In the last years of James’ life, he was an inmate of Liverpool asylum a number of times. His religion was recorded as unbeliever, sceptic and atheist (register attached). It states that he arrived in NSW on the Lady Kennaway in 1840. Another asylum record gives his arrival ship as the Tamar in 1856 (without other detail). I cannot find any record of a James Burt on any voyages of those ships. I cannot find any record of a James Burt/Caroline Petworth marriage in England (his death certificate records this London marriage aged 25 with 6 deceased male issue and 1 deceased female issue). I cannot identify James in England at all. I would love to be able to, so I can then trace his ancestry for a couple of generations and see if my Nan has DNA matches.
Any assistance identifying James’s arrival in NSW or his family back in England would be very much appreciated as I am struggling here.
