CURNOW William - any info after his arrival in Melbourne in Dec 1852

[barbatalice]

I’m looking for any information on William CURNOW after he arrived in Melbourne on the Constance Dec 1852.
He travelled with his wife Hannah, daughter Ann Lee and his grandsons John and Joseph. All the family used  the surname CURNOW, even thought Ann’s married name was THOMAS.
On the passenger list William is aged 64.

I can’t find him after he arrived in Australia.
I know that William’s daughter Ann Lee THOMAS went straight to the goldfields in Bendigo with her husband John THOMAS. John died there in 1857.
Ann and her children then moved to Strathalbyn South Australia. (Members of her husband’s THOMAS family lived in the district.)
Ann’s mother Hannah CURNOW also moved to Strathalbyn and was buried in the cemetery there in 1870.

That’s all I have. I don’t know if William CURNOW accompanied the family to Bendigo or South Australia. I can’t find a death record or other documents for him in either state.

Before his arrival in 1852: William CURNOW  married Hannah DAVY/DAVEY in Illogan Cornwall in 1813. In the 1851 England census he was living with his wife in Illogan.

[TreeSpirit]

Before his arrival in 1852: William CURNOW  married Hannah DAVY/DAVEY in Illogan Cornwall in 1813. In the 1851 England census he was living with his wife in Illogan.

Can you confirm this because the passenger list mentions that they were an Irish family?:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKW-VQSB-5 (right page)

[shanreagh]

If they were Irish, Liverpool, is a very common departure place for people from Ireland to leave from. 

[barbatalice]

Thanks everyone.
All five members of the CURNOW/ THOMAS family on the 1852 Constance passenger list were living in Illogan Cornwall on the the night of the 1851 census ( 30 March 1851)
On that census return they are all recorded as being born in Cornwall.

I have no idea why they are recorded as Irish on the passenger list. All I can suggest is that William’s ancestors were from Ireland. It is common today for people to identify with the  geographic location or ethnic group of their forebears. It is possible that William was doing just that.

And now back to my query - what happened to William CURNOW after 1852?

[shume]

I am unable to find John Thomas (husband of Ann) on the manifest of the Constance travelling with the Curnow family. He is also not with them on the 1851 census. Did he arrive earlier?
The letters of Adminstration following his death in 1857 are complex and his wife seems to be in a great deal of debt. (Public record Office Victoria)
Do you have Hannah (mother) death certificate from 1870? It could state if she was married or a widow?

Just found a death entry for Hannah Curnow age 81 1870. Deceased Husband William Curnow on SA BDM.
After John Thomas died perhaps the 2 women left Bendigo for SA??

[barbatalice]

John THOMAS travelled to Australia a few years before his wife, children and CURNOW in-laws. He arrived in Adelaide on the Success in Jan 1848 with his 2 brothers Mauris and Nicholas and some other family members.

You’re correct that Ann and her 4 children moved to South Australia after her husband John died. Her youngest child Rosena/Rosina is buried in Strathalbyn cemetery (31 Aug 1862). I don’t know when Hannah CURNOW nee DAVEY moved there. She is also buried at Strathalbyn.

I am trying to navigate SA bdm. I can’t find  William CURNOW on that site. Have you found death entry for him?

[barbatalice]

Thanks for your tips shume! I have finally found that transcript of Hannah’s death cert (26 Nov 1870) stating that  she was a widow and that her husband William CURNOW was deceased.

So now I know that he died some time 4 Jan 1853 - 26 Nov 1870. On 4 Jan 1853  William CURNOW posted an ad in The Argus (Melbourne) for the attention of John THOMAS of Illogan Cornwall.

I presume William died in Victoria before about 1860 or in South Australia from about 1861.

[shume]

Sorry but I am unable to find a death entry for him in Vic or SA. for the dates you suggest.

[Dundee]

William was 64 when he arrived and it is not impossible that he died soon after arrival.  Civil registration did not start in Vic until July 1853.  Even after civil reg. started, the goldfields were a bit of a Bermuda triangle for immigrants and deaths went unregistered.

Debra