Missing Resting Places: Morris Family Mystery

[Darian Zam]

Funeral Notice: SMH 21 July 1969

MORRIS — The Relatives and Friends of the late Mr NATHAN (NAT) MORRIS, of 26 Hopetoun, Street Camperdown are invited to attend his Funeral to leave St. Stephen's Church, Church Street, Newtown, Tomorrow (Tuesday), after service commencing at 1.15 p.m., for the Rookwood Crematorium.

So he REALLY left the Hebrew faith! Quite a few things point to this.
One being the Newtown area had enough of a Jewish population to have their own synagogue there which was fairly close to where they lived, a few minutes walk away.
Their son Frank was buried in a CoE sector of Rookwood. I'm presuming the Broughtons were CoE. Nat did not stick to the Hebrew naming tradition for sons which was skipping a gen to name the child for their grandfather which was Nathan, instead naming Frank for his brother and Frank's grandpa Nathan wound up as the middle name.
Nat  married outside the faith, had his funeral in an Anglican church, and was not interred in Hebrew consecrated ground.
My grandpa, Nat's uncle, also left the faith but he had his own reasons. He married twice outside the faith and also divorced and did not attend Synagogue. It just wasn't the done thing. That didn't stop the family interring him in the Hebrew Cemetery though. They insisted on it and made sure it happened.
Anyway I suspect this had something to do with both of their respective distancing from the family. It was pretty much unheard of to renounce your religion and culture, even informally.

Thanks for transcribing this. Trove doesn't want to cooperate today and won't show any of the funeral notices quoted in this thread. It's giving me the shits.

[Darian Zam]

Hi, I would not assume that there is no memorials at the crematorium. I have parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who were cremated at Rookwood and they all have memorials, some in the Rose Gardens.

Due to the cost of placement in the Rose Gardens the majority have Niches in the many Walls.  I would send an email to Rookwood Crematorium, you never know you might find a memorial.

good luck, Cass

Thanks Cass I have written to the Crematorium. Hopefully they will respond although, I am not counting on it.

[Jennaya]

I suspect he did not tell his wife that he was Jewish. A new start in a new country would make it easy to change his story. So there would be no reason for anyone to insist on a Hebrew burial.

[Darian Zam]

I suspect he did not tell his wife that he was Jewish. A new start in a new country would make it easy to change his story. So there would be no reason for anyone to insist on a Hebrew burial.

Good point. I'd never thought of that. It would be hard to get away with but possible. I always say if something is technically  *possible* then it's not *impossible*.