SAConnection
15-12-2009, 10:42 AM
Hi All,
Me again. No, not asking for help this time, but sharing my finds with you.
Having searched and searched - we all know about that - I finally tracked the man down and in the process found a whole lot of new family members for my husband. It has been very interesting, especially the 1871 Census where the family was living in/on the wall of the Sussex County Gaol!!!! Great-grandfather William Gage was working on the London sewer project at the time, and I suppose that was the best place they could find to live. Sounds so wierd. Anyway, he was killed accidentally in about 1867 when a brick fell on his head!!!! Ouch.
Apart from that, his wife, Harriet, had a whole tribe of brothers and sisters, one of whom was Louisa. Louisa married a William Upfold, and in due course they immigrated to South Africa. I suppose she wrote home and told them all about our wonderful climate, etc, so William Thomas Gage decided that this was for him, and promptly left England on the next boat. We have a copy of the shipping record for January 1880 where his arrival is recorded. He was sponsored by Louisa Woods - don't know why she didn't use her married name - but that was exciting enough. Then, having found that register, I went scratching in another cardex drawer at the PMB Archives - we were waiting for some files - and found another card recording his application to marry. He was only 20 so needed permission from the Chief Magistrate to get married. His wife, Sarah, was already 21 so she was fine. I've got copies - photos actually as that's how I do my research - of those two pages. Needless to say, that was even more exciting.
I am now in touch with one of Louisa's descendants, who lives in England, but was born in South Africa. That's been very interesting as well - she went to school with my cousin's wife, and knows other family members from her home town of Eshowe in Zululand, SA. She's excited about the whole affair, and even my dear husband who is fazed by absolutely NOTHING, was "quite pleased" about discovering a whole bunch of new rellies.
My other bit of good news was the fact that I found a cousin - a second cousin to be exact - living in New Zealand. Firstly, through Ancestry, I was linked to a tree belonging to someone living in England, who turned out to be the granddaughter of my mom's cousin, and then her husband, who is doing the tree, very kindly got stuck in and tracked this other cousin down. It's on my mother's dad's side of the family, so she's not even related to him. I really owe him one big time, as he went to a lot of trouble, and expense, in the process. Needless to say, the two computers between here and Wellington were giving off steam eventually the way the e-mails were flying to and fro. I just hope that I will be able to get to New Zealand in the next two years as the two cousins are 81 and 79 respectively. The Davis connection is known for it's longevity - my mother was almost 92 when she passed on, and Kiwi Kuzzie's gran was 90 - so I'm hopeful.
Just thought I'd let you know about my successes this year, and thanks so much to all those wonderful people who helped me uncover info about dear William Thomas Gage and his service in the 2nd Boer War.
Wishing you one and all a wonderful, blessed Christmas, and may you go from strength to strength in 2010.
Best wishes
Jane
|cheers|
Me again. No, not asking for help this time, but sharing my finds with you.
Having searched and searched - we all know about that - I finally tracked the man down and in the process found a whole lot of new family members for my husband. It has been very interesting, especially the 1871 Census where the family was living in/on the wall of the Sussex County Gaol!!!! Great-grandfather William Gage was working on the London sewer project at the time, and I suppose that was the best place they could find to live. Sounds so wierd. Anyway, he was killed accidentally in about 1867 when a brick fell on his head!!!! Ouch.
Apart from that, his wife, Harriet, had a whole tribe of brothers and sisters, one of whom was Louisa. Louisa married a William Upfold, and in due course they immigrated to South Africa. I suppose she wrote home and told them all about our wonderful climate, etc, so William Thomas Gage decided that this was for him, and promptly left England on the next boat. We have a copy of the shipping record for January 1880 where his arrival is recorded. He was sponsored by Louisa Woods - don't know why she didn't use her married name - but that was exciting enough. Then, having found that register, I went scratching in another cardex drawer at the PMB Archives - we were waiting for some files - and found another card recording his application to marry. He was only 20 so needed permission from the Chief Magistrate to get married. His wife, Sarah, was already 21 so she was fine. I've got copies - photos actually as that's how I do my research - of those two pages. Needless to say, that was even more exciting.
I am now in touch with one of Louisa's descendants, who lives in England, but was born in South Africa. That's been very interesting as well - she went to school with my cousin's wife, and knows other family members from her home town of Eshowe in Zululand, SA. She's excited about the whole affair, and even my dear husband who is fazed by absolutely NOTHING, was "quite pleased" about discovering a whole bunch of new rellies.
My other bit of good news was the fact that I found a cousin - a second cousin to be exact - living in New Zealand. Firstly, through Ancestry, I was linked to a tree belonging to someone living in England, who turned out to be the granddaughter of my mom's cousin, and then her husband, who is doing the tree, very kindly got stuck in and tracked this other cousin down. It's on my mother's dad's side of the family, so she's not even related to him. I really owe him one big time, as he went to a lot of trouble, and expense, in the process. Needless to say, the two computers between here and Wellington were giving off steam eventually the way the e-mails were flying to and fro. I just hope that I will be able to get to New Zealand in the next two years as the two cousins are 81 and 79 respectively. The Davis connection is known for it's longevity - my mother was almost 92 when she passed on, and Kiwi Kuzzie's gran was 90 - so I'm hopeful.
Just thought I'd let you know about my successes this year, and thanks so much to all those wonderful people who helped me uncover info about dear William Thomas Gage and his service in the 2nd Boer War.
Wishing you one and all a wonderful, blessed Christmas, and may you go from strength to strength in 2010.
Best wishes
Jane
|cheers|