James RAY of Kyneton VIC

[CassieK]

Oh our ancestors don't like to make it easy for us.

Cassie

[JillianR]

I've been looking for James RAY in NSW, and I have a marriage between James RAY and Louisa J FRANCIS in Balmain in 1874. I hadn't considered that he may have left Kyneton with another woman. I can't find a record of Louisa or her parents in NSW. Unfortunately she gave birth to a son Arthur the same year and both she and the baby died. Her parents names were James F and Louisa F. There are a couple of entries for Louisa FRANCIS on A. Immigration lists if someone could have a look for me please? Would like to know if she came from Victoria. I did find mention of a FRANCIS family in Kyneton in the newspaper.

Another interesting lead is that there was a James RAY in Darlinghurst Gaol from 1886-1890, in debtor's prison, who was forgotten about by the authorities and immediately released when it was brought to their attention that he was still there!

[JillianR]

Time to revisit James Ray of Kyneton. I've just heard a story passed down through another branch of the family, about James having become serious about religion and going as a missionary to an island in the Pacific where he died. There has been no evidence found of this so far. I suspect he became involved with the Wesleyan Methodists (he and Ellen were married by them in Kyneton) who had missionaries in Fiji and Tonga. This is totally new ground for me, how do I go about confirming any of this?

A study of the Victorian divorce laws in the 1800s suggests that his wife Ellen was able to have him declared legally dead after 4 years and the notice in the paper in 1876 was a formality to prepare the way for her remarriage. Divorce due to desertion didn't become an option until 1889. Ellen's marriage record to her second husband shows that she became widowed in November 1871.

Any ideas most welcome, thanks....Jillian