Claiming the children

There are inevitably skeletons in every tree and by skeletons I mean - things not spoken about. Every family knows that when an older relation says the past should stay in the past or you shouldn't worry about what happened before that there will be something in that closet.

This post is going to look at two - both babies, who until my research, had been forgotten, not acknowledged and alone.

The first would have been my Great Uncle Arthur Oscar Edward Phillips born in 1895 and died a year later. This was four years prior to my Grandfather being born, so he would not have known about him and obviously it was never discussed. When I found his records I felt saddened to think this small person was not a part of our family tale, my mission find where he had been buried and claim him!

The second child Albert, belonged to my Great Aunt, she appears to have had a shotgun wedding just two days after his birth and sadly he died at26 days weeks old. I knew my Great Aunt and had a lovely relationship with her, but she never spoke about having a child and even my mother who had grown up next door to her was unaware of his existence. His tale I felt more tragic than Arthur's as her siblings would have known about the child but he appears to not have been recognised once he had died. She would remarry, but have no children and her husband would tragically be killed. I feel sad for her too that she never felt she could talk about her son, not even in her late years. Albert needed to be found and connected back to the family too.

Fortunately for me both boys were at Rookwood Cemetery, so on Thursday April 21st 2022 I set out with my daughter to find them. We located both of their plots, Albert's resting place was a rough guess given the nearest grave with a headstone that we could check for positional reference is about 2 plots up. Arthur's however was positioned that I know I was standing right in front of it and as I did I told him (as I had Albert) that we had found him and we would connect him to our family, he was no longer forgotten. The thing that surprised me on the rainy Thursday afternoon was that as those words left my mouth, for the second time that day, I became overwhelmed with a sense of grief - tears flowed. It was emotional - I had not expected that.

On leaving the cemetery I felt at peace that they had been located and now I can go about the process of having their graves marked and a memorial put there so others know that they belong to someone, they have a family, even if it has taken over 100 years for it to be put in writing.

War and the impact on a family

 As we reflect at ANZAC day, on our those who have gone to war, today while listening to the local service I reflected and compared the sacrifices made by many.

In recent months we have watched the devastation in Ukraine by Russia, but it is not our soldiers who have gone to assist. I understand this, as it would mean a World War, but Australians in the medical field have. Currently, for example, a mother and daughter((Lab technician and Paramedic) have gone, but they are not alone others are working for Christian Aid Agency - Samaritan's Purse. 

Ukraine: The Aussie medics helping refugees in war-torn Ukraine (nine.com.au)

This is what I began to reflect on, in World War 1 nurses from Australia went to war, they saw the most terrible sights but do we really acknowledge them or the nurses who then volunteered for the other conflicts that came after? Their roles were crucial not only to provide the medical care but also for the positivity that they gave in the gravest of situations to the soldiers. A number of years ago there was an attempt to raise the awareness, but I feel like that has gone.

Then there were the women who worked in the munitions factories, some in important war offices and other factories that kept the countries moving, for many this must have been a strange opportunity in World War 1, given the women's role was in the home! This would again occur in World War 2.

Lastly there are the wives and mothers, those who did what they could from their homes to support their soldiers - making ANZAC biscuits, sending care packages with knitted socks and a note, raising money for the 'cause'.

I do not have any nurses in my family, nor as yet any factory workers, but I do have mothers and wives.

Today I thought I would post about my Great Great Grandmother Emma Ellen Jansen. Born in 1853, a twin, in England she moved to Australia in 1911. 

In World War 1 Emma would have six sons actively in service, and her youngest (not pictured) enlisted but sent home just prior to embarkation, as the army felt she had given enough. Two of her sons fought for England the others for Australia, miraculously six returned home. Leonard (middle right) would be the only one not to return home, dying on 21 Sept 1918.

Some of these sons were married with families, but for now I am just concentrating on the impact for their mother.

Leonard and Richard (middle left) were both ANZACs, I imagine Emma reading the news of the battle and cannot imagine how she felt knowing that they were both there.

John (top left) did not join up for World War 1, he was already in the Dragoon Guards and had been in India and also South Africa for the Boer War.

Robert (top right) had been enlisted in England in the Middlesex Regiment and was a trainer at Bathurst initially before going to the front in the Engineers.

06 Aug 1915 - MRS. EMMA JANSEN, OF ANNANDALE, AND HER SOLDIER SONS. - Trove (nla.gov.au)

During the war, Emma had to wonder every time there was a knock on the door, whether that was someone with bad news. But she did not just sit back and not support the war effort. She raised money (I believe it was for the war effort), using pictures of her sons displayed behind her, on the streets of Sydney with others..she had a sign "I gave these, what will you give". 

By all accounts she was a determined, no fuss woman and this does not surprise me.

The newspaper account in the Daily Telegraph is not entirely accurate however, she was not a widow (her husband was back in England but it appears they were estranged). Her son Laurence was in the British Navy. 

So, when we think of those who died for our freedom, served for our freedom spare a thought for those who 'gave' for our freedom. 

Even today, the families that have been impacted by the 'peace keeping' missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, have given...for some the impact on the family as their soldiers return can be devastating and unfortunately are still not given the support that they need.

Lest we forget!

Technology and being left behind

I have missed blogging, however the difficulty has been not in not having the time nor the lack of things to blog but technology.

My laptop was purchased prior to 2008 and at the time was way ahead of what was available BUT it began not being able to cope with the technology as it could not update to Google Chrome due to the operating system. 

My Toshiba Satellite still functions really well, as long as I do not want to view my blog page, Ancestry items or Find my Past items and most recently, view more than the basic areas of the DNA sites. I can't even get Facebook or Messenger to load properly.

So, I had to wait until my technology was updated - which it now has. But I refuse to part with my trusty Toshiba so it will do all the photo work and word processing (because I really do not like Windows 10) and the new laptop will become the Genealogy computer.

So I have uploaded Family Tree Maker, that I purchased at Rootstech in 2021, and have decided not to sync with Ancestry as I am in the unique position of being able to ensure that all my research has been sourced. So I entered my details and I am going back one step at a time, one generation at a time and looking at what records I have and finding what I need or what I have misplaced. If I do not have the supporting Primary documentation then that is as far as I go...until I find it!

It is also enabling me to look with fresh eyes on information I collected many years ago but was unable to research further. For example, I have been able to look up my Grandfather's baby brother's burial at Rookwood on their deceased search and now know where he is buried.

The other advantage is that I have been able to set up folders for each person, so that relevant documents can be scanned and stored there. Giving a lot of consideration to how this system would work I decided to set up Surname folders and then sub folders within for each person. For females I have named their folders under their maiden name and put their married name in brackets. In some cases they have two names in brackets as they married twice. So far this system seems to be working well.

I need to get busy with scanning documents too as many I only have a paper copy for. This will be a lot of work but will organise all my files. (I hope anyway).

While I haven't been blogging, I have been on Twitter!

The 1921 Census has been released...so I will have something to blog about on that shortly!