Friday, 14 February 2014

Welcome and Introduction to
The SYMES Family Tree Project


PAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION
I have now made my family tree publicly available through ancestry.com. The home-page for the SYMES FAMILY TREE is www.------------  It really ought to be called the SYMES FAMILY FOREST because it is now a lot bigger and better, with many errors corrected and additions made.


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Thought for the week:
 'Fui quod es, sum quad eris'
Meaning: 'What you are, I was; what I am, you will be."

SYMES Family Tree (Updates & Errata)


ID numbers, highlighted in yellow, are listed below in numerical order.

ID:1  Thomas SYMES & Elizabeth HITCHCOCKE  (page 1) 
For the sake of context, here is a photo (taken 1960s) of the interior of St Andrews Church at Chardstock, where Thomas married Elizabeth on 6 May 1612:


ID:16  James SYMES  (page 12) 
In 1779, at age 25, it appears that James was initiated into the Freemasons, eventually being inducted as a member on 10 September 1781 into the Perpetual Friendship Lodge at Bridgewater [County Somerset].  He stated his profession as 'Glover', which is not inconsistent with my record of him as Yeoman/Flax Grower. If one has the raw materials at hand, why not convert them into a saleable product? From this document it is confirmed that Somerset was James's residential base, plus we already know he died there.
 England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemasons Membership Registers, 1751-1921 
(Folio 131, D Lodge No.264D, E Lodge No.212E, and F Lodge No.181F [via ancestry.com].


ID:43  Aaron Stark SYMES  (page 23) 
*Aaron rated a mention in the publication Somerset: A List of Worthies and Unworthies and Villains Born in the County (see Somerset, England, Extracted Parish Records about Symes, Aaron Stark. The biographical information it offers provides nothing new, but we must (naturally?) assume he was included under the section devoted to 'Worthies', not 'Villains'.

*Researchers should be aware that there are several individuals at around this time with the name Aaron Stark Symes. Some of the family trees on ancestry.com have confused them.

*Here is the extract from Aaron's probate record dated 24 February 1881, via ancestry.com. While it adds no new information to the existing Symes Family Tree record, it does serve to confirm the Andrews Newspaper Index Card at F2:86:
Source: England & Wales, National Probate Calendar, Index of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1966.

 At the age of 39 while resident at Guernsey, Aaron was initiated into the Freemasons on 30 December 1839 at the North Devon Militia Lodge. His record was annotated on 25 September 1863 with "Cert in 1st degree" ...which may represent some sort of advancement in rank(?): 
Source: England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemasons Membership Registers, 1751-1921 
(Folio 274, A Lodge No.283A, and B Lodge No.199B, via ancestry.com).


ID:45   Jonathan Wyatt SYMES (Jnr.)  (page 26).
The following is a copy of his probate record granted to his daughter Mary Anna Nicholls. In his will he specified that the entire estate go to his daughter Anne C.S. Griffith, of whom I have no record (see page 27):


ID:60   Thomas Anstey MANSFORD    (page 36)
Not long after migrating to New Zealand, Thomas signed up with the Freemasons on 7 November 1859 (Ara Lodge, Auckland, NZ, Lodge No.348). His entry is otherwise not annotated, so it appears he may not have sustained the connection once he had secured his position at the Auckland Magistrates Court:
The Grand Lodge of Freemasons of Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; 
Collection: Freemasons of Ireland Membership Registers; Volume Number: IV.


ID:63   Aaron Hilary SYMES   (page 37)
The following document (source:ancestry.com) reveals that Aaron also sailed to China/Hong Kong between 1864 and 1867. This was not long after the conclusion of the Second Opium War between England and China, in which England was the ruthless victor.
The document also gives two previously unknown addresses:

On 12 September 1860 at the age of 27, Aaron was initiated into the Freemasons (Union Waterloo Lodge). He gave his occupation as 'Engineer'. According to the record, he appears to have been excluded on 6 May 1863, no reason recorded:
 Source: England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemasons Membership Registers, 1751-1921 
(Folio 64, A Lodge No.13, via ancestry.com).


ID:99  George James Symes SAUNDERS  (page 57)
 George applied to become a Freemason on 10 January 1863 at the Union Lodge, Starcross. He was 'passed' on 2 May 1864 and was 'raised' on 4 July 1864. 
Source: England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemasons Membership Registers, 1751-1921
(Folio 121, A Lodge No.444,650, via ancestry.com).

Although nothing directly to do with George, the following poster from August 1839 demonstrates the extent to which the British government was willing to export people to reduce the crippling problem of unemployment in England following the Napoleonic Wars. (See my commentary about social injustice on page 58). A surprisingly high number of beggars were unilaterally declared insane and committed to insane asylums such as George's, thereby conveniently 'disappearing' the problem from the voting public's eye.
Co-incidentally, my own wife's mother was Margaret CHRISTIE, a descendant of immigrant boat-people to Adelaide in 1839. Although emigration to SA was voluntary and assisted, it was in truth just another means of reducing pressure on resources 'at home'.


ID:151  George Albert SYMES  (page 75)
In 1895 George was initiated into the Freemasons at the Portsmouth Lodge, but there is no record of having eventually been made a member. In fact, his initiation record is marked: 'Excluded Rule 175'.
Source: England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemasons Membership Registers, 1751-1921 
(Lodge No.487, Folio No.281, via ancestry.com).

Rule 175 appears to be a straightforward case of overdue subscription. I did not find any subsequent evidence of re-application.

ID:158  Ellen SYMES  (page 82)
To compliment and balance the photo of modern day Whitechapel which I printed in the SYMES Family Tree, I include here a print by Gustave Dore of Whitechapel from 'London' of 1892. Whitechapel was evidently not a wealthy area of London:

ID:193  Augustus Edward Cheesman MANSFORD  (page 90)
On 14 July 1916 at age 30 when he was still a Clerk and well before he became Mayor, Augustus signed up with the Freemasons at the United Manawata Lodge, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Source: England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemasons Membership Registers, 1751-1921 
(Lodge No.1721, Folio No.190, via ancestry.com).


ID:219  Noreen Dorothy Maud STOKES  (page 98)
 I forgot I had this photo of Mum hamming it up at home with her shiny new Order of Australia Medal on the day after the award ceremony at Government House, Adelaide:

I should add that if you would like to browse samples of Noreen's concert reviews from newspapers during her decade in Singapore in the 1950s, you can open the following webpage...
http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Searchresults.aspx?q=noreen+stokes&lang=


ID:220  Lawrence ('Lawrie') GORE SYMES  (page 101).
 Some new detail about Lawrence from his grand-daughter Lisa in New Zealand-
* Lawrence's precise birth-date was 4 July 1909.
*  According to her, the actual date of death was 22 October 1991, caused by a heart attack while mowing the lawn at his residence (61 Motti Rd, Papamoa, Bay of Plenty, NZ). However, a recently released cemetery record (New Zealand Cemetery Records 1800-2007 via ancestry.com) reads "age 82, DOC 25 October 1991". I'm not sure what the acronym DOC stands for... perhaps some sort of death certificate? ...any help appreciated. The three day difference may simply have been the time it took to issue a certificate.
* Lisa wrote that Lawrence spelled his name 'Laurie'.
* Lisa also wrote that Laurie always signed official documents using the surname Gore-Symes, but used 'Symes' for anything else.
* Lawrence was buried at the Bay of Plenty Cemetery, Tauranga, Thames Valley, Bay of Plenty, NZ.


ID:221  Evelyn GORE-SYMES, aka "EG-S "  (page 102).
On the photo CD I should have included this photo of Maj. John Gordon COATES and his bride Bobbie BISHOP in the entry for their friend Evelyn GORE-SYMES. This was probably a poignant event for my aunt Evelyn as she was at the time in the throes of separating from her wartime boyfriend Charles Szladitz, a Hungarian bank manager. On the photo CD there is a photo of her at the wedding looking decidedly glum. I retain some very personal letters between Evelyn and Charles in the archive, but have not included them on the Symes Family Tree photo CD.


ID:225   Albert Victor SYMES  (page 105).
I was emailed in mid-2014 by Elizabeth Smith, who wrote that Albert Victor SYMES, her step-father, was known as Vic, "a very gentle kind man". She kindly provided me with the marriage certificate of Vic and his first wife Julia Margaret NASH, which revealed that Julia's father was a bank manager, viz:


Elizabeth also provided documentation of Vic's wartime medal:


My correspondent Elizabeth Smith was the daughter of the 'Auntie Vera' who was previously unknown to me (mentioned at the bottom of page 105 of the Symes Family Tree). Vera was born at Chard, Somerset, on 9 August 1906 to Ethel May JENNINGS of Battersea who eventually and married Willie MARTIN (born 1884, Hoxton, London, son of George Charles MARTIN (b.1848) and Sarah PREECE (b.1846). Vera was thereafter known as Vera May Martin JENNINGS. She first married Alfred David SUTTON (1904-1956) on 5 June 1932, met Vic in about 1960, and died at Kenley, Surrey, on 28 October 1987.
More information at http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/tree/63054076/person/42100094851

Vera May Martin Jennings before her 1932 marriage to Alfred David Sutton.
 
Vera with Vic, probably sometime in the 1960s
 
Vera and Vic at the beach (undated).


ID:245   Evelyn Edith SYMES   (p.110).
The following undated newspaper clipping from an unidentified newspaper indicates that Evelyn and William had more than the one child I recorded in the SYMES Family Tree. At the time of the article there was also at least one grandchild:



ID:274   Sally Joyce Rohan WILLIAMS  (p.114),   AND
ID:276   John Gareth SYMES   (p.114).


Gareth and Sally kindly sent me the following photo taken at their mid-2014 get-together at Lelant:
My favourite photo ever   :))


ID:320   Lisa Ann PURCELL  (p.126)
* Lisa's middle name is spelled Anne, not Ann. My apologies.
* In a lovely email from Lisa and Oahu, they informed me of the birth of a son, Seth Hercules TUKUNIU, on 6 December 2014 in New Zealand. Seth is now a member of our 14th generation. Congratulations and wide grins from Seth's grand-uncle (moi :)



ID:350   Rianna Dawn PURCELL  (p.131)
* Rianna's correct birth-date is 8 July 2006. My apologies.


ID:351   James Martin PARKER & Anna NORDVALL  (p.132)
Welcome to a brand new Alexander PARKER, born in Sweden on 11 March 2015, an honorary member of our 15th generation:



ID:362   Luke PARKER & Emma WILLIAMSON   (p.132)
Hello to Luke and Emma's new son Zavier Williamson PARKER, born in Wellington, NZ, on -----

and Zavier's already had a visit from gran, Celia SMITH:




CHRISTIANA Family Tree (Updates & Errata)








ID numbers, highlighted in yellow, are listed below in numerical order.

ID:6   Henrietta Maria CHRISTIANA (wife of Capt. James READ)  (page 155)
For the sake of context, here is a recent photo of the shoreline near Khejuri (Kedgeree), the place where Captain James Read was buried. It shows the shallow swampy nature of the anchorage. The relevant description of James' death and burial is on p.158. In 1826 when James was buried, the cemetery was apparently quite close to the shore, but the huge cyclone of 1864 changed the landscape by filling the gaps between islands with sediment. As a result, the cemetery is now located some distance inland. Such is the changeable nature of an alluvial delta in a monsoonal region.


Here are recent photos of Henrietta's grave, incorporated in the Wyatt family obelisk in the Highgate Cemetery, London (source: Wyatt family tree, ancestry.com):


Zooming into the above photo reveals...

A list of persons in the tomb is as per the following note:



At least we learn that Henrietta died in October 1867 (possibly the 18th? ...illegible).
It is possible that the obelisk was commissioned by James Wyatt's second wife Florence Rose Percy King (1847-1912) whom he had married in 1872, five years after Henrietta's death.

And for something completely different...
Here is a cartoon of 1833, not related directly to our families, but indicative of the social pressures in the 19th century which prompted women like Henrietta CHRISTIANA to take advantage of the 'Fishing Fleets' (see notes, page 155):
Source - State Library of NSW.



ID:30  Agnes Mary Josephine TESTAR & Robert Lewis William READ  (page 171).
(also see the TESTAR Family Tree, page 261).
An exciting find!  Finally I have discovered some details of Agnes's arrival in Calcutta. I had earlier speculated that she and Robert Lewis William Read may have travelled together to Calcutta, but I was wrong. Having departed from Southampton, she arrived in June 1850, apparently unaccompanied, just one month before her marriage to Robert Lewis William READ. There was no passenger on the ship under the name READ. It is still possible, though, that they had met in London and planned to meet in Calcutta to avoid the stigma of 'living in sin' during the voyage.

The vessel was the steamer/sailing ship 'Hindoostan' (usually spelled 'Hindostan' in most records; sometimes 'Hindustan').

I also note that Agnes must have departed Southampton sometime quite soon after 6 February 1850 because on that day she was one of the witnesses at the London wedding of her uncle Thomas Hitchins TESTAR (see page 259, CHRISTIANA Family Tree).
There is a painting of the 'Hindoostan' (unknown artist) departing Southampton on its maiden voyage back in 1842:


The artist has contrived to depict the vessel sailing directly into a headwind, a fact which would not have escaped unnoticed at the time, given that steam engines were a relatively recent innovation on the high seas, especially on international voyages. For India, this was cutting edge stuff, the maritime equivalent of the new-fangled Railways on dry land.

For the sake of context, here is a photo of Agnes's point of arrival (Chandpal Ghat, Calcutta) as it was in 1850, the year she arrived. all the vessels in this photo appear to be sailing ships - no steamer in sight:


The following newspaper article pertains to their later life in New Zealand after 1880. I found the article in New Zealand's Wanganui Chronicle of 8 September 1883 (Volume XXV, Issue 10410, page 1), where the complete article may be read. It records that Robert Read and his son Francis Read were both provisional directors of a newly-established meat and produce export company. It also serves to confirm the family's pastoral links to Patea and Kakaramea, and implies that Robert Read had not yet made the move to live in New Plymouth. It is not yet known when the Read family moved to New Plymouth, but this article implies that it was after 1883:


Next is a photo (source) showing three of the labels eventually produced by the company:

ID:34  Rosalin(d) WYATT  (p.180) The first daughter of James WYATT and Henrietta Maria CHRISTIANA may be more properly spelled Rosalie, not Rosalin or Rosalind. If the entry for Rosalie is correct, it appears she died on 8 August 1933 - at the age of 102. Scroll back to see her grave in the photos of the Wyatt family obelisk under ID:6.
 
ID:36  James Matthew George WYATT (p.181)  The wife of James Matthew George Wyatt was listed as Eliza Pinta on her grave - no mention of the surname HEARN. Scroll back to see her grave in the photos of the Wyatt family obelisk under ID:6.

Also, here is James' probate record (via ancestry.com):

ID:66  Louisa Maria READ & Augustus HINDS  (pages 189, 265, 275).
On the record of her marriage, she was Mary Louisa READ, birth 1855 (India, Select Marriages, 1792-1948) via ancestry.com. No image available on ancestry yet.
The 1935 probate record for Louisa's husband Augustus Sylvester Gore HINDS was:

ID:68  Walter READ  (page 192).
Correction: Walter's father-in-law Henry Campbell RAIKES was married to Robina Mary Bannerman Lessel BISSETT, not to Susan BISSETT. Oops, and my apologies.




 
ID:69  Agnes READ  (aka 'Aunt Aggie') (pp. 193, 266).
(also see TESTAR Family Tree, p.266)
* I note that Aggie's father Robert READ visited England from Nainital in 1877 (month/s unknown; source is the letter on p.194 of the CHRISTIANA Family Tree).  This was the same year that Aggie took her first Communion at the New Hall school (in April 1877) and her first Confession (7 June 1877). I intuit that Robert went to England at that time partly to be present at those events, and possibly also to investigate the potential of re-locating to New Zealand. During that trip, there can be little doubt that he would have left his Nainital real estate rental business in the hands of Mary Jane Corbett (see pdf document at F13:162,163).
* From the NZ Archives comes this photo captioned "Agnes Read playing tennis" at the New Plymouth Tennis Club, dated very approximately 1910 (1900-1916). In the background on the hill is the New Plymouth Hospital.
Photo source:



ID:106   Thomas Gore HINDS  (page 205)
* Thomas's corrected birth-date is 20 May 1882 at Bellary, Madras, India (not 1881 as quoted in the SYMES Family Tree).
* His baptism was on 20 June 1882, also at Bellary.
(Source: India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947, v.63, p.158, FHL film #521870).
Note that 'Madras' referred to the Madras Presidency, a vast EIC administrative area centred around Madras, and not just to the city itself.
On that birth record (photo not yet available), Frank's father was named as Augustus Sylvaster [sic] Hinds and his mother as Louisa Mary.


ID:107   Frank Gore HINDS  (page 206)
The page of the Railways record showing Frank's 1906 resignation (via ancestry.com). The date is September 13, not 12 as incorrectly quoted in the SYMES Family Tree:


ID:109   Rose Mary Gore HINDS & Hugh Evelyn RAYMOND  (page 207)
Hugh Evelyn Raymond's grandson has kindly provided another interesting snippet, this time about his grandfather's driving skills. This article appeared in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette on Friday 6 September 1935:





TESTAR Family Tree (Updates & Errata)

ID numbers, highlighted in yellow, are listed below in numerical order.


ID:17  Emily TESTAR   (page 255)
Emily's 1845 burial record at St Mary, Paddington Green, obtained via ancestry.com:

ID:18 John Keene TESTAR   (page 256)
His marriage record to Mary Woart (Weart?) SMITH, in which we learn that Mary's father was an Office Keeper (source: ancestry.com) :




ID:30 Agnes Mary Josephine TESTAR   (page 261)
(also see page 171 in the SYMES Family Tree).
An exciting find!  Finally I tracked down some details of Agnes's arrival in Calcutta. Having departed from Southampton, she arrived in June 1850, apparently unaccompanied, just a month before her marriage to Robert Lewis William READ. The vessel was the steamer/sailing ship 'Hindoostan' (usually spelled 'Hindostan' in most records). There is a photo of the 'Hindoostan' departing Southampton on its maiden voyage in 1842...


The artist has contrived to depict the vessel sailing directly into a headwind, a fact which would not have escaped unnoticed at the time, given that steam engines were a relatively recent innovation on the high seas, especially on international voyages. For India, this was cutting edge modern stuff, the maritime equivalent of the new-fangled Railways on dry land.

For the sake of context, here is a photo of Agnes's point of arrival (Chandpal Ghat, Calcutta) as it was in 1850 when she arrived:

 
 
ID:69   Agnes READ  aka "Aunt Aggie(page 266)
(also see CHRISTIANA Family Tree, p.193)
From the NZ Archives comes this photo captioned "Agnes Read playing tennis" at the New Plymouth Tennis Club, dated very approximately 1910 (1900-1916). In the background on the hill is the New Plymouth Hospital
Source: