Pitfalls of Research - or - Sometimes It Hurts to Uncover the Past

I first got interested in genealogy when I was twelve. Our Year 7 history teacher (whose name escapes me at the moment) set us an assignment to look into our family tree. It was tied in with more general concepts of history and was clearly designed to give us a sense of people as part of history. We had to do timelines with our own short life in there, along with our parents and grandparents and major events. It was a good idea and it really sparked my interest, but it also nearly ended it.

One of the things we were asked to do was, if possible, interview our grandparents. My mother's parents, Leslie Keith Ashton O'Toole and Eda Elecia Elizabeth ni Shoobridge, lived with us, so that was easy.

Leslie and Eda with granddaughter Joanne, Dee Why, 1967. Photo in private collection

Bear in mind I was twelve, and twelve year olds are not always known for their sensitivity and tact. Mum had over the years told us stories of her life and the lives of her parents and I assumed that, having not been told otherwise, all of this was fine to discuss.

It all started well. Nanna and Grandpop knew I had the assignment to do. They told me about going to school, some tales of their parents and of their lives growing up. They had some photos to show me (one of which has since vanished without trace – aaargh). They told me how they met in the tearooms up at Wentworth Falls and about my uncle Jack's birth, 9 months and 3 weeks after they were married and how Nanna prayed he wouldn't be early (a potential disaster in 1926). And then, because I had to fit them into the timeline, I asked about their lives during the Depression. It went very quiet. Grandpop looked away and Nanna got decidedly terse. I couldn't work out what was wrong, but plunged on regardless. “Mum said you were ill,” I said to my grandfather. “No,” said my grandmother, “she has got that wrong.” And that was that. Interview over. Bundled out.

I say in my grandparents' defence that this was very unusual behaviour. They were otherwise in the whole time I knew them sweet and loving. Nanna didn't take any crap from us, but she was never awful about it, just firm, and she would do anything for us. Grandpop made each of us feel like the centre of his world and he always made time to listen to us, or to go on walks with us. I wish I could find Steamroller sweets as he was always giving them to us. I still love strong mints to this day.

Allen's Steam Rollers "The Perfect Peppermint". From Power House Museum

Poor Mum was the meat in this debacle of a sandwich. She consoled me and said my grandparents were very sensitive about Grandpop's illness and he always felt it was his fault. The poor woman apologised for not telling me it was an issue. Then she went in to talk to her parents and soothe those troubled waters. All repaired, but I never dared talk to my grandparents about family history again, and I realize now how much I could have learnt. I have so many questions and I can't ask them.

So what did happen? Yes, Grandpop was sensitive about this, and some may think that I shouldn't raise this on such a public forum. But my grandfather always blamed himself and felt great shame, and I want the world to know IT WASN'T HIS FAULT.

The truth is Grandpop spent a large part of the Depression in the Queen Victoria Sanitarium in Wentworth Falls being treated for tuberculosis. He was only in his late 20s when he went in. My Uncle Jack was very young. Nanna went from having a comfortable family life (my grandfather was an accountant) to having no real means of support. Her parents lived next door and did what they could, but Nanna had to find work. She took in ironing, became a cleaner, did whatever it took. It must have been hard for her, but like many people of the time, she did what she had to do. Then Uncle Jack had a fall off the verandah on his trike and broke his hip. He was three at the time. He ended up in hospital down in Sydney. So now Nanna was visiting Grandpop in the Sanitarium down the road, travelling down to Sydney by train to be with her son and spending the rest of the time cleaning and ironing to make ends meet.

Grandpop took this very hard. He had gone from a breadwinner to a burden as he saw it.

Then the situation worsened. My grandfather responded well to treatment, but was in hospital for some years. In the meantime, Uncle Jack developed TB in the hip. He spent about three years in hospital (he told me he watched the Sydney Harbour Bridge being built) and when he was released he was left with one leg permanently shorter than the other, not that that ever stopped him doing anything he loved. He was always up to mischief, encouraging his cousins in all sorts of madness, became an avid hiker in the Blue Mountains in his late teens and early twenties, drove sports cars, and was golf mad, only getting himself a buggy in the last few years of his life.

Grandpop did not take such a light attitude. He blamed himself for my uncle's disability and for his lost childhood years in the hospital ward. No wonder my grandmother was terse that day I interviewed them both. She fully understood the hurt I was inadvertently causing and so she cut it short as quickly as she could.

It puzzled me over the years where Grandpop's TB had come from. Okay, it was more prevelant back then than it is now (Les was born in 1901), and treatment these days is more effective, but still I wondered. Then one day my mother and I went walking round Balmain, looking for the addresses where my great grandparents had lived and the places where my grandfather would have been as a boy. We went to Birchgrove Public School, where Grandpop and his siblings were first educated, and Mum pointed out the shiny new development next door, built over a coal mine. I was horrified. There had been a coal mine right next to a school. And I mean RIGHT next to it. No 2km set back here. Not even a 20m set back. RIGHT NEXT DOOR. Birchgrove Public School opened in 1885, the Balmain Colliery opened in 1897 and closed in 1945¹. It had “poor working conditions and suffered several disastrous accidents”². It was the deepest mine ever worked in Australia and was not a commercial success. The mine extracted coal from under the harbour. All the sifting, sorting and loading was done, naturally enough, on the surface, and the surface workings were slap bang next to a primary school.

We have a good understanding these days of the effects of coal dust on humans, particularly the ultrafine particles that are inhaled and cause lung cancer and all sorts of other respiratory illnesses (and yet our pollies still think it is fine to subject people to this). Back then there wasn't as much known, but people still knew about lung diseases and the dangers of too much exposure to coal dust, and yet the mine was approved and went ahead. Next to a school.

I went looking for connections between the school and mine-related respiratory illnesses. There is a little bit on the adverse health outcomes for miners, but almost nothing about the rest of the population, as if the problem was restricted only to the mine. The Balmain Observer was very much supportive of the mine, frequently trumpeting its cause, but not, that I have found, mentioning its location in relation to the school. In 1903 a Mr Robert Hitchen complained to Balmain Council of disturbances from blasting during the driving of the second shaft and there were concerns from a number of residents about potential damage to property and anxiety caused by excessive noise and vibration from the blasting³ (we have seen from the Hunter Valley and elsewhere that blasting, vibration and dust go hand in hand). While a number of councillors, including the mayor, thought it appropriate to pursue the matter with Sydney Harbour Collieries Limited (the owner of the mine), Alderman Cox thought such action would interfere with “the progress of the district” and he thought “the trams, for instance” were a bigger nuisance⁴. Does any of this sound familiar?

Archie Jackson, famous Australian cricketer, attended Birchgrove Public School as a boy. He died of TB in 1939 aged 24. Dawn Fraser and her family lived in Birchgrove while the mine was still operational, and Dawn attended Birchgrove Public. She and her father both suffered from asthma. “When she was twelve it was so bad her parents thought she was suffering from tuberculosis”⁵

That's only a handful and doesn't prove anything, but it does raise suspicions. I would like to know if there were ever any studies done on the health of the children of the school, both during their time there and later in life. Did others have or contract respiratory illnesses.

Maybe the mine did cause my grandfather's TB, maybe it didn't. As I stated earlier, it was more prevelant in the C19th and first half of the C20th. Maybe Grandpop was just a victim of that fact, as were so many others. But I can't help thinking that living near and going to school next to a mine could well have been a major contributor, if not the cause. I just can't prove it. Maybe Uncle Jack got TB in his hip because Grandpop was ill, maybe he got the infection in hospital, maybe he just got it.

Regardless of any of that, this fact is clear:

GRANDPOP – IT WAS NOT YOUR FAULT.

1Lawrence, Joan and Warne, Catherine, “A Pictorial History of Balmain to Glebe”, Kingclear Books, Alexandria, 1995, p. 28

2Leichhardt Municipal Council Report, Corporate and Information Services, Item B17 – Balmain Colliery Plaque, 11 June 2013, p.161

3 "Balmain Coal Mine Explosions" The Evening News (New South Wales), 29 Oct 1903, p. 3, col. 4; digital images, Trove - Digitised newspapers and more (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 14 Feb 2014).

4 "Dangers of Blasting" The Eveing News (New South Wales), 14 Oct 1903, p. 2, col. 6; digital images, Trove - Digitised newspapers and more (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 14 Feb 2014).

5Macneall, Pippa “Dawn Fraser: 1964 Australian of the Year”, http://www.docstoc.com/docs/123897451/Dawn-Fraser, p. 3

The Pleasure of Small Things

My children roll their eyes at me, but I cannot help it. I find genealogy exciting. They have just been laughing at me because I was excitedly showing them a photo I was sent today.

Laurence O'Toole. From the Leichhardt Library digital image collection Aurora Gallery

This is Laurence O'Toole, my great great uncle, taken sometime between 1894 and 1901, when he was on Leichhardt Council. You can read about him on my post, "A Real Trick".

The photo comes from the Local History photograph collection at Leichhardt Library. This is a collection of about 10,000 images. It is entirely digitised and indexed. Go to the Library website, click on “Search the Catalogue” on the left hand side and then click on the “Photo” tab at the top of the page (fourth tab from the left). The collection covers Leichhardt, Balmain, Birchgrove, Annandale, Glebe, that sort of area. You can type into the search bar to find images of specific areas or places or events, but there can be some trial and error involved. That said, it is a great resource if you have an interest is this area of Sydney, and the Library staff are very helpful and quick to answer emails.

Finally I have a photo of Uncle Larry. And yes, those ears are a family trait. We could see it in my grandfather and his brothers.

A Life Cut Short - Frederick O'Toole

Frederick George O'Toole was born in a small house in Cumberland Street, The Rocks, on 13 May, 1865, the fifth child to Laurence and Ann O'Toole. Mrs Strange was the midwife in attendance. Frederick was named for Anne's older brother, Frederick Allen Leonard, and her father, George Valentine Leonard. Frederick, Anne's brother, had died in 1858, leaving a wife and three children.

Some time between little Frederick's birth and May 1867, the O'Tooles had moved to 54 Chippen Street, Redfern. It was on the corner of Chippen and Cleveland Streets (there is a Dog Day Care and Paint Centre there now, in a modern building).

On 22 April, 1867, Frederick became ill with measles. There was an epidemic raging at the time. The Sydney Morning Herald would regularly print mortality rates in the paper, and they make for sombre reading. Infant mortality was high, and in 1867 it was higher still as children succumbed to the measles. As the SMH stated in The Quarter's Births and Deaths in Sydney on page 4 of the 21 May edition “the death-rate [was] above average. The mortality of the city was higher this summer than in any of the previous ten summers indeed than in any quarter, whether summer, winter, autumn, or spring, during the ten years”¹. Sydney itself was the worst, which would have encompassed The Rocks, with Redfern and Botany coming in second. Balmain was one of the best suburbs, with only one death from measles in the entire quarter. Each day, from March to May notices appeared about the deaths of children, from measles, from bronchitis following measles, from exhaustion following measles, of dysentery following measles, from diphtheria following measles. Measles was a killer. When Frederick became ill it must have been frightening for the family. I don't know if the other children contracted measles.

Surprisingly, there was a measles vaccine at the time, but it was expensive. The SMH, the Empire and other papers urged the government to make inocculation compulsory and readily available, but nothing was done.

There were community doctors, paid for by the people of an area, but the visits by such doctors were infrequent and were sometimes blamed for the deaths of patients. But if you don't have much money, a visit once every few days seems better than no visit at all. There was a doctor attended Frederick, Dr. Bell, but it is difficult to tell if he was a community doctor.

Frederick's death certificate tells the rest of the story.

Death Certificate of Frederick George O'Toole, 4 May 1867

Frederick became one of the statistics for Redfern, dying just days short of his second birthday.

With vaccinations we have become complacent about such childhood illnesses. We don't view them as life-threatening or even really harmful. But we don't have to look back very far to see the devestation wrought. We are very fortunate with our government-supplied inocculations. I'm sure my great great grandparents would have jumped at the chance to protect their children had it been available and affordable. Those who these days oppose vaccination need to take a quick look at history to see what are the real consequences for non-vaccination.

1 "The Quarter's Births and Deaths in Sydney," The Sydney Morning Herald (New South Wales), 21 May 1867, p. 4, col. 4; digital images, Trove (www.trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 1 Nov 2012)

Life up North - Archer O'Toole part two

So Archer, Gertrude and the children left Balmain and travelled to Queensland. Queensland had separated from New South Wales and become a colony in its own right on 6 June 1859. Queensland was a place of contradictions, like most areas of white settlement in Australia (with the possible exception of South Australia). It was the first colony to introduce free secondary education, yet was also the first to give a government powers to remove aboriginal people and restrict them to reserves (a law that wasn't repealed until 1971). It also saw the birth of the Labor Party in 1891 as striking shearers fought to improve wages and conditions for all workers. Perhaps it was this last thing that attracted Archer, given his history of support for working men.

The O'Tooles settled in Fortitude Valley, already a thriving commercial district. They moved into a house at 137 James Street, where Archer opened a tobacconist and newsagent shop, but things did not get off to a flying start.

Brisbane Courier 20 October 1899, p.3

I don't know what happened, but I hope Archer got his damages payout.

Archer and Gertrude joined the local Christadelphian congregation and became active members.

In June and July of 1901, Australia was visited by Mr Henry Sulley, a noted architect from Nottingham, international speaker and a member of the Christadelphian faith. He spoke extensively, delivering sets of four lectures. They would follow the pattern of archeology, architecture, prophecy, preaching and were illustrated with his own drawings and diagrams. His speciality was the temples of Jerusalem, with attention to the temples of Solomon, Ezekiel and Herod. Lectures were open to the public, were free, and were always reported as being well-attended. When Mr Sulley reached Brisbane, Archer was chosen as MC for the lectures. The third lecture, on prophecy, was written up in the Brisbane Courier, and Archer's role in proceedings was detailed (he opened the evening by reading Micah ch 4 and a passage from the Letter to the Romans)¹.

On 31 August, 1901 there was the first newspaper report of a lecture to be given by Archer himself, entitled “The Signs of the Times”. It was a public address delivered in Centennial Hall, where Henry Sulley had spoken, and took place on 1 September, commencing at 7.15 pm². Archer became a notable public speaker, his lectures (frequently illustrated by magic lantern slides) being advertised and reported in the newspapers, first in Brisbane and later in Rockhampton. There are breaks in the notices, the longest being between 1921 and 1934. Whether that corresponds to a break in Archer's lectures or merely reflects a break in newspaper notices, I do not know. Often his lectures were in series form, always they were free and it was always clearly stated that there would be no collection. This was about sharing and educating, not fund raising.

So, by September 1901, the move north was looking good, but then there was another setback for the family. In late 1901, Clarice, aged 10, became ill and was admitted to the Children's Hospital in Brisbane. I don't know why she went in, but sadly she did not come out again. A funeral notice appeared in the Brisbane Courier on 4 January 1902:

“The Friends of Mr. and Mrs. A. O'Toole, Bookseller, James-street, Teneriffe, are respectfully invited to attend the Funeral of their beloved Daughter, Clarice Gertrude, to move from the Children's Hospital tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon, at 1.30, for the Toowong Cemetery”³

The Toowong Cemetery is the main cemetery in Brisbane and is also known as Brisbane General Cemetery.

Archer and Gertrude continued on at James-street for a few years, although not without incident. On 21 April 1903 William Gilbert climbed the verandah post of the shop and attempted to break into the flat above. Archer, awake and alert, rushed at him but the would-be thief escaped. Archer notified the police and Gilbert was arrested within twenty-four hours⁴. He was tried at the end of May in the Supreme Court in Brisbane, Gilbert gave as his defence that he was drunk on the night of the attempted robbery and further could not have climbed the verandah post as his hands were swollen from punching someone. He was found guilty of attempted enter and theft and was sentenced to four years' hard labour⁵. Archer was also a witness in Wagner v. Coulter in the District Court in June of 1904⁶.

After the attempted robbery the O'Tooles moved house, relocating to Gibbon Street in the same suburb⁷. However, by 1906 they had moved further north, to Rockhampton, where Archer was employed by a printing firm, the Federal Press⁸. He was back with the presses and the papers. He was also back in court, this time bringing charges against a neighbour for use of indecent language.

Peter Reidy, who lived next to a friend of Archer's, Joseph Skinner, had been harassing and insulting the two men and their family members. Skinner, like Archer, was a member of the Christadelphian congregation, a point to which Reidy appeared to take exception. Reidy became increasingly violent in his speech, eventually threatening the men with harm and even saying he would “bleed and eat” them, interspersed with swear words which the newspaper report would not print. Reidy was known in the district as an aggressive drunk⁹. At the trial his wife and daughters refused to answer when asked if they had to “clear out” when Reidy got drunk. Reidy claimed at his trial that his argument was not with Skinner but with O'Toole, although he admitted to not being on friendly terms with Skinner after Skinner's dog ate the Reidy's chickens. He also said that Archer was known to pat the dog and tell it how good it was. The dog had subsequently been poisoned. It was not known by whom, although I think there may have been strong suspicions. Reidy, a slight man of sixty-seven, tried to use his size as a defence, that Archer and Joe Skinner as “big men” had nothing to fear from him, although it was pointed out that drink makes someone dangerous and he could easily use a stick or rock to assault them if the mood took him¹⁰.

Amongst the abuse hurled at Archer was the accusation that he was an Orangeman. One of Reidy's daughter denied calling him an “Orange dog”, although she did admit to calling him a Christadelphian (which he was) and also “Parson Jack”¹¹. I find the accusation of Orangeman hard to believe. We have had Orangemen in our family, I am ashamed to say (though not on the O'Toole side), and I grew up hearing the bigotry and hatred that resulted. Had Archer really had Orange sympathies, he would not have printed the service times and church announcements for ALL denominations when he ran the Balmain Leader. The inclusion of Catholic times and information would have been anathema. Yet there they were, happily alongside the other denominations. Reidy was found guilty, bound over, fined and ordered to pay costs. He was unemployed at the time, so this would have presented difficulties for him and his family. Shortly after this case Archer and Gertrude O'Toole moved from Campbell Street to 104 Kent Street, where they remained for the rest of their lives.

Archer was in Court once more in his life that I can find, this time serving as a juror. He was empanelled on 22 November 1909 to hear the case of Gilbert Pershouse, charged with theft. The jury found Pershouse guilty.

It was around 1906 that Archer became noted in the newspaper as a very vocal advocate for the Temperance Union. He was serving as Secretary for the Queensland Temperance Alliance in Rockhampton¹². In 1907 Archer was working as a reporter for the Morning Bulletin Rockhampton and had on one occasion to defend his positions as a Temperance man and journalist. The accusation was that he was using his journalism to further his Temperance views and was a supporter of the conservative politician, Robert Philp (Philp was anti-union and a free trader, both views that did not correspond with Archer's activities). Archer used a public Temperance meeting to confront his accuser, a Mr. Goss. The mayor of Rockhampton presided over the meeting, allowed each man to say his piece and then declared the matter closed¹³.

Throughout the years Archer featured in the newspapers, as well as writing for them. His public lectures seem to have been quite popular and were favourably reported. Times were different then, so it was not unusual to see reports on the various Sunday School picnics and other church functions, and Archer is usually mentioned when Christadelphian functions were reported. He also presided over prizegivings, was active in politics and frequently spoke at public debates, often from the floor¹⁴. I am sure there was more than one politician who would groan on seeing Archer in the audience, knowing that direct questions would be on the way. Archer was also a member of the Capricornia Federal Electoral League and served on the executive of that organisation¹⁵.

Archer was a strong advocate for his community and joined the push in 1907 for a school to be built in Rockhampton for girls and young children¹⁶. In 1912 Archer served as an auditor for the Queensland Typographical Association¹⁷.

When the war came things changed for Archer and Gertrude. Their eldest child, Stanley, signed up and went off to fight. In 1916 he was reported injured but then no further news came. Archer put his formidable talents into finding what had happened to his son. He spoke to all the politicians he knew, he wrote letters, he sent telegrams. Eventually his persistence paid off, but the news was not what the family would have hoped. Stanley was missing presumed dead. A fuller account of Stanley's service and his fate can be read on my ANZAC Stories post about him.

Archer was down but not out. The family threw themselves into raising funds for the Red Cross. Lectures and raffles were organised and the O'Tooles were always in the lists of donors or organisers¹⁸. Archer was a member of the Christmas Cheer Fund Committee and, along with his fellow Committee members, financed an illustrated address at the School of Arts, delivered by Mr. A. Watson, Vice-president of the Brisbane Chamber of Manufacturers. The subject was “The unconquerable British Empire – never to be humbled by human agency”¹⁹.

In 1921 Archer and his friend Joseph Skinner were named trustees of a legacy left to the Rockhampton Christadelphian ecclesia by a Mrs. Margaret Weston. The money was to be used for the building of a Hall for the sole use of the Rockhampton Christadelphians, any residue to be sent to the poor Jews of Jerusalem. A site was purchased on the corner of Denham and Murray Streets and the hall duly built²⁰. It was called the Weston Hall, although if you look on Google Earth the sign on the front says merely “Christadelphian Hall”. This is the same building, erected in 1921. I should like to know if it is still known amongst the congregation as the Weston Hall or if the name has disappeared over time.

Christdelphian Hall, Rockhampton, corner of Murray and Denham Streets. Image from Google Earth

Archer continued to be very active, writing letters to the papers, working as a journalist, working on committees, raising funds for the Benevolent Society. He reported on the election and Referendum results in November 1928 and somehow found time amongst everything else to grow fruit and vegetables. His date palms featured on the Horticultural page of the Morning Bulletin.

Morning Bulletin Rockhampton, 16 Feb 1935 p12. Image sourced from Trove

Gertrude, meanwhile, kept and sold poultry, including turkeys, geese, English Ducks and canaries. She frequently placed ads in the Morning Bulletin for her birds.

Archer died on 16 November 1938, aged 76. His obituary gave a good rundown of his employment history. Strangely it mentioned all his children except for Clarice.

Morning Bulletin Rockhampton 24 Nov 1938, p.25. Image from Trove

Archer was buried in North Rockhampton Cemetery, compartment 2, section 6, grave 68.

Gertrude followed eighteen months later, dying on 24 July 1940. She was buried next to her husband in compartment 2, section 6, grave 67.

Archer and Gertrude worked hard all their lives. They raised their children, spread their faith and did what they could to benefit their community. Archer never shirked his responsibilities and was always willing to stand up for himself and for others.

1 "Mr. Henry Sulley's Lectures in Brisbane" The Brisbane Courier, 4 Jul 1901, p. 6, col. 8; digital images, Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 5 Nov 2012), Digitised newspapers and more

2 Untitled, The Brisbane Courier, 31 Aug 1901, p. 4, col. 8; digital images, Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 5 Nov 2012), Digitised newspapers and more

3 "Funerals," The Brisbane Courier, 4 Jan 1902, p. 4, col. 1; digital images, Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 28 Dec 2013), Digitised newspapers and more

4 "An Unsuccessful Alibi," The Brisbane Courier, 28 May 1903, p. 2, col. 7, 8; digital images, Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 2 Nov 2012), Digitised newspapers and more

5 "Supreme Court - Criminal Sittings," The Brisbane Courier, 29 May 1903, p. 2, col. 6; digital images, Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 8 Jan 2014), Digitised newspapers and more

6 "District Court – Wagner v. Coulter," The Brisbane Courier, 3 June 1904, p. 2, col. 1, 2; digital images, Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 5 Nov 2012), Digitised newspapers and more

7 Ancestry Operations Inc, "Australian Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980," database, Ancestry.com (ancestry.com.au : accessed 6 Nov 2012), entry for Archer O'Toole's 1905 voter list.

8 "Obituary - Mr. A. O'Toole" The Central Queensland Herald, 24 Nov 1938, p. 25, col. 1; digital images, Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 10 Nov 2012), Digitised newspapers and more

9 "Police Court - Indecent Language" The Morning Bulletin Rockhampton, 24 Jan 1906, p. 7, col. 3; digital images, Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 2 Nov 2012), Digitised newspapers and more

10"Police Court - Indecent Language" The Morning Bulletin Rockhampton, 27 Jan 1906, p. 5, col. 5, 6; digital images, Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 2 Nov 2012), Digitised newspapers and more

11Ibid.

12 "Addresses by Senate Candidates" The Morning Bulletin Rockhampton, 22 Nov 1906, p. 6, col. 1-3; digital images, Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 2 Nov 2012), Digitised newspapers and more

13 "The Temperance Question" The Morning Bulletin Rockhampton, 26 Apr 1907, p. 8, col. 6, 7; digital images, Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 2 Nov 2012), Digitised newspapers and more

14 For example "Premier in the Theatre" The Morning Bulletin Rockhampton, 13 May 1907, p. 7, col. 1; digital images, Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 2 Nov 2012), Digitised newspapers and more

15"Capricornia Federal Electoral League" The Morning Bulletin Rockhampton, 15 Aug 1906, p. 5, col. 1; digital images, Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 3 Nov 2012), Digitised newspapers and more

16"To His Worship the Mayor" The Morning Bulletin Rockhampton, 21 Oct 1907, p. 2, col. 4; digital images, Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 2 Nov 2012), Digitised newspapers and more

17"Typographical Association" The Morning Bulletin Rockhampton, 13 May 1912, p. 6, col. 7; digital images, Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 3 Nov 2012), Digitised newspapers and more

18 For example "Red Cross Society" The Capricornian, 26 May 1917, p. 30, col. 4; digital images, Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 8 May 2013), Digitised newspapers and more

19 "Correspondence – Christmas Cheer Fund" The Morning Bulletin Rockhampton, 11 Sep 1917, p. 3, col. 5; digital images, Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 2 Nov 2012), Digitised newspapers and more

20 "A Peculiar Will" The Capricornian, 9 Apr 1921, p. 30, col. 4; digital images, Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 2 Nov 2012), Digitised newspapers and more

Mary Christmas? You have to be kidding

I was going to have this written and posted last night, but baking gingerbread TARDIS and Daleks got in the way (the best laid plans of mice and Megans...)

I don't think it turned out too badly. Photo c Megan Hitchens 2013

There has been a lot on the web about Christmas posts, most about reminiscences of Christmas pasts. You know, what you did as a child, favourite traditions, that sort of thing. Thomas MacEntee has been running a good one, and encouraging people to put their posts on Pintrest. But most of my childhood Christmases were crap, so it has been difficult to want to take part, let alone managing it (sorry, Thomas).

So instead of writing about a family Christmas I have decided to write a little post about the Christmas family.

One of my third great grandmothers was Sarah Christmas from Bassingborne in Cambridgeshire in 1823. Sarah arrived in Australia 26 March 1849 aboard the Steadfast, along with her husband William Green and children William, Susan and Rebecca. The family settled in Grafton in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales.

I always wondered where my father's side of the family got their love of bad puns and groan-inducing jokes. And then I started looking back through Sarah's family in Cambridgeshire.

If you had the surname Christmas, there would be some names you might want to NOT name your children – Holly, Ivy, Rosemary and Wenceslas spring to mind, but surely, SURELY, the one name you would want to avoid would be Mary. But no, not the Christmases of Cambridgeshire. I have found records going back to the late 1600s (christening records for the parishes of Landbeach, Oakington, Histon, Steeple Morden, Litlington, Guilden Morden and Abington Piggots) and in every generation there is at least one poor girl named Mary Christmas. It seems to have begun back in the early 1700s when two Christmas brothers thought it was a sterling idea. Robert and Susanna (ni Kidman) named their first born Mary in 1731, while brother Thomas and wife Anne had already named their first daughter Mary in 1716.

There were Marys who married into the family, and I hope they thought long and hard before making the leap, but at least their parents could say, “it wasn't my fault”.

Telling my father and his brother about the Christmases has resulted in roars of laughter. They love it, it's a great joke. I just hope Robert and Thomas, and everyone else who took that path, didn't think when they named their daughters. But I have this deep suspicion that they were laughing too.

HAPPY Christmas to everyone.

St Peter and St Paul Christmas Tree Festival 2013, Steeple Morden. From Steeple Morden Village Website

A “Balmain Well-Known” – Archer O'Toole, part one

Archer is an interesting name, isn't it? I really feel it will prove an important key in cracking my O'Toole brick wall (ie working out exactly who was his great grandfather). The difficulty with this post will be in not writing an epic. Archer's name is sufficiently unusual that it has been very easy to work out what he was up to, and he did a lot in his life. Sometimes his name appears in newspapers as “Archibald” - someone has seen “Arch. O'Toole” and erroneously expanded it to Archibald. But his name was definitely Archer.

Archer was born to Laurence and Ann on 15 November 1862 in a house off 7 Kent Street. It was stone with an iron roof and consisted of two rooms. It was owned by William Andrews and was part of what was known as the Curintons Buildings¹. The large warehouse structure that now occupies the site was built later. The Lord Nelson Hotel² (marked as 9 on the map below) was always on the corner and is still there, beautifully renovated. The Hotel was owned by William Wells, who owned part of the Curintons Buildings. In the rates returns for the City of Sydney three residences were listed as “off 7 Kent Street”, each owned by a different landlord, while 3, 5, 7 and 9 Kent Street were all owned by William Wells. Behind 7 Kent Street was a large yard in which a number of houses were built, a common practice in the area. These houses were “off 7 Kent Street”. The City Details Sheet of Sydney 1855 on the City of Sydney Map Collection clearly shows the layout of the area. These sheets were colour-coded to show building type, such as blue for stone, brown for wood.

Section of Detail Sheet 27 of Sydney 1855, from City of Sydney Map Collection. I have darkened the lines and strengthened the colours. Go and look at this site yourself. It is well worth it and has so much more on the site. The house marked with the X? is the one I think might be Laurence and Anne's house as the rate book describes it as next to vacant land.

At about the age of fourteen, Archer was a bell ringer at St Phillips, now known as York Street Anglican, in Sydney.

St Phillips, York Street, Sydney, from Wikipedia

Sometime between then and 1882 the family switched from the Anglican church to the Christadelphian Church. In The Christadelphian of 1882 on page 94 appeared the following:

“SYDNEY.-Brother Hawkins reports the obedience of ARCHER O'TOOLE (18) and LAURENCE O'TOOLE (20), sons of Brother and Sister O'Toole”³.

Although no date is given in Stephen Genusa's document, this must have been prior to 27 September, 1882, as the indication is that Archer's father was still alive at this point. Laurence and Archer's ages are both incorrect (Archer would have been 19 and Laurence 21).

Archer was working as a cadet journalist on the Sydney Morning Herald at the time, and journalism stayed in his blood for the rest of his life. He also took a keen interest in politics and the plight of the working man. His name frequently appeared in the papers, attached to open letters to politicians, requesting relief for striking workers, both in Australia and in England⁴, or when organising fund-raising concerts for strikers. Archer also spoke at public meetings in support of community initiatives, such as the agitation for a tram to Balmain⁵. During the Queensland floods of 1893, Archer organised a “Grand Classical Concert” to raise money for the relief fund⁶. Music was a big part of life the O'Toole family and here Archer used it to help others.

By 1884 Archer had left the Herald and set up his own printing business, in partnership with F. Mumby, in Darling Street, Balmain. I am fairly certain that Archer's brother, Laurence, was employed in the business. O'Toole and Mumby had an interesting little sideline, selling medicines and cure-alls, such as the one advertised in the Evening News in 1884. They remained in Darling Street until 1888, when the operation moved to 52 Beattie Street. In this same year they started the Balmain Leader, a “penny weekly newspaper for all classes”⁷. The first edition appeared on 12 March, 1888. Brothers John (definitely) and Laurence (probably) worked on the Leader.

1888 was a big year for Archer in another way. He married Gertrude Margaret Robinson, daughter of John Robinson and Ann Perkins. John was from London and Ann from Forres in Scotland. They had met and married in Sydney, but later moved to Queensland, where they remained until their deaths in 1913⁸ and 1926⁹ respectively.

Gertrude and Archer had four children together, all born in Balmain: Stanley Archer (1889 to 1916)¹⁰, Clarice Gertrude (1891-1902), Hermoine Anne (1895-?) and Keith John (1898-1974).

Under Archer the Leader was a friendly little paper. Lots of advertising (had to pay its way), but the front page featured community announcements and the service times for all the churches in the area, regardless of the denomination. There were general interest pieces, the usual notices such as who was entering or leaving the area and why, police arrests, council notices, etc. There were pieces to make people laugh and pieces to make people think. What there wasn't was gossip.

The history of the Leader has taken a bit of work to unravel, and I am still not sure I have it all correct, but bear with me and I will do my best with what I have so far (this has been pieced together from newspaper reports and the Sands Directory).

12 March 1888 The Leader starts production

October 1889 William Kellaway, former editor of the Northern Star in Lismore, purchases a half share of the paper for about £1150. He pays a deposit, promises to pay the balance owed on a printing machine and gives promissory notes for the remainder. Archer continues to work on the paper¹¹.

October 1890 The Provincial Press Association is formed with Kellaway on the committee¹²

15 November 1890 Kellaway, “embarrassed”, sells his interest in the Leader to Frank James Smith, MLA. Smith is to pay £750 to each of Kellaway and Archer. Kellaway is to remain on the paper as managing editor.¹³ Smith says he wants to float the paper as a company and therefore needs the deed before the money is fully paid. He is given until April the following year to achieve the float.

Some time between October 1890 and April 1891 William Kellaway became ill and was hospitalised. When he came back he found himself locked out of the Leader offices. Also during this time, Frank Smith didn't pay Archer or Kellaway any of the money he owed on the paper.

April 1891 Smith sacks Kellaway. Kellaway serves writ on Smith¹⁴

June 1891 During the election campaign Smith is heckled, the main theme of the heckling being his treatment of Kellaway¹⁵. Smith loses his seat.

August 1891 Kellaway files for bankruptcy, giving as his main reason Smith's failure to pay for the Leader. Archer testifies on Kellaway's behalf. Smith claims he owes Kellaway nothing and that he never said he would float the paper as a company¹⁶.

It took a while for me to find the next piece of the puzzle. The Sands Directory listed the proprietors of the Balmain Leader as Kellaway in 1891 (remember the Directory can be a year behind in facts because of the print cycle), Smith in 1892 and then O'Toole & Co. in 1893. Finding out why Archer was back in possession required searching on Mr Smith, and some of this may well have a familiar ring.

from the Evening News, 15 February 1895 page 5, Trove

As well as being proprietor of the Leader, Smith was a member of the Legislative Assembly (lower house in NSW) in the government of Henry Parkes. He was also a director of the Australian Mutual Loan and Guarantee Company. During the 1880s there was a real estate boom and a mining boom. Both areas were over-invested as the booms were treated as though they would never end (where have we heard that before?). AML&G and other financial institutions were over extended. And then the awful truths began to leak out.

AML&G had been getting valuations on land out near Camden, altering the figures and then buying the land at much less than the real value. It had also been reporting modest profits (a total of about £18,000 from 1890 to 1892) while in reality suffering huge losses (about £102,000 in the same period)¹⁷. There was a run on the company and other financial institutions began to be more closely scrutinised, leading to a general financial crisis¹⁸. This crisis spread to Queensland, also suffering from over-investment in property and mining, and also with a corruption problem¹⁹.

In 1892 Smith and six others were charged with fraud. Two members of the board fled to Peru and never returned, the remainder faced court. There were also questions raised about Frank Smith and a coal company he was involved with and whether or not he had received bribes to ensure a favourable report for the mine. He was twice called in to see Parkes to explain himself.

The trial went on for some time and in 1894 Smith and his four companions were found guilty and sentenced to seven years' jail. He served three, later becoming an advocate for prison reform.

Which all explains why Archer had the Leader back in 1893. Smith was in prison while he was on trial, and Kellaway was a bankrupt, so the paper reverted to its original owner. Under Smith the paper had dropped the church times and begun to peddle local gossip, one assumes as an attempt to boost circulation. It had also changed side in the Protection/Free Trade debate. Archer was a staunch supporter of unions and workers' rights and included in that the desire to protect Australian jobs by protecting Australian industry. The Leader had reflected that stance. Frank Smith was a supporter of free trade and an end to protection. Under his ownership the Leader espoused his views.

Under O'Toole & Co., the Leader went back to its roots.

All the hoo-ha over the Leader was not the last time Archer would see the inside of a court room. In 1895 he was called as a witness in Rea vs. the Balmain New Ferry Company Limited²⁰. Miss Ada Rea boarded a ferry after the ropes were loosed but just as the plank was being pulled up. She was followed by a Mr William Thompson. Miss Rea later tried to sue the Company for negligence and sought £500 for injury and distress. Archer was on the ferry and saw Miss Rea board. Both he and Mr Thompson said that she boarded safely. Archer said the deck hand told her to “get off the plank”, which she didn't do. Miss Rea said she had been very shaken by the accident and was obliged to be off work one to two days a week for a while but was then forced to stay home because of a weakness resulting from the incident. The jury found the company was negligent as the ropes were loosed before the plank was pulled up (next time you are on a ferry watch what is done - the plank is pulled, the gate closed and THEN the ropes are loosed). The judge awarded £5 in damages.

Archer and his family lived at 11 Hyam Street, Balmain at the time while O'Toole and Co. continued to operate out of 52 Beattie Street. Gertrude's parents had already moved to Queensland and in 1899 she, Archer and the children followed them north.

To be continued...

1 City of Sydney, "City Assessment Books 1845-1948," database, City of Sydney Archives (http://www3.photosau.com/CosRates/scripts/home.asp : accessed 26 Feb 2013), entry for Laurence O'Toole Rates assessment 1861; Citing City of Sydney Assessment book CSA 027328.

2http://www.lordnelsonbrewery.com/ for a history of the Hotel

3“The Christadelphian Doctrine of Fellowship” Stephen Genusa, Spring 2009 (http://www.genusa.com: accessed 29 Oct 2011), citing The Christadelphian 1882

4For example “Requisition to E. H. Buchanan, Esq., Mayor of Balmain”, The Sydney Morning Herald (New South Wales), 14 Sep 1889, p. 22, col. 2; digital images, Trove (www.trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 27 Aug 2012)

5“Balmain Tramway”, The Sydney Morning Herald (New South Wales), 4 Jul 1890, p. 3, col. 8; digital images, Trove (www.trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 5 Nov 2012)

6“Amusements”, The Sydney Morning Herald (New South Wales), 23 Feb 1893, p. 2, col. 1; digital images, Trove (www.trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 5 Nov 2012)

7The Balmain Leader, State Reference Library, New South Wales

8 Department of Justice and Attorney-General, "Queensland Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Index," database, BDM Queensland Index Search  (https://www.bdm.qld.gov.au/IndexSearch : accessed 26 Dec 2012), entry for death of John Robinson in 1913; Reg. no. 1913/C1904; John Robinson; father John; mother Ann

9 Department of Justice and Attorney-General, "Queensland Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Index," database, BDM Queensland Index Search  (https://www.bdm.qld.gov.au/IndexSearch : accessed 26 Dec 2012), entry for death of Ann Robinson in 1926; Reg. no. 1926/C560; Ann Robinson; father [blank]; mother [blank]

10See my ANZAC post on Stanley

11“Law Report”, The Sydney Morning Herald (New South Wales), 22 Sep 1891, p. 3, col. 6; digital images, Trove (www.trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 28 Oct 2013)

12“Conference of Newspaper Proprietors”, The Goulburn Herald (New South Wales), 26 Aug 1890, p. 3, col. 1; digital images, Trove (www.trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 14 Dec 2013)

13“To Contributors”, The Northern Star (New South Wales), 15 Nov 1890, p. 2, col. 2; digital images, Trove (www.trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 28 Oct 2013)

14“Cablegrams”, Clarence and Richmond Examiner (New South Wales), 18 Apr 1891, p. 5, col. 2; digital images, Trove (www.trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 28 Oct 2013); “Yesterday's Brevities”, The Evening News (New South Wales), 29 April 1891, p. 6, col. 1; digital images, Trove (www.trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 28 Oct 2013)

15“Odds and Ends”, The Northern Star (New South Wales), 24 Jun 1891, p. 2, col. 4; digital images, Trove (www.trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 28 Oct 2013)

16“A Bankrupt Journalist”, The Evening News (New South Wales), 11 Aug 1891, p. 6, col. 2; digital images, Trove (www.trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 14 Dec 2013); “Law Report, The Sydney Morning Herald (New South Wales), 22 Sep 1891, p. 3, col. 6; digital images, Trove (www.trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 28 Oct 2013)

17“Mercantile Loan and Guarantee Company”, The Aukland Star (New Zealand), 27 Jule 1892, p. 8; digital images, Papers Past (www.paperspast.natlib.govt.nz : accessed 14 Dec 2013) The New Zealand papers loved reporting on Australia's woes.

18For extensive reporting on the whole matter, search Trove (www.trove.nla.gov.au), using “Australian Mutual Loan and Guarantee Company” and also “Frank Smith MLA”. If I put in all the references you'd be looking at about a foot of citations.

19“The 1893 Financial Crisis in the Colony of Queensland”, Dr. Jon D. Stanford, Chief Economist, FINH Pty Ltd, Brisbane Q, paper at the Workshop: Financial Crises and Workouts, Historical Perspectives, Centre for Economic History, September 2012, (http://www.visualartist.info/jonstanford/news: accessed 14 Dec 2013)

20“Law Report”, The Sydney Morning Herald (New South Wales), 21 Sep 1895, p. 7, col. 6; digital images, Trove (www.trove.nla.gov.au : accessed 1 Sep 2012)