Genealogy Chat

Louisa. Richard Packer, Mary (nee Pike Dart) his wife and daughter Elizabeth left Plymouth in 1875 onboard the Hesperides and arrived at Port Adelaide in the August. They were from a small village called Chulmleigh in Devon. They settled in Mount Torrens near Adelaide. Someone on here gave me the death reg for Mary, cert which came today, but nothing at all on Richard. His parenst were Thomas Packer and Jane nee Leonards, they remained in England but i think one of Marys brothers John Pike Dart came to Australia as well although nothing on him as yet. Thanks Nicky

Louisa. Yes i have searched this site, it is great, but i only found info on some rellies who were in ww1. This was fantastic, dont get me wrong but it was the grandsons of the couple who migrated in the first place. The death cert i had today was from my 3xs great aunt but her husband, my 3'xs great uncle seems to have completely disappeared after arriving in Oz. No death record or anything. He died before 1908 as My aunts death cert says widwo of the late Richard Packer. Completely stumped. Maybe will get daughters marriage cert next, will it say on here if father is deceased, she married in 1890, would narrow it down a bit. Nicky

Hi Louisa. Thanks for the info. Still think its great that the one from Oz came first, brilliant service, need to save for some others now. Very interesting in what you say about assisted immigration. Maybe thats what they done, I wonder how long they were waiting for before it happended for them if this was the case. Thanks again. Nicky

I've found that some indirect bits of my family emigrated from Cornwall to Austrlia in the 1870s and, at much the same time some of my husband's lot emigrated from Devon to USA (and that's the one where I've been lucky enough to contact the USA end, and they've sent me the journal of the emigre covering about a year before he left, his crossing to USA, his travels in USA looking for a place to live and work, up to him meeting his family off the boat at NY!). Christine

The Australian certificates make up for the lack of census'!!! Victoria

Hi Mary. Yes although double the money they are more than worth it with all that info. Still can't quite understand how people living in a very small village in Devon would come about emigrating, have you any ideas how they would have found out about it. I know they left Plymouth in May 1875 on the Hesperides but its just understanding how they came to know about it. Would it have been advertised in papers etc, although saying that I don't think they could read or write very much. Really excited about this discovery, although not direct line its a much more interesting line to follow at the moment. Your opinions would be really appreciated. Nicky

Australian certs always arrive first. Wouldn't it be nice if English certificates had the same information on them as Australian ones! I'm doing much better with the Australian side of the family than the English one since discovering how great their certs are.

Hi. Last week I ordered 2 certs, one from this country and one from Australia. Guess which has arrived this morning. Yes the one from Oz. The info on it is staggering. It is from my great great great aunt who emigrated to Oz in 1875 with her husband and daughter. It tells you where she was born and so I am 100% sure now I have the right one. It also tells how many children she had. In this case 1 surviving one and 3 deceased. Makes you wonder though why this one arrived first!! Nicky

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