Who is our relative the aboriginal footballer? ...is a question a cousin of mine who is not into genealogy asked in an email yesterday.
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| Arthur Henry Beetson |
I replied that
Arthur Henry "Big Artie" Beetson is a second cousin of our mothers who are sisters. My mother's grandmother
Harriet Magick is the sister of Artie's grandmother
Bridget Ann Magick .
Over the years quite a few of the descendants of Bridget's parents, my convict ancestor
James Magick and his wife
Bridget Ann Hayward (who was born in the colony), have written asking me if I knew if we had aboriginal ancestry. Various older family members had been told that they had an aboriginal ancestor but no-one has any proof. Aboriginal ancestry was often swept under the carpet in years gone by.
People have written to me:
My theory is that Bridget Ann Hayward's mother was the aboriginal named Biddy Sargeant. Her father
Robert Hayward, a convict, fathered a child Sarah Hayward with Biddy in 1834, Bridget was born 4 years earlier in 1830. It has been reported by various family members that the aboriginal line comes from Bridget so that makes me think that Bridget's natural mother was Biddy Sargeant.
It seems that Robert did not hook up with his future wife,
Ann Blake, until around 1840. They had a son Robert who was born in 1841 and a daughter, Lenore. Ann Blake is recorded as Bridget's mother on Ann's death certificate but this could have been because Bridget had been living with her father and Ann Blake.
When I worked on this family line many years ago I wasn't too careful about recording sources so my records on this line are patchy. I think it's time to revisit this line and record the sources for some of the information I have.
I am sure, however, that Big Artie is a relation of mine.
