Thanks to a Findagrave hint from Ancestry I have finally been able to bury Robert's 3 x great grandfather, James Clark/e who had emigrated from Waddesdon to New South Wales in the 1840s. James and his family settled in the Waterloo area in Sydney.
On and off for nearly 40 years I had tried to kill off James and his wife Mary Ann Allen but because of the common nature of their names I probably hadn't tried hard enough.
The hint offered me this snippet.
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| 1886 'CORONER'S INQUEST.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 4 May, p. 5. , viewed 06 Jan 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13638050 |
There were enough clues in this article to set me off on a chase. I found a death entry in the NSW Registry's Online Death Index which listed the correct names I had for James parents. I have ordered a copy of this certificate.
I then decided to look for a James Clarke on the Rookwood site (a popular Sydney Cemetery at that time) and found his record there with the location of his plot. This looked promising.
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| Rookwood Burial Record |
What was even better was the information contained in the Other Information Section of the entry.
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| Other information on Rookwood entry |
A quick click on the link to Mary Ann's Rookwood record and then her entry in the NSW Registry's Online Death Index confirmed that James' wife Mary Ann Allen was resting with him at Rookwood. I have also ordered her death record and hope to visit Rookwood shortly to see if there is a headstone in place and intact.
Further digging in Trove returned more hits that confirmed I had the right James Clark/e.
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1886 'Brevities.', Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931), 1 May, p. 4. , viewed 06 Jan 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article107291056 |
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| 1886 'THE DAY'S DOINGS.', Globe (Sydney, NSW : 1885 - 1886), 3 May, p. 4. (FIRST EDITION and EVENING), viewed 06 Jan 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article102560570 |
Perhaps I should spend more time following up those hundreds of Ancestry hints that are sitting in my account!
