Trove Tuesday - A Magick Uncle Writes

I've recently been Troveing to see what I can add to the stories of fellow descendants of my ancestor Elizabeth Phipps. My Great-Great Uncle James Magick/Madgwick who lived to the ripe old age of 91 is Elizabeth's Grandson.


I have struck gold mainly in the Gilgandra Weekly and Castlereagh (NSW : 1929 - 1942) the newspaper for the area where James resided for most of his long life. In 1934 James wrote a series of reminiscences in this newspaper. To be able to read the words of an ancestor is priceless. There are also many other articles mentioning James on Trove.

In the interests of saving space I will not post the original articles here but links to those articles on Trove.

This article found here announced the series, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113681259

Gilgandra Weekly and Castlereagh (NSW : 1929 - 1942), Thursday 24 May 1934, page 6 

TURNING BACK THE PAGES  

— EARLY HISTORY OF THE DISTRICT 

MR. JAMES MADGWICK REMINISCENT 

There is probably no more picturesque figure in the Gilgandra district than Mr. James Madgwick, who recently celebrated his 81st birthday, having been born at Cobbora on 9th February, 1853. Practically the whole of his life has been spent in this district, and he is one of the few pioneers alive to-day who can reliably comment upon the remarkable changes that have occurred dur ing the past 30 years. A splendid type, a thorough gentleman and one who is highly respected by all classes of the community, it is with pleasure we announce the publication of a series of articles from Mr. Madgwick's pen. They will deal with early life along the Castlereagh and Marthaguy, as well as personalities whom the young er generation know in name only. The first article will appear in our next issue.

Links to the articles written by James:

31 May 1934
1934 'THE FIRST INSTALMENT', Gilgandra Weekly and Castlereagh (NSW : 1929 - 1942), 31 May, p. 10. , viewed 01 Feb 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113681342

7 June 1934
1934 'Turning Back The Pages', Gilgandra Weekly and Castlereagh (NSW : 1929 - 1942), 7 June, p. 10. , viewed 01 Feb 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113681461

14 June 1934
1934 'Turning Back The Pages Early History Of The District', Gilgandra Weekly and Castlereagh (NSW : 1929 - 1942), 28 June, p. 9. , viewed 01 Feb 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113681864

21 June 1934
1934 'Turning Back The Pages', Gilgandra Weekly and Castlereagh (NSW : 1929 - 1942), 21 June, p. 10. , viewed 01 Feb 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113681691

28 June 1934 
1934  'Turning Back The Pages Early History Of The District', Gilgandra Weekly and Castlereagh (NSW : 1929 - 1942), 28 June, p. 9. , viewed 01 Feb 2020, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113681864

It is interesting to note that James claims to have been born in 1853 while I have a reference to a baptism for James in 1852!!! 

A little bit of Majick

Over the years some of my ancestors have given me grief because of the varied spellings of their surnames in records.

One such chap is my 2xGreat Grandfather, James Magick (born Westbrook). When looking for my Magick ancestors I have found them recorded as Madgwick, Magic, Maquirk, Maguirk, Madgick, Mogick and other variations. Although I have been able to find evidence of James' death  in a cemetery record and in a Coroner's report I hadn't found a death registration for him. When I was researching him nearly thirty years ago I put this down to the fact that his death occurred out in the bush and that no one bothered to record it.

Yesterday as I was trying to sort out my FTDNA matches I went over to Ancestry to see if one of my matches  had a tree there.... and he did.  And what did I find? This person had a reference to a death entry for James under the surname Majick. How had I not thought of this spelling????

Off to the NSW BDM Online Indexes I went and found:

I probably would have found it if I was starting my research now as I would have done a wildcard surname search for James in the NSW Online BDM index but back in the days of microfiche this was not available.

I think I need to search again more creatively for all those other ancestors for whom I couldn't find BDM records years ago.

As the entry for James indicated that a copy of his registration was Readily Available I ordered it and opted for email delivery. And Guess what? While I have been typing up this post I got these messages:

How's that for efficiency from a government department? Majick?

After 30 odd years I have the official record of James' death in my hands. How can anyone ever say "I've done my family history"?