18th May - A Birthday Remembered

When I looked at my calendar this morning I thought of my grandmother, Mary Tierney, who was born on this day 135 years ago. Mary was known to me as Nana Curry as she had taken my grandfather's name when they married in 1918.

Rather than reinventing the wheel I am reposting an excerpt from a post written in 2013. The full post can be read here http://geniaus.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-book-of-me-week-7-paternal.html

Mary Tierney 1887-1977

Mary Tierney was born in the town of Dungog to John D'Arcy Tierney, a carpenter, builder and sometime undertaker, and his Irish wife, Mary Kealy. Nana had two sisters, Jane and Eliza, and a brother, Patrick.

Nana was a gentle lady with snowy white hair that she wore in a bun and she seemed terribly old to me when she was about the age I am now. She was a devout Catholic who was proud of her Irish heritage, I remember kneeling beside her bed and reciting my prayers with her when I went to stay with her. We would always include this prayer:

There are four corners on my bed,
There are four angels at my head.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
Bless the bed I lay upon.

Nana loved feeding me egg flips that she believed to be very healthy, these drinks were made from milk, a raw egg and vanilla essence and after a shake and stir of the ingredients nutmeg was sprinkled on top. I remember them as quite sweet and delicious. Nana used often give me sweets to take home, they were always the same caramels. I sometimes wished for a bit of variety.

Nana, who lived to the ripe old age of 89 spent the last few years of her life in a nursing home. She had an enormous impact on my life.

Nana and I on my wedding day 1970

Geneamusic

We all respond to our family history in different ways.

I received this message from Mike earlier in the week "Hi Jill, I just discovered your blog and website and thought you and your readers may enjoy a new song and video produced for my Gibson Family reunion this past June.  I have never been a great journal keeper but have recently started sharing my family history through music."

Well I often ignore this sort of request but I was curious. I found Mike's song, that was illustrated with family photos, really touching. What a lovely way to share family stories.

Here is Mike's song on Youtube: 

Monday Memories - The Typewriter

Over the weekend my son shared a post on Facebook that he has given me permission to post here.

He wrote "Found a Remington Travel-Riter Deluxe on eBay ..... just like my grandfather's old one. The kids are as obsessed as I used to be ......"

And he shared a picture of  two of the grandkids playing on the typewriter.

My son also sent me a couple more photos of the typewriter. One of the cover and one of it sitting on Uncle Jack's desk that is at my son's home.

My  Dad loved typing and, as a cranky old man, he spent hours sending letters of complaint to government departments, the police, the press and anyone else he could think of. I had forgotten how my kids loved playing with Dad's precious toy.

What my son doesn't know is that playing with typewriters is in the genes. 

When I was a a child we used to visit my grandmother's home each Sunday and I loved to play on the typewriter there that my Aunty Kath rented when she was learning to type.

People Places Stories

Our state family history conference commenced today and is on over the weekend but I am not there. I had a more important appointment with two of my Grandsons at Grandparents' day at their school this morning.

With the boys at school today

We had a fantastic concert from the boys and then we were invited to the classrooms to see their work before we had a picnic lunch with them.

When I checked out one of the classrooms I was reminded of my last visit to the school. I was thrilled to find a report of that visit on a notice board, I could hardly contain my excitement as it brought back memories of a happy hour I spent with the Year 1 classes in April this year.

Report on school notice board

 In our state of New South Wales the children study family history in Year 1 and again in Year 6. I was privileged to be able to tell the boys about genealogy and family history.

I dug into the family photo archives (my son came along to watch and take pictures) for some more memories of the day, see them below.

Family History is about People Places Stories

Baby brother wasn't too impressed with my talk

Should you get a chance to get into a classroom and share your passion for family history then I suggest you grab the opportunity.

The Gossip Girls

Yesterday I had a great outing with two of my first cousins. Although I see them regularly it is always at family gatherings or when we meet up with our extended families for lunch at some venue or other around Sydney. We never seem to get a chance for a real good gossip.

At the last family gathering, a 21st for one cousin's daughter, we decided that it would be nice to just have a get together for the three of us. As we each live on the different outer edges of Sydney we chose the CBD as our venue. Although it was a stinking hot day outside we holed up in The Cortile at The Sydney Intercontinental Hotel for High Coffee and there we stayed for over four hours.

My cousins aren't into family history but they love family gossip and sharing stories. As the oldest of the three I was able to share memories of our grandmother who was a robust, calm and gentle devout Catholic fiercely proud of her Irish heritage. The youngest cousin only remembered here as a little old lady with dementia while we older girls had memories of a proud, upright lady.

For years I had wondered why this grandmother had moved from her home town of Dungog away from her family to Canowindra. My middle cousin piped up "I know that". A mystery solved! Nanna suffered from asthma and took medical advice to move from the humidity of Dungog to the drier climate in Canowindra. Second cousin then added "Is that who I should blame for my asthma?". She didn't know that her grandmother had suffered with chest problems. As we talked about our parents, their early lives and shared stories they had passed down we learnt more about our family history and relationships.

Grandmother, Mary Curry (nee Tierney) 1936

The girls got a giggle when I told them of a couple of shotgun marriages that occurred in the family prior to 1920. The cause of death of another relative brought a smile to their faces as they had always thought the reason given to them for his death was implausible. Pooling our knowledge from snippets shared by our parents we worked out that another relative had given birth to three children and had put them up for adoption. There must have been a few ears burning in heaven and on earth yesterday as we shared stories of various family members. As a result of our conversations I will be adding a few private notes to my family database.

We three had such a wonderful time together. Two of us are only children and the other has only one sibling who lives overseas so we are starved of the close relationships those with many siblings enjoy.

Jill (right) withe her paternal first cousins 1980.

I can highly recommend sitting down with your cousins and sharing stories. Those cousins might just have a piece to complete a puzzle that has been baffling you.

The Book of Me - Prompt 7 - Maternal Grandparents

This week Julie Goucher of Angler's Rest asked us to respond to the following prompt in The Book of Me, Written by You activity.

The prompt for week 7 is Grandparents

What were their names?

Where were they from?

Were they related? – Cousins perhaps

Where were they born, another Country or state/area

Photos

What did they do?

Did you know them?

What was your relationship with them?
If you didn't know them have you researched about them?

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I am going to cheat a little bit with this post as I will paste in bits and pieces I have written in earlier blog posts. 

I remember two of my grandparents and  met three of them. I adored my two Nannas and spent many happy childhood hours with them and their extended families.

My Paternal grandparents were Thomas William Curry and Mary Tierney, my maternal grandparents were Frank Duncan and Ethel Jane Pusell. So that's the vital statistics out of the way. 

Having started writing this post I have realised that what I have to write is way too much for one post so I will write separately about my two sets of grandparents. You can read about my paternal grandparents here.


DUNCAN/PUSELL

My grandmother, Ethel Jane Pusell, was born in 1899 in a small hamlet Thompsons Creek near Burraga, New South Wales, the daughter of James Pusell and Mary Jane Aspinall. James, a miner, had quite a few run-ins with the law. His father and namesake James Pusell was a convict who had been transported to New South Wales. I wonder if my grandmother was aware of her convict ancestry.

One of the very few childhood tales that I remember from my grandmother is that when she went to school in Burraga she horrified the nuns by calling the town buggery. Although she could read and write Ethel's skills in this area were basic; as a child I wrote letters to her relations in the bush for her.

The Pusell family moved to Cobar in the early 1900s, no doubt this was for the Pusell boys to gain employment in the newly opened mines.

Ethel  married a miner, John Bertram (Bert) Chatfield, at the age of 15 and six months later gave birth to her first child, John William (Billy) Chatfield. When 25 year old miner, Bert Chatfield, set off to war he left behind his pregnant 17 year old wife and young son, Billy.

Bert probably did not know that he had become a father of a daughter, Nellie, who was born on 4 April, 1917 and lived for just two weeks. I wonder if Nellie's birth was premature or if she died of some other cause. Ethel had always told me that she had lost twin girls; although there is no official record of two births I have a copy of a family letter that confirms this.

I cannot imagine how bewildered my grandmother, young Ethel, must have felt when she received news that her husband was Missing in Action and subsequently listed as Killed in the Field. 

I do not know when Ethel heard of her husband's fate but on 24 July, 1917 she wrote the following letter to the Army

 She had received the devastating news by 19 February, 1918 when she wrote to the Army to see if any personal effects belonging to Bert had been found.

I presume that Ethel lived with her parents until she met her second husband, Frank Duncan.

Twenty-two year old Frank (Sonny) Duncan, Service Number 4767, joined the AIF in Dubbo, NSW as a Private on the 2nd November 1915. Previously Frank, the son of Frank and Harriet Duncan, had worked around Cobar doing various labouring jobs on farms and in the mines.

Frank embarked from Australia in March 1916 on HMAT The Star of England and landed in Egypt in April. Details of Frank's undistinguised service record in Egypt, France and Englaand can be found on his digitised WWI military file at National Archives of Australia site.

Frank returned to Cobar in 1919 where he met WWI widow Ethel Chatfield (Nee Pusell). They were married in 1922 and produced five daughters. 

My grandmother Ethel Jane Pusell had a new house in which to raise her family. When  Frank  returned from the war he was able, through the Soldiers Settlement Scheme, to gain a grant of Crown land on which he built a house for his bride, Ethel.The 32,000 acres of land on which the simple timber house was built on the property "Elsinore" was 40 miles west of Cobar NSW. In 2013 this is a remote area,  90 years ago it was extremely remote. Cobar, the nearest town, was a long carriage ride over rutted, red, dusty roads. Sydney and the coast was 700 km away. Life was tough, there were droughts, bushfires and loneliness.


When it came time for the girls to go to school the family moved into town and Frank continued to travel out to the farm.

My grandmother never complained about her lot in life; the stories she told of her early life were laced with the good humour with which she would have faced life at "Elsinore".

Frank and Ethel had a shop in Cobar and Frank also had an ice cream/catering van that he took to local events where his catchcry was ""Try our home made pies - warm your belly for threepence". The girl behind the wheel in Frank's van, is his daughter Lillian.

Once the girls grew up and were seeking employment the family moved to Sydney where they settled in Kensington Road, Kensington. Frank worked for the local Post Office.

Frank and Ethel, 1948

Not long after World War Two broke out Private Frank Duncan, Service Number N74211 enlisted in the Australian Army in Sydney on 10 Aug 1940 . Frank's term of service in 2 Garrison Battalion was less than one year. Frank, aged just 53, died at home in Kensington in August 1948.

One wonders if the conditions Frank faced when defending his country and The British Empire contributed to his early demise. Frank was an ordinary bloke, a bit of a larrikin, the "Dadda" who gave his girls a happy upbringing and a secure home environment. He contributed to the charmed life I lead in "The Lucky Country." I am sorry that I never got to meet my grandfather. 

 I do have many happy memories of that house in Kensington Road, of times spent with my grandmother and the extended family. I remember the large back bedroom where my grandmother and the girls slept. I remember Christmases with the keg in the backyard for the men and the piano in the living room with my Aunts singing "Ta ra ra boom de ay". I went to ballet and tap lessons from there each Saturday. My

Ready for ballet - at Nana's in Kensington

grandmother and aunts used all put money in a jar in the kitchen to cover the cost of my lessons.

My grandmother was a domestic worker who went out each morning to "do for the Faiella family" up on the hill. She suffered dreadfully from rheumatism and would have to take to her bed for an afternoon rest after work each day but she never complained, she just rubbed linament on her aches and took a Vincent's APC powder for the pain. 

When I was about six my grandmother, my great Aunt Annie and Arthur Johnson, the boarder,

Kewpie dolls on a stick

moved down the hill to a large flat above some shops in Anzac Parade, Kensington where Nana lived for about the next twenty years. Nana continued to work for the Faiellas who had a toy and novelty business. Prior to the Royal Easter Show Nana used to bring home piece work from the Faiellas who sold dolls and novelties on stands at the Show. It was all hands on deck to thread elastic through net skirts, put the skirts on the Kewpie dolls and then put the dolls on sticks.

As my mother went back to work when I was eight or nine I spent a lot of time in the school holidays with Nana and Annie. We used to eat bread and butter with sugar and drink lemonade from the shop downstairs. Nana was fond of devon and I was regularly sent to the shops to buy six penneth worth of devon and a tank loaf of bread. Nana cooked great baked dinners and delicious pasties while Annie was the cake maker. When I married Nana taught me how to make a boiled Christmas pudding in a cloth.

For entertainment we would watch Nana's stories on the TV, she loved Days of our Lives and Bonanza. No-one was allowed to talk while these were airing. We played lots of cards for money, Nana had a jar of pennies that we used for our stake, poker and gin rummy were the games she taught me. Nana used go out with her mates a couple of nights a week to play Housie (Bingo).

Ethel - Christmas 1981

I met so many of Mum's country cousins at Nana's place. She was always hosting someone from the bush who was down for a few days in the big smoke. If only I had been able to record all the stories they told! Sadly I can only remember snippets of the many tales I heard.

The very first time my parents left me at home and went off on a holiday I came down with a wisdom tooth problem. I packed bag, hopped on the bus and landed on Nana's doorstep. Although she had a house full at the time Nana made up a bed, tucked me in and looked after me. Nana was my first port of call when I needed help. Eight years later when I was pregnant with my second child and bedrest was ordered my 80 year old Nana used to come over to my place on the bus from Coogee to iron, cook and help me with my toddler.

When Nana moved to a flat in Coogee she still went to Housie but she also became fond of poker machines and would travel up to Randwick Labor Club to play the pokies once or twice a week. There was always a meal, a cuppa and a bed for anyone who dropped in to Nana's place at Coogee.

By the time she died at 89 Nana had moved to a nursing home and her memory had faded.

I was privileged to have a beautiful, generous and happy grandmother for 39 years of my life.

A Family Sojourn

Although this blog has had a rest I have been very busy with family matters.

Together with Mr Geniaus I joined one of my sons and daughters-in-law and two little grandsons on a spring sojourn in Hawaii.  I had intended to blog while on holiday but once we got together I chose to concentrate my energies on spending time with these lively members of the family.  I could not forgo this precious opportunity.

I took hundreds of photos and have recorded many snippets in my diary. From these I will  produce some photo books that will details the fun times we had together. In years to come these will provide a permanent record of a wonderful time spent enjoying the joy of our grandparenthood.

Now back in Australia I am off with my camera to the 2010 History & Genealogy Expo at Parramatta from which I blog.

A Grandparent by any Name

This post on the ABC Newcastle blog "A grandparent by any name" started me thinking of the names we, in our family, have given to grandparents.

Mr Geniaus and I are known to our grandchildren as BobBob and Gummy. Gummy is the word our first toddler grandchild started calling me and it has stuck. I love being Gummy as it is a unique name that is very special as it was coined by one of the descendants.

My mother who was Grandma Elsie to my children is happy to be called Elsie by the greatgrandchildren. I called my own grandparents Nanna D and Nanna C so when my children were born we changed to Grandma for my Mum so there would be no confusion. My great-grandmother who was long gone before my children were born was known as Granny P.

Last night we were discussing Grandparent names with friends who had Barbie and Pa Jim and Nana and Grandfather as names for their children's grandparents. I am wondering what other names genealogists have in their families for grandparents.