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Research in Other Countries => Australia => Australia Lookups completed => Topic started by: wdurham on Sunday 27 April 08 15:01 BST (UK)
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I have found the following entry in the Colonial Family Links Database at Tasmania Archives:
GRIMSTEAD, WILLIAM
Born 1831 in England
Died 1895 in Launceston, Tasmania
This guy has been linked by LDS church members (more than one!) to a William GRIMSTEAD born in Winsham, Somerset in 1831.
A James GRIMSTEAD died in Hobart in 1877 according to the same database. He was buried at Cornelian Bay as a pauper on 3 Jan 1877. He is likely to have been the James GRIMSTEAD who was transported to Tasmania in 1843, arriving on the Cressy.
Grimstead James
Arrived 20 Aug 1843 on the Cressy which departed 30 Apr 1843 from Plymouth
Info from Ancestry's Australian convict records:
James Grimstead
Convicted at Taunton Quarter Sessions, Somerset on 9 Jan 1843
Transported for 15 years on 28 Apr 1843
Vessel: Cressy
Listed in Tickets of Leave/Pardons 1852/1853
It is possible that this James was the father of one of the TWO William Grimsteads born in Winsham about 1831/1832, and who disappeared after the 1841 census, never to be seen again. His wife Elizabeth co-habited for a while with a Henry Hillard and eventually married him in 1860.
Both of the Williams b Winsham in 1831/1832 have been tracked to deaths in Crewkerne and Swansea respectively. One was probably the son of James above, and the other the son of James's sister Charlotte, born out of wedlock to a John Aplin.
If SKS has access to the Launceston death records, I'd be very grateful to know if there is any other information other than a birth in England in 1831 that might have led the LDS members to link the death of the Launceston William with Somerset, let alone with Winsham!
Many thanks if anyone can help....
Wendy
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I have check the Tasmania Index's for the period up to 1899
and found only two index's details for Grimstead
two deaths
2
James Grimstead died 1/1/1877 aged 75 death registered at Hobart reg no 244/1877
no parents names given
William Grimstead died 28/2/1895 aged 64 at LAunceston reg no 53/1895
not much help but does give an idea as to when born
regards Jenn
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Because of the rarity of this surname, you may be interested in these entries on the mainland.
In Victoria
GRIMSTED, Harriet Hartridg, died 1870, aged 3
father: James
mother: Margaret 'Unknown'
birthplace : KING (an abbreviation for something)
reg: 9310
In South Australia
James GRIMSTEAD had two children with Mary SYMES/SIMMS - they did not marry in SA, and none of them died there (up until 1915)
- Elizabeth Jane born 30 Aug 1860, Karinga
- Margaret born 30 Jul 1864, Redruth
edit: just found the marriage of James GRIMSTEAD and Mary SYMS/SYMES in England - the district of Chard, September quarter 1858. So he is definitely not the one who arrived in 1843, else he would have to have gone back home to marry.
But, it is 15 years from his arrival, he could have had a sweetheart waiting anxiously back home for him to be freed.
C :)
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I found the same things was happening when I was tracing my family tree in Tas, I eventually clicked that the LDS records, had been lifted from other family members online trees, due to the LDS records having the exact same mistakes that the online version had!
So the good news is that there maybe another person tracing your family tree from a different line, and the bad news is now you need to find them!
Cheers and I wish you the best of luck!
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Many thanks, folks!
Especially Jenn for the actual death records of James and William. It seems clear that there is no positive evidence in Tasmania that William who died there in 1895 came from Somerset.
Christine's find of James producing children in South Australia and a marriage to Mary Symes in Chard in 1858 is interesting.
IF the James who was transported in 1843 is the James who was married to Elizabeth and lived in Winsham in 1841, then IF he returned at the end of his sentence, he would have found his wife cohabiting with and having children by another man, a Henry Hillard. In his shoes I would have found another "wife" and cleared off back to Australia!
Mebe - I think the link between a William Grimstead born 1831 in England who died in Launceston in 1895 and a William born in Winsham, Somerset in 1831, is because he is simply the only one that fits!
In 1841 there were only two William Grimsteads in England who were born in 1831, and both of them were born in Winsham in Somerset. (There may of course have been others who were mistranscribed, but I haven't found any!)
These two Williams have been tracked to registered deaths in England, so William of Launceston is unlikely to be either of them.
But of course, once a family link appears on the IGI, especially in an Ancestral File or Pedigree Resource file, it is taken as fact, and self-propagates.....
I have a similar case in England in Bedfordshire - which is almost totally covered by extractions on the IGI up to 1812. There is only one baptism of a William Armstrong in 1792 in Bedfordshire that "sort-of" fits a census trail elsewhere in the same county, ergo this must be the man! But no-one looked at burials, so they didn't discover that the baptised William died at the age of 15....so simply could not have married twice and produced two families.
This error is in the tree of almost every descendant of the real William, who was actually never baptised! Or if he was, it was as an adult after 1812 in a parish the IGI didn't cover after that year....
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Hello,
A little late but:
The James Grimstead who died a pauper in 1877 was transported to Tasmania for stealing a sheep in 1843. He is the father of the James Grimstead in South Australia who married Mary Symes in Winsham 1858 (father of Elizabeth and Margaret). There is no death for James jnr in SA, Tas or NSW (where his wife and children end up living) that I can find.
I have the following on a William Grimstead who died in 1895 in Tasmania.
William T Grimstead committed suicide about 15 Feb 1895. He had been in Australia for a few months after coming from New Zealand where his family and company was located. He was in mining. He committed suicide because he had severe heart problems. There are some articles on his body being found and the inquest.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper
Use 'William' and 'Grimstead' as the search function and narrow down to 1895.
I hope this helps,
Andrew