RootsChat.Com
Research in Other Countries => United States of America => Topic started by: tigerquoll on Tuesday 22 May 12 10:38 BST (UK)
-
Hi,
I am trying to trace the marriages of Emily Mary BRITTON/Brittain who sailed to San Francisco on the "Broadaxe" from Adelaide, Australia with her step-father John (Jack) LAMB and mother, Catherine in 1850. So she may also go under the name of Emily Lamb.
According to later newspaper articles Emily married CHARLES McELROY, about 1853, San Francisco. She then married FRANCIS MURRAY aka James "Yankee" Sullivan, a champion boxer, about 1855 with whom she had a daughter, Catherine, born in Honolulu. This second marriage was bigamous as Charles was still living.
Yankee Sullivan was jailed and committed suicide in 1856. At the inquest Emily Mary Sullivan testified "I was the wife of one Francis Murray, alias James Sullivan, now deceased, and have been for the last fourteen months. We were married by a German Clergyman in this city. We have lived together in this city and the Sandwich Island"
What I really want to know is would there be records of these marriages still in existence and how I can access them also did marriage records of this time have much detail on them?
cheers Janine
-
I don't know about the marriages, but if you search for "Yankee Sullivan" there is some information on his death and burial here:
http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/index.htm
-
I have not found a marriage record yet. However, the following site is continuously updating their records. Perhaps in the future, they may have San Francisco County records prior to 1859 (if they exist, of course):
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0mtu/
Information that may be supplied on "earlier" records:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0mtv/
-
Thanks Erato and Lisa for your replies.
I shall have a trawl through the websites you gave links to. I hadn't thought about the San Francisco earthquake destroying a lot of the records. Another problem is that they all had so many different names and alias'. It's hard to know what name they married under. I forgot to mention I have also found Emily's last name spelled as BRETON.
Is there online newspaper database available for San Francisco?
cheers Janine
-
Newspapers are in the link Erato provided. This is a direct link:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0mu2/
It is quite good; I've found several things for my husband's ancestors.
I don't know that the records were necessarily destroyed by fire; they could also be scarce because of the early date of the records. California became a state in 1850; therefore, records from that time could be more scarce than, let's say, 20 years later.
Are you looking for any other information? If so, we may be able to find additional facts for you.
-
Really I would be interested in any articles about the family. Jack Lamb seems to have lived life on the edge and was always one step ahead of his many creditors - I guess this accounts for him moving around so much! He was a well known billiards player and was into horse racing in Australia.There was an Australian newspaper article that hinted he had his ear cut or bitten off in a fight when in San Francisco.
I particularly wanted young Emily Britton's marriage certificate to confirm her mother, Catherine's maiden name. But this may not even be included on such early records.
I also would be interested in Charles McElroy, who he was and when he died. Emily re-married for the third time when she eventually returned to Australia and it would be interesting to know whether Charles was still alive at this time or whether this was another bigamous marriage.
It also appears that the ship "Broadaxe" was shipwrecked on the way back to Australia, so they ended up in England for a while. I wondered if there were any newspaper articles about it in San Francisco.
cheers Janine
-
Would you know when Emily was born; we can then guesstimate how old Charles McElroy might have been. (Of course, he could have been much older than Emily.)
According to the June 8, 1856 newspaper report, Sullivan (also) had a wife in New York.
-
I didn't know about Sullivan's previous wife - LOL, Of course Sullivan would already have a wife, nothing about this family is normal!
Emily Mary Breton was born 6 Dec 1836 in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Her father Stephen was a convict and her mother, Catherine, was probably the daughter of a convict. The family moved to Melbourne, Aust, where her father died under suspicious circumstances. Her mother, Catherine, married John Lamb two weeks later.
cheers Janine
-
After searching three directories from c1853 (I think they were 1852-53, 1854 and 1856), I didn't see any of the last names you provided:
http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/sfdatadir.htm
You can view directories by clicking on "IA".
There is a chance the families lived near San Francisco, but not within the city limits. :-\
Still having a look around.
-
I found an article, dated July 24, 1880, that has a different recount of the 1856 event (the death of "Yankee").
http://www.fultonhistory.com/fulton.html
There may be further articles about the event, or possibly about his wife/wives.
Update: There is another article, dated March 25, 1888, that gives yet another story about the 1856 death. So far, I haven't found anything that states he was married prior to 1855.
-
These sites are great, thanks. I have found a few articles by searching for the ship "Broadaxe"
1. Arrived: brig Broadaxe, 120 ds frm Port Adelaide via Pitcairn's Inland; Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection > Sacramento Transcript > 5 August 1850
2. 7 March 1851 "Board of Health vs. John Lambert, master or brig Broadaxe — Judgment in favor of plaintiff tor $35,900" ?? he was going by the name of Lambert instead of Lamb.
3. 1852 Attempted Murder: apparently the Broadaxe was attacked by the crew of the Chilean Brig Porvenir and they attempted to stab the Captain and his daughter. Daily Alta California, Volume 3, Number 74, 15 March 1852
By the looks of it the family could have been living and trading on the Broadaxe.
cheers Janine
-
Hi Janine
I am very interested in John Lamb. I am doing some research for someone writing a book on billiard players and wonder if you would mind helping me with some of his background?
Kind regards
Jill
(TYR)
-
A contact addresss would probably help!
(*)
Thank you
Jill
(*) Moderator Comment: e-mail removed in accordance with RootsChat policy,
to avoid spamming and other abuses.
Please use the Personal Message (PM) system for exchanging personal data.