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Research in Other Countries => Australia => Topic started by: iforani on Monday 18 March 13 06:49 GMT (UK)
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My g g grandmother, Emma nee Bryant (Briant) married a John Dyast in NSW 1855. To my knowledge they lived at the goldfields at the Kings Plains diggings & had 2 children Ann (or Mary) and Susan in 1856/1857. In 1856, John was charged with horse stealing at Bathurst & sentenced to 5 years hard labour. By 1857, Emma Dyast was living with my g g grandfather, John McKay. On John & Emma's marriage certificate it states that he is from Seven Oaks, Kent, UK, though noone has been able to trace where he came from; someone found out that a Comfort & a William Dyast lived in Staffordshire (Census) 1851, though there is no known connection to John. According to 1871 Police gazettes he is listed as a missing person.
In the ancestry samplers he is listed in the police gazette, 23rd Dec 1858 as living in Brisbane but I can't find these. Any help here would be appreciated. It states in another gazette that it is believed that he went to San Francisco in 1849 but this is dubious as he is in Australia in 1855-6, in NSW, looking for gold. ???
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you. :) :)
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That NSW Police Gazette entry for 1858 must refer to Brisbane, NSW. I have found the entry which is about the grant of ticket-of-leave to convict John Dyast, per "Volunteer", age 24, native of Kent, trade laborer, height 5' 4 1/2 '', complexion sallow, hair dark, eyes brown.
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see http://srwww.records.nsw.gov.au/indexes/searchhits.aspx?table=Convict%20Index&id=65&frm=1&query=Vessel:Volunteer .
This is the only hit that came up for the "Volunteer" in the NSW records
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Queensland Police Gazette 7 Jun 1871:
DYAST John Missing friend; information is requested respecting John Cousins, alias John Dyast, who left the town or parish of Seven Oaks, county Kent, at the age of 15, in 1848, as an apprentice on board the ship "Volunteer," commanded by Captain Humphreys; information anxiously requested, as there is something to his advantage.
Volume VIII/Page 54
Queensland Police Gazette 5 Jul 1871:
DYAST John Missing friend; information is requested respecting John Cousins, alias John Dyast, who left the town or parish of Seven Oaks, county Kent, at the age of 15, in 1848, as an apprentice or sailor on board the ship "Volunteer," commanded by Captain Humphreys; information anxiously requested, as there is something to his advantage.
Volume VIII/Page 63
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I was doing some surname searhing when Merlins post came through. John Cousins was living aged seven born 1834 with what I presume to be his Grandparents (maternal) William Cooper 65 and Susanna Cooper 50 at Sevenoaks Kent in the parish of Seal and their address is is given as Godden Green.\
While surname searching I came across a referance to the Name Dyast and Dyas which is actually DYSON. There are quite a few Dyson in Sevenoaks as well. So the presumed name is actually old english Dyson.
Neil
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In 1860 Sydney a 26 year old John Dyson died birth year 1834 ::) No parent names.
Ref # 1315/1860
Modified: there is also this entry from NSW BDM.
V18609023 122B/1860 JOHN COUSINS, NO PARENTS LISTED OR AGE
Neil
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Just noting that there's an English sailor by the name of John Deas in San Francisco in the 1870 US census and in the California voter registrations for 1868, 1875 and 1876. Age varies but seems to have been born between 1831 and 1839
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Hi there,
I don't find it unusual for anyone to have left NSW in 1849 for California and then to have returned to NSW in the 1850s .... off to California with severe case of Gold Fever and back to NSW still suffering from Gold Fever, particularly if on returning to NSW to then head up to Bathurst, Carcoar etc.
Also, while Brisbane is the capital city for the state of Queensland, in 1858 Queensland had not yet been hived off from NSW, so Brisbane NSW would have been the way to list it in Govt Gazettes.
What I have noticed in a couple of quick online searches ..... :)
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/12984165 SMH 27 June 1856. John Dyast in Goulburn
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/63594196 10 March 1869 Bathurst Free Press. Emma Dyast, John McKay, William Rosthorne (Emma states she is not married :) )
http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/familyHistory.htm
:) NSW BDM online index has a birth registered for a female child, surname DYAST, parents as John and Emma. Birth registered at Carcoar (that’s near to King’s Plains) …. Ref 4198.
:) NSW BDM online index .... an Early Church Record (ie not a civil registration) for a marriage in 1855 for a John Dyast and Emma Briant, (in the C of E parish register, Carcoar). The parish register itself may well have more details than the NSW BDM document.
Cheers, JM
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http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/19087264 Brisbane Courier 20 May 1901
LONDON, May 19.
Private John Cousins, of the Queensland Bushmen's Contingent, has died from inflammation at Pretoria
Boer War, he would perhaps be quite elderly ::) if the missing John Dyast ::)
Cheers, JM
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Modified: there is also this entry from NSW BDM.
V18609023 122B/1860 JOHN COUSINS, NO PARENTS LISTED OR AGE
This death is registered in the Parish of Camperdown; Newtown, Church of England.
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Merlin or Jm why would an 1860 record have a early church number V18609023 122B/1860. ???
I believe the two death records are one and the same person.
Neil
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:) Some of the ECRs are for events up to about 1895. ;D It is possible that a record of a burial for 1860 has been forwarded at that time to the NSW BDM :) , I have seen some rural ones from (I think, relying late at night) Lithgow or Oberon from the 1890s with "V" on them.
I think the NSW SRO guides or Archives in Brief have a fuller explanation. Those guides are also online, if it is a significant issue I will look up my hardcopies from earlier times ::).
Merlin will probably have the info right at finger tips..... ;D
Cheers, JM
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http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/guides-and-finding-aids/short-guide-4/short-guide-4
Re 1860 ECR "V" so yes, it is possible that a civil death registration and a formal notification of a church burial were sent through to NSW BDM in the 1860s :)
:)
"The original, official pre-1856 records, were numbered by the Registrar General in volumes from 1 to 120; the other early records which are supplementary to the original pre-1856 records and to the State registers from 1856 were numbered in volumes from 121 to 162. These volumes include a number of events after 1856 and even some after 1899. However, any event after 1856 has been indexed in the index for the year of the event.
For the sake of convenience all these records are referred to as 'Pre-1856' "
Adding my tuppence worth ;D
If I were to need to decide which one to order, then I would order an official transcript of the civil registration, I would expect it to have a greater depth of information on it in preference to the ECR document. Civil registrations include three sections, a) info about the deceased (name, age, place of birth, spouse, children etc, where died, usual address, and that section is only as reliable as the informant's own knowledge) b) cause of death, duration and that is certified by a medico and c) where buried, denomination, the two official witnesses to the burial. The NSW BDM's ECR will only have the info about the burial. The civil registration will that that info PLUS the two extra sections of info.
Cheers, JM
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:) Thanks guys. You've given me a lot to go on. This is all amazing info. Yes, it was the NSW Police Gazette record with the reference to Brisbane but as I only got the "sampler" it didn't give much information. Going by what you gave me, that he had a ticket of leave, I assume as the date on the Police Gazette of 1858 as when he was freed. Thanks for this info, now have the ship's name, "Volunteer", ta.
So Neil, you think it is possible that the deaths of Cousins & Dyson were one & the same man. Hopefully this is right. Thanks Neil, for that info on the family names. If he wasn't John Cousins then John Cousins would have been known to him, hence the alias. Thank you Shaun, MAJM, Merlin, Neil, this is fascinating & more than I could have found. MAJM, should I order a transcript of the civil registration of death of Dyson or Cousins? :) Thank you, Merlin, for that very specific info from the Police Gazettes. It looks like he may have had some inheritance, the poor guy & he probably never found out about it. Thanks Majm, for that info about the children (I have that) & for the trove references, have them too. An interesting family! John Dyast convicted of horse stealing & second husband of Emma's charged but not convicted of stealing money & gold dust. ;D
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I just read these posts again. Shaun, I think that the ticket of leave refers to the release of John after his conviction for horse stealing, yes? I don't think that he came over as a convict as he came over in 1848 as a sailor or apprentice on the Volunteer, yes? Am a bit confused by this. ???
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MAJM I meant to add that by 1857, Emma was living with John McKay & had a child with him , by this stage. I had the theory that John McKay & Dyast could have been the same man but unlikely as 1) I think that you have found Mr Dyast & 2) John Mckay was Irish & his accent registered on my g grandfather's birth certificate, when his name was spelt "McKey" obviously dictated with an Irish brogue (& Dyast was English).
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I just read these posts again. Shaun, I think that the ticket of leave refers to the release of John after his conviction for horse stealing, yes?
Yes I think that must be the case.
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The Kentish Gazette for 4 July 1848 reports that the Volunteer, Humphrys, had come down the river and proceeded for Sydney. Other British papers have the captain's name as Humphries.
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Thanks, Shaun. You are very precise. Thank you.
How can I find out if they are one & the same person?
???
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Per the passenger manifest the master of the Volunteer was C L Humphreys.. Arriived Sydney in November 1848.
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I looked for a seaman's ticket record for someone called John from Seven Oaks/Sevenoaks and found one for a John Cousens born 20 December 1833 at Seven Oaks. Ticket 393765 issued in London 29 April 1848
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:D This is amazing Shaun, thanks for this. You are a wealth of information. Looks like this is him. Wonder why he used an alias? ???
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Supporting
Shane's Shaun's findings (my apologies for spelling error )
1858 NSW Govt Gazette page 2227
“The undermentioned Convicts have obtained Tickets-of-Leave FOR THE Distrticts set against their respective names.
COLONIAL
BRISBANE:- John Dyast, per “Volunteer” ………
Jno McLerie, Inspector General of Police, Convict Department, Sydney 14 Dec 1858. “
1871 South Australian Police Gazette June 28, page 103 & 104
“Extract from Queensland Police Gazette 7th June 1871
MISSING FRIENDS.
Information is requested respecting John Cousins, alias John Dyast, who left the town or parish of Sevenoaks, county Kent, at the age of 16 in 1848, as an apprentice or sailor on board the Volunteer, commanded by Captain Humphreys. Information anxiously requested, as there is something to his advantage to Inspector of Detectives, Brisbane. 29th May 1871.
PS, the use of the word "Colonial" in the 1858 NSW Gazette re Ticket of Leave indicates it was issued in respect of a conviction in the Colonial Courts .... The fact that the convicted person was not born in the colonies resulted in the name of the "ship of arrival" being listed as part of the identifying information about the Convict (a convict being a person convicted by a lawfully constituted court)
Cheers, JM
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:) Thanks, JM. This is interesting. :)
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The cargo of the Volunteer (per SMH 14 Nov 1848):
....35 hogsheads brandy, 40 casks 4 hogsheads and 2 puncheons rum, 50 cans linseed oil, 30 cans boiled oil, 75 tons white salt, 15 tons rock salt, 20 casks turpentine, 300 cases Geneva, 3 half tierces and 2 kegs tobacco, 2 cases perfumed spirits, 277 staves, 6 tierces refined sugar, 19 quarter-casks Portugal wine. 22 boxes and 1 cask prunes, 50 barrels and 11 caroteels currants, 34 bales corks, 5 bales woolpacks, 20 bales bags, 23 bales sacking, 2 hogsheads nuts, 6 boxes and 1 bale almonds, 2 hogsheads and 13 bundles figs, 30 boxes 10 baskets and 10 bundles raisins, and 387 packages British goods.
Subsequent advertisements referring to goods received via the Volunteer also mention canary seed, and french bonnets
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In the 1851 London census there is a Michael Dyas aged 17 from Sevenoaks, held as a prisoner in the police station in Featherstone Street. Could be a sibling.
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Thanks Shaun, an interesting insight into the times. They ate quite well didn't they, dates, almonds & figs etc..mmm, yum, with some rum to wash it all down. :)
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Hi there,
An alternative spelling for Dyast
12 February 1855, Carcoar, John DYUST and Emma BRIANT
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XTZZ-PM5
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XTZ8-V25
NSW BDM commenced civil registrations for marriage in 1856, so I am somewhat confused that you have a marriage certificate and that it states that he was from Seven Oaks, Kent. …… It is possible that the parish register for 1855 is extant, and it may be worth contacting the church. May I ask for the name of the clergyman from that 1855 Early Church Record.
On John & Emma's marriage certificate it states that he is from Seven Oaks, Kent, UK,
Cheers, JM
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Just going back to Neil's posts about the deaths in NSW in 1860, I am looking at these references on Ancestry:
John Cousins, Camperdown, Newtown : V18609023 1228 ( = 122B?)
John Dyson, Camberdown, Newtown: V18606869 122A
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Thanks, Shaun. That Michael could be a sibling, or a cousin. In any case he would have been known to John. JM, I don't have the marriage certificate; this came from a genealogy site that I copied, so this may have been an errror (that it was on his marriage certificate). It's also in the Police Gazette, thanks for clarifying this. Thanks Shaun, this does look like more than just coincidence doesn't it, combined with the fact that Mr Cousens got his seaman's ticket. Does a b mean that the original has been altered? Great detective work, guys. Will have to order this certificate to put this one to bed. :)
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Does a b mean that the original has been altered? Great detective work, guys. Will have to order this certificate to put this one to bed. :)
No, it does not mean that there has been an alteration. Please do not order a certificate from NSW BDM for that 1855 marriage expecting to get lots of family history information. Civil registrations commence in NSW in 1856, so PRE 1856 is for Early Church Records, ie parish registers. Church of England's NSW parish registers do not usually include the name of the English Parish that the groom or the bride CAME from before arriving in NSW, or even the NSW Parish either resided in prior to a month before the NSW marriage. The requirement was to note the parish that the groom or the bride were usually residing in AT THE TIME of the marriage ....
At the following links you can read about the "V" (representing Volume) references for Parish records held by NSW BDM for Baptisms, Marriages and Burials
http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/guides-and-finding-aids/short-guide-4/short-guide-4
http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/state-archives/guides-and-finding-aids/short-guide-4/volumes-1-123-1/volumes-1-123
If you want copy of the 1855 marriage, you may find it a cheaper option to order a transcript :) ... May I note that if you order directly from NSW BDM you will be ordering an Early Church Record, and thus you will NOT receive a digitised image of the parish record. Hence I again suggest ordering an Official Transcription.... when considering any NSW BDM index entry in the "V" series.
http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/familyHistoryCertificates.htm
" 1788 - 1855 Converted to a computerised format from Registry transcriptions of Early Church Records.
Transcriptions only (computer generated).
We don't hold the original handwritten versions. "
Cheers, JM
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Do you think JM that either of the DC's would be more informative?
Neil
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Do you think JM that either of the DC's would be more informative?
Neil
I know that civil registrations have more opportunities for finding family history information, as there were more questions to be answered .... Even in the 1800s government administrators wanted to keep themselves busy :) pushing paperwork, so there's lots more questions to be answered when registering bdm events :) Of course the family history info found on a dc is only as reliable as the informant's own knowledge, and as Emma Dyast was no longer living with her lawful husband, John, it is entirely possible that the chap who died in 1860 was actually her husband but the informant was not aware that John was married (assuming of course it was the elusive John Dyast/Cousins death). On the other hand, I would not expect to find ANY information on the burial record ("V") to help with finding the names of that chaps parents....
Merlin has found the parish for that 1860 death burial .... so that should lead to a headstone or at least a cemetery list which may help :)
But if trying to avoid providing bag loads of pennies towards the NSW government's budget, I would go for the civil death transcription .... it could eliminate that chap, thus giving confidence that John was still living when the 1871 searching was occuring across all the antipodean colonies.... and it is possible that IF it is for Iforani's chap, that it could give details as to when married, who married to, names of children of the marriage, plus his age, place of birth, names of his parents (including nee name of mum) and it will certainly give cause of death, and place of burial as well as his address and occupation in 1860, and length of time in NSW (helping to check the arrival details :) The "V" (Early Church Record) is only the equivalent of the English burial order, so will NOT have any information about cause of death, nor any of the responses to all those questions on the death cert :) .
I hope I am making sense, it is not nearly as complicated as it first seems.
Cheers, JM
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I am actually fascinated that there's apparently an English address for the groom (and the address is a former address, not the then current address) on a NSW BDM record for Carcoar's Church of England 1855 parish register of marriage.
It will be several months before I can get to Bathurst to check if the Diocese Archivist has that register .... :'(
Cheers, JM
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It is interesting and to me signifies that he had no permanent address at that time of his marriage. I wonder what he worked at. Prospector seemed a common enough term.
I wonder if he made application for a miners licence and if this can be found ???
Neil
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Well, I think his two daughters grew up in the district :) where John married Emma :)
In 1874 a Susan DYEST married Albert E LUCK . This was registered at Carcoar and NSW BDM Ref 2105. In 1875 Mary DYEST married Edward H WILSON, this also was registered at Carcoar and NSW BDM Ref #2226.
Those two reference numbers are CIVIL registrations. The clergy recorded the names of the parents of the bride and the groom on their local records. It is possible the clergy did not forward that information to NSW BDM, so it is possible there are blanks on the NSW BDM records.
If your pennies stretch to further transcriptions then you may well consider ordering those 1870s mcs… to then use the information (the name of the clergyman, the names of the witnesses, the denomination etc) to help search the parish register to determine the recorded names of the girls dad …. DYEST v DYAST v McKAY …. And also any note as to if he was known to be deceased at that time.
Here’s the link to a thread I did re blanks on NSW BDM marriage certs.
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,546609.0.html
As the girls were NOT YET 21 when marrying, they would need consent to marry. This would be noted on the marriage certs, and their father would be the usual name to be noted as giving permission. If he was not available then their mum could give consent....
Cheers, JM
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:D Thanks, Jm, appreciated as ever.
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Gosh, I just saw the first post without realising that there was more. Thanks Neil & JM. Mr Dyast is not a direct relative but I do want to be able to cross him off the list as having another alias, John McKay. Finding out that he received his ticket of leave in 1858 (colonial, thanks) tells me that he is most definitely not John McKay who had a child with John Dyast/Cousins/Cousens' wife, Emma, in 1858.
I agree that the civil registration of death would provide me with some interesting information. It would also be interesting to see how he died.
Neil, prospector was my word. I read that he had "left for the gold fields" & I assumed that he had gone to prospect.
Thanks guys, it all adds to the big jigsaw of my family. :)
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Interesting ::)
The Death of Mary Wilson/Dyest1414/1916 WILSON MARY Father John Mother Emma at BLANEY
The death of Susan Luck/Dyest20573/1931 LUCK SUSAN Father Andrew Mother Jane at BLANEY
Neil ???
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This is certainly interesting Neil, but there is also this one in Marrickville, 1841.
6163/1941 LUCK SUSAN JOHN EMMA MARRICKVILLE
I think that this is our Susan. :)
Also..marriage 16085/1914 LUCK GEORGE COLLIER SUSAN BLAYNEY
This would be the lady who died in Blayney.
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:) Susan LUCK whose death was registered at Marrickville, well her burial is Blaney (as in Blayney :) )
Trove ;D
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/17720798 SMH 17 Feb 1941
BLAYNEY is so close to the 'right' area .... I am so sorry but I don't anticipate going up to Eugowra until early Spring, so I won't be going that way for a while. The Cemetery is NOT among those on the following link, ::) ... sometimes I wish RChat had a smilie stamping their foot ::)
http://austcemindex.com/
Cheers, JM
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Thanks, JM, that's interesting. She had strong ties to Blayney then. I just realised that this girl is related as she is descended from my great great grandmother (but not my g g grandfather). Thanks for this, very thorough. Yes, it would be nice if the Blayney Cemetery was listed as I have heaps of relatives in this area, McKays, Browns, Dixons.
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Well, errr, don't get me started on listing my family names from Wimbledon :) and from Neville :) and errrr from further west all the way to Broken Hill and back :)
I have lots of off line NSW resources, particularly for Central West and Far West and I am happy to look through them for any RChatter.
Cheers, JM
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Hmm...Would you like the WHOLE family tree :o
http://www.mundia.com/au/Tree/Family/37673603/19971586380
Neil ;D
Methinks it has a lot of your family init ::)
You may have to sign in and create a free account :-X
BEEN TO BARRY JM ???
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Wow, someone else has heard of Barry :) I have even been to Edith and to Sheet of Bark,
But I have not been to Mundia :'(
Cheers, JM
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Right, well, I guess that John was not around by Bathurst by 1865 …. NSW BDM online index has birth registered for Ann DYEST, mother as Emma, no given name for Ann’s father on the index, birth registered 1865 Bathurst district. #5714.
I can also see that in 1878 an Emma BRYANT married John MACKAY/MCKAY registered at Carcoar #2729. I wonder if that would be John Dyast’s wife marrying ….. Perhaps the clergyman recorded her status as a widow (using the ‘seven years rule’) or as a spinster, or as a divorcee (NSW divorce laws came date from 1873).
http://srwww.records.nsw.gov.au/indexes/searchform.aspx?id=16
Cheers, JM
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:) Firstly JM, thank you. Why didn't I think of this before. Yes, I do have the marriage certifcate of John and Emma McKay (my g g grandparents). Emma is listed as a widow, thanks. So, My Dyast was defintely dead by then & this also explains why Emma & John did not marry for so long. They had a large family by the time that they married.
Thanks, Neil. I am a member of Mundia & this is probably my tree that you have logged in to. I do have the children of John Dyast, though this is sketchy as there are that many different spellings of Dyast (Dyest) etc.
My initial enquiry didn't centre around these children. My main query was what happened to Mr Dyast/Cousins/Cousens after he went to jail. It appears that he got out in 1858 & died in 1860 as John Cousins. I really appreciate all that you guys do. There is no way for example that I could search through the police gazettes as you have been able to do.
This has given us a lot of information that I didn't have, including a description. Thank you so much. :)
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meant to include this FYI.. :)
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http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,546609.0.html
I may have already linked that, but it is how to overcome every single one of those "not stated" blanks .... Rev Hirst would have recorded the information, and it is that very info that will confirm and validate your research. If you share the info on your official transcription with the volunteer archivist team at Bathurst, I feel sure there is sufficient info on the script to help them locate their local registers. You may need to offer a donation, and also to be patient while the volunteers attend to their parish duties.
The Anglican Diocese http://www.bathurstanglican.org.au/
http://www.bathurstanglican.org.au/Parishes/Blayney.html
The August 1878 mc is suggesting that Emma's surname of BRYANT was the surname of her first husband :)
Cheers, JM
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Fully concur with JM on the register although I am not sure if they had to supply those details that seem to be missing. As adults it may not have been critical to their marriage being done in the church?
But the actual church register SHOULD have more info. Ensuring you have the correct John Dyest/Dyast/Cousens/cousins would be as important and was he the one that died 1860. Seems relevant to me that there are two deaths recorded with names that fit the bill in the same place at the same time on official records.
Neil ::)
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Yes, C of E Eccs Law required the info ;D not sure of other denominations though. Also a C of E marriage did not need to be in the church building, so possibly not conducted at St Pauls, Carcoar. It may have been at the family home :) or under a tree
Cheers, JM
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Thanks guys, will do this. I am also going to start another topic on John McKay, Emma's second husband. I had thought it possible that John Dyast had used yet another alias, of John McKay, but given that he was in jail until 1858 in Brisbane and given that his wife Emma & John McKay had a child while he was in jail, this is not possible. I am going to start a topic on the second John (McKay) who came from Ireland, possibly Kildare. The church register may have more info, let's hope so. Will give it a go. I have a list of all of John McKay's children ..I just want to know where he came from. ???
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:) Have just sent an email off to the Blayney parish of Bathurst so fingers crossed. Will keep in touch with results. Next job is to order transcript of death of Mr Cousins.
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You know the various notices dating from 1871 looking for John Dyast ..... well, 1871 plus seven years equals 1878, the year Emma married John McKay. So I suspect that John Dyast was not ever found in the 1871 search.... There's Govt Gazette notices in just about all the colonies in 1871, all asking for the reports to go back to the Inspector in Brisbane.
The 'seven year rule' is not an exact science.... and it can be controversial to raise it, but hopefully, I am not being controversial in mentioning it. Here's a link to a recognised authority explaining about it and similar issues affecting marriages in 19th Century Australia.
http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/seminars/finlay.html
Cheers, JM
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Thanks, JM. If that other guy who died in 1860 was him, you think they would know about it & reported it to the police in 1871? This is interesting though. :)
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Hi all, it's now been twelve years(!) since the last activity on this excellent thread. I've made an account to thank you all for your amazing work, which has given me a huge boost in my own research on John Cousins/Dyast. My family is actually descended from one of John's children with Emma Briant, so he is definitely one of the more mysterious brick walls in our family tree!
I also wanted to share some of the research I've been doing since finding this thread. I have lots of new info, so I'll break it up into a few different posts which are separated by theme. Keen to hear your thoughts!
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Topic 1: The Police Gazette
One of the easiest things to find when you start looking into John Cousins/Dyast is the fact that he's mentioned in the various colonial Police Gazettes at different points in 1871. In June 1871, the Queensland Police were 'anxiously request[ing]' information on John because there was 'something to his advantage'. But by November 1871, he was 'reported to have left Sydney in the year 1849 for San Francisco, since when he has not been heard of'.
As discussed earlier in the thread, we know that John was 'heard of' again. Although there is a long gap in the record after 1848, we can place John at Kings Plains at the time of his marriage to Emma Briant in 1855. For all we know, he may well have continued on to San Francisco: the Volunteer did indeed sail for California via Auckland, leaving Sydney on 24 May 1849. (Source: The Shipping Gazette and Sydney General Trade List, Sat 26 May 1849, p. 140) If he was an apprentice sailor, he might have been subject to an indenture or bond arrangement which required him to serve a certain amount of time on the Volunteer before he was free to make his own way.
I was interested to find out more about the appearance of this appeal in the Police Gazettes, and I noticed that the NSW Archives held correspondence pertaining to John and dated 1871 in their "Index to Colonial Secretary Letters Received" series (NRS 905, 1/2154, letter 71/8689). I've attached pictures of the contents of the file - if they're too small to read, feel free to send me a message requesting higher-resolution versions of the pictures.
From this correspondence, we learn that the request circulated in 1871 seeking John Cousins/Dyast wasn't initiated by Emma Briant/McKay to start the clock on the seven years' missing period to declare John Dyast dead so she could marry John McKay. Instead, the request to find John came from an English relative: Edward Cousins. Edward gives his address as 'Prince Alfred', corner of Hope St and York Rd, Wandsworth, which is a southern district of London.
Edward applied to the Agency of the Government of NSW in London in March of 1871 for information regarding John's whereabouts, and the Agency forwarded this request on to NSW police. This request arrived in May and was investigated by NSW police; after receiving no results, they circulated their requests for information in the Police Gazettes. They eventually heard that John left for San Francisco aboard the Volunteer on 24 May, 1849 (interestingly, this date is given by the letter and checks out as correct). Police seem to have closed the file after receiving this information and relaying it back to London.
So... just who is Edward Cousins, and why was he 'anxiously' trying to get in touch with John about something 'to his advantage'?
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Topic 2: Edward Cousins and John's mother (part 1)
There is a lot of ground to cover in this post, so I'll try and break it up with some subheadings for ease of reading. The post is split into two parts due to forum character limits.
Who was Edward Cousins?
Before we tackle the question of why Edward Cousins was trying to get in touch with John, I'll give some background information that I've been able to find out about his life.
There were many, many people named Edward Cousins in the London area in the 1870s, so the first challenge is ensuring that the right one is identified for further investigation. To do this, I cross-checked the name with contemporaneous voting enrolment records from Wandsworth. These show that Edward Cousins lived at 82 Hope St, Wandsworth between at least 1869-1875:
https://i.imgur.com/oDBcoYS.png (https://i.imgur.com/oDBcoYS.png)
This gives us access to his census records from 1871, the year that he enquired with the Agency for the Government of NSW about John's whereabouts.
https://i.imgur.com/thos6jA.png (https://i.imgur.com/thos6jA.png)
And this gives us a lot to work with! We learn that Edward was a 'beer retailer' who was 50 years old in 1871 (it seems like the 'Prince Alfred' was the name of a pub he ran). Better yet, we learn that he was born in Yateley, Hampshire which is a great way to find out more about his family history. Following this lead, we learn that he was born to parents Edward and Sarah, being baptised in Yateley on May 16 1819:
https://i.imgur.com/Gbyd6i9.png (https://i.imgur.com/Gbyd6i9.png)
We also learn that he married his wife, Mary (nee Mitchell), on July 11 1846 in the parish of St George the Martyr, Southwark:
https://i.imgur.com/0MGGQ1v.png (https://i.imgur.com/0MGGQ1v.png)
Edward died in February of 1901 at the age of 80. By that time, he had moved on to Croydon, South London. Here's the announcement from the Croydon Chronicle and East Surrey Advertiser dated February 23 1901:
https://i.imgur.com/Xw1dnhP.png (https://i.imgur.com/Xw1dnhP.png)
Jane Cousins of Yateley, Hampshire
Importantly, Edward's marriage was witnessed by one Jane Cousins... now where have we seen that name before? To join some dots, we need to take a look at the Cousins family of Yateley, Hampshire. According to the tree on FamilySearch (which I have not verified beyond cross-checking that all the information about Edward and Jane was right), Edward and Jane were siblings in quite a large family. Here's a link to the FamilySearch page for Edward Cousins senior (father of Edward and Jane): https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/96Z3-G7W (https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/96Z3-G7W).
I've struggled to find much documentation of Jane's life, but below I'll outline what I have so far. Jane was baptised in Yateley on March 12 1809:
https://i.imgur.com/1N6LW2P.png (https://i.imgur.com/1N6LW2P.png)
The next time that I'm confident in having found her on the record is when she signs Edward's marriage registration as a witness in 1846. I'm also pretty confident that this entry from the 1851 Census is her as the age and general locations match what we know of her life. If so, she was working as a servant at 116 Dacre Park, Lee (London).
https://i.imgur.com/BOJMoxC.png (https://i.imgur.com/BOJMoxC.png)
One of the best sources we have about Jane's life is her entry from the Probate Calendar:
https://i.imgur.com/dU5kjj2.png (https://i.imgur.com/dU5kjj2.png)
This shows that she died on November 23 1868 in the home of her brother Edward, and that he was one of the executors of her will. What's really striking is the value of Jane's estate. The Probate Calendar lists the values of effects in £100 increments, so we can assume that Jane’s estate was worth somewhere between £700-800. This is a pretty substantial sum of money: around $140-150k AUD today. Even taking into account that this represents a lifetime of work, it’s an astonishing amount for Jane to have saved if she was only ever a domestic servant, who would be lucky to receive an annual wage of £20.
John's childhood in Sevenoaks, Kent
So how does this all tie back to John Cousins/Dyast? We know that John Cousins was baptised on February 2 1834 in the church of St Peter and St Paul, Seal, Kent. The baptism record gives his mother as Jane Cousins and does not list his father. Although no images of the register are accessible online to my knowledge, a transcript downloadable at the following link indicates that it contains no other comments: https://sealpeterandpaul.com/family-history/ (https://sealpeterandpaul.com/family-history/).
As mentioned earlier in this thread by another poster, by the time of the 1841 Census, John was living with William and Susannah Cooper in the hamlet of Godden Green. Both Seal (place of baptism) and Godden Green are part of Sevenoaks, Kent, which is consistently listed as John's place of birth in all the Australian documentation.
https://i.imgur.com/ZdhcgqL.jpeg (https://i.imgur.com/ZdhcgqL.jpeg)
There was some speculation earlier in the thread that William and Susannah Cooper were John's maternal grandparents, but this doesn't seem to be true. I'm digging deeper now to see if they had any familial connection to John, but I think it's more likely that he was boarded out to live with them or that there was some kind of informal adoption arrangement while Jane Cousins kept working in the area. Such an arrangement would definitely be necessary if Jane was a servant.
I'll split the post here - to be continued.
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Topic 2: Edward Cousins and John's mother (part 2)
This is a continuation of the above post establishing a familial link betweent Edward Cousins, the man who was trying to locate John in 1871, and John himself.
My theory on John's origins
Now I can't be 100% sure of this, but my working theory is that John's mother and Edward's sister are one and the same Jane Cousins. My main reason for this is that it seems like the most logical way to account for Edward being the person who initiated the search for John.
I'm pretty sure that John was an illegitimate child. The lack of a father's name on the baptism record, the fact that he lived with people he doesn't seem to have any family ties with as a child, and (assuming we have the correct Jane) the fact that she was listed as 'Spinster' (i.e., never married) in her probate records, suggests that John's father was not in the picture. This introduces the intriguing possibility that his use of the alias 'Dyast' is based on knowledge of his father's identity, an idea I'll return to in later posts.
Here's a quick summary of my hypothesis so far:
- John’s mother Jane (1809-1868) and his uncle Edward (1819-1901) were born to parents Edward (Sr) and Sarah Cousins in Yateley, Hampshire. They were part of a large family of at least 8 siblings.
- Edward (Jr) and Jane both eventually moved to the Kent area, living in and around South London for the rest of their lives.
- They seem to have stayed close: Jane was the witness at Edward’s wedding in 1846, and we know that she was living with him at the time of her death.
- John was born to Jane Cousins and an unknown father in Sevenoaks in late 1833 (December 20 according to seaman's ticket mentioned in thread). He seems to have been raised at least in part by an older couple, William and Susannah Cooper, before leaving England as a sailor’s apprentice in 1848.
- Jane would live until 1868, never marrying but leaving a substantial estate at her death. It is unclear how she managed to . much money.
- After some delay, perhaps while waiting for the estate to settle and conducting his own enquiries, Edward contacts NSW authorities in an attempt to locate John and advise him that he can claim this share of the estate. This is the 'something to his advantage' mentioned in the Police Gazette notices.
- John is unable to be found and it is assumed he departed Sydney for San Francisco in 1849, even though we know he definitely made it back to Australia after this time.
- Although he lives until a good old age, Edward never hears from John again before he eventually dies.
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I have no connection with this family but will be coming back later to read this fascinating thread. :D
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Thanks for your interest shanreagh, saw the notification from your comment and it prompted me to come back and write this next update despite the madness of Christmas prep! Hope you enjoy, plenty more to follow after this too ;D
Again, I'll split this post into two due to forum character limits.
Topic 3: John's time in jail (part 1)
After the big gap in the documentary record for John following his voyage to Australia on the Volunteer in 1848, he resurfaces in 1855 when he marries Emma Briant at Carcoar. Their FamilySearch page places this wedding on February 12. By all accounts Emma was born in 1839 and emigrated to Australia with her family in 1848, so she would have been just 15 years old at the time of her marriage... would love to see the original document referenced in this thread for many reasons including this :-X
Emma and John had two children, Mary Anne and Susan. Different people who have contributed to FamilySearch independently give these children the same birthdate (30 July 1856), implying they're twins, but again I don't have documentation to 100% confirm this (the only available birth registration I can find is for 'Female Dyast', registration # 4198/1856).
However, at the same time as he was beginning his family, John was also embarking upon a criminal career which spanned quite a broad part of colonial NSW. The following information is compiled from the NSW Police Gazette dated June 21 1856 and contemporary newspaper reports (Sydney Morning Herald, June 27 & September 22 1856; Goulburn Herald, June 28 1856):
- On October 1 1855, John stole a horse belonging to a Mr Hackney from his field in Walmer, close to Bathurst.
- By March of 1856, he had stolen another two horses from the Bathurst area.
- On April 22 1856, John and another man travelled to Goulburn, where they sold the three horses to a dealer named Lenehan. The agreed sale price was £50, with £20 cash paid upfront and the remainder to be paid out in two months. The sale was witnessed by the landlord of a local inn.
- During their investigations, police were able to locate at least one of the stolen horses, which was by that time in the possession of a carrier named Cook.
- The Superintendent of the Western Road Patrol arrested John on June 16 1856 at his home in Kings Plains, placing a notice in the Police Gazette seeking information about other crimes John may have committed. This drew a response from Goulburn which enabled the successful prosecution of John for these crimes.
- John was held in Bathurst Jail and tried in the Circuit Court of Bathurst. On 17 September, a jury found John guilty, and he was 'sentenced to be kept to hard labour on the roads or other public works for five years'.
Here's a picture of John's entry in the Bathurst Gaol entrance book:
https://i.imgur.com/G0O5Ct9.jpeg (https://i.imgur.com/G0O5Ct9.jpeg)
But what became of John in between his conviction and obtaining his Ticket of Leave in December 1858? Well, in the 'Disposed Of' column of John's entry in the Bathurst Gaol entrance book are two telling words: 'To Cockatoo'. It turns out that John served his sentence on the notorious Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour. Leaving Bathurst on 30 September 1856, John would have passed through Darlinghurst Gaol in Sydney for a medical inspection before beginning his sentence on the island.
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Topic 3: John's time in jail (part 2)
This is a continuation of the above post tracing the history of John's time in jail on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour.
Convict labour was essential to the development of public infrastructure in colonial NSW, and John's sentence to hard labour consigned him to this fate too. At the time, construction of Fitzroy Dock was the main activity on Cockatoo Island. This was a necessary piece of infrastructure, as before its existence it was very difficult to properly service ships in Australian waters. Construction began in 1851, making Fitzroy Dock the first dry dock project to be undertaken in the Southern Hemisphere (although not the first completed - that distinction went to Mort's Dock in nearby Balmain). When eventually completed in 1857, it was the largest dry dock in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the largest in the world. After completion, the convicts manned the workshops and engine house. Fitzroy Dock still exists today, although the caisson (the barrier that keeps water out) is no longer functional so it is inoperative and constantly filled with water.
The slow pace of construction compared to Mort's Dock, which took only one year to build, was an indicator of the difficulties faced by convicts on the island. Some of these difficulties came to light in various inquiries into how the island was managed. Much controversy surrounded the role of the island's superintendent Charles Ormsby, who by all accounts treated the island like his personal fiefdom. Nicknamed 'Stormsby' for his wild temper, he was subject to no less than five inquiries during nearly two decades in his position. Finally toppled by an 1858 inquiry initiated at the behest of Henry Parkes (yes, the Father of Federation!), he was only removed from his position in August 1859, so John's entire stay on the island would have taken place under his tenure. Here's some more information about Ormsby's many and varied scandals which is well worth a read: https://www.harbourtrust.gov.au/discover-and-learn/harbour-history/historical-people-and-landmarks/charles-ormsby/ (https://www.harbourtrust.gov.au/discover-and-learn/harbour-history/historical-people-and-landmarks/charles-ormsby/)
Bringing the focus back to John, the Darlinghurst Gaol and Cockatoo Island entrance books, which would provide detailed information about John's time in these prisons, are unfortunately both missing for the period 1856-58. But hints survive in other records: his entry (#2064 for 1856) in the Darlinghurst Gaol description book (recording physical details of all prisoners) lists him as 21 years old, 5 feet 5 inches, of 'stout' make and 'fresh' complexion, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. We also learn from this entry that he could read and write.
https://i.imgur.com/hncIevE.jpeg (https://i.imgur.com/hncIevE.jpeg)
Additionally, the other reference to John in the NSW archives relates to his time on Cockatoo Island. In the "Index to Colonial Secretary Letters Received" series (NRS 905, 4/3388, letter 58/4055), we see John listed as a prisoner 'claiming indulgence' (i.e., seeking early release or other changes to his sentence) in November 1858. Pictures of this correspondence taken from the NSW Archives are attached to this post. John seems to have kept his head down during his sentence, receiving no punishments during his time on Cockatoo Island. The 'Task Work for which Credit is Claimed' column refers to the 'task work' system introduced on the island in 1851 (read more here: https://cockatooconvicts.wordpress.com/history-of-cockatoo-island/ (https://cockatooconvicts.wordpress.com/history-of-cockatoo-island/)). Prisoners who exceeded their work quotas were eligible for a reduction in sentence length as well as a small daily wage, and John clearly had enough of a reduction accrued to validly request a Ticket of Leave even though he wouldn't normally have been eligible until September 1859. He successfully requested a ticket of leave for Brisbane from the prison board, who granted this request on November 14 1858. John received his ticket of leave (#58/102; picture linked below) on November 30 1858.
https://i.imgur.com/E01rfKN.jpeg (https://i.imgur.com/E01rfKN.jpeg)
The NSW Police Gazette dated December 23 1858 advertises that John has obtained his Ticket of Leave, and describes him as follows: "age 24, native place Kent, trade laborer, height 5 feet 4.5 inches, complexion sallow, hair dark, eyes brown." This is the last piece of concrete documentation we have about his life.
https://i.imgur.com/wjokszy.jpeg (https://i.imgur.com/wjokszy.jpeg)
To conclude, spare a thought for poor Emma Briant's plight in June of 1856: from what we know it appears she was sixteen years old, eight months pregnant with twins, and left to fend for herself on the frontier of the Kings Plains goldfields after the arrest of her husband. We know Emma Briant couldn't write (she signed her marriage record to John McKay with 'her X mark') and she isn't listed in the register of visitors to Cockatoo Island during John Dyast's time there. It therefore seems likely that she would have had little further contact with him after his arrest, and that her daughters would never have met their father. Little wonder that she began a long-lasting relationship with John McKay so soon after, despite her married status!
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Oops, just realised that one of my file attachments for the 1871 Police Gazette post was incorrectly labelled and is actually a Cockatoo Island record. Please find the correct Police Gazette attachment on this post instead!
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Topic 4: Did John die in Sydney in 1860?
A piece of information about John which has been widely taken as fact is that he died in Sydney in 1860. For instance, there is a Findagrave page (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/187964246/john-dyson (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/187964246/john-dyson)) which uses this information, as well as a tree on Ancestry.
This info appears to have originated in this very forum thread, based on sensible speculation that John either reverted to using his birth surname (Cousins) by the time of his death, or that his highly unusual assumed surname (Dyast) was a variant of the more common Dyson. Two candidate deaths in Sydney were proposed:
- John Cousins (NSW death registration: 9023/1860 or V18609023 122B)
- John Dyson (NSW death registration: variously given as 1315/1860, 6869/1860 V18606869 122A, or
8869/1860 V18608869 122B)*
* I don't know what to make of there being three separate sets of registration details for an 1860 death of John Dyson in Sydney. I think the latter two are early church records, and given that they're nearly identical (only one number changes between them) I suspect that they are duplicates from the same parish's records. The first registration is way off from the other two but gives details which are identical to the early church records (died age 26 in Sydney). More research required re: whether these are all the same person!
Without spoiling the rest of the story, I'm pretty confident based on my research that neither of these decedents is our John Dyast. I'll share what I've found below - keen to hear other people's thoughts!
John Cousins
The burial record for John Cousins shows that he was an accountant living in Bathurst St. He died on October 17 1860, and was buried in the parish of Camperdown. However, he was aged 60 at the time of his death, so he clearly can't be John Dyast.
https://i.imgur.com/zs60FvF.jpeg (https://i.imgur.com/zs60FvF.jpeg)
John Dyson
Now we move on to the burial record for John Dyson, who is a much more interesting possibility. He was aged 26 at the time of his death (age match!) on 21 August 1860, and was also buried in the parish of Camperdown. We learn that he was a mariner (occupation match!) who was resident at the Benevolent Asylum at the time of his death.
https://i.imgur.com/JgT5L4w.jpeg (https://i.imgur.com/JgT5L4w.jpeg)
The Sydney Benevolent Asylum was a charitable institution that offered care and shelter for the city's destitute and ill. (Here, 'asylum' carries the connotation of a place of refuge rather than a mental institution.) By using the resources made available by an amazing volunteer-run indexation project (https://sydneybenevolentasylum.com/ (https://sydneybenevolentasylum.com/)), I was able to ascertain that there was a John Dyson at the Benevolent Asylum who was discharged on 21 August 1860.
After getting permission to access the records of the Benevolent Asylum, I found out some more about this John Dyson. Per his admission records, he was a mariner from Guernsey in the Channel Islands, aged 26, who arrived in Melbourne aboard the Telegraph in 1857. Suffering from paralysis and 'diseased lungs', he was transferred to the Benevolent Asylum from St Vincent's Hospital on 25 October 1859. (Please excuse the poor quality and cropping of these images!)
https://i.imgur.com/cwop7sk.jpeg (https://i.imgur.com/cwop7sk.jpeg)
Ultimately, he died in the Benevolent Asylum on 21 August 1860 from 'disease of hip'. Reading between the lines, it sounds like he suffered from a condition like bone cancer in his hip which paralysed him.
https://i.imgur.com/yGsWBrV.jpeg (https://i.imgur.com/yGsWBrV.jpeg)
Now, the key question: is this John Dyast with a fake backstory, or is this John Dyson a different, real person? Well, I lean towards the latter. 1841 Channel Islands Census records show that there was a 'John Disson', aged 7 and living in Guernsey with his family. This is a perfect age match to the 'John Dyson' who died in Sydney in 1860.
https://i.imgur.com/r6Sog9S.jpeg (https://i.imgur.com/r6Sog9S.jpeg)
Furthermore, a John Dyson born 1835 in Guernsey did hold a mariner's ticket (I can see these details from a search result on Findmypast, but not the full details like ticket number as I don't have a subscription. If anyone could provide further info that would be much appreciated!)
So, did John die in Sydney in 1860?
In my opinion, we should stop treating the idea that John Cousins/Dyast died in Sydney in 1860 as fact until we have positive information to corroborate this claim. While I can't say for sure, I think it's unlikely that John corresponds to any of the death records that have been identified so far. The other hitch in this theory is that in principle his last known location should be Brisbane, where he received his Ticket of Leave, rather than Sydney. Having been sentenced in 1856, his Ticket of Leave wouldn't have expired until the end of his five year sentence (i.e., September 1861), so he wouldn't have freedom of movement to leave the Brisbane area until that time.
The outlier possibility is that two separate John Dysons died in Sydney aged 26 in 1860, and that the one whose burial records I have not found was our John Cousins/Dyast. Even though the first registration perfectly matches the John Dyson who died in the Benevolent Asylum (i.e. 'died age 26 in Sydney'), it does give me pause that it appears to come from much earlier in the year (1315/1860) than the other two from the parish records (>6800/1860)... Further investigations pending!
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Merchant ticket
his ticket no is 60061, he is 20.
Just one entry in a column headed. HOME 1854. (these columns go in years, with OUT & HOME at the head of each - so only one voyage recorded on that ticket number).
which reads
L. 31.5
Tasman
Ht. Town
R Do 41
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'Now I can't be 100% sure of this, but my working theory is that John's mother and Edward's sister are one and the same Jane Cousins. My main reason for this is that it seems like the most logical way to account for Edward being the person who initiated the search for John.'
and
'John was born to Jane Cousins and an unknown father in Sevenoaks in late 1833'
and
'He seems to have been raised at least in part by an older couple, William and Susannah Cooper, before leaving England as a sailor’s apprentice in 1848'.
I am wondering if the unknown father was in fact unknown to us today but was known to the family, including Edward (his uncle Edward (1819-1901). Possibly the sort of 'open' to those who needed to know secret within the family. My idea is that the unknown father or his family may in fact have made contributions that were held by Edward, the uncle, Cousins for Jane. The other idea is that perhaps the unknown father left a legacy to his all children on his death with John Dyast/Cousins being one, again with the contact for the legacy being Edward the uncle.
Edward did not know exactly where John was hence the the placing of a notice with the words about hearing something to his advantage.
It may have had a clause that if John was not able to be located withinn a set time frame then his portion of the will be left to the mother of John, hence her wealth at her death.
I am also pondering if the Coopers may have been a relation to the father but not his parents, perhaps an older sibling plus his/her spouse or the father's aunt/uncle.
Has anyone in the family, with a possible link to John, had a DNA test? I am wondering if this would possibly show who the unknown father was.
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Thanks so much for the info and thoughts mckha489 and shanreagh! I've just found out that I can use Findmypast at my local library, so I'm keen to get more info on the merchant tickets for both John Cousins/Dyast and John Dyson of Guernsey. shanreagh, very interesting thoughts re: John's father potentially having a role in his being raised by the Coopers, as well as Jane's wealth at her death. Definitely agree that the Coopers are worth digging into further and I'm working on that now; haven't turned up anything so far but will keep mapping out their tree. I'm also very interested in working on the enigma of who John's father was, hence the topic of my post today!
Topic 5: Was John Cousins' father John Doust?
As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been wondering for some time about John’s decision to use the surname ‘Dyast’. This surname is so rare that it’s basically non-existent, even considering that spellings often weren’t standardised in the era before mandatory registration of births.
This got me thinking about the possibility that John had heard by word of mouth who his father was, and ‘Dyast’ was some sort of phonetic representation of what he’d heard, rather than a variant spelling or mistranscription of a known name. While there has been suggestion that it could be a variant of Dyson, I find it unlikely that the sound ‘son’ could be mistaken for ‘ast’ as they’re quite phonetically distinct.
Interestingly, when I was researching John’s transportation to Australia, I kept getting a lot of hits for the similar name ‘John Doust’. This is because a John Doust, also from Kent, was transported to NSW for pickpocketing at the age of 24 in September 1835. I didn’t think much of this at the time beyond my annoyance at how this coincidence kept obscuring the results I wanted to see, but on a whim I decided to investigate this John Doust some more.
It turns out that Doust was tried for two separate crimes within the span of a year:
- he was arrested in December 1834 for ‘stealing a cheese from a cart’, but it seems like the person he allegedly stole from didn’t show up to court so the case had to be dropped.
- he was tried and convicted for pickpocketing two handkerchiefs and some money in September 1835
Below is a link to pictures of the Kent Criminal Registers pertaining to these trials:
https://imgur.com/a/JN8hBXb (https://imgur.com/a/JN8hBXb)
(Note: Doust’s age is given as 21 in reporting about the second offence for which he was convicted, but this is definitely the same Doust as all the paperwork regarding his transportation to Australia gives his birthdate as 1811, implying an age of 24 at the time of the crime. Convict Indents linked below; Doust is #108.)
https://i.imgur.com/HUXKEze.jpeg (https://i.imgur.com/HUXKEze.jpeg)
Doust had a bit of a chequered life in Australia, serving time in a chain gang in 1846 for stealing clothing from a washerwoman.
https://imgur.com/a/d1yqGMY (https://imgur.com/a/d1yqGMY)
He seems to have spent the rest of his life on the North Shore of Sydney in the days before it was fully developed, dying in Milson’s Point in 1883 (NSW registration 4890/1883).
But things got REALLY interesting when I went back to the newspaper archive to see if there was any contemporary reporting. Both of John Doust’s offences took place in none other than… Seal, Kent. :o (Technically, the first one allegedly took place in Wrotham, but John seems to have been taken into custody in Seal.) Here's some links to newspaper coverage:
https://imgur.com/a/U7E1byD (https://imgur.com/a/U7E1byD)
Seal was not a particularly big community in 1835, when the population would have been around 1,500 (source: https://kent-opc.org/Parishes/Seal.html (https://kent-opc.org/Parishes/Seal.html)). It was also the place where John Cousins/Dyast was born and grew up. This is of course a long bow to draw, and I want to be 100% clear that I am not claiming this as fact, but I do wonder if John Doust was John Cousins/Dyast’s father. We can place him in Seal in the same year as John’s birth (1834), and his name is very phonetically similar to the alias John chose.
If Doust had a bad local reputation as a petty criminal, it might help explain why he would refuse to marry Jane Cousins when she became pregnant, or even why she didn’t want to marry him. It would also explain John’s potential misconstrual of how his father’s surname was spelt; given the historical broadness of rural English accents, and the fact that John Doust was transported in 1835 when John Cousins/Dyast was only a baby, it’s possible that nobody was in a position to correct him. Finally, it also raises questions about whether John Cousins/Dyast could have known that his father was transported to Australia, and if so, whether this influenced his decision to travel out there himself.
Barring a lucky result from a DNA test it’s essentially impossible to know if this theory is correct. All the same, it’s fascinating that both of these men from a small village in Kent ended up colonial convicts in NSW despite their very different journeys through life!
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Yes I would be slightly sceptical of Dyast being Dyson......even with the broadest of accents by the speaker and an unfamialiarity with such an accent by whoever was recording and who may have been recording phonetically. I agree that John
Dyast to me is more likely to be Dias and as far as we know John was not Spanish or Portuguese.
Then perhaps Dyers/Dyer though there is the T sound missing. Your research into Doust sounds very promising.
I am very intrigued by this family and the research you are carefully doing.