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Research in Other Countries => Australia => Topic started by: OzJen on Sunday 03 July 22 06:32 BST (UK)
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Hi Rootchatters,
I am completely at a dead-end with this search and so I'm hoping someone can help, please.
Fred Shepherd was my g-grandfather and he is a bit of a mystery. I am not sure if he was born in London, on-board ship en-route to Australia, or in Sydney. I suspect he was born in the early 1850s.
I know he married Mary Leonard in Balmain in 1877. She died in 1886 and he left their 2 children in Balmain and went to the tin-mining town of Tingha. They never saw him again.
He then married Henrietta Hill there in 1899 and they had at least 2 children who survived.
The only other detail I can be sure of is that he died in the Tingha area in 1934. My grandfather was told in the late 1930s when he went looking for his father that Fred had lived alone near the Tingha racecourse and had worked as a labourer or a butcher.
I really want to know more about Fred, and the Tingha connection in his life. If anyone can help with his birth, that would be excellent. His parents were John Shepherd and Eliza/beth Ryman, married in 1852.
If anyone can help, I will be very grateful.
With thanks,
OzJen
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Do you have his death certificate?
21448/1934 SHEPHERD Frederick parents JOHN and ELIZABETH at TINGHA
Jamjar
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Folk’s marriage UK:
Dec 1852 Lambeth 1d 590
SHEPHERD John
RYMAN Eliza
Marriage: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGZY-1P8T
SHEPPARD, MARY ANN mmn RYMAN
GRO Reference: 1856 D Quarter in FARINGDON Volume 02C Page 239
SHEPHERD, JOHN mmn RYMAN
GRO Reference: 1858 D Quarter in CIRENCESTER Volume 06A Page 308
SHEPHERD, SARAH mmn RYMAN
GRO Reference: 1861 J Quarter in CIRENCESTER Volume 06A Page 338
SHEPPARD, JOSEPH mmn RYMAN
GRO Reference: 1864 M Quarter in CIRENCESTER Volume 06A Page 365
SHEPPERD, THOMAS RYMAN mmn RYMAN
GRO Reference: 1869 J Quarter in CIRENCESTER Volume 06A Page 346
SHEPPARD, HANNAH mmn RYMAN
GRO Reference: 1871 J Quarter in CIRENCESTER Volume 06A Page 369
Jamjar
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Thanks so much for your fast response, Jamjar.
The marriage will be one in Dec 1852 in Lambeth.
I do have the death certificate. That's how I can be sure of the Tingha date in the story.
Regards,
OzJen
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Not sure about those Cirencester births.
Name: Thomas Ryman Sheppard
Event Type: Baptism
Baptism Date: 16 May 1869
Baptism Place: Kempsford, Gloucestershire, England
Parish as it Appears: Kempsford
Search Photos: Search for 'Kempsford' in the UK City, Town and Village Photos collection
Father: Joseph Sheppard
Mother: Harriett Sheppard
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Not sure about those Cirencester births.
Name: Thomas Ryman Sheppard
Event Type: Baptism
Baptism Date: 16 May 1869
Baptism Place: Kempsford, Gloucestershire, England
Parish as it Appears: Kempsford
Search Photos: Search for 'Kempsford' in the UK City, Town and Village Photos collection
Father: Joseph Sheppard
Mother: Harriett Sheppard
Yes they married in FARRINGDON, so all those births are probably theirs. :(
Jamjar
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Thanks so much for your fast response, Jamjar.
The marriage will be one in Dec 1852 in Lambeth.
I do have the death certificate. That's how I can be sure of the Tingha date in the story.
Regards,
OzJen
What is all the information from the death certificate and his marriage certificates.
Jamjar
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Sydney Morning Herald 12 Sep 1885 p 11
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13598044?
At the BALMAIN POLICE COURT.......Mary Shepherd, wife of Frederick
Shepherd, of Waterloo-street, Balmain........sell to or supply her husband with any liquor for
the space of a year....
Sydney Morning Herald 15 Oct 1877
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28395961?
THE FRIENDS of FREDERICK SHEPHERD are invited to attend the Funeral of his late FATHER-
IN-LAW, Walter Leonard, THIS (Monday) AFTERNOON ; to move from his late residence, Waterloo-street, Balmain, at half-past 2 o'clock, to the Catholic Cemetery, Balmain. T. DIXON, Undertaker, 21, Oxford-street.
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Folk’s marriage UK:
Dec 1852 Lambeth 1d 590
SHEPHERD John
RYMAN Eliza
On this marriage record, John is a butcher; his father JOhn (labourer)
Eliza’s father is Benjamin (farmer)
On 15 Jan 1866 in Balmain, John Shepherd a butcher died. Age 39.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/188018181/john-shepherd
Death notice
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/63242257?searchTerm=
Note added - the name RYMAN also appears as RYMAL / RIMAL on some English records.
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Sydney Morning Herald 22 Apr 1886 p 16
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28356723?
The friends of Mr. Fred SHEPHERD...wife Mary....from his residence, Waterloo-street, Bal-
main West......Balmain Catholic Cemetery.
The friends of Messrs. Daniel ALLEN, John YOUNG and Edward MILLER .......their late beloved sister-in-law Mrs. Mary SHEPHERD........
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They were here by 1857:
2396/1857 SHEPHERD JOHN parents JOHN and ELIZABETH at BALMAIN
2523/1859 SHEPHARD Francis parents JOHN and ELIZA at BALMAIN
Jamjar
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They were here by 1859: 2523/1859 SHEPHARD Francis parents JOHN and ELIZA at BALMAIN
Earlier …
They had a son named John born in 1857 Balmain.
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John and Eliza Shepherd arrived July 1853 onboard “Plantagenet”.
Both aged 25.
Recorded as “gold seekers”.
No children with them.
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John and Eliza Shepherd arrived July 1853 onboard “Plantagenet”.
Both aged 25.
Recorded as “gold seekers”.
SHEPHERD ELIZA 25 1853 JUL PLANTAGENET captain POLLOCK ROB
SHEPHERD JOHN 25 1853 JUL PLANTAGENET captain POLLOCK ROB
No children listed. I’m thinking the birth simply wasn’t registered.
‘I really want to know more about Fred, and the Tingha connection’
I don’t think there needs to be a connection. Maybe, he simply went where work was available.
Did his mother remarry? Where did she die?
With whom did he leave his children?
‘He then married Henrietta Hill there in 1899 and they had at least 2 children who survived.’
Not HILL: 1221/1899 SHEPHERD Frederick to BRADFORD Henrietta at INVERELL
5646/1888 BRADFORD George to HILL Henrietta at INVERELL
Jamjar
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Yes, I agree. Frederick’s birth probably not registered. Maybe born on the gold fields somewhere.
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They did not strike gold. They were in financial trouble in early 1863.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/225242074?searchTerm=
And
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13076113?searchTerm=
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Charged for detaining a magpie. :D
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/166654591?searchTerm=
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MARRIAGE, 28 Nov 1852 - St Mary, Lambeth
John SHEPHERD jnr - full age, bachelor, Butcher, residence High Street, Father: John Shepherd (Labourer)
to
Eliza RYMAN – full age, spinster, residence High Street, Father: Benjamin Ryman (farmer)
Both signed their names, Witnesses – Henry Pollard and E….?
(She was lying about her age – she was about 18 yrs)
Elizabeth RYMALL (RYMAN) - baptism 26 Oct 1834
Great Barrington, Gloucestershire
Parents Benjamin (labourer) and Anne
Benjamin (Thomas George) RYMAN
Bapt 28 Feb 1790 Great Barrington (mother Ann RYMAN – pauper)
Burial 30 Mar 1873 Great Barrington, age 84 (Benjamin RYMALL)
ANN HICKS
Baptised 16 Sep 1798 (Parents: Henry and Sarah)
Died 1862
MARRIAGE 18 Feb 1819 Great Rissington, Gloucestershire
Benjamin RYMAN to Ann HICKS
Both signed X
1841 census Great Barrington, Gloucestershire
Benjamin REMELE 45 labourer
Anne REMELE 40
William REMELE 15
Robert REMELE 9
Elizth REMEL 6
Charles REMELE 1
1851 census Great Barrington, Gloucestershire
Benjamin RIMAL – head, 60 born Great Rissington, Ag.Lab
Anne RIMAL – wife, 51 born Great Barrington
William RIMAL – son, 25 born Great Barrington, Ag.Lab
1851 census Paddington, Middlesex
Elisa RYMAN, 20, born Great Barrington, servant / cook
In the house of Mr Schiller – general merchant.
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I wonder if Frederick going to Tingha, had something to do with his uncle Francis Shepherd being in the Grafton area.
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MARRIAGE 25 Dec 1829 St Lawrence. Little Stanmore, Harrow.
John SHEPPHARD to Eliza APPLEYARD
Both signed with X
John SHEPHERD senior
Bapt 26 Feb 1797 Elstree, Herford. Parents Francis & Sarah
Burial 21 Sep 1890 Chingford Mount Cemetery, Waltham Forrest (age 93)
Eliza APPLEYARD
Born 6 Aug 1809, Aldenham Hertford. Parents: William & Ann
Burial 14 Feb 1863 St Mary Hornsey (age 56)
____________________________
John SHEPHERD junior baptism 13 July 1828 Elstree Hertfordshire England
Parents: John Shepherd (labourer) and Eliza . Abode: Aldenham
1841 census Hornsey, Middlesex
John SHEPHERD 41, Ag labourer
Eliza SHEPHERD 35
John SHEPHERD 13
George SHEPHERD 11 (also emigrated to NSW)*
Eliza SHEPHERD 7
Ann SHEPHERD 5
Francis SHEPHERD 2 (also emigrated to NSW in 1857) **
Archibald SHEPHERD 11 mthns
1851 census Hornsey, Middlesex
John SHEPHERD, head 50, born Elstree, Herts, farm labourer
Eliza SHEPHERD, wife, 43 born Aldenham Herts
Francis SHEPHERD, son 12, born Hornsey Middlesex
Abraham SHEPHERD, son 10, born Hornsey Middlesex
Sarah SHEPHERD, daughter 8, born Hornsey Middlesex
William, son 5, born Hornsey Middlesex
Charlotte, daughter 2, born Hornsey Middlesex
George Appleyard, brother-in-law, 49 Aldenham Herts, Chelsea Army pensioner
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Brothers of John Shepherd also in NSW
*George Shepherd
Bapt 12 Sep 1830 Aldenham, Hertfordshire
died Balmain 31st August 1872 age 42 (born 1830) - Parents John and Eliza
Residence Happy Valley, Palmer st Balmain; leaving a wife.
(I am not sure when he arrived in Australia)
** Francis SHEPHERD
Bapt 27 Jan 1839 Hornsey Middlesex
Immigration to NSW in 1857 on “Washington Irvine”, age 18, Groom and farm labourer, parents John & Eliza in Hornsey; relations in colony – brothers Frederick (sic?) & George Shepherd in Balmain
Married 1868 Grafton NSW to Annie SEXTON
Children born Grafton – Annie 1869, Louis F 1870, Mary 1872, Albert George 1874, Ellen 1876, Rachel 1878, Clara Catherine 1880, Sarah Agnes 1883, Francis 1885, Michael F 1887
Grafton Gaol 19 Nov 1886 – Francis Shepherd : Deemed insane; remanded until 26th; discharge to police
Grafton Gaol 24 Dec 1886 – Francis Shepherd : Deemed insane; remanded until 31st ; discharge to police
Died South Grafton 26 Feb 1917 (age 77)
Death notice “Mr Francis Shepherd of Swan Creek”:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/235740201?
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So much information! Thank you, Neale1961, wivenhoe and Jamjar.
I really appreciate all your offerings.
I had no idea that they were 'gold-seekers'. Interesting that they are recorded as arriving without a child. I wonder if they ever went digging. Hmmm...
You could be right, that Fred's birth just wasn't registered. (If they went out digging, that could be very likely.)
To clarify my statement about the 'Tingha connection', Jamjar, I meant that I want to know more about his life there and how, despite the second marriage, he ended up by himself, according to the retold family story. We know nothing about his life after he left Sydney, beyond the date and information on the death certificate.
Frederick abandoned my grandfather as a 3 year old and disappeared. That would have been in about 1886-7. My grandfather tried to find his father in the 1930s. Unfortunately he was too late and very sorry about it. It's has been important to the surviving family to know more about Fred and to know his story.
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Thank you for all the earlier information on the English family, Neale1961. I will work through this.
To answer Jamjar's question about the children - they were left with their aunt, Ellen Hallinan, in Balmain. She and the children never heard from Fred again. She already had a large family of her own and an unreliable husband, I've been told, so life was very tough for them all.
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I wonder if Frederick going to Tingha, had something to do with his uncle Francis Shepherd being in the Grafton area.
Based on links in Police Gazettes that I found on Trove yesterday, it seems Frederick was still in Sydney in 1888, although not in contact with his children:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/239340695?searchTerm=frederick%20shepherd%20balmain
I also found: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/251900638/27955017#
With these and other instances, my g-grandfather seems to have had quite an active history with the police! 🤦🏻♀️
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I did notice this item the other day....
Sydney Morning Herald 12 Sept 1885
At the BALMAIN POLICE COURT, on Friday, before Mr. L. Yates, D.S.M., Mary Shepherd, wife of Frederick Shepherd of Waterloo-street, Balmain, applied for an order forbidding all licensed publicans, and also all other persons licensed or authorised to sell
liquor to sell to or supply her husband with any liquor for the space of a year, on the ground that he is, by the excessive drinking of liquor, likely to impoverish himself to such a degree as to expose himself and his family to want.
Order to issue accordingly.
With these and other instances, my g-grandfather seems to have had quite an active history with the police! 🤦🏻♀️
I am not sure what instances you have found, but just so you don't get them confused, there is another Frederick Shepherd, a bit younger than yours, who has a criminal file in the NSW Archives.
There is also this riot where Hallinan and Shepherd were involved.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/107184290?
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Thanks, Neale1961.
That's confusing! I didn't realise there were 2 Frederick Shepherds!
Unfortunately the Hallinan/Shepherd riot involvement would be mine. 🤦🏻♀️
They seem to have been pretty fiesty lot.
I will check that out.
Sounds like quite a scene!
I've found the case where Frederick absconds with money for the punt fee and heads back to Balmain, leaving Anderson's horse in the bush. Sounds like the sort of thing 'our Fred' might possible do ...
Is there a way I can see the Criminal file online? That way I could eliminate things that don't belong!
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NSW archives .....
https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/primo-explore/search?query=any,contains,frederick%20Shepherd&tab=default_tab&vid=61SRA&facet=topic,include,Gaol%20Inmates~2FPrisoners%20Photos%20Index%201870-1930&offset=0
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Thank you very much, Neale1961! 👍🙏🏻
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He then married Henrietta Hill there in 1899 and they had at least 2 children who survived.
Where and when did they marry? I see no record of this in NSW.
Henrietta Bradford?
ADDED- Yes I see she was Bradford, (a widow) nee Hill
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She married first
5646/1888
BRADFORD GEORGE
HILL HENRIETTA
INVERELL
And then
1221/1899 SHEPHERD FREDERICK
BRADFORD HENRIETTA
At INVERELL
He was a miner and he had a stroke and died
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/162185915
She had another child after his death
BRADFORD MARY
17899/1893
Mother HENRIETTA
INVERELL
Death BRADFORD Mary Jane
603/1895
Mother Henrietta
Armidale
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Henrietta was in Qld by 1916, possibly earlier when her son George BRADFORD enlisted for WW1 service. Mother Herietta SHEPHERD was his next of Kin, Address Stanthorpe, QLD
She had had a a daughter, Freda with Frederick in 1900
Freda Shepherd
1900/ 13329
Father:Frederick Shepherd
Mother:Henrietta H Shepherd
Inverell
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Just adding a few dates and places ...
Henrietta Bradford’s husband (a miner) died in Tingha in 1892, and had a son born there in 1891
1899 Frederick marriage at Inverell
1900 Frederick and Henrietta’s child born Elsmore
1907 Frederick and Henrietta’s child born Gilgai
Henrietta’s son George in 1916 army enlistment gives her mother’s address as Stanthorpe
Henrietta appears in Stanthorpe electoral rolls from 1925, but Frederick is not with her.
Earliest Frederick Shepherd appears in Tingha electoral rolls is 1930 – Henrietta is still in Stanthorpe (Did they separate?)
Added ....
Inverell, Bingara, Elsmore, Tingha, Stanthorpe – lots of mining going on there in the late 1800s – early 1900s
Frederick may just have been moving around after work. He is listed in the electoral rolls as a “labourer” rather than a miner.
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In 1903, Henrietta SHEPHERD is on the Electoral Roll in NSW at Ponds Creek.
No others of the surname with her.
It is possible Frederick decided against voter registration.
Freda Pearl Shepherd married Thomas Watson in Qld in 1917 Reg. 002342
They can be found living in Stanthorpe in later years
Sue
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It is possible Frederick decided against voter registration.
I wonder if Fred did not want to be easily traced - avoiding paying for child maintenance for the children in Sydney. ? ?
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I think this is likely but the family story set out by Ozjen is that by the 1930's he was living alone around Tingha, so at some stage there was a marital split.
Sue
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That's what I've been assuming, Sue. I suspect Fred wasn't an easy bloke, going by what I've read of his early life in Balmain. Would've likely have been a very tough bloke with a street education who was a heavy drinker, but perhaps charming when he wanted to be.
In 1899 Henrietta may have also needed financial support and he had arrived in town.
Fred and Henrietta may have had Freda and then gone their separate ways until 1907 when William Frederick was born at 'The Ponds'/Ponds Creek
In 1903, Henrietta SHEPHERD is on the Electoral Roll in NSW at Ponds Creek.
No others of the surname with her.
It is possible Frederick decided against voter registration.
He may not have even been with her in 1903, sparrett. The 7-year gap between the children is quite large.
If she left him after the son was born, he may then have lived like a vagrant out at the racecourse, according to what my grandfather was told in the 1930s. If that happened he would have lived like that for 27 years, butchering and labouring until he was 80. That's a long time.
Seems funny that someone can live in country town for 35 years and never get a mention in the local paper, even when he dies. I'm sure there's more to his story and really want to 'fill that in' a bit more.
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Seems more probable that he did NOT live in the same country town for 35 years, but rather was an itinerant and went where the work was, or where he wished.
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Link to John Shepherd's insolvency file
https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=ADLIB_RNSW111256151&context=L&vid=61SRA&lang=en_US&search_scope=Everything&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=default_tab&query=any,contains,John%20shepherd%20butcher&offset=0
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Thank you very much for sending the link to John Shepherd's insolvency file, Neale1961.
Very interesting!