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Research in Other Countries => Australia => Topic started by: Althea7 on Monday 21 April 25 13:38 BST (UK)
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My 3rd great grandfather Samuel Alexander Park born 10th April 1851, Greenwich, London, England. Died 4th June 1894 aboard the Wing Sang as it approached Singapore. He was a qualified Master Mariner, but was working as 2nd Mate on the Wing Sang.
He seems to have spent a lot of time in Sydney, Australia, and other parts of New South Wales. The New South Wales Police Gazette has an article, dated 16th August 1882, Sydney, a warrant has been issued by the Water Police Bench fr the arrest of Samuel Park, charged with feloniously uttering a forged receipt for £20 to H. Vaughn, agent, of King Street, on 31st May last. Birth circa 1852.
There is a record on familysearch.org of his imprisonment in 1882 in New South Wales. Prison name: Darlinghurst. Ship name: Hornet.
In 1871 age 20 he was on the ship Nagpore, and on the 1881 census he was 2nd Mate on the Goa.
He got his Masters qualification in 1883.
In 1884 he married my 3rd great grandmother in London, England, but appeared in Sydney, Australia later that year, and seems to disappear out of her life. I am fairly sure her two children were his, as they took his surname, and he is named on my 2nd great grandmother's marriage record, but they were born before the parents' marriage. I have never found any kind of money trail to find out if he was supporting them financially. On the 1891 census his wife, saying she had no income or job, was living with her sister and wealthy brother in law, though the latter died the same year of alcoholism and the sister seems to have struggled financially.
I am very curious if there is any information in Australia about Samuel Alexander Park.
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Several articles in the papers including this one ....he is a fencer....brother-in-law named...
Sydney Morning Herald 31 Aug 1882
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28376403?
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Several articles in the papers including this one ....he is a fencer....brother-in-law named...
Sydney Morning Herald 31 Aug 1882
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28376403?
Strange, I am sure this is the same person. I am not sure who Robert Thomson, publican, is who says he is his brother in law. Samuel Park's wife, Rebecca, later, after Samuel Parks' death, married a Harry Thompson, described in one newspaper article as a Seaman, in London, England, and his brothers were all close, and Rebecca's sister's husband was a publican and heir to a wealthy "owner of drinking houses" and licensed victualler. Her other sister's husband, who drew up that sister's will, was Joseph Townsend Thompson, who seems to have been literate and educated but ended up in a workhouse, age 21 he was described on the 1881 census as a Solicitors' Clerk. The Thompsons were a big family born in Canterbury, Kent, very involved with Rebecca's family.
Another explanation is that my ggg Samuel Park committed bigamy, which could explain why Rebecca was very cagey about her name and data on censuses. I wouldn't be surprised if he had other families in Australia.
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"He seems to have spent a lot of time in Sydney, Australia, and other parts of New South Wales."
"In 1884 he married my 3rd great grandmother in London, England, but appeared in Sydney, Australia later that year"
Apart from the forgery case, 1882, where and when do you see your Samuel Alexander PARK to be in New South Wales?
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Here is a prison record with his photo.
https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=INDEX2059029&context=L&vid=61SRA&lang=en_US&search_scope=Everything&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=default_tab&query=any,contains,%22park%20samuel%22&offset=0
Sue
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Can you just verify the dates you have given please.
His prison term was 3 years from Sept 1882.
This is written on the record image above.
So it is not possible that he gained his mariners qualification in 1883.
Also you will note the birthdate is not what you have given.
All a bit confusing :D
Sue
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I think the prisoner is not the person you are seeking.
A large family surnamed PARK arrived per Hornet in 1859 and the eldest son was Samuel PARK aged about 6. His parents were James and Mary PARK. They were from Gloucestershire.
James PARK died 1871
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/224331757?searchTerm=%22james%20park%20canterbury%22~5
In 1872 Samuel married Hannah Jane LINCOLN and there were three children in the Newton area of Sydney between 1873 and 1878.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/12972994?searchTerm=%22samuel%20Park%20Hannah%22~7
Decree Nisi in 1880
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13461362?searchTerm=%22%20%20samuel%20park%20hannah%22~8
Though Decree Absolute had not been applied for by 1886.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13616385?searchTerm=%22%20%20samuel%20park%20hannah%22~8
Mary PARK, widow of James PARK remarried.
386/1873
TIMSON Henry
PARK Mary
SYDNEY
She died in 1892
Her funeral left from the home of her son-in-law Robert THOMSON. The Empress of India Hotel Marrickville
These funeral notices following her death in 1892 will help help tie the family connections. Including one placed by Samuel PARK.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13853734?searchTerm=%22%20robert%20thomson%20marrickville%22~6
One of her daughters must have married Robert THOMSON.
So these are the Robert THOMSON and Samuel PARK referred to in the court item.
This Samuel PARK has no connection to your family.
Sue
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Samuel A PARK (33, Woolwich) appears as a crew member on the Maranoa arriving Sydney 20 Jan 1885 from Cooktown.
If this is the same man (looks like correct age and place of birth) why is he an Able Seaman? He obtained his Master's Certificate in June 1883. :-\ Maybe it is a different man?
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Thanks everyone, you proved that it isn't the same Samuel Park.
I thought all the comings and goings around Sydney, Australia, on passenger lists, and that he is listed as a Mariner, and that he disappeared after marrying my ggg grandmother Rebecca in London in 1884, apparently appearing on a ship in Sydney. And why Rebecca was hiding her identity on censuses.
I thought this explained why he disappeared, and maybe why in spite of his Master Mariner qualifications, and naval family background he was only ever a 2nd Mate, even on the ship he died on.
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Marriage in London, June 1884.
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Looking at the family, it is complicated isn't it!
If I'm correct, the 2 children, Herbert William and Beatrice Elizabeth were born long before the 1884 marriage, in 1875 and 1877. They have the surname WILSON, and their mother is called "Honoria Clara WILSON formerly BELL" and father Thomas WILSON on Herbert's birth certificate (on a Public Image on Ancestry). Though the mother was born Rebecca Hartley WOOL - who married Samuel Alexander PARK and then Harry Thompson in 1895. And appears with son Herbert and daughter Beatrice in 1891 as Clara PARK (widow).
"Honoria Clara WILSON" is a vocalist. This sounds like a stage name - there are a few mentions in newspapers of vocalist Miss Clara WILSON around the 1870s, but hard to know if this is the same woman.
I'm not sure that I would assume Samuel Alexander PARK was the biological father of Herbert and Beatrice. Herbert is in the 1881 census as Herbert W WILSON (with Rebecca's sister Rosina and family). And Beatrice is in the 1881 census as Beatrice Elizabeth WILSON (with the LUCKIE family).
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Looking at the family, it is complicated isn't it!
If I'm correct, the 2 children, Herbert William and Beatrice Elizabeth were born long before the 1884 marriage, in 1875 and 1877. They have the surname WILSON, and their mother is called "Honoria Clara WILSON formerly BELL" and father Thomas WILSON on Herbert's birth certificate (on a Public Image on Ancestry). Though the mother was born Rebecca Hartley WOOL - who married Samuel Alexander PARK and then Harry Thompson in 1895. And appears with son Herbert and daughter Beatrice in 1891 as Clara PARK (widow).
"Honoria Clara WILSON" is a vocalist. This sounds like a stage name - there are a few mentions in newspapers of vocalist Miss Clara WILSON around the 1870s, but hard to know if this is the same woman.
I'm not sure that I would assume Samuel Alexander PARK was the biological father of Herbert and Beatrice. Herbert is in the 1881 census as Herbert W WILSON (with Rebecca's sister Rosina and family). And Beatrice is in the 1881 census as Beatrice Elizabeth WILSON (with the LUCKIE family).
Do you have any links to the newspaper articles mentioning vocalist Miss Clara Wilson?
It is very complicated. There was a Thomas Wilson, age 28, born in West Linton, Peebleshire, Scotland, on the 1861 census onboard the Ardent, a Royal Navy ship in Buenos Aires, South America, working as an engineer under chief engineer George Park, Samuel Park's father. No information that he was ever married to Rebecca, and other than that census I couldn't find any information about him.
I can believe that Rebecca really was a vocalist, as she claims on her children's birth certificates. It was very odd for Samuel Park to just disappear immediately after their marriage and never appear with them again, the two children even taking his name, and Harry Thompson was listed as a lodger on censuses before marrying Rebecca after Samuel Park's death in 1994, which presumably they learnt about. Harry Thompson in one newspaper article is described as a Sailor.
It does sound as though Samuel Park worked on ships around the far east and Australia, never as a Captain or even 1st Mate in spite of being qualified with his Masters Certificate. The Wing Sang, aboard which he died in 1994, was apparently a little tea clipper and he was 2nd Mate.
If I knew more about Thomas Wilson, I could see if any DNA matches link to the paper trail. Nothing on Samuel Park DNA match wise, and his extended family tree seems to show a lot of Scottish upper middle class to aristocracy, though his own parents seemed to die in relative poverty, retired in Plymouth, England.
It does look as though Thomas Wilson knew Samuel Park. He definitely knew his father. I actually wonder if Thomas Wilson had died, maybe lost at sea, and Samuel Park knew him, or of him through his father, and knew this so suggested to Rebecca to use his name on her son Herbert's birth certificate. Thomas Wilson would have been 22 years older than Rebecca. The Ardent was in Buenos Aires for some sort of wartime purpose, the Royal Navy was about fighting so loss of life would have been more likely than in the Merchant Navy.
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Here are some of the mentions of Clara WILSON, vocalist.
However, looking again today, I see that there is mention of Clara WILSON performing in 1863 with presumably father William WILSON. Most likely this family in Islington in 1861:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2M2-J7PV?lang=en
(father William WILSON is a "teacher and composer of music")
So again, unsure whether any of these newspaper items would be "your" Clara WILSON.
Saturday, Apr. 18, 1863
Publication: Islington Gazette
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Some others:
Saturday, Feb. 12, 1870
Publication: Cheshire Observer
Wednesday, Apr. 16, 1873
Publication: Hampshire/Portsmouth Telegraph
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Sunday, Oct. 17, 1875
Publication: The Era
Thursday, Sept. 27, 1877
Publication: Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette
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I can only see the image of the birth certificate of Herbert William Bell WILSON (1875) which names his father Thomas WILSON, but has no occupation given (mother Honoria Clara WILSON formerly BELL, vocalist). Does the birth certificate of Beatrice Elizabeth give any further details? What makes you think Thomas WILSON was a mariner? Unfortunately again, it is a very common name.
Her address on the birth certificate is 27 Great Coram St. This seems to be furnished apartments.
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Birth certificate of Beatrice.
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Birth certificate of Herbert.
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Samuel Park is given as the father on Beatrice's marriage certificate.
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Thanks for the birth certificate of Beatrice. Interesting that she was born at 3 Blantyre St, and mother's name is now Honorine WILSON (I think probably I was mis-reading her as Honoria?) with no maiden name given, of 3 Calthorpe St.
I wonder where the WILSON name comes from - unless totally made up it sounds likely to be the father's name, though why no father named on Beatrice's certificate? My feeling is that "BELL" and "WOOL" are reasonably similar, if you're trying to mislead.
You are fortunate that Herbert is with his Aunt in 1881, very tricky to find Rebecca with her changes in names otherwise.