Hi, I just found this thread. I believe it likely that Wilfred (Wilf or Bob) was the son of John Joseph (JJ) Everitt and his wife, Bertha Devery. Some backgound: John Joseph's youngest sister Margaret(Everitt) married Bertha's brother Michael (Devery) so the two families were closely linked. Bertha and JJ already had a daughter at the time of JJ's death. Bertha was close to my grandfather and he remained in contact with JJ's and Bertha's daughter, his cousin x2 (Bridget Everitt) into her adult life including when she was married and moved to Cootamundra. My uncle told me that Bertha asked my grandfather to be involved in her estate. Supposedly, when he mentioned 'Wilf' being included as a beneficiary she didn't want that. Her death certificate does not mention her son. That might be seen to lend weight to the theory that he was not her son but she might have had many other reasons. My uncle's account indicated that my grandfather saw himself as Wilfred's first cousin (twice as per the marriages listed above - both sharing the same two pairs of grandparents). There is no doubt that JJ got himself into serious trouble with the law on more than one occasion. JJ's behaviour and Wilfred being raised by his uncle have certainly given rise to speculation. On the other hand, Bertha had one child already and, both her own parents already being deceased at the time of JJ's death, it would not be surprising for her to have, at some time, handed JJ over to her childless in-laws. Remember her brother was still married to Margaret Everitt. It might even have been intended to be a temporary arrangement when it was made. Those sort of arrangements were not unique at that time (and experience tells me they still happen today). Later in life Bertha remarried but there were no children from that union. I was once taken to see the house where she had lived in her old age (even though she had passed away some decades prior). Bertha was the first non indigenous girl born in the Beechworth area having been born on the goldfields at Woolshed, just out of Beechworth at the beginning of 1854. JJ's daughter Bridget (Wilf's sister - or at least half sister) married into a family which had a distinguished history in Australia and Canada though I was told that it wasn't a totally happy marriage. JJ's and Bertha's daughter Bridget's father-in-law was an Anglican canon. Her brother-in-law (and Wilfred's brother-in-law) was a Lieutenant with the 6th Regiment of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade in the Australian Light Horse, who served in the Gallipoli Campaign, Battle of Romani and Battle of Beersheba (1917) in the First World War. Bridget's own sons would have been the first cousins (or at least half first cousins, depending on who you believe to be Wilfred's mother) of Wilfred's children. Hope some of this is sharing is helpful even though it doesn't offer definitive proof as to whom gave birth to Wilfred Everitt. Cheers JS
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