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Was he required to be there at the ceremony?

Could Isabella given the information that was included in the record without him being present?

When the printed register books were introduced in 1812 my understanding is that the father needed to be present to register a birth if the child was illegitimate, but I’m not sure of the requirements for baptisms prior to that. Advise checking though.

I think many of us have ancestors who committed suicide. Mine was a great grandfather and I know what led to that.

Through research in Archives I’ve noted numerous cases like your ancestors horrific method of suicide. Its not something you hear about today, unless it is kept from the public as these details usually are.

Presumably your first task is to confirm that that is the death certificate of your ancestor as you didn’t seem 100% sure?

You may find some clues as to the reason if you thoroughly research his life, though unless something jumps out you will only be guessing. Does his family life seem to have been happy and stable? Was he gainfully employed? Was he in financial trouble? In trouble with the law? Anything of enough interest to be newsworthy (old newspaper reports)? Just those usual things to explore. Have you looked for asylum records in case he had some underlying mental issues or depression which may have caused him to be admitted for treatment?

To add my two pence worth, Rootschatters have seen it all so I don’t think any trigger warnings are necessary - nothing shocks us, especially it happened generations ago. I didn’t even notice the “tw” in the subject heading.


Moderator comment: topic locked since it has moved away from the original subject under discussion

Presumably you have seen the original baptism entry?

Have you found a marriage for Isabella and Murray? If so have you seen the original marriage entry?

Did Isabella and Murray have any other children? Have you seen their baptism entries?

What was Murray’s occupation? Have you followed him in Durham in case there are some records of his employment or maybe some kind of business?

Just a few thoughts of some records which might indicate Murray’s origins, particularly if there are children born within the Shute Barrington time frame - those baptismal records are a goldmine, and would be my first port of call.

Good luck.

Do you know who the infant is? If you know when they were born, that would be a good dating clue.

With such a blurred image I wouldn’t like to hazard a guess at the age of Edwin in the group photo. The sitter for the portrait could be 24, give or take. Have you contacted the owner of the Ancestry tree who may have more details about the portrait?

Agree with Carole. You might need to find out if there is anyone buried in the same grave. Even if there is you can probably still erect a headstone. The cemetery should be able to guide you on this.

Depending on whereabouts in Australia the grave is and what records are available, there is a lot online these days, and some records do show other internments. This is the case for some of my ancestors are were buried in a grave with an earlier burial of an unrelated child. If my memory serves me correctly, they do have a headstone, which names the couple, but not the other resident.

Regarding informing other descendants, unless they are interested in family history they may not even be aware of this couple, and tracking down possibly hundreds of living descendants in Australia may be an impossible task. If you have names, electoral rolls might be a place to look, though I think they only go up to 1981? Then there is social media of course.