UK to Australia

[Chrisrob]

My great great grandfather came to Aust in the 1800's and I am trying to find out where he went.

The story is:

John Beavans Bertram born 1839 County Durham , married Sarah Jane Fairley 1863 and had a son George 1864. All this part of the family comes from Chester le Street.

He left the UK some time after the birth of his son in 1864 and before the 1871 census (as he is not listed) - by himself.

Family have told me he was a contractor (Joiner by trade) and had something to do with the Great Western Railway.
I have also been told he was in Brisbane in 1874 and left to go to Nth Qld at the time of the Great Flood of 1874.

He never stayed in touch with his family and in 1878 his wife remarried after having him declared deceased. As far as I have been able to find out he must have been "missing" for at least 7 years to be classified deceased. He did however return to the UK after his wife remarried and after finding out what happened returned again to Aust.

I am told he travelled to Aust on the ship Bluebird or Skylark but I have found no trace of them so perhaps this is wrong.

He sometimes dropped his second name from documents.

I have tried many many places to find him all without success.

Any pointers would be very welcome.

Thanks

Chris

[jorose]

http://www.justice.qld.gov.au/829.htm
 - there is a John Bertram, born England, aged 50, who died in 1889 in Queensland. A copy of the death certificate should give you some clues as to his life in Australia. I can't see a marriage for him in Queensland, and whoever was the informant seems to not have known his parents names (else they would be on the index).

[PrueM]

Hi Chris, and welcome to Rootschat 

First of all, have you looked at the links on the Australian Resources board, here http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/board,399.0.html ?

You might find some useful places to search there...the first two obvious places to look would be the NSW and Qld births, deaths and marriages indexes which are available online:
http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/search.htm
http://www.justice.qld.gov.au/829.htm

Cheers
Prue

[PrueM]

Oh, jorose    Snap!

[MarieC]

And I was just looking, too!

There are three more John Bertrams on the Qld death index.  D 1884, father Henry Bertram.  D 1926, father William Bertram.  D 1889, father Andrew Bertram.  Any of these sound like yours, Chris?

I believe Ancestry are about to release records of a large number of free settlers who arrived in NSW.  It would be worth checking those, just in case he did arrive in NSW.

Oh, and yes, welcome to Rootschat, Chris!

MarieC

[tropicalj]

Hello  there Chris

and Welcome to Rootschat

by  the 1861  census  he wasa cerpenter  and  parents  were George and Margaret.

I  guess a  lot  of  the  information  you  have  in  family lore  without  any  actual  facts, which  how  it  is  with  a  lot  of  family  backgrounds.  If  he was involved  with  the Great Western  Railway  that would mean  he  must  have stayed  in  England for a  while,  is  he  listed  on  their  webiste .  I  don't  know  the details  but  I  believe  there is a  ig  museum  in  the Wilthsire county  and  it  does  list  many employees?

kind regards Jenn

[Chrisrob]

Thank you for the information and the welcome to this forum.

I have ordered the death cert of John Bertram who died in 1889 aged 50. He is the only one that matches. The others second names/parents are not a match. Maybe I will be lucky.

I have previously checked the other resources without any luck.

Thgankjs again

Chris

[MarieC]

Good luck, Chris - let us know how you get on!

MarieC

[trish251]

From the CD the death date of this John was 20 Apr 1889 - may help if looking for burial/funeral notice. The death certificate should give burial details, but it will take upwards of 8 weeks given recent times from the registry

Trish