Emma SPRAGGS

[teanka]

Thanks again for your reply,

The information that you have given us is very interesting. The reason behind my research is that I inherited a broach from my Nan (Adelaide's daughter) when she passed away a  few years ago which was Emma's.

 My Great Aunt Carol (Adelaides last surviving daughter)  told me a little bit about Emma and said that it would be great if I could find out some more about her as she had always been a woman of mystery to the family.  Aunt Carol is getting very old and frail these days we are having a bit of a family catch up with her next weekend so I decided to see what i could find out about Emma. Hopefully some of the information that you have given me might be able to jog her memory a bit.

My father has a copy of the Diary that I can scan and email to you if you like otherwise I can post a copy.

Is it my understanding from you previous post that you are not able to provide me with anymore information regarding Emma and her Family? I read somewhere that she sent photos and letters back to her family in England do you know anything about that?

 My research is purely on a small interest only basis and is not being used for any family trees etc. Really just trying to piece together the puzzle about Emma who seems to be a very interesting lady.

Thank you again for taking the time to reply

Regards
Anna 

[tropicalj]

I am a little confused by  the postings here.

Just to clarify information if  Emma came to Australia in 1881  she would not have travelled with Convicts, as  the sending of convicts to Australia had ceased by  then (1868 I think  the  last convicts were sent)

Jenn

[danal]

Jenn, yes you are perfectly correct, of course! Thanks for putting me right! However, I suspect it would still have been quite dangerous and avant-garde for a young, single woman to travel on her own in those times and to support herself once she arrived.

[tropicalj]

Many many young women came to the colonies in search of a better life and I would imagine a good deal of them  found it.

Jenn

[cando]

I certainly support Jenn's comments.  The mention of servants etc in the diary may indicate that Emma travelled as an unassisted immigrant ie she paid for her own passage.  I have searched the assisted immigrants shipping arrivals and there is no ship arriving Nov 1884 at Port Adelaide with assisted immigrants.

Coastal shipping was very active between the states, not only for passengers but for cargo.  Emma mentions in the train.  She would have travelled on the first Government built and owned steam railway in the British Empire which commenced in 1856 between Port Adelaide and Adelaide.  

Emma was only one of thousands of young woman [including my gggrandmother] who emigrated to Australia.  My gggrandmother was unable to purchase a passage to Melbourne, so opted for Adelaide and then travelled to Melbourne on a coastal trader, where she arrived in 1854.  Her story is not in a diary but related by her to my father.

Our ancestors were far more mobile that we imagine.

I always find it helpful to read the social history of the era you are researching.   South Australia was not a penal colony and as Jenn as already mentioned, transportation of convicts had long ceased.

Just my two bob's worth

Cheers
Cando

[Syntill]

Emma Spraggs was the sister of my great-grandfather. John Spraggs, her father, was born in Maidstone in 1822, married Elizabeth Rains in 1846 and died at Chatham in 1856, the year that Emma was born. She had two older brothers and a sister, besides a brother who died in infancy. She also had a half-brother, George, whose father was her stepfather Robert Campbell. I am indebted to Joan Spraggs for this information.