Robert HUTTON/ Catherine DOWNEY late 19th century

[Siouxsie]

Dear Ian,
I see your search for the Page boys is progressing in leaps and bounds. Just thought I would pass on some information (or family myth) about Catherine.

In your history of Catherine that you sent me you stated "We note that Francis (Junior) and Catherine were not present, which ties in with the fact that Catherine was living with her grandfather, Henry Page, in 1851. She may already have been living with her grandfather at the time her mother and siblings entered the Dartford Union workhouse in late 1849."

Well, I have been reading a letter I found in some family papers written by a great, great aunt who says that Catherine told her she was educated in France as a girl. I obviously have no way of verifying this, but this gg aunt talks about how educated the family were and how she visited Blackwood in the Victorian Goldfields as a young girl and photographed a library Robert Hutton kept there.

She also says that Robert Hutton was the editor of a Melbourne Newspaper and went out to report on the shipwreck, where he met Catherine Downey and fell in love. This letter also says she was half protestant Irish.....I am presuming that is her father's side.

Hope I can find some way of verifying this information.....but I found it delightful.

Have a fabulous day,
Susie

[yelkcub]

Hi Susie -
It is indeed a lovely story, and in my experience all family stories have some basis in fact. Downey, after all, is an Irish name, and Francis Downey's father is rather a mysterious character, isn't he? As to Catherine being educated in France - the Page family had some French connection (James Page, Catherine's uncle, claimed to have been educated in France ... so who knows? I'm hoping that when I find Henry Page's brothers, I can work out who it was arranged James's education and his later spell in Germany. And that middle name of Catherine's mother, Teresa - very unusual name for a Protestant English child to be given ... unless she were named for someone, a family relative or friend.
As to having a great day, this great day is nearly over ... just time for a pint of Guinness. Ah!
Ian

[Siouxsie]

Dear Ian,
Interesting that her uncle was educated in France.....it would be delightful if this story is true.

Ahhh, a Guinness....I'm just about to have my 2nd coffee for the morning before fully starting my day.

Susie

[tropicalj]

Ian, as you  say  some stories have a basis of  truth in  them,  but  from  editor  with a library etc  to a miner  interesting  stories.  I  wonder  if  you  or  someone in  the family  have  the pictures  the great aunt took Susie?


now Ian

on the Tasmanian Archives Site

http://www.archives.tas.gov.au/nameindexes

you  will  see census records one  of  the very  few remaining in Australia  and  you  will note a  Henry  Page  you can  order a copy of  these records  from  the Archives.  May be of some help to  you.

kind  thoughts Jenn

whose mother had told her we were related to a famous bushranger and  no  no way at all.  (  family  tales  hey) 

[Siouxsie]

Dear Jenn,
Unfortunately not....in her letter she talks about how the photos had gone missing years ago. Robert's father was a silk mercer in Scotland so maybe he was an educated man who caught the mining bug. He is listed as a clerk around his death. More mysteries for me to investigate.

Susie

[yelkcub]

Well, perhaps the idea of Robert as a newspaper editor falling in love with a shipwreck victim sounds like a piece of romantic imagination - but a miner with a library is not so far-fetched. From the photos I've seen of Mr Hutton, he looks an intelligent sort, evan a Robert Louis Stevenson lookalike!
But Catherine's story of an education in France - might not be strictly true, but possibly retains a memory of others in the family with a French connection. One of the people I'm looking at as a possible brother of Henry Page spent time in his youth in Holland and France ... as James Page claimed to have done.
Many thanks for the information received on Henry and family so far. The Tasmanian census is promising - and amazing that they are prepared to email information from their surviving census free of charge. An example to others!
I'm still hoping something will turn up to show acquaintance between James and the Henry (possibly his cousin) who arrived from Tasmania in 1845 on the 'William'.
Ever hopeful ...
Ian

[Siouxsie]

Good morning,
I thought I would put in a quick post before I head up to Sydney to see my parents and lunch with friends. Not looking forward to the drive in the rain though!

I have just re-read this very long and thorough thread and realised that we haven't completed the circle for Catherine Downey. We know she remarried Barnard Connor on 22 May 1883 after Robert died in 1880. It also appears that Barnard was 20 years older than her and had been born in Ireland. There is no listing of him as a convict though.

Their deaths aren't listed in the Tasmanian Online index which only goes to 1899, so is there anyone out there who can lookup the Federation Tasmanian Index for their deaths....or maybe they went to Victoria.

It would be great to "finish" Catherine as we have such a rich history of her already.

Cheers
Susie

[Raylen]

Could this be a possible death for Catherine?

From Vic BDM

CONNOR  Cath Hutton
Died  1919  age 85 years Fton (Frankston or Flemington  )
Father and Mother - Unknown
Reg 1787



Raylen

[tropicalj]

That is a very interesting  find there Raylen, makes one wonder.

also  found  this  death and please excuse me if it has allready  been  mentioned.

Mary Victoria Harris died in 1950 aged 75 at Pville reg no 730
father Robert Hutton  mother Katherine  Jane Douney

Edit  by  Jenn  I see it was found in  reply  number 124  by Genni   and  I  gave  kids a wee bit after  but no connections  made back then  cause we didn't know where Catherine Downey/Hutton/Connor died.

Jenn