Arthur Charles WEMYSS, born 1831

[Crazydog]

I have just found this website (which is wonderful), and want to make contact with those of you trying to find info on Arthur Charles Wemyss. ACM is my great, great grandfather and I have been searching for years for information on his real birth date, place, and actual arrival date in Australia. Is he from Devon or is he from New York? Did he arrive on the Joseph Somes in 1847? Was he a convict? Is Wemyss his real name? Lots of unanswered questions about this mysterious character.

ANDACALA, have you made any progress since you began this post? Look forward to hearing from you and anyone else for that matter who might bring this mystery to resolution.

[judb]

The Australian National Library digitised newspaper site has  two accounts of Arthur Charles WEMYSS being charged with forgery in Geelong in 1858 - found not guilty!

http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/8833573?searchTerm=arthur+wemyss

Judith

[Sparkles2]

Really interested to see all info on searching for Arthur Charles.  He is my mother's grandfather and she and two of her siblings are still alive.   They are the children of Arthur and Sarah's son Daniel.  My mother remembers conversations with her eldest sister who had been sent to live with Sarah as a young woman and Sarah told her the black sheep story.  Unfortunately she wouldn't say what.  I've found a shipping record out of Auckland for a Mrs Wemyss and son landing in Sydney and two days later boarding a ship for Tasmania.  Scant detail but have a lead on further info, so will post again when I've tracked that down.

[andacala]

Hello Sparkles2
Thanks for your email. I haven't followed up Arthur much over the past 12 months, although I do plan to.
Just to recap, Arthur's marriage certificate states he was born in NY, which I believe is a complete red herring. When Arthur was admitted to hospital towards the end of his life, his hospital admittance records state that he claimed to have been in Australia for over 50 years and that he arrived aboard the Joseph Somes. Bearing in mind that at that late stage of his life he was suffering from the ravages of alcoholism and senility, so for him to have stated the Joseph Somes must have meant something to him. The Joseph Somes arrived in Point Henry, Geelong in 1847.
The Joseph Somes was a ship that brough out the Parkhurst exiles. Juvenile inmates who were provided with training in a trade and then sent to Australia in exchange for freedom.
It is known that Arthur, that Arthur has claimed to have been a carpenter & he spent some time in Geelong before going to Tasmania, where he married Sarah, and then returning to the Geelong region. He was charged and acquitted of fraud in 1857-8 wherein it was alleged that  he claimed to have paid his alcohol/bar tab, but the pub owner claimed that no such payment was ever received.  It has been alleged that Arthur had an ongoing relationship with the law (the wrong side). It is also alleged that he did not have a relationship with his children at the time of his death, and that he was continually walking out on them. By this stage Sarah, was a storekeeper in Ballarat.
Regards,

[moolerr]

An Arthur Charles Wemyss signed an affidavit on 10th december 1906 concerning the will of Eleanor Edelsten. In that affidavit, Wemyss records himself as a farmer of Carapooee, which is a small area south of St Arnaud, Victoria. The affidavit can be inspected and photographed at the Victoria Records office.

[idamay]

Hi Moolerr

Thank you for the information. Our Arthur Charles Wemyss died in 1905 - so this is probably his son, also an Arthur Charles Wemyss.

[wivenhoe]

"....He married Sarah Bull in Launceston, Tasmania, in August 1853"

"....His marriage certificate states he was born in New York, circa 1830"

Do you mean that the Tasmanian marriage certificate has his birthplace stated ?
Tasmanian marriage certificate in 1853 would not have provision for birthplace so I wonder why this would be recorded.


"....His death certificate states he was born in Devonshire, England".

"....On his death certificate it indicates he was born in USA"

Can you clarify which birthplace is on the death certificate please. Also does it name the informant, if not, is wife Sarah still alive at the time of his death.

Where there is different information on the birth certificates for fathers birth place, who is the informant. Is there any pattern here ie. when mother is the informant, or when father is the informant?.

On the marriage certificate for 1853 in Launceston, who are the witnesses.

Among the thirteen children are there any less common names or unusual spelling of names?

When he is admitted to hospital the information might not have been provided by Arthur, depending on what sort of condition he was in. Is Arthur the informant.

If Arthur wanted to be evasive about his origins then it will be hard to know the truth. But if he just had a adventurous life, with much storytelling, then his audience might have selective memory in repeating his story...for BDM certificates, for example, where he is not the informant. So the source of  these details might be as significant as the substance.