Queensland - De CHASTEL, completed

[Cazay]

Pauline, the fiche should give the exact date.....but yes, probably no parent names.

Maybe the informant was not a family member 

Cazay

[Ruskie]

Great find Cazay - that certainly makes my search easier. 

Pauline, I will check for wills and intestacies too, now that we have a date of death.
Sometimes you can get lucky. 

[ian-nz]

Ruskie do you need any other information. Her parents names, children's names etc.
Pauline

[Ruskie]

Um, probably not, but if you have parent's and children's names I'll take a note of them just in case. Thanks.

[ian-nz]

Hi Ruskie   Sorry for the delay. Had trouble last night with the internet and my reply did not get sent.
Ann Elizabeth's parents were Eliza Gillett died 1922 and Charles Lawrence died 1898 both buried in Stanwell cemetery.
Ann's children were Eva b1881    Claude b1884 d1915     Oliver b1886 d1886      Leo b1894 d1922
Gazania has said that there was an inquest for Oliver but I have not been able to find it as yet.
Mt Morgan Library could not find any information on the fire and referred me to the Mt Morgan Museum. I will e-mail them shortly.
Thanks once again for your help.  Pauline

[Ruskie]

Thanks for the additional info Pauline. I will see what I can find next week. Good luck with the Museum.

[Ruskie]

Just to let you know I haven't forgotten Pauline- will probably do these searches for you on Thursday or Friday. 

[ian-nz]

Thank You Ruskie,   No word from the Mt Morgan Museum. Obviously they could not find any information.
Pauline

[Ruskie]

Hi Pauline,
Not very good news I'm afraid. 

Death
de Chestal Annie
18 June 1894
father Charles Lawrence
mother Eliza Gillet

However, there is NO inquest listed in the inquest book, and the dates covered go well past 1894! 

I spoke to the archivist about this and she asked some questions like:
What does it say on her d/c about her death? Does it say there was an inquest?
Did she die immediately or later?
Was she the only one killed in the fire?
Was it definitely a house fire?
So if you can answer any/all of those questions, I'd be happy to go back and see if I can come up with anything.

I've never looked at the inquest books before and I found it very interesting - I did notice that there were a lot of fires, and rather than the name of a particular person, the name of the place where the fire occurred was listed, eg a business. Whether or not any deaths from these fires were listed as well, I do not know.

However there IS an inquest for Oliver:
De Chastel, Oliver
place: Stewarts Creek (Rockhampton)
date of death: 22-11-1886
cause of death: convulsions
Location no: JUS/N136  490/1886
film no: Z3573

There were statements by both parents, witnesses to the death:
Elizabeth De Chastel and Emile (?) De Chastel (the writing was difficult to read).

The mother Ann Elizabeth said on the morning of the 21st she noticed he was feverish and had diarrhoea .... he slept a great deal and slept well at night and .... 8 o'clock she gave him a t-spoon of caster oil. Next morning he was about the same till 4 in the afternoon. He then went stiff in his limbs and I think he had convulsed. She put him into a warm bath and wrapped him in a blanket. He took no more notice until he died. His age was 6 months and 3 weeks. "I have not had much experience with sick children".

Emile said basically the same as the mother except he went to work at 6 am and told his wife to give him caster oil if he wasn't any better. He came home at 6 in the evening. The child was then dying and died a few minutes after his return. The following morning he went to Stanwell to find out what was to be done and .... by train ... he went to Rockhampton and informed the police.
 

Let me know those details about Ann Elizabeth and I'll try again.