Hi Kerry,
There must be a link between the Olivers you mention and mine.
My grandfather told me about his family the last time I saw him.
He must have known that there would not be another chance, and told me things about his father's family which he had never told my mother.
I realised later they were family secrets.
His father had been the illegitimate son of a moneyed squire in the Home Counties, and it obviously hurt him that they had had to live a bit of a cloak and dagger existence, which finally made him leave the UK and settle in Australia.
By then, as one of life's twists, I was living in the UK married to an Englishman, and he was in his 80s in Aus.
My mother had never been interested in her family's history, and he had carefully hidden it from her.
My questions made him open up.
He told me about his father's family, and said that 'his mother's family were from the Scilly Isles.' (The Olivers)
As a child he was told that people there used to be 'wreckers', deliberately giving false signals to passing ships to lure them on to the rocks so the islanders could collect the salvage from the ship wrecks.
This had upset him dreadfully as a child.
I had always assumed that the family had left Scilly in the 1800s, but it could have been much earlier, as there were no dates given.
This is fascinating!
You are the very person I needed to speak to.
Scilly has always been a melting pot for French and English people as it is so close to both, so the French name adds some extra proof!
One of my John Oliver's children, Elizabeth, was said, on the 1861 Census, to have been born at Heathfield, Sussex.
Her birth record is a bit vague; between 1842/1843.
I have tried to find her birth record on line without success.
In fact, of his 12 children, I can only find definite birth records for 4 of them, and possible records for 3 more.
There is a 'Female Oliver' b. at Ticehurst in March 1842, which is a long shot for Elizabeth.
If she was a sickly baby they may not have named her.
I have sent for this record on the off chance.
I have found a John And Ann Oliver at 'Mugreed' farm, Heathfield on the 1861 Census, and am fairly sure this could be 'my John's ' parents.
In the 1871 Census Ann is dead and John is still living at 'Mugreed fam' with his daughter, Mary, b. Mayfield 1801.
I am convinced that this is 'my John's ' older sister.
If I could find Elizabeth's birth at Mugreed farm it would be proof I think.
But the Mayfield/Heathfield records are very sketchy.
Did people not register births, or have the transcriptions not been very accurate?
Thanks for your interest.
Annette
