Looking for Barker Joseph BENSON, born Whitby 1815?

[carna]

Hi all,

Thanks once again JM. I have seen the book at State Archives and am unsure if it is our William.
(Can't remember but I think in the photos, William's mothers name is not Hannah, like our Williams)
Info about the Glebe area at the time and about Barker Joseph were good though. Thanks

Angela and Rick,
Great to hear the you are all back safe and sound. Most of the info you posted is new to me, so thanks heaps. We also have the 'Benson nose' in our family, but we were always told it was from my great grandmothers side of the family. Maybe not?

Definitely still want to catch up . . . . . . .
Any suggestions as to a good place in Sydney? I don't really know Sydney that well, but happy to travel anywhere to meet.

So excited about about finding you all and painting a picture of our relative's lives before us.
I knew my great grandfather until I was almost 20yrs old and Barker Joseph was his grandfather. So they don't really seem that distant.

Thank you all again for bringing them to life,
Karen 
 

[majm]

Hi there,

I had understood that Eric Carr Withan BENSON was born at Glebe in 1885. And that his parents were William Robson Benson and Ida Florence Rutter who had married at Glebe in 1878.  I had understood that Ida Benson died in 1908.   I had understood that William Robson Benson was the son of Barker Joseph and Hannah Emily BENSON, and that William Robson Benson’s baptismal record of 29 June 1845 would support that.
And therefore that the children of William Robson and Ida Florence BENSON would seem to include:
Barker b 1881, Claude b 1883, Eric b 1885, Montague b 1888, Florence b 1890, Bertie b 1892, Bertha b 1894, Theodore b 1896, Marie b 1898, Richard b 1900.   

I had also understood that Eric Carr Withan BENSON seems to have been married firstly in 1914 to Margaret Pauline MITCHELL who died in 1938, and then secondly to Alice May TONDUB at White Cliffs in the Western Division of NSW in 1941.

While I am not sure of all the names of the persons in the photographs in the book that I have at hand, however, as they were at Glebe, and as  it seems to be that the children were all surnamed BENSON that they could well be first cousins to Eric Carr Withan BENSON, and of course the children in those photos in that book are likely to be descendants of Barker Joseph and Hannah Emily BENSON images have been uploaded to this thread. 

I was prompted to again provide the information about that book simply because the discussion on this thread was making mention of photographs and of facial features.  The photos in the book clearly show each person’s facial features.  The book is available in various public libraries, including the National Library of Australia. 

I have had another quick look at the book and cannot find where Bill Benson's mum's name is mentioned.  (Bill was apparently aged about 15 when his father died as per the caption, and from the photo he was perhaps the eldest, and there is a infant on his mother's lap so perhaps Bill was still around 15 or 16 when the photo was taken in 1908).   

Hi again all,

While I'm on a roll, do you have photos of William and Ida, and/or Eric and Margaret Pauline - Kim?

We have a quirky thing in our family called the 'Benson' nose (Ha-Ha). All the kids and grandkids have it. Trouble is now we've seen Barker it's not a trait of his - seems like it may be Hannah's family coming through. Can't help wondering 'Does William feature his father or Eric his grandfather?' I may have mentioned before Dad (William) had no photos of his mother Margaret Pauline Mitchell so any help in this regard would be amazing. 

Cheers again and it's time to go to bed. A &R

However, as I am not a family member, perhaps I have overlooked some details, so I apologise for my apparent mis-understanding.

Cheers,  JM

[blynch2]

Hi Everyone!
The photo of the Benson family at Glebe may be our family, but I know that there was a very good footballer who played for Glebe called William (or Bill) Benson, and that he was not related to us. I'm pretty sure that he was of Irish descent, because I got excited about possibly having a sporting champ in the family, and tried to find out if he was a cousin. I found out that he wasn't one of our Bensons. I think this could be him.
I do have a photo of William Robson Benson, in his full mason's outfit. He looks to be about 30-40 when it was taken. I also have a photo of Richard Benson (my grandfather), and yes-they do have the Benson nose! I will try and post them .
Regards,
Kim.

[blynch2]

William Robson Benson

[blynch2]

Richard Benson (b.1900)

[blynch2]

Ida Florence Benson (nee Rutter)

[Barkrelsatthepoint]

Wow again !!!!

It was only sheer chance the other night that we decided to look at the site again after a long period of inactivity and now it is mind-blowing how much information has come to light in the last few days. 

Thank you so much Jim and Kim for all the information especially the photos Kim.  Richard only said this morning 'If we could get William and Ida's photos we could have all the Australian heads of generations on the wall albeit we have to guess at which of six sisters Margaret Pauline (Mitchell) is in the only photo of her that Dad had.

Eric second wife was actually Alice May Tonduit and she lived to quite a good age.  Have to say Richard (your grandfather Kim) was a good looking fellow as was William his Dad in his uniform.  Masonry affiliation was on both sides of our family (the other being Coyle).   

It would be good for our family tree to confirm some dates of the children as I have them (good to see some of the old family names coming through as in Barker, Temple, Robson, Oswald, Carr - not sure where the Witham comes from?):

1. Thomas Barker Rutter Benson 1881- ?
2. Claude Temple Benson 1883 - 1994
3. Eric Carr- Witham (spelt with an m on his death certificate in our possession) 1885 -1961
4. Louis Robson Benson 1887 -1958
5. Montague Oswald 1888 -?
6. Florence 1890- 1940
7. Bertie 1892-1893
8. Bertha 1894 -?
9. Theodore 1896-1961
10. Marieville 1898 -1938
11. Richard 1900 -1979

This would mean Eric and Theodore died in the same year - 1961.

Also Marieville - Eric's sister, Margaret Eric's wife and Marie his daughter all died in the same year 1938. Could be said "Enough grief here to drive a man to drink" - or 'Thank God' for Alice. 

I think some of the ? mean the child did not live long? Although in Montie's case we did hear Dad refer to 'Uncle Montie'.  Dad (Bill) always had trouble remembering the names of his 'Uncles' and at 85 (born 1919 - died 2004) could only think of 8 which we now know is pretty good remembering for his age considering also that he was brought up by the Mitchells from a young age.

Once again thanks so much for sharing the information - it has made this site so interesting  which I'm sure Karen and Gill concur with. 

Cheers A &R           

[carna]

Hi Kim,

Thanks for the pics. Definitely similar family traits e.g."the nose".

There is a section on the FORUM page of Rootschat that is specifically for photo restoration and dating.

I have posted a very cracked old photo on here, with fantastic results. I got 4 different versions of the photo back, sepia, cracks removed (couldn't even see where they had been), and the photo cleaned up so that I could see the facial features clearly.

This is NOT a Benson relative, but to show you to use the photo restoration page.

Oops! Sorry. Forgot to credit Studio1 for the restoration. Thanks again Rootschat!

Try posting the photo of Ida to clear it up and remove the cracks ! ! !
 Karen

[Barkrelsatthepoint]

Karen,

What a wonderful thing you started with your query "Looking for Barker...." and as for this forum and what Root.chats can do for you re the photos - absolutely amazing!!!!!!

Cheers A&R