Birchall and Sutherland

[ejbirch2]

I am hoping someone can help me trace Harold BIRCHALL.  Harold married Lucinda Margaret Dinner on 23 Nov 1899 at Holy Trinity Church, Marong, Victoria, Australia at age 35.  His marriage certificate states he was born in Canterbury, New Zealand and that his parents were Edwin Lewis BIRCHALL and Marianne SUTHERLAND.  Harold is listed as an engineer and his father as a Government Accountant.  However, I can find no record of Harold's birth or his parents.  Harold died 1 Aug 1908, his death certificate states he had lived in Australia 18 years.  To confuse matters the death certificate states his father was Charles Edwin BIRCHALL and his mother Marion BIRCHALL formerly SUTHERLAND, but then it was completed by his brother-in-law!

[Lucy2]

Hello ejbirch2

  ... and welcome.   

Unfortunately can find no birth registration for your Harold in New Zealand (variants of BIRCHALL searched ... as well as SUTHERLAND.)

Likewise a search of a variety of other records (including newspapers, electoral rolls), has drawn a blank in finding anything at all for his parents.   

But turning attention back to Australian records, reveals some interesting (though perhaps confusing) information for a likely BURCHILL family connection.   Will add this in following posts.

   ~  Lu

[Lucy2]

                       **   Correction   **

ooops ... sorry, I see I gave name as "BURCHILL" in last line of previous post.   

That should in fact have read "BIRCHALL".
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" Edwin Lewis BIRCHALL" you could say is a rather distinctive name and the following death notice which appeared in "The Mercury" (Hobart) newspaper - 4 April 1892 (page 1) - seemed worthy of further investigation.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home

BIRCHALL - Louis Edwin ... 2nd s/o the late Chas. BIRCHALL of Orielton, Sorrell ... aged 44 years.   Funeral will move from his late residence 26 Park Street  ...
-----------------

This "Louis Edwin BIRCHALL" however appears to have been born c. 1848 which, (at around age 16), might make him a little young to have been the father of Harold (bc 1864) ??
However, we shouldn't perhaps rule him out.   

There is also a record, (see next post), linking "Louis Edwin BIRCHALL" with a "Mary Ann" - although her surname is "SMITH" rather than "SUTHERLAND".  ??
["Mary Ann" of course is interchangeable with "Marianne / Marion / Marian" ]


 

[Lucy2]

This is an extracted record from the FamilySearch site ("extracted" meaning that it is from a usually reliable source, such as a birth registration or baptism record).

Charles Edwin BIRCHALL

Birth:   25 May 1869 - Hobart, Tasmania
Parents:    Louis Edwin BIRCHALL & Mary Ann SMITH

 

[So it's interesting, that the name "Charles Edwin" also appears on Harold's death certificate ??]


 

[Lucy2]

Both FamilySearch and Ancestry have these additional, submitted (without a quoted source), records, which require verification.
[They're confusing, but nevertheless worth noting.]

Louis Edward BIRCHALL
Birth:  19 November 1848 -- Spring Bay, Tasmania

Died :  2 April 1892 - Hobart, TAS.
Father:  Charles BIRCHALL /  Mother:  Elizabeth LARSON*
Spouse:  Mary Ann CLARK  **
Married:  9 June 1870 ***  -- Hobart, TAS.
[FamSearch]
-------------------

Actually there are several entries which give a variety of spellings :

*   LARSON -- also shown as LARSOM / LARSONE

**  CLARK -- also CLARKE

***  date also shown as "6 September 1870"


   

[Lucy2]

Louis Edward BIRCHALL
b. 19 November 1848

Parents:  Charles BIRCHALL / Elizabeth LARSOM

Tasmania  - Reg.  1848
Place:   Spring Bay
Reg. No.  818
[Ancestry]

Sorry not able to offer any further assistance from "this side of the Ditch" ... would recommend you enquire further on the AUS board, where I'm sure they'll be able to help.   

   ~  Lu

[Lucy2]

PS :    The lack of a birth registration doesn't necessarily mean that Harold was not born in New Zealand.   

Unfortunately our BDM site does not have a "wildcard" facility with which to search, and so we are restricted to searching on (known) surnames and their variants.    Since finding the names "SMITH" and "CLARK(E)" on those Australian records, I've checked again for Harold's birth, but to no avail I'm afraid.

https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/search

  ~  Lu
 

[ejbirch2]

Hi Lucy2,

Thanks so much for doing all that investigation.  It would have been a lot easier to find a Birchall born in Tasmania as there are many there including the book store chain of Birchall.   

 I also found the Louis Edwin's in Tasmania you mentioned and searched their family trees a bit but they were both false leads.  I also found a Marian Sutherland b 1847 who arrived with her parents Betty and Andrew and siblings in Geelong, Victoria 17 Jun 1854 aboard the ship Conway (dep Greenock, Scotland). I even added them to my tree for a while as the only potential lead. 

And I found a Marion Sutherland via FamilySearch on NZ Immigration Passenger List who arrived Canterbury 13 Oct 1863 having left from Renfrewshire 4 Jul 1863 with parents Hugh and May - a baby probably that year. 

I have even searched for British born Birchalls with various mixes - Harold, Charles, Edwin/Edward and Louis/Lewis.  I found one born in Christ Church, Spitalfields and wondered whether someone could have turned that into Christchurch NZ.    But his MC uses Canterbury for his birthplace not Christchurch. 

His father was stated to be a Government Accountant, would the NZ archives have data on their employees somewhere I have not found?

Harold has proved very frustrating indeed and I tell my husband that his Great Grandfather must have been a con-man and that his name (and my daughter's)  is probably not Birchall at all, at all!!!! 

Thanks again,
EJB 

[Beg Clonrode...]

I can find no record of Harold's birth

Hello...

I'll be visiting the library this weekend so will check the BDM NZ births fiche, which sometimes lists births not found on the BDM NZ website.

In the meantime, have you tried parish registers.

The Catholic Diocese of Christchurch has an 1840-1904 Baptisms Index CD which covers most of the South Island north of Otago. You could start a thread asking for a look-up.

Although I see a 1925 marriage for a Roy BIRCHALL took place in the Methodist Church. Had a quick look on BDM Victoria and I think Roy is the son of Harold and Lucinda.

Fortunately Christchurch Library has indexed many of the Methodist records for the Canterbury region. Not sure of the current state of Christchurch Library but there's no harm in asking for a look-up.


Church registers information - Christchurch Library
http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/FamilyHistory/Church/Registers

Archives of the Catholic Diocese of Christchurch
http://www.chch.catholic.org.nz/?sid=1037

Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives
http://www.methodist.org.nz/archives/archives_collection

1925 Marriage BIRCHALL - VEALE
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2143923



Regards
Beg