Thomas SIMMONS of Bathurst (O'Connell) 1835-1891.

[majm]

There's always the Forestry Commission to try too .... errr  "State Forests" is their new name.  Perhaps they know where Woodlands is/was .... 

Oberon has one or three trees in the vicinity  ... The road in from Hartley actually follows the old road, for quite some distance and (from memory,) on that road is the marker at Mt Blaxland where the explorers stopped and turned back to Sydney, knowing they had crossed the Blue Mountains .... and then the road out to Bathurst is O'Connell Road .... 


If you have lots and lots and lots of patience, there's an UNfriendly website with parish maps

http://parishmaps.lands.nsw.gov.au/pmap.html  and please if you master that search on that site, please please please tell me in non techo words "how it works" .... 
County WESTMORELAND 

Cheers,  JM

[~MERLIN~]

Possible marriage of Thomas SIMMONS parents:

LMA Bishop's marriage transcript:
Thomas SIMMONS bachelor, labourer of the parish of Windlesham and Kitty HARTFREE spinster, were married in this Church by Banns 3 July 1837 WINDLESHAM, SURREY. By me Henry Thomas Estridge, Curate. Witnesses: George & Anne Finch.

FreeBMD:
SIMMONS Thomas m. HARTFREE Kitty reg. Jul/Aug/Sep qtr 1837 Chertsey #4/25
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

Family Search:
Thomas SIMMONS m. Kitty HARTFREE 03 Jul 1837 Windlesham, Surrey, England
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N2D8-JQC

[majm]

 

I phoned up several elderly rellies and using the combined grey cells I then searched online and found this 

http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=ujIOjzsEIt

"
Reference:   43839
Placename:   O'Connell
Designation:   Trig. Station
Status:   Assigned 29th April 1977
Previous Name:   O'Connell Bald Hill
GNB File:   GNB1495
LGA:   Oberon
Approx. AGD66 Lat:   -33 36 00
Approx. AGD66 Long:   149 45 00
Approx. GDA94 Lat:   -33 35 54
Approx. GDA94 Long:   149 45 04
Topographic Map:   Tarana
1:100000 Map:   Oberon 8830
Parish:   Jocelyn
County:   Westmoreland
Description:   A trig station about 5 km W by S of Lowes Trig Station and about 8 km W by N of Lowes Mount. TS3608"

I think that's the closest I can manage ....   I am stoked !   Mind you I still cannot get my grey cells around the Historic Maps section at the Lands Dept's online site.     

The Trig Maps are on CD at NSW State Records Office, Kingswood     

Red Post.   That's a grand find Merlin .... do you think I am on track at locating "Woodlands" ? 

Many Cheers,  JM
 

[brumby90]

Hmm Could be. Its possible Harpey was mistaken for Hartfree (or vice versa).
Surrey was also the county I had a suspicion about.
1837 is close to date of birth for Thomas. By age it should be 1835 ish.

Kitty is a name for Catherine isnt it? Not sure.

Tried a search for children on familysearch  and ancestor but no luck. You seem to have far better records then I know of online..

Does your search show any children to the couple?

[~MERLIN~]

Red Post.   That's a grand find Merlin .... do you think I am on track at locating "Woodlands" ? 

Looks good JM 

I have to disappear for a few hours got to finish birthday plans for our cousin who will be 106 years old on the 27th March   

[brumby90]

Well you totally lost me on that Geography link..lol. What was that linked to? Cant see any Woodlands showing on the link etc. Just mentions Tarana (which is about 20 km's from O'Connell)

[majm]

http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=ujIOjzsEIt back to
 http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search   NSW Geographical Names Board.... so you can be as informed as poss as to likely parishes with Westmoreland County when asking Forestry Commission for info about "Woodlands"....

GPS co-ordinates given

Cheers,  JM

[~MERLIN~]

Christening for Thomas SIMONDS that would match with the parents marriage I posted in reply #19:

Thomas SIMONDS christened 13 May 1838 Saint Giles, Reading, Berkshire.
Father: Thomas Simonds
Mother: Kitty

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NKKF-BLC

[brumby90]

Seems to match up but the only problem is the years are not matching the details I have,
100% facts I have:
Thomas died 1891 at age 56. Written on his headstone by his wife.
That would have meant he was born in 1835. three years might be a bit much of a gap.

If...and i mean IF the Thomas simmons who came to Australia in 1857 was him it too would make his birth year as 1835 as this Thomas was 22 yrs old on the trip. Thats why I have wondered if that was him and he did not come to oz when he was 2 as his death certificate says.

IF he came when he was 2 yrs old then should be records of his parents but cannot find any.

This guy is the only one along my live I have trouble finding and he is the main one. Arrrrrr

Do records you have show any Thomas coming in 1837-1840? Or the one who came in 1857...have you any record of him leaving England etc? I cant find a thing to match