A mother for Wilfred Charles EVERITT

[Aurora]

To neb_maat
Hello, I am a bit late responding to your post on Wilfred Charles Everitt, as it is dated 2013, but I have just found your post.  I probably won't be much help to you, as I do not know who the parents are of Wilfred.  I just wanted to mention that I am the great niece of Hannah Maria Everitt (nee True).  My maternal grandfather was Edward Pickering "Ned" True, who was Hannah's brother.  About 10 years ago I made contact with a grandaughter of Wilfred who lived at Dandenong, Victoria, and she also was looking to solve the mystery of Wilfred's parentage, but with no success.  I am originally from Gundagai but now live in Wagga.  I have traced the True family back to the 1660s in Market Deeping, Lincolnshire. regards, from Aurora.

[Seaton Smithy]

Hi Aurora

Thanks for the message.

A* from Dandenong is my mother's 1st cousin and we collaborate to build on her research.

[Seaton Smithy]

Does anyone think it is just possible that Wilfred/Charles (Whatever) was just informally adopted by the EVERITT family. As there were no formal adoptions until mid 1920's in NSW.

Hi Neil

This was always an intriguing possibility.

However, I recently arranged for y-DNA testing of my uncle Axxx, a male-line of Wilfred and Nxxx, a male line descendant of Thomas Everitt.  Nxxx is presumed to be Axxx's 3rd cousin.

Axxx and Nxxx have a near perfect match with a genetic distance of 1 at 67 markers.  This means they have a recent common male ancestor.  This does not prove that the recent common male ancestor is Luke but he is the most likely candidate. 

It also does not prove which son of Luke's would be Wilfred's father.  Future autosomal testing of other relatives may assist with confirming that.  Testing a descendant of Bertha Mary Catherine Everitt and Alured Tasker Faunce might be revealing.

[Aurora]

To Neb_maat
Was Edward James Everitt married twice?  In other words, did he have another wife besides Hannah Maria True?  I remember years ago seeing a family tree online which listed two marriages.  I was always going to check it out, but never did.   If he did marry twice, have you the details on the other marriage?  My contact who lives in the Dandenongs never mentioned a second marriage.   from Aurora.

[Seaton Smithy]

To Neb_maat
Was Edward James Everitt married twice? 

Hi Aurora

I have never seen or heard anything to suggest that he had any other wife other than Hannah.

There are some interesting trees out there.

[Aurora]

I think from memory I found the tree at Ancestry.Com at the Wagga Library.  I usually only access Ancestry at the library because they have a subscription and it is free.  Next time I go into the library I will look again.  I agree there are some interesting trees floating around, especially on Ancestry.  I have found numerous inaccuracies in various branches of my family, or some of my family hijacked into someone else's tree, who are nothing to do with my family.  Thanks for your reply. from Aurora.

[Judy Snell]

Hi, I just found this thread. I believe it likely that Wilfred (Wilf or Bob) was the son of John Joseph (JJ) Everitt and his wife, Bertha Devery. Some backgound: John Joseph's youngest sister Margaret(Everitt) married Bertha's brother Michael (Devery) so the two families were closely linked. Bertha and JJ already had a daughter at the time of JJ's death. Bertha was close to my grandfather and he remained in contact with JJ's and Bertha's daughter, his cousin x2 (Bridget Everitt) into her adult life including when she was married and moved to Cootamundra. My uncle told me that Bertha asked my grandfather to be involved in her estate. Supposedly, when he mentioned 'Wilf' being included as a beneficiary she didn't want that. Her death certificate does not mention her son. That might be seen to lend weight to the theory that he was not her son but she might have had many other reasons. My uncle's account indicated that my grandfather saw himself as Wilfred's first cousin (twice as per the marriages listed above - both sharing the same two pairs of grandparents). There is no doubt that JJ got himself into serious trouble with the law on more than one occasion. JJ's behaviour and Wilfred being raised by his uncle have certainly given rise to speculation. On the other hand, Bertha had one child already and, both her own parents already being deceased at the time of JJ's death, it would not be surprising for her to have, at some time, handed JJ over to her childless in-laws. Remember her brother was still married to Margaret Everitt. It might even have been intended to be a temporary arrangement when it was made. Those sort of arrangements were not unique at that time (and experience tells me they still happen today). Later in life Bertha remarried but there were no children from that union. I was once taken to see the house where she had lived in her old age (even though she had passed away some decades prior). Bertha was the first non indigenous girl born in the Beechworth area having been born on the goldfields at Woolshed, just out of Beechworth at the beginning of 1854. JJ's daughter Bridget (Wilf's sister - or at least half sister) married into a family which had a distinguished history in Australia and Canada though I was told that it wasn't a totally happy marriage. JJ's and Bertha's daughter Bridget's  father-in-law was an Anglican canon. Her brother-in-law (and Wilfred's brother-in-law) was a Lieutenant with the 6th Regiment of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade in the Australian Light Horse, who served in the Gallipoli Campaign, Battle of Romani and Battle of Beersheba (1917) in the First World War. Bridget's own sons would have been the first cousins (or at least half first cousins, depending on who you believe to be Wilfred's mother) of Wilfred's children. Hope some of this is sharing is helpful even though it doesn't offer definitive proof as to whom gave birth to Wilfred Everitt. Cheers JS 

[Seaton Smithy]

Hi Judy

Thanks for posting this.  It is interesting to read the story from the Devery perspective and to hear that your grandfather considered Bob to be his cousin.

As I posted above, autosomal DNA testing a descendant of Bertha Mary Catherine Everitt and Alured Tasker Faunce might be revealing.  There are now two grandchildren of Bob Everitt who have bee tested.

Testing of a close enough Devery descendant might also be interesting.

[Judy Snell]

Sorry, I might have repeated some of the info already posted as I'd only skimmed the previous posts. I was sort of putting the Devery/Everitt perspective, being a descendant of the Margaret Everitt/Michael Devery marriage and also being  a cousin via another relationship. As well as Wilfred being my grandfather's first cousin (possibly twice), Bertha was related to my grandmother (first cousin once removed) so potentially my grandmother was Wifred's second cousin.
I'm not sure that DNA testing of the Faunce descendants would resolve the issue entirely due to Bridget and Wilf potentially being first cousins once or twice. but I'm no expert. I have not been able to locate living descendants of Bridget to date. It would be nice for Wilfred's descendants (and all of us interested) to be solve the mystery. Cheers