Suriez Family Falkland Islands

[dizzydal]

Hello my  name is Pat and I am trying to trace any information regarding my Great Grandfather who managed a sheep station owned by a combine  which was about 50 miles from Stanley.  His name was Carlos Suriez.  His first wife was English, but I do not know her name.  They had 13 children, my Grandmother among them.  My G Grandmother died when my Grandmother was only 3.  My Grandmother left the island when she was 13, around 1899, with a Mrs Greenshields and went to live in London.  I believe my Grandmother and one brother were the only survivors of the family, as the other children and their mother died of either disease or accidents.

[garstonite]

Someone on Genes Reunited has an Isabella Suriez b 1884 Falkland Islands in his tree ....is that the right era to possibly be the daughter or the wife of Carlos ??

[dizzydal]

Hello Garstonite

Yes this is my Grandmother's record.  Carlos' name appears on the register of my grandparents' marriage, but that is all I know.   I believe he was either Argentinian or Spanish, and my G Grandmother was English.  I do not know her name or anything about her, and would like to find out any information.  I have looked up some websites to do with the Falkland Islands, but have come up blank.  I do not know if the births of the children were registered.  It is likely there is a marriage record somewhere, plus a death for Carlos.  Could someone advise me where I might find this, please?

Pat

[AMBLY]

Hi Pat

At first, on seeing the name as Carlos SURIEZ, I immediately thought of the more common surname SUAREZ and wondered….but then:

I see on the actual English 1906 Marriage document of Isabella SURIEZ  (age 22) to Frank BROCKHURST, that her father is clearly named not as Carlos, but as Claro SURIEZ, Shepherd in the Falkland Islands. Isabella  signed her own name with a flair that shows she was quite literate.

I also see Isabella ended up in Australia, and her Victorian death record index, names her father as Carlos.  Due to the fact she herself gave the marriage information and was literate, my tendency would be to start by thinking 'Claro' is correct ( even although I'm aware,  if she was very young when he died, she could have been mistaken when she gave his name in 1906)

Claro is not an uncommon male latin-American spanish forename.

There are 2  marriage index entries in  the Falkland Islands:
   1) Claro ZUAREZ, married 1871
   2) Claro SUAREZ, b abt 1845, married 1890
   
I'd be prepared to take bets that this is your man. If he is, then the name of your Gt Grandmother would be Mary LLAMOSA.  This surname has been (and still is) in the Falkland Islands since the 1840's. Other spellings, CHAMOZA, CHERMOZA.  Mary SUAREZ de LLAMOSA died  in the Falklands  in July 1888 and 5 of her children also died late 1888- early 1889.  There was very likely an outbreak of a disease at that time - whooping cough, scarlet fever, possibly.

Could this be the family Isabella came from? There is space where she might belong.

Let me pull together what I've found and I'll post it shortly!  Meantime, if this link works for you:
http://stewartreid.tribalpages.com/family-tree/stewartreid/29660/10720/Mary-Llamosa-Family

Carlos/Claro isn't mentioned there by name  but he's identified as "SUAREZ" by the surnames of Mary's children.

Also, a Nicholas SURIEZ of Darwin (one of the large Camp Stations (farms) in the Falklands died there in  1921. His Probate was sealed in London in 1933. That's all I know about him.

Re: the GREENSHIELDS, they are also an old Falklands family. The original GREENSHIELDS came out employed by the Falkland Islands Company.  This is a very good history:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=wendyliz&id=I09803
(The person who wrote that Article, Jane Cameron, was the FI Government Archivist and hugely knowledgeable with access to so much information. Sadly she died in 2010).

The new Archivist's contact details are here:
http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.britisles.britishoverseas.falkland/2/mb.ashx
Not sure what she might be able to unearth, or what the charges might be though.

If Claro/Carlos worked for the Greenshields, then  he may have  been in the camp at  Douglas Station which is at 45 miles from Stanley.  However Mary Llamosa is stated to have died at Rincon Grande, which is abt 31 miles from Stanley.

I'll post the other info about those 1871 marriages shortly - not much, but....

Cheers
AMBLY
 

[AMBLY]

1871 MARRIAGE:  Claro ZUAREZ
On a dataset of Falkland Island Marriages 500+ that I have compiled, are 12 Marriages for 1871.
There are 12 grooms & 12 brides listed. I know for certain who 6 of the matches were - and it leaves then one of the following women as the bride of ZUAREZ.
 
Catherine AVERY
Catherine CAREY
Mary LLAMOSA or CHAMOZA
Juanite GONZALES
Eliza PARKINS
Janet WILLIAMS alias BLACK

I then found the Tribal Pages entry for Mary LLAMOSA and her SUAREZ children.
1890 MARRIAGE: Claro SUAREZ
On the same FI Marriages Dataset are 10 Marriages for 1890. There are 10 grooms & 10 brides listed. I know for certain who 8 of the matches were - and it leaves then one of the following women as the bride of SUAREZ:

Amelia Jane HOPE
Edith GLEADELL

The other Groom is a John Alexander McASKILL (MacASKILL). I would hazard a guess the SUAREZ bride is  Amelia Jane HOPE (meaning Edith GLEADELL married John McASKILL, both very "kelper" names)  - but I could well be wrong!

Certainly not proved your man is  this man, but it's worth pursuing perhaps - even if just to eliminate.

Cheers
AMBLY

[dizzydal]

Hello Ambly

Thank you for the information regarding Claro Suarez and Mary Llamosa.  It is very likely that you have found my Carlos Suriez and his first wife.  There are one or two other things I remember being told.  When my G Grandmother died, 2 of her daughters died with her.  My G Grandfather came home from boundary riding and found her and the children dead.  He then had to bury them himself on the property.

I have been told that the farm where they lived was next to the Greenshields property. One of my Grandmother Isabella's sister's name was Claudie and she died under very upsetting circumstances.  There must have been an autopsy as they found she had had tuberculosis of the hip.

The marriage in 1890 might very well have been Claro/Carlos' second marriage, as he felt his children needed someone to look after them.  His second wife had, I believe, 3 children of her own.

My grandmother said she was always conscious of her lack of education.  I do not think she had much before she left the Falklands, but she had a private tutor when she went to England. However, after my grandparents came to Australia she went into nursing and became a midwife.

Thanks also for the contact for the Archivist.  I will contact her and see if there is any information which could confirm or dispute what you have given me.

Thanks again it has been a great help in having somewhere to start.

Regards

Pat