Fanny WELLS. Family history missing for biracial great grandmother, Australia

[dean.wendy]

Hi Kasden, have looked up information regarding the Findley children Mother Florence, so I can only find 4 on the ancestry.Com site.
Florence May Findley - B 1884
Edmund Robert Findley -B 1882
WILLIAM G Findley - B 1886
Ernest Author Findley - B 1880
Mother Florence, but no dad on this site,
I wonder where Fanny (our great grandmother) fits in.
 

[cando]

Hi Kasden, have looked up information regarding the Findley children Mother Florence, so I can only find 4 on the ancestry.Com site.
Florence May Findley - B 1884
Edmund Robert Findley -B 1882
WILLIAM G Findley - B 1886
Ernest Author Findley - B 1880
Mother Florence, but no dad on this site,
I wonder where Fanny (our great grandmother) fits in.
 

None of the above are Wm H H and Florence's children.

Wm H H HARRISON Jnr, Fanny's brother, had a relationship with Florence FINDLEY .  The children's births were registered in the mother's name because the parents were not married.

The children of Wm and Florence would be Fanny's nieces and nephews.

I suggest you look up NSW births on the NSW BDM website
http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/Pages/family-history/family-history.aspx

Cando

[majm]

I notice that Ancestry are finally acknowledging that the births, deaths, marriages they list as part of their resources are actually drawn from INDEXES prepared by others, so their index is actually at least an index of an index.   The NSW BDM index is much more current, and is available without any subscription or membership.  As I recall, Ancestry had been referring to their index as 'vital records' when in fact it was not a record at all, as it was only an index. So, it seems they have revisited their webpage and noted these are INDEX ONLY RECORD.   

Please, also, please, if you are considering ordering NSW BDM records, please order from official transcribers (cheaper, and same info as real deal cert), and in a similar vein, if you are ordering NZ BDM records, please order the print out versions, (these usually contain more info that the certificates). 

Cheers, JM

[cando]

Photo of Wm H H WELLS', grandson also named Wm H H WELLS, taken in 1940.  You can enlarge the page.  Mmmm.

http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=4892092&T=P&S=2

Cando

[dean.wendy]

Thanks good information will do.

[sparrett]

Hi Kasden,
Very exciting to have certificates to add to our information.

Please do tell us every detail as Cando has requested

Sue

[kasden]

Hi all...yes Candos has it right William Henry Harrison Wells Jnr (b1869) is Fanny's brother...he simply has the same name as his father William snr who was born circa 1830-34 in Ohio.
But to add to this Will:H H WELLS JNR and Florence May Findley had five children as follows:
Vera Berniece Rhoda Findley but known as Wells...she was my maternal grandmother B:1907
William Henry Harrison Wells ...my great Uncle Bill who died (unmarried) in WW2 born 1910
Ruby..my Great Aunt
Hazel...my great aunt
and Edmund my great uncle
all now deceased.
All of these siblings were olive skinned and had kinky hair. They were all very good natured and had a strong sense of togetherness but like Wendy's branch of the family they were not told a great deal about their heritage other than their grandfather W.H.H.Wells snr was an 'African'...I can see how ,in those times, he was referred to as an Áfrican'......rather than an American.
W.H.H Wells Jnr died on the 20th December 1921 of Lobar Pneumonia and is buried in Liverpool Cemetery.His children were all quite young but what I found very sad was that the informant on his death certificate was his defacto wife  and mother of his five children, Florence Findley, who was described on the death certificate as 'no relation to the deceased".
The wife who was listed on his death certificate was Josephine Wells nee Webb who he had not seen since before the 1907 birth of my grandmother, Vera.
Florence must have known all along about Josephine and given over the information .
His death certificate indicates that he had no children because all of his 5 kids with Florence were registered in her maiden name at birth.Unfortunately the children never knew that their parents were never married until they were adults and in Hazel's case it was when she applied for a passport to go on a cruise in the 1960's...they could not find a birth certificate for her under the name of Wells so an official at BDM suggested they look under her mothers maiden name...and bingo..there they all were !!..she was appalled and very upset....they were different times then.
Karen

[kasden]

Wendy the children you mentioned finding on the Ancestry site are Florence May Findley and her siblings..although not ALL of her siblings as she was one of 7 children.
She was WHH Wells jnr defacto wife so her siblings were his brother and sister-in-laws.
Her parents were Robert and Florence Rhoda Findley nee Orpwood..I understand that all this information, especially with several generations of same names , can be very overwhelming..I can keep it straight only because I have been collating this information for many years now and they all seem very real to me...
Karen

[dean.wendy]

Hi Kasden, that is a very interesting story, did you have a confirmed birth date and details of Fanny, s birth and who the mother easy.  aLos was there talk of what happened to Fanny.