Hello everyone, I am new to this site. I have been reading with interest the information on Edward Spokes.
My husband's grandmother is Clara Coleman Holborow (wife of Richard Holborow), known to many as Clara Teague. Her mother is Sophia Coleman. We believe that Edward Spokes / Edward W Spokes is the biological father of Clara.
My father-in-law, Wrex Holborow would never speak about his family. He in fact told me he was 9 and 11 when his parents died. It was only after he died that I found out that he was in fact 19 and 21 when they died. So we have always wondered why he would not talk about his parents and generations before. For a long time I believed that Clara's father was Robert Teague. It wasn't until I purchased a copy of Clara's birth certificate that I found out there was no father listed.
Only recently I stumbled across the court case about Edward Spokes and Sophia Coleman and the reason for the court case. Unless Sophia had another relationship other than that with Edward, we have added Edward as the 'probable' biological father of Clara. We have no idea when the actual ‘act’ took place and how long after that, that the court case happened. If anyone can tell me if there are actual court details that say when Edward actually entered the home of Sophia and her parents, that would give us a better idea of timelines.
The fact that Sophia married a man who from all accounts was a well-known, well liked gentleman, community member, it was suggested to us that had Sophia been a person of low standing in the community, Robert would not have taken up with her. A lot of this is conjecture and without descendants of the family in some way confirming what we believe, we are in a position to be corrected, if someone can clarify any of what we believe.
Our belief that Edward Spokes is Clara's father has created quite a bit of angst for some descendants. The possibility that if Edward is Clara's father and if Edward is in fact a descendant of a convict and an aboriginal / part aboriginal woman, has proven to be a stumbling block as far as anyone coming forward with information about Edward, Clara, Edward's ancestors.
We are not trying to upset anyone in any way. We cannot change the past. We just want to have the most correct family tree as we can, so our future generations know where they came from. The circumstances that may have led to the birth of Clara could be as brutal as Edward committing an act against Sophia that was not welcomed, or it could have been that there was a relationship between Sophia and Edward and they were caught. The fact that Edward was a few years older and that Sophia was 16 may have led the parents to be pressured into making this a legal issue.
This far into the future, I have no idea what is true. I would very much like to hear from anyone who can shed any light in any way on Clara and who her biological father is, and any other information on Edward, his descendant, ancestors that we can add to our family tree.
Cheers
Janice
